During the awkward exchange, with several lengthy pauses, McCain said he had no immediate knowledge of the vote. "I've cast thousands of votes in the Senate," McCain said, then continued: "I will respond to--it's a, it's a..."
"Delicate issue," the reporter offered, to a relieved laugh from McCain.
"I don't usually duck an issue, but I'm--I'll try to get back to you," he explained.
"Let me give you a real, live example, which I've been hearing a lot about from women. There are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won't cover birth control medication. Those women would like a choice," she said.
But as the abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America was happy to point out, McCain twice voted against measures that would have required insurance companies to cover birth control -- in 2003 and 2005.
The Republican said Wednesday that he did not recall those votes. "It's something that I had not thought much about," he added.
A campaign aide who refused to speak by name said the Arizona senator opposed all mandates.
I don't recall. I have no recollection. I don't remember. . .
I would be remiss in my duties if I failed to note a new phrase, rising fast on the charts as the administration's days come to an end: "Let bygones be bygones."
Ah, the classic official statements of the Bush administration. If you have a favorite variation, do share it in the comments. They all get embroidered, embellished, and enhanced, but each one comes down to the same thing: Don't blame me!
The racial fantasy factor in this presidential campaign is out of control. It was at work in that New Yorker cover that caused such a stir. (Mr. Obama in Muslim garb with the American flag burning in the fireplace.) It's driving the idea that Barack Obama is somehow presumptuous, too arrogant, too big for his britches - a man who obviously does not know his place.
Mr. Obama has to endure these grotesque insults with a smile and heroic levels of equanimity. The reason he has to do this - the sole reason - is that he is black.
So there he was this week speaking evenly, and with a touch of humor, to a nearly all-white audience in Missouri. His goal was to reassure his listeners, to let them know he's not some kind of unpatriotic ogre.
Mr. Obama told them: "What they're going to try to do is make you scared of me. You know, he's not patriotic enough. He's got a funny name. You know, he doesn't look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills, you know. He's risky."
The audience seemed to appreciate his comments. Mr. Obama was well-received.
But John McCain didn't appreciate them. RACE CARD! RACE CARD! The McCain camp started bellowing, and it hasn't stopped since. With great glee bursting through their feigned outrage, the campaign's operatives and the candidate himself accused Senator Obama of introducing race into the campaign - playing the race card, as they put it, from the very bottom of the deck.
Whatever you think about Barack Obama, he does not want the race issue to be front and center in this campaign. Every day that the campaign is about race is a good day for John McCain. So I guess we understand Mr. McCain's motivation.
Nevertheless, it's frustrating to watch John McCain calling out Barack Obama on race. Senator Obama has spoken more honestly and thoughtfully about race than any other politician in many years. Senator McCain is the head of a party that has viciously exploited race for political gain for decades.
He's obviously more than willing to continue that nauseating tradition.
Go read the whole thing. The other reason the McCain campaign is so excited to accuse Obama of "playing the race card" is that one of Obama's strengths is that he is not perceived by the wider American public as the aggrieved black man- he is no Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. By claiming Obama is playing the race card (however absurd the charge), they can turn him into the angry black man.
It really is shameless and disgusting, and while I had seen no racial component to the Britney ad earlier, I can understand where Herbert is coming from now. I just didn't see it before.
The thing you need to remember is that this is not an accident. The McCain campaign is not doing this willy-nilly. This is a plan. This is a strategy. They know damned well what they are doing. And John McCain has not only signed off on it, but he is actively participating on it
But lying, smearing and dividing the nation is what the GOP machine has done best for the last 8 years under bush, and that has not changed even one little bit under the McCain banner.
McCain is just another scum-sucking, low-life lying republican. Same failed actions, policies and incompetent ideas, just a different name to put on it all.
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