Somebody has to say it, so I will:

John McCain is a grifter and a scoundrel.

He has built a career on a carefully crafted myth breathlessly repeated by his base of sycophants in the press. You know the hype: McCain the Maverick, McCain the Reformer, McCain the Straight Talker, McCain the ______ (insert worshipful drivel here).

Keep in mind that the same folks who sold George W. Bush and his failed policies to America are now working the streets to sell the myth of McCain—"the last honest man in politics".

Those willing to look behind the curtain will find a John McCain that has always surrounded himself with the most corrupt players on the political stage and kept himself one step ahead of exposure. His Abramoff investigation cover-up is a case in point (for details see this Diary).

Another one is the growing scandal swirling around his chief foreign policy advisor, Randy Scheunemann.

Randy shapes McCain’s foreign policy and—surprise—that policy helps Randy’s former and future clients. Ca-ching!

This, you need to know about.

To the jump...

No this is not one of those lists that was floating around weeks ago or some Daily Show routine.

The Only Thing Older than McCain that I found was Ralph Hall - Texas Congressman. Ralph Hall is 85 years young and was elected to Congress in 1980.

Luckily, Hall has a challenger, .Glenn Melancon that has a good grasp on the issues. We know that this is a long shot of long shots, but Ralph Hall is plenty vulnerable.

The impact of an event like the Obama trip doesn't come quickly.  Since most people don't follow news closely, its impact comes over time, as people less interested in politics pick up bits of reaction from more informed friends and family and by seeing what columnists say, what the covers of newsmagazines look like.

So although I think it's too early to see the true impact, I present two examples of why it's been a success.

Chris Bowers at OpenLeft wonders, What Is Your Favorite Contradictory McCain Attack?:

1. Seventeen days after taking a trip abroad to Columbia [sic] and Mexico, five weeks after giving a paid campaign speech in Canada, and two months after criticizing Obama for not going to Iraq, the McCain campaign criticizes Obama for taking a trip abroad that includes a stop in Iraq

2. Eleven days after holding a press conference to claim that Obama  is a serial flip-flopper, McCain argues that Obama is the most extremist member of the Senate.

3. Five days after releasing a documentary criticizing Obama for flip-flopping on Iraq, the McCain campaign argues that Obama is too inflexible on Iraq.

Whether it's Roe v. Wade or off-shore drilling or a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants, McCain has taken opposite sides. Is it flip-floppery? Or is it flim-flammery?

He was anti-Grover Norquist before he was pro-Grover Norquist. He opposed torture before he yielded to White House demands. He was for campaign-finance reform before he was against a reform provision he sponsored two years earlier. He opposed presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he favored it. He was anti-ethanol, then for it. He supported flying the Confederate flag on government property before he rejected the practice. He was for talking with Hamas until he was against it. He favored privatizing Social Security before he said he never was in favor of privatizing Social Security. He opposed the Bush tax cuts for the rich until he voted for them, twice.

Just before he steps off the Double-Talk Express, McCain must spin around three times and click his deals to decide which side of his mouth he is going to speak from.

At the risk of exhausting our pixel supply, here's your chance to name your favorite McCain contradiction.

(If you think you remember one, but not quite, you might try out nica24's extensive collection of links: h/t to peraspera.)

The Overnight News Digest is posted.

It's rare that I am going to agree with John McCain or use a Fox News link to verify a point but John McCain got something right on Wednesday.

At a staged town hall, McCain was asked his thoughts about Israel.  The pertinent part of McCain's response was as follows:

January 5, 1995

Iran May Be Able to Build an Atomic Bomb in 5 Years, U.S. and Israeli Officials Fear

By CHRIS HEDGES,
Published: January 5, 1995

Iran is much closer to producing nuclear weapons than previously thought, and could be less than five years away from having an atomic bomb, several senior American and Israeli officials say. "The date by which Iran will have nuclear weapons is no longer 10 years from now," a senior official said recently, referring to previous estimates. "If the Iranians maintain this intensive effort to get everything they need, they could have all their components in two years. Then it will be just a matter of technology and research. If Iran is not interrupted in this program by some foreign power, it will have the device in more or less five years."

...

For all the talk, the reality is that there is still a lot of work to do at home.  

We have been listening to stories about a liberal bias in the MSM for years now. All the while we have been witnessing an MSM that has become  so afraid to be labeled as liberal, that they no longer can do their job. The Iraq war itself is the worst consequence of this situation. And I believe the coverage of the McCain campaign is the culmination of this phenomenon. While it is hard to get traction complaining about the MSM giving a pass to McCain on his plethora of gaffes, the recent CBS attempt to cover up one of McCain's more spectacular rewrites of history, rises to a new level. It's time to turn the tables and start doing some very loud intimidating of our own. The evidence now exists and it is incontrovertible. I would like to see KO start a new countdown, number of days since CBS and Katie Couric joined the McCain campaign.

Working American is sponsoring a Bad Boss contest, where you can vote on the worst boss in the country. Naturally, the polls here won't let us vote for all 500 of them, but I will pick out some of the worst of the bunch and let the person tell their stories. All of these bosses are liable to throw John McCain-sized tantrums at employees who are a little too uppity.

Who is not hurting from the high gas prices? Forgive me for wondering if our President and Vice President are bothered at all. Well, they may be bothered just a tad by the anger directed toward them because they have looked after the interests of Big Oil for the past seven years with narry a nod to consumers.

Yesterday, in a White House press briefing, Dana Perino announced

"in an effort to address the root causes of high energy prices, House Republicans are introducing their American Energy Act. Their proposal includes many of the provisions the President called on Congress to act upon, including opening up access to our energy resources in the Outer Continental Shelf, up in ANWR, allowing development of oil shale resources, and streamlining permitting processes for refineries."

Reading Michael Crowley's Mark Salter profile in TNR, you wonder how real McCainiacs can really keep a straight face while arguing that the Obama campaign is the one driven by a cult of personality built around a narcissist who feels he's owed the presidency.  Salter is apparently livid that Obama has stolen McCain's themes of having matured out of a colorful childhood and been bettered by patriotism and commitment to public service.  Did Mark Salter make it through his top perch in John McCain's 2000 campaign without ever listening to a George W. Bush speech?  Salter even jokes

"I often regret that we didn't copyright 'serving a cause greater than your self-interest,'" he cracks.

I like Chuck Todd, but he said something idiotic today in the post-speech coverage.  He said (I'm paraphrasing) "This is just like a speech McCain could have given."  He apparently meant that McCain would agree with the content and project the same vision.   Nice delivery, he seemed to say, but nothing special underneath.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.  This is a speech only Obama could give.  Listen carefully to the speech again and you hear the three signature elements of Obama's political storytelling:  The Story of Self, the Story of Us, the Story of Now.  Obama uses his speeches to move people to action.  And that is what he will do as President.

Today Obama told us about himself, but also about Us - who we are and what we share around the globe.  We're all in this together.  And about Us as Americans, what our challenges are and why we are called to live up to the ideals that founded the nation.  And he told us about Now - this moment in history.  It shows us what our relationship with the world would look like under an Obama presidency.  McCain?  There is no comparison.  

Barack Obama began his speech saying he's an American citizen and a citizen of the world (his first applause line)  The McCain camp highlighted that phrase in its dismissal of Obama. Too, the dismissal spreads through the Meme-o-sphere.

But John McCain himself has used the phrase "Citizen of the World" in a speech on May 27th of this year at the University of Denver. [source]

There is such a thing as good international citizenship, and America must be a good citizen of the world—leading the way to address the danger of global warming and preserve our environment, strengthening existing international institutions and helping to build new ones, and engaging the world in a broad dialogue on the threat of violent extremists, who would, if they could, use weapons of mass destruction to attack us and our allies.

Many past Presidents (and the current one, too!) used  "citizen of the world" in their remarks. Here's a collection of them....

I'm channeling John McEnroe today. I've been taking some heat for my attitude that progressives should seek out progressive congressional candidates and put their support behind them instead of tossing their money into the Obama war chest (though of course, anyone who can support both should do so.) I am accused of almost Utopian confidence that Obama will be elected with at least 300 electoral votes.

Frankly, I stand by my view. Of course some disaster could change things, in which case I will certainly rethink the situation. But right now, if Obama can't win this without my active support, we deserve what we get.

more and poll below ...

In no particular order;

Well folks that says it John McCain is willing to go as low as possible to win this election. He won't back down from his remarks on Barack Obama willing to lose the war.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/...

McCain was unapologetic today when asked about Obama's comments.

"I think it's very clear that I said at the most difficult times that I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war and that's very clear and a lot of people said that it might do (in) my candidacy for president of the United States or the nomination of my party,'' McCain said, referring to his support at the "surge" of troops to Iraq.

Grandpa McCain proves how stubborn and out of touch he is.

Today on NPR's Fresh Air, Terry Gross interviewed Douglas Holtz-Eakin.  Terry asked about McCain's economic knowledge and Holtz-Eakin gave a very interesting answer:

Terry Gross - John McCain has said that the economy is not his strong point.  That he doesn't know that much about the economy. Is that a fatal flaw for a president?  Does it matter?

Douglas Holtz-Eakin: He has a phenominal grasp of the economy and the remark he made is self-depricating.  That's John McCain in his truest form.  But he is comparing himself to a standard of excellence on international affairs and national security that no one could meet.  He's the preminent expert in those areas.  He's been the chair of the commerce committee.  He's a superb policy maker on economics and the US economy is in good hands with John McCain.

Chris Matthews on Hardball has promised to interpret some recent polls in the worst way possible (for us Obama supporters). What he has done is cherry picked the worst possible polls (from our perspective), ready to pound them!

So, here at the clinic, we're giving free vaccinations for the Hardball show coming on tomorrow!  

Please tip your health care professional as I am working hard for you (and packing away for my move)!

Found interesting fun discussion of Veepstakes MSNBC !

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...