Bill Maher does a great take down of John McCain in the closing sectino of “New Rules.” There are some good jokes in there, but Maher is deadly serious when it comes to the current failing of the American press and public to recognize that John McCain is dangerously wrong about how to handle the war in Iraq and America’s response to terrorism. Enjoy…

Transcript:

New Rule: Old soldiers never die, they get young soldiers killed. This week John McCain said for the third time in two days, that Iran, a Shi’ite stronghold was training al Qaeda a militant Sunni organization.  That the Hatfields of the Muslim world would be working with the McCoys is so not true even Dick Cheney hasn’t said it. Now the press, which loves McCain because he feeds them BBQ, dismissed this as just one of those senior moments, not to worry, he’s only going to have his finger on the nuclear trigger.  But it’s not just a ‘gaffe,’ it’s what McCain really thinks. And therein lies the paradox of this campaign: McCain’s strength is really his weakness. He’s a warrior who’s dumb about war.   Whoever read The Art of War, chapter three of The Art of War says, “Know thy enemy.”  And John McCain plainly doesn’t.  He thinks the solution is our presence in the Middle East.  No, the problem is our presence in the Middle East.   That’s why I don’t care if John McCain is better than Bush on global warming or torture or campaign finance, because he’s exactly the same as Bush on the war.  They both don’t get the same thing.  As long as we’re setting up shop in the heart of the Arab world, we’re not keeping America safer.  Bin Laden goes ballistic over cartoons in Danish newspapers, and Goober and Grandpa want to put up a Hooters in Fallujah. They don’t “hate us for our freedom,” they hate us for our fiefdom.  Winning the War on Terror comes down to this: what will make us safer from pissed off Arab teenagers who are willing to die?  There are a number of good answers to that question, but occupying their land for the next 100 years is not one of them.

Some people look at McCain and see a tough guy who is going to protect us from the “Islamofascists.”  I look at him and see a walking Tom Clancy action figure who is going to get us all killed.  And yet a new poll shows that a majority of Americans believe John McCain is the candidate best qualified to answer when that red phone rings at 3:00 a.m., because he’d be up anyway, trying to pee.  Yes, 55% of Americans think it’s McCain who should answer that phone, because they know John McCain is a warrior.  He will not waver or hesitate.  He will answer that phone and give the order that sends men to die and it will turn out to be a recording asking him if he’s happy with his mortgage.  

Joe Sudbay at AmericaBlog has the details, which I’m reprinting in full because Sudbay really ties the whole analysis of McCain’s FEC violations and illegal campaigning together well:

John McCain, who raised a paltry $11 million in February, has been scamming the campaign finance system. The McCain campaign’s February FEC report is the here. He is currently in public finance system, which has a spending limit. The way the Associated Press tallied McCain’s expenditures, he’s busted the spending limit, which is a violation of the law:

McCain has now spent $58.4 million in his primary bid, surpassing the $50 million limit he would have faced if he participated in the public financing system he had been certified to join. McCain has decided not to accept the public matching funds, but the FEC wants him to assure regulators that he did not use the promise of public money as collateral for a $4 million loan.

McCain and his lawyers said the loan was secured with other collateral, thus freeing him to spend as much money as he wishes on his primary campaign. The Democratic National Committee has filed a complaint with the FEC arguing McCain cannot withdraw from the public finance system without FEC approval.

Also, McCain used his participation in the public finance system to secure his placement on the ballots in key states like Ohio. Here’s the DNC’s complaint.

Now, AP seems to think McCain is out of the system, but that’s a decision for the FEC, not John McCain or AP. And, the FEC already told McCain that he cannot withdraw from the system as the Washington Post reported last month:

The nation’s top federal election official told Sen. John McCain yesterday that he cannot immediately withdraw from the presidential public financing system as he had requested, a decision that threatens to dramatically restrict his spending until the general election campaign begins in the fall.

It’s serious — and, as the Post noted, it’s criminal:

Knowingly violating the spending limit is a criminal offense that could put McCain at risk of stiff fines and up to five years in prison.

Will the press acknowledge that the supposed ethical Republican is in fact breaking the law every day he campaigns? With every flight, with every speech, with every campaign ad aired, John McCain is illegally campaigning. He will continue to campaign illegally between now and the Republican National Convention and, in most likelihood, the media will never call him out for it.

This is just one crystal clear example of how John McCain is going to exist in a rosy media climate where nothing he says or does is given the same level of scrutiny as if a Democrat had done it. The recent evidence that McCain doesn’t know the difference between Sunni or Shia or that he wrongly thinks that Iran is helping Al Qaeda is another prime example, as is his not knowing what the “’67 border” of Israel is. He has revealed dangerous holes in his knowledge of the world that belie his reputation as a Serious Foreign Policy Expert who knows basic truths about how the world works. All of this adds up to give a clear indication of what sort of treatment McCain will get. This is going to be a fundamental hurdle for the Democratic nominee to overcome as I’m not convinced that the media will change their ways when it comes to John McCain.

The Bush economy is a disaster. From the looks of things, McCain would be an equally bad steward as Bush has been.

Well, that’s a bit different than the usual from John W. McCain’s campaign. The ad makes fairly predictable parallels between McCain and Winston Churchill and Teddy Roosevelt. What’s more odd is that the general feel of the ad is a mix between Carl Sagan shots of the universe and Koyanniqatsi. That leads me to naturally wonder, what sort of hallucinogens does the McCain campaign think we should be taking when we watch this ad?

Here’s a preview of the next McCain ad, featuring “Little Fluffy Clouds” by The Orb, which would be great since McCain is from Arizona.

Interviewer: “What were the skies like when you were young?”

Rickie Lee Jones: “They went on forever – They – When I w- We lived in Arizona, and the skies always had little fluffy clouds in ’em, and, uh… they were long… and clear and… there were lots of stars at night. And, uh, when it would rain, it would all turn – it- They were beautiful, the most beautiful skies as a matter of fact. Um, the sunsets were purple and red and yellow and on fire, and the clouds would catch the colors everywhere. That’s uh, neat cause I used to look at them all the time, when I was little. You don’t see that. You might still see them in the desert.”

Seriously, McCain’s ad people might be high. Someone should check.

The Campaign to Defend America, a 501(c)4 that will be doing a whole lot of work against John W. McCain this cycle, has released their first ad.

Greg Sargent at TPM Election Central reports:

The Campaign to Defend America — which will be running ads on issues like Iraq, the economy, energy, and health care, from a bent that appears to be pro-Democratic — is spending more than $1,000,000 on the buy, the group tells me.

This is great.  The Campaign to Defend America is staffed by some incredibly talented Democratic operatives. I’m sure their ads will be more creative and more pointed as the campaign progresses (no need to go overboard with their first ad).

I’d hope that the independent expenditures working against McCain recognize that the best course of action is to hit him as hard as possible. This ad is a good start, but I hope it will represent the baseline for how aggressive the Campaign will be when criticizing McCain and tying him to Bush.

Via Melissa McEwan, the New York Times gets a clue in an article titled, “On Signature Issues, McCain Has Shown Some Inconsistencies in the Senate.” Here’s the lede:

Senator John McCain likes to present himself as the candidate of the “Straight Talk Express” who does not pander to voters or change his positions with the political breeze. But the fine print of his record in the Senate indicates that he has been a lot less consistent on some of his signature issues than he has presented himself to be so far in his presidential campaign.

Mr. McCain, who derided his onetime Republican competitor Mitt Romney for his political mutability, has himself meandered over the years from position to position on some topics, particularly as he has tried to court the conservatives who have long distrusted him. His most striking turnaround has been on the Bush tax cuts, which he voted against twice but now wants to make permanent. Mr. McCain has also expressed varying positions on immigration, torture, abortion and Donald H. Rumsfeld, the former defense secretary.

The Times’ Elizabeth Bumiller goes on to identify McCain’s changing positions on the Bush tax cuts, abortion, immigration policy, Rumsfeld’s job performance, and McCain’s stance on torture (used to be against it, is now for it). Bumiller notes:

The risk, Republicans acknowledge, is that Mr. McCain may no longer be seen as above pandering and will be increasingly vulnerable to criticism from both sides.

John McCain is many things, but it should be crystal clear that he is not a maverick or a principled politician. He is a conservative Republican who will do and say whatever it takes to win the GOP nomination. The more the media wakes up to these facts, as Bumiller documented them, the more likely it will be that there will be a favorable atmosphere for the Democratic nominee to attack McCain and his record of unprincipled flip-flops.

This is good news for John McCain, but bad news for the only Republican blog on my blogroll:

Update on me: Eye on 08 shutting down

Sorry for stopping posting.

I have joined John McCain’s campaign in the Political Department. Since I have joined the campaign, I have not blogged, except for noting a couple of stories in my twitter and del.icio.us feeds. I will also blog at Redstate after we win the nomination and it is clear what my role in the campaign will be.

Soren Dayton is a good friend and without question the Republican blogger whose work I most respect. He’ll surely be an asset to the McCain campaign – I’d hoped that he’d stay out of this cycle, but oh well. Best of luck Soren – I look forward to helping you lose this election.