They included Doug Goodyear, McCain's convention chairman, whose company was paid to improve the image of Burma's brutal dictatorship. The make-up of McCain's team has set alarm bells ringing among Washington's campaign watchdogs. Nor is it just campaign workers who have extensive links to the lobbying industry.
McCain's financial backers do, too. A recent survey of elite fundraisers for McCain revealed that one in six were lobbyists. Watchdog groups such as the CPI believe McCain has a long history of helping people who also happen to be his wealthy backers, including several large landowners in Arizona, Nevada and California who have profited from McCain-linked property deals. Sceptics might conclude that McCain's post-Keating career represents a cosmetic makeover, not a true conversion.
He is even winning in key swing states like Florida. His appeal to America's middle ground remains strong. These are people like self-confessed moderate Keith Gregory, 24, who filed out of the Denver auditorium as a convert. The young student, dressed in a freshly pressed suit and tie, had been deeply impressed by McCain's speech.
Few see McCain as an ideological warrior in America's culture wars. Unlike Bush, he is not a born-again Christian. In McCain's inner circle - unlike Bush's - there are no group prayer meetings. Yet the reality is that McCain is a social conservative who has actively sought out the far right of his party and forged alliances with Christian extremists. Just look at McCain's 'pastor problems'. He has enthusiastically sought the political blessing of some of the most conservative religious figures in the country.
McCain gave the commencement address at Falwell's Liberty University, a college that has taught creationism alongside science. Hagee believes the disaster was God's judgement on the sinful city. Parsley, whom McCain called a 'spiritual guide', believes America was founded partly in order to destroy Islam. He has called Mohammed a 'mouthpiece of a conspiracy of spiritual evil' and has supported prosecuting people who commit adultery.
Though McCain later repudiated the endorsements of Parsley and Hagee, he did so only after bad headlines threatened his moderate image. Most of Hagee's and Parsley's views were widely known from public speeches or books. It was not their bigotry that caught the campaign out, it was the reporting of it. There are other nasties, too. Liddy, who once plotted to kill a left-wing journalist, has hosted a fundraiser with McCain in his own home. McCain also endorsed and campaigned for Alabama politician George Wallace Jr in , despite Wallace's links to racist groups.
Wallace has praised and spoken at meetings of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white-power group that opposes inter-racial marriage and promotes white racial purity. If a moderate voter were seeking to judge a politician by the company he keeps, then McCain keeps some very odd company indeed. But it is not really that strange. McCain himself holds deeply conservative views, including proposing teaching the creationist idea of Intelligent Design in schools alongside evolution.
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McCain has also always been anti-abortion. He believes the landmark Roe vs Wade ruling that legalised abortion was a bad decision.
McCain has vowed to continue the Bush policy of appointing extreme conservatives to the Supreme Court and many fear a McCain presidency will see Roe vs Wade overturned. He's just plain wrong,' said Nancy Keenan, president of abortion rights group Naral. On the environment, too, McCain is not the green warrior some might think.
He has voted against tightening fuel efficiency standards for American cars. But it is not just McCain's politics that are disturbing. It is his personality, too. For McCain has a secret reputation as a man with a ferocious, unpredictable temper. He is a man who has a knack for pursuing vendettas against those he thinks have slighted him, even if they are lowly aides. The list of worrying incidents is long.
In he ended up almost physically scuffling with aged Senator Strom Thurmond on the Senate floor. And, according to some accounts, in he had a fight with Arizona congressman Rick Renzi, throwing blows in a scrap whose details have only recently been detailed in Schecter's book.
Schecter unearthed another unpleasant incident from in which McCain, tired after a long day's campaign, reacted badly to his wife Cindy teasing him about his baldness. Schecter says he has three sources for the story. McCain's campaign have denied it. Such public outbursts, and many other private ones, have concerned people even in his own party.
The Best of a Bad Situation
That sentiment was echoed by Mississippi Republican Senator Thad Cochran, who told a Boston newspaper: 'The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me. Yet McCain is still campaigning successfully as the lovable, maverick patriot. It is a strategy his staff believe will win the White House. So the tricks and stunts keep on coming. A few weeks ago a letter was delivered to Barack Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters.
It was from McCain and in gracious language it offered to hold weekly 'town hall' meetings across America where he and Obama would appear side by side. It would be a far cry from the rancorous circus of televised debates. The audience would be neutral independents. The questions would be random. It would summon back a golden age of gentlemanly politics.
Admiral Squashed White House Request to Hide USS John McCain – Foreign Policy
Retrieved September 22, In , Maria Gracinda Teixeira de Jesus would remember the year-old affair fondly and said that she never forgot McCain. Used to support McCain overall perspectives and direct quotations on Naval Academy experience and value it gave him. United States Navy. Archived from the original PDF on November 1, Retrieved May 23, As indicated by Kuhnhenn, Jim May 7, The Boston Globe.
Archived from the original on May 24, October 6, Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 6, Used to supply aircraft type he was flying and his home base, not given by any other source. Millbrook Press.
Trump defends request to hide ship named John McCain
Retrieved April 6, Republican John McCain callously left behind". The Mail on Sunday. Retrieved June 9, Retrieved April 22, Retrieved February 9, McCain , Inc. Archived from the original on March 8, Used to supply years of birth of two adopted sons. Retrieved December 27, Archived from the original on October 7, Retrieved September 26, In his next game, Fleming , taped in Studio 6A , aired Monday, , he was defeated by challenger Bob Bovard.
Riding aboard his Straight Talk Express campaign bus, McCain, well-read and a trivia buff, recalled his two-day appearance on the popular program in He won the game the first day, and lost the next day in the final round. McCain jokes about 'Jeopardy!
The Washington Times. Retrieved March 13, Used to supply training detail not given by other sources. The Skyhawk Association. August 2, Archived from the original on March 20, Regarding use c , states either Aircraft No. White or No. See also Stewart, Henry P. Which states that Aircraft No. White was hit and does not mention McCain. Lexington Books.