Quotes you never heard before from John McCain

As McCain says in his television ads, “character counts.”

Wikiquote has compiled a list of some pretty frightening things John McCain has said. Is this someone we want to continue being our Senator? The most shocking three quotes we are not including, because they are so appalling. If our readers dare read them, they can be found at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_McCain under “Attributed” about 4/5 of the way down the page.

MCCAIN WON’T RULE OUT A PAYROLL TAX INCREASE

There is nothing that’s off the table. I have my positions and I’ll articulate them. But nothing’s off the table.

In response to a question regarding the possibility of payroll tax increases under a McCain presidency, July 27, 2008

MCCAIN OWNS SO MANY HOMES HE DOESN’T KNOW HOW MANY HE OWNS

I think – I’ll have my staff get to you. It’s condominiums where – I’ll have them get to you.

When asked in an interview how many houses he and Mrs. McCain owned, August 20, 2008

MCCAIN DOESN’T LIKE THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT

Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.

Address at Virginia Beach, VA (2000), as quoted at The Washington Post (28 February 2000)

MCCAIN’S MOTIVATIONS FOR BECOMING PRESIDENT ARE PURELY NARCISSISTIC, NOT IDEALISTIC

I didn’t decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in, or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be president because it had become my ambition to be president.

p. 373 of Worth the Fighting For; 2002

I have to tell you, [Senator Obama] is a decent person, and a person that you do not have to be scared as President of the United States.

Town Hall meeting in Lakeville, Minnesota, October 11, 2008.

You may have noticed that Senator Obama’s supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about western Pennsylvania lately. And you know, I couldn’t agree with them more.

Said in a speech near Kansas City, Missouri, October 20, 2008.

I am sure that Senator Clinton would make a good President. I happen to be a Republican and would support, obviously, a Republican nominee, but I have no doubt that Senator Clinton would make a good President.

Meet the Press (20 February 2005)

MCCAIN DOESN’T UNDERSTAND ECONOMICS

I’m going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.

Wall Street Journal interview by Stephen Moore, November 26, 2005

The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should. I’ve got Greenspan’s book…. I’ve never been involved in Wall Street, I’ve never been involved in the financial stuff, the financial workings of the country, so I’d like to have somebody intimately familiar with it.

Referring to a potential Vice President, December 18, 2007

MCCAIN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

I don’t think I need to tell you that there are jobs that Americans will not do. I don’t think I have to tell you that there are. … [audience response] Now, my friends, I’ll offer anybody here fifty dollars an hour if you’ll go pick lettuce in Yuma this season and pick for the whole season. [audience response] So, ok, sign up! Ok, when you sign up, you sign up, and you’ll be there for the whole season, the whole season, ok, not just one day. Because you can’t do it, my friend.

Declaring at an AFL-CIO convention in April 2006 that no Americans would be willing to do agricultural work for as little as $50/hour

ON HOW THE U.S. MUST GET ALONG WITH HAMAS

They’re the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it’s a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that.

CONTRAST WITH FLIP-FLOP THREE YEARS LATER:

I made it very clear, at that time, before and after, that we will not negotiate with terrorist organizations, that Hamas would have to abandon their terrorism, their advocacy to the extermination of the state of Israel, and be willing to negotiate in a way that recognizes the right of the state of Israel and abandons their terrorist position and advocacy.

Speaking in Charleston, West Virginia, May 14, 2008

I think one of our big problems has been the fact that many Iraqis resent American military presence. And I don’t pretend to know exactly Iraqi public opinion. But as soon as we can reduce our visibility as much as possible, the better I think it is going to be.

MSNBC, January 31, 2005

MCCAIN WILL APPOINT DEMOCRATS IF PRESIDENT

If I am elected President, I will work with anyone who sincerely wants to get this country moving again. I will listen to any idea that is offered in good faith and intended to help solve our problems, not make them worse. I will seek the counsel of members of Congress from both parties in forming government policy before I ask them to support it. I will ask Democrats to serve in my administration. My administration will set a new standard for transparency and accountability. I will hold weekly press conferences. I will regularly brief the American people on the progress our policies have made and the setbacks we have encountered. When we make errors, I will confess them readily, and explain what we intend to do to correct them. I will ask Congress to grant me the privilege of coming before both houses to take questions, and address criticism, much the same as the Prime Minister of Great Britain appears regularly before the House of Commons.

“Text of McCain’s Speech on First-Term Goals”, washingtonpost.com,

2008-05-15

MCCAIN’S REAL RECORD ON VOTING FOR VETS

Vietnam vet: We haven’t heard why you voted against your colleagues’ proposals to increase health care funding in 2004, ’05, ’06, and ’07, when we had troops coming back from two wars.

Madow: Instead of the answer the questioner is looking for, McCain now takes credit for the GI bill and takes a political shot at Jim Webb.

McCain: On the issue of the GI bill, I was disappointed that Senator Webb didn’t support making it permanent. Senator Graham, other veterans and I will be looking to extend that to all veterans, not just 2001. I hope you’ll urge Senator Webb to agree with that.

McCain: I received every award from every major veterans’ organization in America. The reason is I have a perfect voting record from organizations like Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and all the other veterans service organizations because of my support of them.

Vietnam vet: You do not have a perfect voting record by the DIV and the VFW. That’s where these votes [of yours against increasing vet health care] are recorded. The votes were proposals by your colleagues in the Senate to increase health care funding of the VA in 2003, ’04, ’05, and ’06 for troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and you voted against those proposals. I can give you specific Senate votes, the numbers of those Senate votes right now.

McCain: I thank you, and I’ll examine your version of what my voting record is, but again, I’ve been endorsed in every election by all of the veterans’ organizations that do that. I’ve been supported by them, and I’ve received their highest rewards, from all of those organizations, so I guess they don’t know something you know.

Rieckoff: [McCain's] voting record is not very strong. The Disabled American Veterans gave him a 20% rating out of 100. Our organization, the IAVA, gave him a D rating in the last voting session. He does not have a perfect voting record from the VFW. He’s consistently voted against increased funding of the VA, and he’s been a major opponent of the new GI bill.

Paul Rieckhoff of Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans for America and author of Chasing Ghosts, on Countdown, discussing a town hall exchange between McCain and another Vietnam vet; July 9, 2008

IAVA ratings: McCain: D; Obama: B+ [29]; DAV: McCain: 20%; Obama: 80%; the AL and VFW don’t perform such voting record ratings

While I don’t in any way question your honor, your patriotism or your service to our country, I do question some of the decisions, the judgments you’ve made over the past two and a half years. During that time things have gotten markedly and progressively worse.

To General George Casey in his confirmation hearing as the nominee for Army Chief of Staff, before the Senate Armed Services Committee (February 1, 2007)

We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement — that’s the kindest word I can give you — of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war. The price is very, very heavy and I regret it enormously. I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history.

Associated Press. “McCain blasts Rumsfeld for Iraq war missteps”, MSNBC.com, 2007-02-19.

QUOTES FROM OTHERS ABOUT MCCAIN

Frankly, neither of [the presidential candidates'] numbers adds up. But I’ve come to see a consistent pattern in Obama’s. For the life of me, Senator Straight Talk, I see no such straight thing with yours. You rail against big government, yet continue to push cockamamie spending plans that make a mockery of it. That’s why you’re losing right now, Senator McCain. Not because you don’t have the courage of your convictions. But because on economic matters, you have no convictions, period.

Neil Cavuto of Fox News; October 28, 2008

I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit. When he came home and saw that Carol [McCain's first wife] was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it. Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better. This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.

Ted Sampley

Luckily, I agree with my party more than Senator McCain agrees with his party.

Hillary Clinton, Politico, February 11, 2008.

John started carousing and running around with women.

Robert Timberg, author of The Nightingale’s Song, a biography of McCain and graduates of the Naval academy, about the end of McCain’s first marriage.

McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory. After he came home, Carol [McCain's first wife] walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.

Ross Perot

But the more one sees of [McCain's] impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.

Conservative pundit George Will; September 23, 2008

From http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_McCain