What is McCain thinking?

There's increasing reason to wonder whether he thinks at all.

The question may be less one of what Big John is thinking than what it is he's been drinking.

WTF?

As usual, not thinking. Another erratic choice by Johhny Drama.

Anyway, I thought he's never spoken to Palin except for 15 minutes in passing before he picked her to be second in line for the presidency. So he's been asking her for foreign policy advice since a month ago?

"Sage or rosemary in the moose stew?"

"7.62mm or .30-06 in heavy woods?"

"Deep snow or steep hills when gunning down wolves?"

Drain bamage.

I don't blame the climate change but I see the potential for a great sound clip for a Democratic ad addressing foreign policy, Charlie.

He's not thinking. He's flailing.

Placing 'McCain' and 'thinking' in the same sentence is like having 'Palin' and 'smart' in the same sentence.

Does not compute.

Wouldn't this be a nice debate question? 'Gov. Palin, John McCain says that he has looked to you for advice regarding foreign policy, can you give us an example of what areas you were able to advise him?'

It seems the McCain campaign has decided to play up Sarah Palin as the decisive gal with good instincts and hope that gets all the swooners from her Republican convention speech back on board. Which makes me even more certain that her debate performance is going to be all snarky insults and quips, just like the speech. The "experience" theme has been dead since the Palin choice anyway.

Maybe McCain meant that he consulted Palin for advice generally, not on foreign policy in particular. In other words, yam's joke is probably correct.

Answer: McCain is NOT thinking. Thinking takes time, facts. McCain a mean spirited, hotdogging bully who likes to fight, the dirtier and riskier the better. He's said to like craps, a game entirely of luck -- no reasoning involved, no psychology except your own gambling mindset, little if any calculation of odds, just toss the dice and see what happens. If you win it's luck, which is always good, or -- if you believe there's some larger order to things -- its because the Universe Itself approves you: all ego, all the time. Vicious, impatient, mean, nasty, without deliberation. Lord (or whatever belief system you embrace), help us.

He's thinking? I don't think he's had a coherent thought all month.

To be accurate, Sarah's foreign policy expertise comes from her husband, Todd, who's gotten into some border scuffs against those kooky Canucks!

How long before she's thrown under the bus like Katherine Harris?

Is it possible that McCain could get elected entirely by a demographic that does not pay attention to any media outlet beyond their local news and people magazine? I wonder if he gives these incredible answers on purpose to magnify the notion that the "media elite" are against him.

This would be a great quote for an Obama Ad--
juxtaposed next to some of Palin's zingers about Putin rearing his ugly head and being able to see Russia from Alaska and that she only got her Passport last year..

Palin's foreign policy advice would be something along the lines of how to shoot a moose standing on Canadian soil while sitting in a helicopter in Alaskan airspace.

Sorry Yam, you beat me to it, but I had to post anyway.

I just had a scary thought -- what if, facing certain ruin in the '08 elections, the Republicans are instead waging a campaign to overwhelm our ability to mock them?

That would explain why he believes Pakistan was a "failed state," and why he says ridiculous things like South Koreans are 3 inches taller than North Koreans. What I really want to know is the relative height between Tibetans and Argentinians.

From your quotes, the interviewer was in effect asking McCain whether he has stopped beating his wife. However, his answer showed how easily he lies and how tied he is to his precious "surge", for in fact Obama was right about Iraq and McCain is clinging to a loser of a war.

Good question, betagreg. My followup would be, "Sen. McCain stated that he had consulted your advice many times in the past. Given that you had only met him once before being selected as his runningmate, how many times did he consult you and when did those consultations take place?"

Her probably response: "Let me check that out and get back to ya." Cue deer in the headlights.....

MCCAIN: I just want to make a comment about the obvious issue and that is the failure of Congress to act yesterday. Its just not acceptable. […] This is just a not acceptable situation. I’m not saying this is the perfect answer. If I were dictator, which I always aspire to be, I would write it a little bit differently.

The answer is 42.

Sarah, what's the name of the lobbyist who represents Georgia? Be a dear, and ask him whether we should invade Russia.

What is McCain thinking?

Who cares what he's thinking...what's he smoking?

JWK: "...why he says ridiculous things like South Koreans are 3 inches taller than North Koreans."

I didn't watch the debate but even I know why he said this -- to illustrate why North Korea is a bad place with rotten nutrition. As if Obama ever disputed that.

My girlfriend is a nurse practitioner. I turn to her all the time for helpful tips regarding cold fusion. Works for us.

What I really want to know is the relative height between Tibetans and Argentinians.

Actually, there is a theory that suggests that healthier populations achieve greater height.

Results. U.S. heights stabilized at mid-century and a two-decade period of stagnation set in with the birth cohorts 1955–1974, concurrent with continual rapid increases in heights in western and northern Europe. Americans had been the tallest in the world for (more than) two centuries until World War II, but by the end of the 20th century fell behind many European populations. Only since the most recent birth cohorts 1975–1983 is some gain apparent among whites but not among blacks. The relationship between height and income and between height and educational attainment has not changed appreciably over time for either men or women.

Conclusion. We conjecture that the U.S. health-care system, as well as the relatively weak welfare safety net, might be why human growth in the United States has not performed as well in relative terms as one would expect on the basis of income alone. The comparative pattern bears some similarly to that of life expectancy insofar as the United States is also lagging behind in that respect.

I'd also suggest McCain's behavior strongly emulates Bush (yet again). In essence, he is saying he will seek out and listen only to advice for which he is already in general agreement with and ignore competing views or advice.

What is McCain thinking? —Steve Benen

He obviously is thinking that this will boost Palin in the eyes of the really, really stupid.

Palin's falling popularity indicates, in part, that most voters now understand that she doesn't know squat about world affairs.

McCain's grasping at straws at this point. I guess it's a continuation or variation on the "Russia's right next door" meme.

He is confusing her with Cindy is all....give the man a break!

Well, he didn't say he consulted her on foreign policy, even though in the context of the question it would seem to be the logical modifier. Then he changed subject. So it was a deft non-answer, like a lot of his debate rhetoric. This was a prickly interview. Taken along with the Des Moines editors interview the other day, it's clear McCain is getting frustrated and angry and indignant (moreso than usual). He knows he losing and, worst of all, knows he has no-one to blame but himself. But since he's above all reproach due to his POW experience, this produces a cognitive dissonance that he expresses with that "fuck you" tone in his voice when talking with reporters these days.

I just had a scary thought -- what if, facing certain ruin in the '08 elections, the Republicans are instead waging a campaign to overwhelm our ability to mock them? Posted by: Gregory on October 1, 2008 at 12:50 PM | PERMALINK

Thanks for that -- that really made me laugh.

He is confusing her with Cindy is all....give the man a break! -Akinola

I'm sure that will be his excuse when Cindy catches them. :0

Ok, so he turns to her for advice on foreign policy, and yet when Katie couric questions her directly about a foreign policy statement she made in responce to a voter McCain orders her to shut up and answers for her.

This will be remembered as one of the most disastrous Presidential campaigns ever. I'don't think Obama and Biden need to utter another word from now untilelection day. They can just stand back and shake their heads...with the rest of us.

Might help to also have the last part of that to make it even more mindboggling:

NPR: But would you turn to Governor Palin?

MCCAIN: I certainly wouldn’t turn to them, and I’ve already turned to Governor Palin particularly on energy issues and I’ve appreciated her background and knowledge on that and many other issues

When he starts getting foreign policy advice from a monkey-sock with button eyes, we'll know for sure: the fix is in and McCain simply doesn't care who knows it.

If that's the same interview I heard this morning, I laughed out loud when Steven Inskeep asked McCain if he's proud of the campaign he's run so far, and McCain went back to the claim that he wouldn't have been forced to run a dirty campaign if only Obama had done those townhalls with him. Talk about whiny-ass titty-babies.

I actually heard the NPR interview this morning. If you haven't look at the linked transcript, I would recommend doing so.
One other thing that he said really disturbed me. They asked him about how he balances his honor and this campaign. He insisted that he is running an honorable campaign that is honorable and has been doing the right thing. As part of that line of questioning, they asked about the TV ad which claims Obama wants to teach sex to kindergarteners. He said is was "absolutely factually correct." This is the quote that really got me:
"I'm proud of the campaign we are running, the ads are factually correct. And if someone named factcheck.org or anybody else doesn't agree with it, I respectfully disagree with their conclusions."
This brought up a couple of questions for me:
1. Does he know what factcheck.org is?
2. Does he really believe that it is honorable to be completely misleading even if you what you said is technically true (due to clever wording at times)??
I have a lot of words for that, but honorable isn't one of them.

McCain: "So, kid, whaddya think we should do about Georgia?"

Palin: "The same thing we always do about Georgia!"

McCain: "War with Russia?"

Palin: "If Putin rears his face over their air, oh yah!"

McCain: "Kid, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

McCain, a POW? Why yes. Profoundly. Out of touch. Wanker.

Steve, you and the commenters seem to be overlooking another angle on this: it's an obvious lie because everyone acknowledges that McCain had spoken to Palin exactly twice before picking her for VP. He couldn't possibly have "turned to her advice many times in the past". He lies through his teeth.

He's thinking "Is it time for my Metamucil yet?"

He's thinking "I'm right and you're wrong and SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!"

At one of their joint rallies, McCain was overheard asking Palin, "Do these people look like they should be in a Jerry Springer audience or what? My campaign manager even looks like that bald headed guy that pulls the brawlers apart."

I call Poe's Law on lou. I can't tell if that's a joke or not.

I've never seen anyone paint himself into a corner like McCain has. Instead of finessing the obvious contradictions, he angrily toughs it out. Amazingly bad form.

Tomorrow night I'd like to hear Gwen Ifill ask Sarah Palin: "Governor Palin, Senator McCain recently told NPR that he has sought your advice in the past on foreign affairs and energy policy. Can you tell us what his concerns were and what your response was?"

Since anger is not her style, she would just spin her answer. She knows that obvious finesse is better than indignant denial.

Danp, that's a very stupid theory. According to that theory and based on life expectancy, the Japanese people, especially the Okinawans, should be the tallest people in the world.

He says it, the MSM repeats it, and thousands of people who do not question the MSM believe it.

They were wrong about Iraq,

Really? So Iraq DID have WMDs, welcomed us as liberators, the war was over in weeks and Sunni/Shia sang kumbaya? I must have missed it.

wrong about Russia.

Because they should have waged a useless, belligerent, war of rhetoric to ratchet up tensions like McCain did?

Danp, that's a very stupid theory - fake diety

Please don't use a screen name that suggests omniscience. The theory is not that health is the only factor. Nor does it suggest that basketball centers are healthier than point guards. It merely suggests that a population with the same genetics will adjust slightly in size over generations depending on health and nutrition.

Of course McCain asks Sarah Palin for her advice and knowledge. A) he doesn't know how to get news off the internet but fortunately Sarah is able to keep him current via quick briefs from her reading all the newspapers and magazines. B) only Sarah can remember all the details from those key Biden speeches back in 1972, when McCain couldn't hear them BECAUSE HE WAS A P.O.W. AT THE TIME. C) McCain has always been envious of the way that Jimmy Carter was able to discuss nuclear proliferation with his little girl Amy, and this is as close as he can come to that.

"What is McCain thinking?"

He's thinking that just enough of us are stupid enough to buy his BS to get him elected, that's what he's thinking.

I think it's obvious. He's been asking her how to conduct his campaign. It shows.

Say anything. Do anything. This really is the equivalent of the blindfolded kid swinging around the bat at the swaying pinata, missing over and over again. (With the addition of William Kristol on the sidelines cheering him on that the pinata must be getting really tired by now and victory is both inevitable and in sight)

Danp,

You can't argue science with GOD. As the Republicans have shown us, the two are mutually exclusive.

McCain is prone to saying anything.

They get away with it by backtracking or attacking crazy remarks.

Either they didn't "really" mean it, or the questioner is liberal elite media, or they didn't hear the question or they change the subject.

this election is really about just how stupid the American public is. How stupid is the average American?

Far far stupider than we think. fortunately... not quite enough to be winning though. there are limits to trying to con your way into office.

Danp, no need to be offended. I did not say it was your theory.

In the context of the discussion, using height-- a measure that is subject to a variety of factors and varies widely at the population level--to explain differences between 2 countries is absurd. As in the case of McCain re: North and South Korea.

"...turned to her advice many times in the past"? Like when? Not unless a month or so ago qualifies as "the past". It wasn't much longer ago that John McCain didn't even know who she was. As Jonno appeals above, how stupid is the average American? Stupid enough to fall for that? Really?

McCain and Palin do have something in common. Both just open their piehole and go with whatever comes out. It must be tremendously liberating in speechifying, not to have to defend or substantiate anything you say. And McCain likes to pretend the media are rough on him? Give me strength.

The attack ad:
McCain says he's relied on Palin for foreign policy experience "many times".
What has she told him?
[insert Palin foreign policy gibberish from interview here]

A lawyer's take on McCain--he's an authoritarian who (1) has a problem being questioned, in both senses of the word, by someone who does not defer to him (think Jon Stewart before 2008 for the type of interview he handled well) and (2) has gotten so used to lying that he lies without compunction whenever he can't come up with an answer. Bad combination that usually leads to unraveling, particularly when he fails to keep track of his past statements.

He was fumbling around in that interview quite a bit. The part I kept hearing was him saying, "Gov. Palin and I share the same worldview". That would be the fundie worldview in which, like some secret handshake, you can trust the other who claims it. They feel each other in the force...a scary way to choose a President, but one which the RR thinks is infallible, like the Bible.

"...turned to her advice many times in the past"? Like when? Not unless a month or so ago qualifies as "the past".

Well, it's not "the future." Let's give him that much.

I second betagreg's suggestion for the VP debate: "Gov. Palin, John McCain says that he has looked to you for advice regarding foreign policy, can you give us an example of what areas you were able to advise him?"

"Sen. Biden, similarly, what foreign policy advice have you been asked for from, or given to, Sen. Obama?"

Wait a minute...McCain asked her for advice many times in the past? He met her for the first time in February of this year at a Governor's conference, then again right before (or maybe during) the Dem convention.

Gimme a break.