No he doesn't. He is completely oblivious to reality.

"Even McCain must realize how terribly silly this is."

Well, yes, but John's got to do what you've got to do to retain his Republican Leadership Credentials, such as they are.

I thought McCain was supposed to be tough? It would appear he is about ready to cry because someone said a bad word about Reagan. Amazing.

something kinda sorta intemperate

I think you're overstating the case. Reagan's cowboy image, chopping wood and riding his horse on a "ranch" that was, as I understand SoCal geography, a large estate in the suburbs of Los Angeles, was carefully cultivated and a pile of horseshit. He was from a small town in Illinois and made his living as an actor in LA. He was arguably less of a "westerner" than GW. McCain is nuts.

McCain's another grade A hypocrite--he has no problem attacking President Obama shortly after Obama kicked his ass in the election, real classy. But to say something remotely critical of a mediocre former president, and a really bad former president...oh wait, Obama's a Democrat so that's okay. Just don't do it with any Republicans.

Correction: I shouldn't refer to Reagan as a mediocre president. He was a bad president, and Bush was the worst ever.

For all those who favor Reid forcing the Republicans to filibuster, THIS IS IT. They spent five hours Wednesday (?) debating the confirmation of Dep AG Ogden. More time was wasted on two other AG deputies. Lots more on other cabinet choices that weren't controversial. They also blocked a couple Treasury appointments. They want Obama to slow down.

And it's not just Obama. They also want to talk incessantly about earmarks, or introduce bills that accomplish nothing. They do NOT want to be talking about banking regulations, environment, EFCA, healthcare, etc. So they jam the schedule. That is what a real filibuster is intended to do.

Hayes is former deputy Secretary of Interior under which administration>?

Kinda makes a difference. The tone/grain/thrust of the post doesn't identify him as a Democrat--- and suggests the opposite.

Blaspheme Saint Ronnie? Some sins can never be forgiven in the Republic of the Republicans. Sins made by Democrats, mainly.

I wish someone would sit McCain down and explain to him that he lost the 2008 Presidential election - badly. For the sake of whatever dignity he hopes to retain, he should STFU, and quickly.
I have no idea why he's trying to get branded as the World's Sorest Loser, but it appears to be working.

What Hayes wrote in 2006 is correct.

Will the Republicans in their party ever realize Americans have the right to Freedom of Speech? Reagan was human not a god. Reagan gave us the homeless on the street and threw mentally ill people out without medication and support after being institutionalized for years.

Kevin Drum is my favorite blogger but he is dead wrong about the proper role of the Senate in confirming executive branch appointments. Yes, John McCain and others are unreasonable and should be exposed for what they are. But to eliminate or reduce the advice-and-consent powers and duties of the Senate is to give in to chicanery, not to overcome it.

Speaking as a Westerner, I'd like to note that we also appreciate folks who speak their minds and stand their ground, whether they're discussing Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush or Bruce Babbitt. And many of us would gladly trade a healthy organ to see one of these poor saps undergoing a grilling on the political Weber stand up and say, "Gee, I thought we were discussing my qualifications for a job, not my exercise of the right to free speech. What say you go piss up a rope, Senator? I'm outa here."

McCain keeps doing his best to make us glad Obama won.

I bet McCain's true motivation is that, as another western Republican, he suspects that he himself is also being mocked by the article. Nothing gets him miffed like an assault on his own ego.

'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, ...'

This seems like a pretty clear-cut 1st amendment issue. The National Church of Ronald Reagan is unconstitutional.

But geewhiz - that big, bad man hurt McCain's feelings....

"So you had to throw Reagan in there?" McCain continued.

Geez. Good thing he didn't say anything about his mother.

Hayes shouldn't be apologizing. For one thing it's a tactical error: apologizing to bullying or irrationality just rewards the bullying and irrationality.

Besides, he's right. In fact he think he doesn't go far enough. he should add that the West is full of hypocritical parasites who have been living on subsidized use of government resources for generations.

Dear John "narcissitic hack" McCain; you mindless arrogant twit and most unworthy Senator of Arizona. Please take your phony "concern" and go jump off a clif.
If dueling was legal I'd come down and slap you.
And F the memory of Ronaldo Reagano too while you're sailing down to the canyon floor.

What a "moran"

Can you imagine if that angry, pathetic man had been elected President? We dodged a serious bullet.

And all I ever need to know about Reagan is how he and his administration reacted to the El Mazote massacre.

johnsturgeon,

The Clinton Administration.

Why on earth did Hayes say "I shouldn't have done that"? What did he say that was wrong?

Check it out.

Boots, cowboy hat, brush clearing... it's all there. It's not like Hayes invented this.

Oh Sweet Jesus! Republicans can do what they did to Kerry in 04, accuse Clinton of being a rapist and even a murderer, but they are going to get worked up over this?! Piss off!!!!!

John McCain is a dick.

Wait, I'm confused. So McCain is disagreeing with the fact that Reagan cultivated an image of the rugged individualist westerner? Or he is trying to say that Hayes alleged it was just an act and that Reagan really was a grizzled, chin-stubbled former ranch hand and not a famous Hollywood actor and former corporate spokesman and Hayes is therefore being unfair? WTF? That's like getting bent out of shape by someone who writes that Bill Clinton liked barbecue and fast food. It's like, umm, yeah. So?

Senator John McCain's true colors have really come out in the last several weeks.

The mask has dropped right off, and He's not holding back even a little bit. He lost and he's gonna get his pound of flesh no matter how bad it makes him look.

We really escaped an ugly rein by an ugly, disconnected and incompetent man.

I don't mind having to do without the loyal opposition from this guy. McCain would've been a royal pain even as a Przntl Best Pal.

This seemed so bizarre that I went to the original article that Mr. Benen linked. I figured surely the article must say something else about Reagan that got under McCain's skin.

Nope.

A search of the document shows that the word "Reagan" only appears once - in the single, throwaway dependent clause that Mr. Benen included in his post.

I'm amazed that McCain felt that this was worth mentioning. If this is the worst that the Republicans can dig up, then maybe this is one of the few people that the Obama transition team actually vetted properly.

I vote David Bailey as the most concise and accurate poster.

Cattle grazing on pulbic lands is 'Welfare Ranching'

Some 'rugged individualism'

The code of the West is 'Rape, Ruin and Run'

But, PLEASE be nice to Ronnie Ray Gun !!

By "intemperate" you mean "true"?

Even McCain must realize how terribly silly this is.

McAce isn't even cognizant of how many houses and cars he owns. How can one expect him to realize how silly "this is".

These blowhard Senators have finally been exposed for what they are: Low level thinkers that bottom feed at the troth of their base. It's why he is not President, and why we should thank our lucky stars that he isn't. Wrap your head around this: President Mccain and VP Palin. Yikes!!

Hayes shouldn't be apologizing. For one thing it's a tactical error: apologizing to bullying or irrationality just rewards the bullying and irrationality.

Abso-friggin-lutely!

What's interesting about this is that, his statement about the political culture of the west was largely accurate, and, just a few years ago, would have been met with a "you damn right we are!"

I don't see anything remotely offensive about the comments unless you assume that wearing cowboy boots and professing to be a rugged individual that wants the government off your back is now some sort of pop culture crime nowadays even among conservatives (seems unbelievable).

Have things changed that much?

Was it Obama or Bush that changed things?

To be hold enough to personally identify with Ronald Reagan, you would now have to be at least 34 years old (assuming you were 5 when Reagan took office, or 10 when the Iran-Contra scandal began to dim some of his aura). So hopefully these tiresome "oh no he didn't" reactions, whenever a cross word is said about Reagan, will soon begin to diminish, however gradually.

Why on earth did Hayes say "I shouldn't have done that"? What did he say that was wrong?

It's called staying on message, and battling on your terms rather than your opponent's. Some guy named Barack Obama was so good at it, he got elected president.

wow, now government has gone all PC.

nice.
we're doomed.

The people that invoke the sacred name of RR have no clue who the man was. He was no saint.

Reagan's cowboy image, chopping wood and riding his horse on a "ranch" that was, as I understand SoCal geography, a large estate in the suburbs of Los Angeles, was carefully cultivated and a pile of horseshit.

Santa Barbara is actually quite a bit north of Los Angeles, about the same distance from LA as San Diego.

The point still stands, though -- Reagan was no more a cowboy than I am the Queen of Romania. At least he could ride a horse, unlike our last "cowboy" president.

And Republicans have the gall to sneer at Obama as the "Messiah," in a tone of heavy sarcasm, because he inspires enthusiasm in his supporters, unlike any of the poor schlubs running for the Republican nomination last year? This after they have practically declared Ronald Reagan a god?

McCain is, how to put this kindly, no longer in possession of the mental horsepower he once had, which was not that great to begin with. But when it comes to prostrating himself at the feet of the deified dead or the pompous, grandiose, self-appointed Leaders of the Conservative Movement who are still alive (until the inevitable coronary), he's just like every other Republican in Congress.

"And Republicans have the gall to sneer at Obama as the "Messiah," in a tone of heavy sarcasm, because he inspires enthusiasm in his supporters, unlike any of the poor schlubs running for the Republican nomination last year? This after they have practically declared Ronald Reagan a god?"

No, that's the point. They know they deify the ridiculous Reagan, so they want to claim that we deify Obama so as to make us all look the same. It's a time-honored Republican trick.

Only they really DO mean it.

Hey, John McCain, I hear that Laura Ingraham just called Ronald Reagan "plus sized"!!!

How long before the Interwebs cough up a genuine vintage quotation from McCain to the effect of, 'Bruce Babbitt embraced the Western stereotype to the point of adopting some of its affectations -- the boots, brush-clearing, and get-the-government-off-our-backs bravado.'

No, that's the point. They know they deify the ridiculous Reagan, so they want to claim that we deify Obama so as to make us all look the same. It's a time-honored Republican trick.

I think it's more of a lack of imagination than anything else: they deify their leader, so the Democrats must as well. The idea that political parties may actually act differently, instead of being mirror image white hats and black hats, is a real stumbling block.

Just love those Western tales of being born out on the prairie, rattlers a bitin', run-away herds thunderin' over one's crib. Sort of tough on those Illinois, Connecticut, and Panama prairies of olde. Fierce going to Western high schools in arid Illinois and Northern Virgina. Well, Midlands did get rather warm.

But, Reagan never had to cut wood, until he parlayed money from a sweetheart land deal in Rancho California into horse trail property in Solvang. The Kitchen Cabinet helped him with the RC deal. We're not talking about Ben Johnson or Yakima Knutt types here. Those three never had their photos up on Pendleton, OR tavern walls as did Johnson and Knutt and others from the Pendleton Roundup. Cowboys, they were not.

Hey - Get off my lawn!

Why should anyone be embarrassed about making intemperate remarka about a traitor?

Ross Best: nobody is suggesting that the Senate give up its right to confirm appointments to the Cabinet, the Supreme Court or foreign ambassadors. And I think Kevin Drum and most of those that agree with his main point would also preserve the advised and consent role for all federal judges. What is becoming a massive waste of time (both in the sense of how much time is used and how little it accomplishes) is getting Senate approval for dozens of deputy secretaries, assistant secretaries, deputy assistant secretaries and so on for each of the cabinet departments.

The appointments clause clearly gives Congress the authority to pass laws forgoing the need for confirmation hearings and votes on most of those positions:

"The President] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments."

I've been living in the Southwest for 5 years, and the stereotype doesn't always fit. Ranchers may be more conservative, but they don't always fall in line with the Republicans on every issue, particularly if it's something that has an impact on the environment and their land.
McCain probably needs to see a proctologist.

McCain must realize how terribly silly this is.

Yeah. But it's all he's got. Emblematic of the entire Republican party. They got nothin'.

I am not an Arizona resident, but took it upon myself to write Sen. McCain a letter nevertheless: Senator: So, let me get this straight. According to a report in the not-exactly-liberal Wall Street Journal, you are inclined to oppose the nomination David Hayes for deputy secretary of Interior because he had the effrontery to say something mildly critical of Ronald Reagan. Is this true? If so, you can't possibly be serious. What on earth does that have to do with Hayes' ability to do the job? And when did the United States become a place where even a mild criticism of Dear Leader (in this case, Reynaldus Magnus) was enough to disqualify a nominee from a civil service appointment? Are we all apparatchiks now? Talk about government overreaching. For someone who supposedly wants to foster bipartisanship and the free exchange of ideas, you are demonstrating your inability to tolerate dissent. This is why people don't trust the GOP anymore: because they grandstand at the expense of living up to their putative principles. Whoops...that wasn't very complimentary, was it? Good thing I'm not applying for a government job!

Wassamatta with Democrat men? There aint a ball among the lot of them. Why in hell would Hayes feel he needed to apologize? He absolutely nailed the rightwing with at least the portion of his paper that you quoted. It was brilliant. I don't blame McCain for going after him. He smells weakness and thinks he can scare him. The correct response to McCain was, "what's wrong, hit too close to the mark?" Followed by some more articulate version of "now go fuck yourself and the horse you fell off of."

I agree with those who commented negatively on Reagan, and I find it embarrassing that so many Reagan Groupies still pine for him! Reagan was no better for the poor and minorities than was Dubya. I certainly don't remember him fondly.

And all I ever need to know about Reagan is how he and his administration reacted to the El Mazote massacre

Thanks, Singularity

Doesn't that just about sum it up! Reagan was/is a sleeze (I could go on) , and so is McCain.

From a personal note, Reagan's responsibility for forcing a hardline response to the creation of the People's Park in Berkeley in 1969, and the resulting riots and martial law are also all I need to know about him.

I was only 5 years old at the time, but I still have specific memories of being tear-gassed at a daycare center and of watching from the front porch of my home as police arrested someone for being on the street after curfew.

Where are Cindy McCain and Meghan McCain?

Aren't they embarrassed by this man?

I would be highly embarrassed if John McCain were my husband and father.

Surely they want something better for him than to be remember as a grumpy old man who can't get over the fact that he lost an election to the black guy.

John McCain is 72 years old. And while many 72 year olds live to be much, much older, this is not promised. At his age one would expect him to be thinking about his legacy, which now is just as an obstructionist.

I wonder what he thinks about at the end of the day? You know that time of day whem most people look back on their days' activities and get the satisfied feeling of a job well done.

I'd hate to think that in this great land of ours, a writer can't write what they really think about our political leaders, past and present, or that doing so would somehow lead to career blocking. Why that would be almost like a warning to other writers, not to exercise their own free speech. I'm just not going to believe that that could ever happen.