Login HereJoe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham appear to be in violation of the incredibly lax McCain Campaign "ethics" "rule," which states:
"No person with a McCain Campaign title or position may participate in a 527 or other independent entity that makes public communications that support or oppose any presidential candidate."
Lieberman co-chairs, with the odious Chris Shays, the Connecticut McCain committee. Graham chairs Closeted GOPs for McCain -- just kidding, no, he is a general co-chair of the McCain Campaign. Those certainly sound like "McCain Campaign titles or positions."
Nico Pitney and Sam Stein at Huffington Post have discovered, though, that both Lieberman and Graham are on the Board of Advisers of Vets for Freedom, which advocates "victory" in Iraq. As is Max Boot, who advises McCain on foreign policy. You might remember this group because their leader made the unusual allusion to "Tiger Woods" when talking up McCain at an April rally addressed by all three of the War Musketeers:
“You can have your Tiger Woods,” David Bellavia, a former Army staff sergeant, told the crowd of pro-Iraq veterans. “We’ve got Senator McCain.”
That alone sounds like "a public communications that supports... any presidential candidate." But Vets for Freedom went farther on Friday.
In a commercial released on its website, the organization directly took on Obama over his willingness to negotiate with Iranian leadership.
"Obama wasn't available to meet with us [combat veterans]," Sgt. Garrett Anderson (Ret.) of Illinois' Army National Guard says to the camera. "But we weren't surprised. Because he hasn't once, sat down one-on-one with our in Iraq, Gen. Petraeus. Worse, he hasn't been to Iraq in two-and-a-half years. He's unwilling to get the facts on Iraq, yet he is willing to travel to Iran to meet with their leader or anyone else who hates our country... The question for America is, if Barack Obama won't listen to us, who will he listen to?"
That sounds like "public communications that ... oppose any presidential candidate" but the organization says no.
Pete Hegseth, the executive director for Vets for Freedom, said that far from being campaign-motivated, the advertisement was an issue-based criticism of Obama's stance on the war.
See that? They aren't criticizing Senator Obama because he's a presidential candidate, they are criticizing him because of his stance on the war. It just appears to benefit Senator McCain, since McCain's stance is VICTORY. And more war.
But shouldn't Senator McCain's two BFF ballwashers Lieberman and Graham, who travel everywhere with him, correct his misstatements of fact about the Iraq War and Iran's involvement in it, and join the VeepRoast at Cindy's ranch in Sedona this weekend -- shouldn't these two be held to the highest ethical standards?
Officials with the McCain campaign did not immediately return request for comment as to whether or not Lieberman and Graham's positions violated the campaign's new policy or, at the very least, the spirit of it.
Shouldn't Lieberman and Graham either leave the board of Vets for Freedom or leave the McCain campaign? McCain's own "ethics" "rule" says YES.
Calls to the offices of Lieberman and Graham, which are on recess schedule, were not answered
Enjoy the barbecue and ballwashing, boys. Sounds like your days on the Straight Talk Express might be coming to an end. We wouldn't expect either of you to desert our Veterans for Freedom, after all.
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Teddy!
…off to read
Come on now, Teddy. You know this is not a violation of McCain’s ethics standards, because he does not have any.
OT, but have you boys set a date now that the Cali Supremes have greenlighted you?
Teddy!
Don’t hold your breath Teddy. McCain’s so called ethics are extremely elastic.
Um … does the rule apply to people who have no ethics in the first place ? *g*
((( Teddy )))
Hi double-ell — as the first here you are also newly responsible for telling those downstairs that there’s a new post. Apparently the new-post-autobot-announcement did not survive Friday’s transition to the new servers.
Hello, Dr(pause)Dick, no we haven’t, as we’re waiting to see if the haters get an injunction. Having had our date snatched from us more than four years ago, we don’t want to be disappointed again. Of course, we recently celebrated our seventh year together, and you know what they say about the Itch! (kidding!)
((( DrD )))
Do I owe you a Dr. Pepper ?
Oh damn, sorry ’bout that Teddy. Taking care of it now!
i let em know ll :)
Well good luck to you. I really hope that this is the start of a sea change.
Hello, Suzanne. How’s your weekend going?
Hi, mm — I think we should work to put Joe and Lindsey in a box: pick the Veterans or pick McCain, but you can’t have both.
Hello, Petro, yes, the no-ethics thing is hard for McCain, now newly ethical. It’s fun seeing influence-peddler Rick Davis and influence-peddler Charlie Black go on and on every day about the no-good week McCain’s had over influence-peddlers.
McCain’s thrown lobbyists under the Straight Talk Express, and he’s thrown the wacko pastors under there too. Who’s next, Cindy?
Make it something uncarbonated (unless it is one of those nice Canadian beers y’all have).
Just saw that Suz, thank you :-)
I’d gotten spoiled by the auto-notification.
so did backstage :(
Funny thing, I thought McCain got ethics after that messy Keating 5 scandal. Guess that was all for show…who could have imagined?!
It’s gonna be another “no one could have anticipated” Presidency unless Democrats win this fall!
Teddy, I’m not as eloquent or reasoned as so many other commenters here; all I can say is “great post”. McCain et al just make me seethe.
Passing you one of our finest …
Hey LL, any news on the barn cats?
I bet JoeLie will still be hard at work trying to bring da troops home ? /s
((((( LL )))))
There there, have a draft on me @ 18 …
Mmmmmmmmm. *smacks lips* That hits the spot. ;-)
I guess I’m not around here enough to know that you were waiting on a date, TSF. I’m happy for you that the CaliSupremes had some balls. Hope the yahoos don’t stop - or delay any loinger -you or anyone else from getting married. I think gay people can revolutionize marriage and make it better — lose the chicken dance, OK? Promise me.
Seriously, wedding days are one of the most special days in anyone’s life. Only rtight that you get to know that first hand and hope it happens for you asap.
BTW, great post. We can’t underestimate this “victory” shit. Americans are,in large part, kinda stooopid like that.
Why, thank you~!
How long is it until CT has the chance to send JoeLie into a well deserved retirement? Damn, he is such a wanker.
hey suze.
ll dugg ya teddy, and i seconded her
And to further show my appreciation, it’s been Dugg!
hey bfl… hey pups
Four more years unless he suddenly gets a conscience. NOT
Just finished watching HBO’s “Recount”, it will be shown again in a couple hrs at 1 am and tomorrow at 1 pm and 9 pm.
I also watched CNN’s Special Investigations “The First Patient: Health & the Presidency”. It’s on now at CNN. Good show, makes one think abount the mental health and age of a candiate. Good job CNN.
Ooooh, lovely! (((( Petro ))))
Well the momcat is preggers — my friend says she is due within a matter of days. I’ll go visit them a little while after they’re born :-)
Damn. It would really be a shame if the Dems picked up enough of a majority in the next election to boot him across the aisle. What a come down that would be for poor Joe. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy IMHO.
Bring home one for me!
Great post Teddy, thank you very much.;)
Should we agree to not bring our kitty litter talk to the Lake?
We also need to have Harry Reid grow a pair and strip him of all his committee assignments. He. Is. Not. A. Democrat. He does not get to play with the good kids, but has to sit in the corner and pick his nose. The Democratic leadership really needs to get over this false “commity” bullshit. That can only work if both sides play and the Rethugs do not.
hojo deserves a cubicle in the senate basement and no committee assignments
I know it’s OT, but if you missed “Recount”, watch the rerun.
Ok Margot ;-)
Sorry Gnome, I was just answering MM’s question.
And a really crappy parking spot. In a lot, far, far away.
who hojo?
Yep
hojo = lieberman
I was using reverse psychology, seeing if we can annoy the mods here, too! ;-) I was one of the worst offenders yesterday with my tales of kitty woe.
In Pittsburgh or maybe Gary, IN, perhaps.
There is the lobby then there is the cloakroom and Joe and Lindsey are in the cloakroom with Johnny.
I like the evil way your mind works!
Betcha the Senate Democrats get to fifty-eight, and need Bernie Sanders and Lieberman to get to sixty. It’ll be the same whining from Harry Reid again, about how we can’t get anything done without sixty votes. And how important Joe is, and how “he’s with us on everything but the war,” which is far from true but still the song Harry sings about him.
fat chance
*sigh*
Kitties okay, sports not so much.
He’s also pretending to throw Bush under the StraitTalk Express. (It’s all a joke!)
ya hear that lurk - teddy said kittys are ok
*taking glare off stun*
Pick his nose?
Isn’t Obama talking “commity bullshit”? Don’t get me wrong. I support him. I think he will reach out to Republicans, get nothing in return from them and he’ll tell them to piss off — especially if there are more Dems in congress. Diference between Obama and Reid, I hope, is that Obama won’t come back for more if he gets shat on.
This is apparently the most awarded Beer in Toronto … and I nevvuh lie … *g*
Really? Oh jeez. Far away parking space? He should be made to ride the Metro. And pay for it.
I fear you are correct here. They simply refuse to see that he is a greater liability than an asset and has never been a reliable ally. It is this bullshit collegiality that infests so many of our leadership. Again that only works if both sides play.
You have to sympathize with McBush- he will either follow or break any rule and either say or not say anything in order to be president- so it’s NOT HIS FAULT- he’s just doin the hard work to get elected. If it happens to be illegal or immoral- well it ain’t as if he MEANS it.
It’s in the updated Mod handbook, page 453, 3rd paragraph.
Dugg it too. This is really cool, Teddy. Hadn’t thought about the Lindsay/Lieb connections to the lobbyists. Are both spouses lobbyists?
fork, i’m so behind in my reading… let’s just keep that between us, lurk, ok
Yes, but if (spaghetti monster willing) we get a Dem President and continue with a Dem majority in the House then it will only take a Senate leader with the cajones to call the GOP bluff if and when it occurs. The GOP members will whine and stomp and hold their breath of course, that’s what petulant toddlers do. Then the grownups will step in, time-outs will be given out and progress will be achieved.
Yeah, I have my moments of optomism, sue me :)
So, here’s me, all alone. Wife and kids away. And what happens/ I notice this morning that, jeez, I don’t think I’ve seen the cat for…… like, a day, maybe? It’s my daughter’s cat.
You guys have a Mod handbook?
I’m still waiting for my Liberal Agenda.
I bet I can get one from Rush Limpball but I don’t wanna be a bother.
… which Bush’s signing statement overrules …
*ducks under lead Bunker/Desk*
That is actually one of the things that irritates me about Obama, though I do support him. On the other hand I have seen signs of late, in his responses to BS from the McCain campaign, that he actually has a spine and is willing to call bullshit on them. Remains to be seen how this will develop.
I think Joe’s recent WSJ op-ed comparing Democrats to appeasing terrorist gay Mexicans, or whatever, got some of his caucus pretty upset, Biden for one. And I hope he gives a stemwinder keynote speech at the GOP St Paul party — and challenges Chris Matthews to a duel, like Zell did!~
Do you get a pony if you get 60 votes for dem leadership?
You can break a filibuster with 60 votes but that’s a different issue- and it takes 67 to overide a veto I think- so really- when it comes to the vote for leadership- you are either in control or not- no bonus points that I know of.
Liberman’s spouse is a lobbyist for BigPharma.
Lindsey’s spouse? There is no gay marriage in South Carolina.
maybe she heard about your attempt at hotdogs and mac salad and took over for a neighbors until its safe to come home? (trying to put positive spin on it)
Good night all, gotta work tomorrow. Thanks again Teddy.
Um … wasn’t it to have gay sex in the church while burning the flag and surrendering to the terrists ? *g*
i’m still waiting for my soros check
Only if Matthews takes him up on it. ;-)
Me too. After Reid, i just hope he doern’t do much of the same. I can’t imagine that. I mean, Obama couldn’t have been topo happy with Reid. Could he?
I think he is aware enough to see that it is very difficult to play nice wth those who refuse to do the same. Hopefully, he will make the effort, and if rebuffed, will play hardball. I hope.
BFL-you better find that kitty, and before the wife and daughter come home.
You forgot about the cheese.
I was thinking more like a broom closet in the basement … with the brooms still in it. And the mopbucket, with the mop and the mop water in it.
Well, I’m hoping the Democrats won’t need to override vetoes, because I’m hoping for a Democratic President. But with 60 votes on cloture, Mitch McConnell will become irrelevant.
Teddy,
You got a date set yet? And are we going to see photos?
Jeez, you’d think the very least he could do is buy your little cabin in the redwoods. He’s throwing money all over the blogosphere, after all!
I’ve been spending some time on Silver State blogs urging the Majority Leader to step down from his national role in order to defend his Senate seat in 2010. We don’t want a repeat of Tom Daschle. We need a Majority Leader from a safe seat — and we need a pro-choice Majority Leader.
Yes, but having 60 dems seated- or even 60 seated senators who voted for dem leadership- doesn’t mean that they will have 60 cloture votes on any given issue- unless someone starts gettin all autocratic an threatening about it like the goopers did.
How are you doing, Beerfart? Chin up!
Hi Matt! — see my 6 regarding a date.
And of course there will be lotsa photos, when it happens.
I’m still waiting for my “stimulus check” with a social ending in 15….
well, it’s a he. and ya know what? the mac salad came out OK after all. Now the hot dogs……. They were OK for having been cooked on the stove. So i get my dogs, salad, watermellon and lemonade all ready to go sit down and watch Recount. Need one more, last thing…….. THERE’S NO MUSTARD!!!!! Aaaaaaagggghhhhh!!
The cat must have gotten out the back door last night when I was on the patio. I didn’t see him. Went back in. He was outside this morning. treated him nice - extra attention. The doxie got jealous.
i haven’t gotten mine either
He got locked out last night. he was out in the garden. I think he ate something because there was cat barf by the front door. The kid will never know.
Boil the dogs- that’s what they do at the ballpark an no one complains- in fact- they sometimes boil em once on friday an then boil em up again on saturday if they ain’t sold. No one minds.
Course they have BIG beers with them dogs.
The wife won’t know either.
dauschxie?
I was supposed to be in the first group, having filed electronically. Has anyone been stimulated?
What! No one ever told me that when I swore my allegiance to World Domination Through Democratic Victories. I mean, checked the little “Democratic” box on the voter registration form.
My mom told me once that, early in their marriage, my dad sat her down and explained that no-mustard was grounds for divorce. She laughed, and he said — no, really, there must always be mustard in the house.
My dad was very serious about very little. I suspect mustard was just one of those things he was very serious about.
i could NOT believe McConnell got re elected! OMG. i talk regularly with a friend in KY and she said NO ONE can stand him. She was incredulous.
WHAT a bummer! i had faith and HOPE for the “Ditch Mitch” campaign!
*sigh*
MAYBE he can be busted or something with his wife being in the Bu$h misAdministration…….
maybe?????
Yeah, but not that way.
hojo had a little part in Recount — in the role of a stupid, backstabbing asshole. anybody see that? was that true that he went on MTP and said something he hadn’t cleared with Gore about the absentee ballots?
Picked up my precinct supplies today- I’m the Precinct inspector for June, 3rd..
Forgot to leave town when they was askin fer volunteers.
This means three hours of work the night before followed by a 16 hour election day…
I’m gonna be toast.
I still haven’t received my vote-by-mail ballot. I suspect we got signed up wrong when we voted early during the February primary. Probably all the Edwards voters’ applications to vote-by-mail got thrown away.
Laugh-in’s Dick Martin dead at 86.
“Say goodnight, Dick….”
That’s all I got.
I filed electronically and got mine about a week ago. Already gone, sadly.
He is up for election this fall, against the faux-Democrat Bruce Lunsford.
He hasn’t been re-elected yet has he?
Yes.
LOL … ((((( Margot )))))
LOL. it’s true. And I will not — NOT — put ketchuip on a hot dog. I’m the only one in this house who eats mustard so if we run out, the weife won’t buy it unless I make a big deal about it. i thought she had a couple in the pantry.
Yep. In the second week. Immediately stuck it in the savings account.
When I get my bribe from the govt. I’m gonna use it to buy a barrel of tequila for the goodbye Bush party.
Well, I suppose you could just move out while she’s away. That’ll learn her.