What I really wanted to ask is why the hell do I have to keep updating apps on my iPhone all the time?
– John McCain, at yesterday’s hearing about Apple’s tax planning.
Apple quote of the day
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Tag Archives: John McCain
Rand Paul takes on the neocons
Rand Paul has called out at least two of the Senate neocons: John McCain and Lindsey Graham:
“They think the whole world is a battlefield, including America, and that the laws of war should apply,” Paul said in an interview on Fox News about McCain and Graham, who had described Paul’s comments about drones as “ridiculous.”
“The laws of war don’t involve due process, so when they ask you for an attorney you tell them to shut up. That’s not my understanding of the way America works,” Paul told Fox. “I don’t think the laws of war apply to America, I think the Bill of Rights do and I think it’s a disservice to our soldiers that our senators up there arguing that the Bill of Rights aren’t important.”
The lie in “Zero Dark Thirty”
Zero Dark Thirty, the new film depicting the hunt for and killing of Osama bin Laden, depicts graphic images of torture and implies that the torture provided “actionable” intelligence.
However, three US Senators, Dianne Feinstein, Carl Levin and John McCain vehemently contend that this country use of (illegal) torture did not provide any aid in tracking down bin Laden. And they do so in a letter to Sony Pictures that made the film.
We understand that the film is fiction, but it opens with the words ‘based on first-hand accounts of actual events’ and there has been significant media coverage of the CIA’s cooperation with the screenwriters. As you know, the film graphically depicts CIA officers repeatedly torturing detainees and then credits these detainees with providing critical lead information on the courier that led to Osama bin Laden. Regardless of what message the filmmakers intended to convey, the movie clearly implies that the CIA’s coercive interrogation techniques were effective in eliciting important information related to a courier for Osama bin Laden. We have reviewed CIA records and know that this is incorrect. Zero Dark Thirty is factually inaccurate, and we believe that you have an obligation to state that the role of torture in the hunt for Osama bin Laden is not based on the facts, but rather part of the film’s fictional narrative.
More from The Hollywood Reporter.
Related articles
- Is the new Osama bin Laden snuff flick “Zero Dark Thirty” pro-torture? (boingboing.net)
- CIA challenges accuracy of ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ (security.blogs.cnn.com)
- Kathryn Bigelow, Torture Apologist? Ctd (andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com)
- Acting CIA Director Says ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Is “Not A Realistic Portrayal Of The Facts” (m.deadline.com)
McCain: For and against Rice
John McCain, speaking in 2005 in support of the nomination of Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State, notwithstanding the fact that Rice had previously testified (wrongly) that there were indeed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq:
So I wonder why we are starting this new Congress with a protracted debate about a foregone conclusion. . . . I can only conclude we are doing this for no other reason than lingering bitterness at the outcome of the elections. . . . We all have varying policy views, but the President, in my view, has a clear right to put in place the team he believed would serve him best.
And yet, now he says he will do anything to block a possible nomination of Susan Rice for Secretary of State, claiming she somehow lied about Benghazi:
[Susan Rice is] not qualified. Anyone who goes on national television and in defiance of the facts, five days later — We’re all responsible for what we say and what we do. I’m responsible to my voters. She’s responsible to the Senate of the United States. We have our responsibility for advice and consent. (on CBS News)
I will do everything in my power to block her from being the United States Secretary of State. She has proven that she either doesn’t understand or she is not willing to accept evidence on its face. (on Fox and Friends)
In case you are keeping score at home, the number of United States citizens killed in Iraq, a war based on several false premises, currently totals more than 4,488. And more than 33,000 have been wounded. The number killed in Benghazi: 4.
Angry old man of the day
Who else could it be but John McCain?
Romney barely beat McCain
McCain lost big in 2008. But Mitt Romney barely received more votes in 2012 than McCain did in 2008. Compare these numbers:
Total votes for McCain in 2008: 58,343,671
Total votes for Romney in 2012: 58,488,199
Difference: 144,528
If a candidate cannot do significantly better than McCain did, in a country with a larger number of total voters, that candidate is indeed a loser.
Old man fight
Jon Stewart does it again.
With friends like these…
John McCain may be trying to help Mitt Romney, but he isn’t succeeding very well. When claims were made that the McCain campaign reviewed many years of Romney tax returns while selecting among McCain’s various choices for VP in 2008, and then went ahead and picked Palin, McCain rushed to Romney’s defense.
Asked why he chose not to go with Romney, McCain said: “Oh come on, because we thought that Sarah Palin was the better candidate. Why did we not take [Tim] Pawlenty, why did we not take any of the other 10 other people. Why didn’t I? Because we had a better candidate, the same way with all the others. … Come on, why? That’s a stupid question.”
In fact, the reaction was so strong that McCain was later forced to claim that he didn’t mean what he said.
Some in the media have chosen to take my answer today, in response to the question of why I did not select Governor Romney as my vice presidential nominee, out of context. I selected Sarah Palin because she was the best fit for my campaign, and my decision had nothing to do with the bogus tax return attacks currently being waged by the Obama campaign. I have the highest respect for Governor Romney and his record of public service, and he will make an outstanding president.
Political quote of the day
He should release the tax returns tomorrow. It’s crazy. You gotta release six, eight, 10 years of back tax returns. Take the hit for a day or two.
– William Kristol, conservative commentator, today on Fox News Sunday, calling on MItt Romney to release additional years of tax returns. By the way, Romney provided the McCain campaign with over twenty years of tax returns when Romney was under consideration as McCain’s running mate in 2008. McCain chose Sarah Palan.
Nuff said.
Political quote of the day (updated)
Romney said that he was responsible for the auto bailout? I’d have to look at the context of his remarks. I know that if the auto companies had gone into bankruptcy like thousands of small businesses had to do across America, they could’ve emerged without the sweetheart deal for the unions like was orchestrated by the Obama administration.
– John McCain, who admits he cannot explain Mitt Romney’s claim that he deserves credit for saving the US auto industry.
Update: This is what President Obama said on Thursday regarding Romney’s attempt to claim credit:
I think this is one of his Etch A Sketch moments. I don’t think anybody takes that seriously.
Political quote of the day
There is substantial evidence that some of these fires have been caused by people who have crossed our border illegally. The answer to that part of the problem is to get a secure border.
– Senator John McCain. A forest service spokesman says there is no evidence that this is true.
Torture quote of the day
Mistreatment of enemy prisoners endangers our own troops, who might someday be held captive. While some enemies, and al-Qaeda surely, will never be bound by the principle of reciprocity, we should have concern for those Americans captured by more conventional enemies, if not in this war then in the next.
Though it took a decade to find bin Laden, there is one consolation for his long evasion of justice: He lived long enough to witness what some are calling the Arab Spring, the complete repudiation of his violent ideology.
As we debate how the United States can best influence the course of the Arab Spring, can’t we all agree that the most obvious thing we can do is stand as an example of a nation that holds an individual’s human rights as superior to the will of the majority or the wishes of government? Individuals might forfeit their life as punishment for breaking laws, but even then, as recognized in our Constitution’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, they are still entitled to respect for their basic human dignity, even if they have denied that respect to others.
All of these arguments have the force of right, but they are beside the most important point. Ultimately, this is more than a utilitarian debate. This is a moral debate. It is about who we are.
– Senator John McCain, in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post yesterday.
Related articles
- The torture “debate”: Torture is still immoral and ineffective. Bin Laden’s death doesn’t change that. (slate.com)
- “The case against waterboarding never rested primarily on its usefulness. It rested on its wrongfulness.” (reason.com)
John McCain: torture didn’t work
So far I know of no information that was obtained, that would have been useful, by ‘advanced interrogation.’ In fact, according to published reports … some of the key people who knew about this courrier denied it.
Where there is published information in the various newspapers and media that the information about this courier was intercepted conversation between two individuals — that’s as far as I know. I stand on the side of the United States and by the Geneva conventions, of which we are signatories, which we were in violation of by waterboarding.
– US Senator John McCain
Related articles
- John McCain: Waterboarding Didn’t Help Get Bin Laden (alan.com)
- John McCain: No Evidence Waterboarding Helped Find Bin Laden (outsidethebeltway.com)
- Torture Still not OK (spillingink.net)
Political quote of the day, part 2
In July 2008, Larry King asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), “If you were president and knew that bin Laden was in Pakistan, you know where, would you have U.S. forces go in after him?”
McCain said he would not.
“Larry, I’m not going to go there and here’s why: because Pakistan is a sovereign nation.”
(via Balloon Juice)
Puppet John McCain
The Daily Show has a new cast member: the puppet John McCain. (starts at about 3:30 into in the clip)
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Let’s All Stand on John McCain’s Lawn | ||||
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