May 19, 2008
Kudlow Bullish On Lieberman
Conservative commentator Larry Kudlow appears to be smitten with McCain supporter and potential running mate, Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman:
Sen. Joe Lieberman gave a brilliant speech last night at Commentary magazine’s annual dinner at the University Club in New York. It was one hell of a great talk. Joe Lieberman was incredibly impressive. Absolutely brilliant.
Mr. Lieberman talked at some length about how the Democratic party has completely departed from the strong national-security principles of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy. He said those leaders clearly understood the need to fight totalitarian dictators and regimes, and that they possessed the moral clarity that can separate friends from enemies in the long-run battle to promote freedom and democracy.
He mentioned John Kennedy’s famous quote, “that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” He mentioned Ronald Reagan as an heir to that tradition.
He then spent a lot of time talking about why today’s Democratic party has completely lost its way on foreign policy - especially Sen. Obama, who Lieberman believes is completely wrong in proposing to meet with Iran, North Korea, and other rogue states. He also criticized Obama for opposing the South Korean trade deal, which should be an important foreign policy against North Korea as well as an economic-growth measure. Similarly, he attacked Obama for opposing the Columbia trade deal, which would strike a blow against Cuba and Venezuela while enhancing economic growth.
On several occasions the Connecticut senator emphasized the need for internationalism rather than isolationism, and for free trade rather than protectionism. He labeled Obama protectionist and isolationist, as well as completely naïve on international affairs, while strongly endorsing John McCain on these points.
It was a tour-de-force speech that impressed me once again with the brilliance of Joe Lieberman. Frankly, he would make a good president. Undoubtedly, he will have a major cabinet post if John McCain wins.
Interestingly, Lieberman noted that in the 2000 presidential campaign George W. Bush was closer to the isolationist position while Al Gore was the internationalist. Of course, that has gotten completely reversed over the last seven-and-a-half years: Bush has become the great internationalist while the Democrats have sounded more and more isolationist. It’s an interesting point. He also noted that 9/11 changed everything and that the surge in Iraq is working.
Because John McCain shares Joe Lieberman’s worldview, I continue to believe that it is essential that McCain wins in November. When I endorsed McCain on NRO last winter I made the case that it was all about being commander-in-chief during wartime. I still think that’s what it’s all about. Let me add that while I do not support Sen. McCain’s cap-and-trade plan on climate change, I am pleasantly surprised with Mac’s supply-side tax-and-spending-cut program as well as his strong free-trade position. I also like his health plan and his speech on judicial conservatism.
Sen. Lieberman didn’t talk about all this last night. Rather, he focused on the foreign-policy question, making the case for moral clarity in international affairs and extending that case to his support of John McCain. I totally agree.
My emphasis. That’s right, Larry Kudlow, a conservative’s conservative, thinks Joe would make a good president. All I’m suggesting is that he be vice president, serving under a president whose party will assuredly never nominate Joe for the top spot.
http://race42008.com/2008/05/19/kudlow-bullish-on-lieberman/trackback/
May 19th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
How many more Lieberman posts can we take?
I’m starting to hope that McCain names his VP pick soon, even though it defies all common sense…
May 19th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Well, the echo chamber is approaching full reverberation.
How many commentators need to jump on the Lieberman train before we realize it’s not leaving the station?
May 19th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
The problem is commentators want to make it interesting (helps sell papers). So Pwalenty is boring, Huckabee & Romney have been done to death. Crist & Sanford are also done with. So lets pick someone controversial - a Democrat!
May 19th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
its a winning ticket, it undermines everything obama claims to stand for. how does the candidate of new politics pick just another liberal, when mccain choses a democrat, forming the first unity ticket ever. it also will rally truman/reagan democrats who hate the left-wing code pinkers. it divides the dems, undercuts their power. its brilliant.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
McCain-Lieberman is my computer wallpaper right now.
I altered the McCain logo and made it my wallpaper.
It’s beautiful.
We can win this war yet!
May 19th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
You gotta be kidding me! Kudlow pimping Joe?
Club for Growth:
This is yet another stark example of why the Republican flock turned so drastically on their collective shepherds. No three candidates were opposed by the Republican establishment as much as McCain, Huckabee, and Ron Paul. But in many ways these were arguably the 3 most successful candidates.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
I will not vote for McCain if he picks Lieberman. Am I alone in this or does anyone want to join me?
May 19th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
LIEBERMAN CALLS ON GOOGLE TO TAKE DOWN TERRORIST CONTENT
YouTube Videos Are Produced by Al Qaeda and Other Terror Organizations; Videos Show Attacks on U.S. Soldiers, Civilians
http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=8093d5b2-c882-4d12-883d-5c670d43d269&Month=5&Year=2008&Affiliation=C
May 19th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
you want to know who ranks number 1 on the left on liberal issues???? OBAMA. beating him is a must. mccain-lieberman not only beats obama, but it causes fracture in the dem party and pushes the real democrats to challenge the kos’ers.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Where did this idea come from that Lieberman will win Reagan Dems or working class dems or whatever you want to call them?
It’s not really a bipartisan ticket as Lieberman isn’t really a democrat anymore. He couldn’t even win a dem primary in a blue state and all of a sudden he’s going to cause all thede dems to flock to McCain.
I look at dem blogs every now and then, know a bunch of dems and independents, etc… I’ve never seen a post or heard from any of them that Lieberman would make them want to vote for McCain.
To the contrary. I’ve heard a # of dems and independents say they don’t like Obama and won’t vote for him but they can’t vote for McCain either, because of the war. And you think him picking someone who will double down on the war will help swing them?
Also, earlier I had posted about Pawlenty and others being part of the boring, bland white guy mode. Perhaps that was the wrong terminology. I meant they’re more conventional picks and that this year with everything facing the party and a generic Republican running 15-20 pts a generic democrat, I don’t think a conventional/generic VP pick is a good idea. That’s all. Nothing personal against anyone.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Matt, we shouldn’t want the Democrats to challenge the Kos’ers. The democrats are damaging themselves by being attached to the far-left and we should sit back and enjoy the show.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
If Lieberman wanted to burnish himself to the party, he could have at least given them the Senate Majority at any time in the past 2 years. Isn’t McCain ranking member of Armed Services? Wouldn’t the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee be a great thing to be when being a nominee?
Lets see Joe put his money where his mouth is. Let’s see him do something that shows us he cares about the party, that he cares about helping McCain, and that he’s actually willing to take a stand WITH us.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Clarence, I’d consider voting for a McCain-Lieberman ticket. I can’t say whether I would or not.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Put me firmly in the “Pro Lieberman for VP” category. I think that Senator Lieberman would be a dynamic pick and would add some serious foreign policy gravitas to the ticket.
I believe that a McCain Presidency should set out to achieve one main objective or legacy and that would be the toppling of Iran’s evil tyrannical overlords, the liberation of Iran’s people and the establishment of a constitutional democratic government in Iran. For this goal the choice of Joseph Lieberman would be outstanding and inspired. Iran poses one of the gravest threats to our Homeland in the history of our great Nation. We need two strong and forceful men who will talk straight with the American people and get our country on a war footing as we prepare to face off against Iran. Joe understands that this is potentially our Nation’s top priority at this time and he has the steely resolve to prevail in this challenge.
Joementum in 08 (with McCain)
May 19th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
#12 One problem, Lieberman promised his constituents that he would vote for the dem leader. If he were to switch in what would be seen as a blantant political move, he would probably face a recall and get trashed in the media. And that might be ultimately why he can’t be chosen.
Generally, I don’t have a lot of faith in the McCain campaign. It has fired five lobbyists in the past few days who represented foreign gov’ts, one of whom was his convention manager and another his finance chair. His campaign manager and his top strategist are also former lobbyists but they are staying on.
Here are the problems I see with this. One, this should have happened months ago. Two, his image/reputation takes a big hit in the media and with independents. Chris Matthews asked the reporter who exposed McCain’s convention chair as a lobbyist this astonishing question today: “Is McCain a phoney?” Third, this is a perfect issue for Obama because he has been talking about decreasing the influence of lobbyists from the beginning. And finally, McCain is going to continue to draw fire for the two lobbyists, Rick Davis and Charlie Black, who are not leaving.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
“its a winning ticket, it undermines”
It undermines the conservative movement even more so that what Sen. McCain already does. McCain would lose badly if he picked Lieberman.The base would stay home or find a 3rd party candidate to vote for.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
“I think that Senator Lieberman would be a dynamic pick and would add some serious foreign policy gravitas to the ticket.”
McCain already has that, we don’t need two foreign policy junkies on the ticket.McCain needs to go with someone like Romney who can help shape economic policy.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
The Democrat party got credit (inaccurately in my view) for its “support” of civil rights in the 1960s (I believe that it was really the Republican Party that deserves credit for this, but that argument is for another time). Any how I believe that the great struggle or accomplishment that the Republican party will be remembered for will be the liberation of the oppressed victims of tyranny in the Middle East. I believe that it is our calling and destiny to free the people of Iran, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon democratizing their countries and helping them to build strong economies and infrastructures. We also need to keep our eye on the looming threat of China.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Sean,
I believe that our “economic policy” should flow from our foreign policy and our national security interests. Our economy will be strengthened by a democratic Iran and a rebuilt and prosperous Iraq. A middle East full of friendly allies rather than threatening adversaries along with all of the resources and raw materials we control will, in the long run, be the best economic policy our country could hope for. President Ronald Reagan understood this.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
If Lieberman wanted to burnish himself to the party, he could have at least given them the Senate Majority at any time in the past 2 years. Isn’t McCain ranking member of Armed Services? Wouldn’t the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee be a great thing to be when being a nominee?
Lets see Joe put his money where his mouth is. Let’s see him do something that shows us he cares about the party, that he cares about helping McCain, and that he’s actually willing to take a stand WITH us.
NO!
Joe’s appeal in the general is that he’s NOT a Republican.
GET IT?
May 19th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Here is an interesting question:
Ronald Reagan, once a loyal Democrat, moved away from the Democratic party after becoming disillusioned with Liberal appeasing foreign policy of the “New Deal” and became the conservative standard bearer for the Republican Party, reshaping it and leading it to victory in the cold war.
Could Joseph Lieberman become our next Ronald Reagan?
May 19th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Polls show Lieberman hurts McCain with Independents in Connecticut and with Democrats in New Mexico.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
egs, got links? I’m sure we’ll see a lot more polls on this. I’d be very surprised if the ticket were not quite popular.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
If the ticket ain’t popular, scratch it. But if it helps, we need to go with it.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
One thing about Lieberman that is often overlooked or de-emphasized is Joe’s broad appeal among a wide swath of demographics. People always tend to focus on Lieberman’s appeal to Jewish voters but if you look at his Senate races he did very well with African American voters, winning large percentages of them. I think that there is the real possibility that Lieberman on a McCain ticket could potentially pull quite a few African Americans away from Obama, if he is the nominee (something I am not yet conviced of). Joe also does very well with women voters who I assume find him soothing yet forceful.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
15,
I guess McCain is shaking now that all 4 four of Chris Matthews’ viewers saw that. The guy has lower ratings than Bush.
Obama is flailing. He’s set to become the 1st nominee of either party since 1972 to win the nomination after someone else received more votes than he did. The last 2 to do were McGovern and Humphrey and we all know what happened to them.
He’s set to become the nominee with the lowest % of delegates at the convention since Ford in 1976.
I don’t think any nominee has ever won the nomination losing 5 of 7 contests in the home stretch. Including two by 35+ in back to back weeks. That defines limping to the end. I don’t know of any nominee of either party who ever lost a primary by that much that wasn’t the home state of his opponent. Let alone at a point in the race where was crowned the nominee by the media and much of the party.
Since Feb 19th, Clinton has received 350,000 more votes than he has and will end the primary season having received closer to a million more votes than Obama over the final 3 months of the campaign.
He’s also the first nominee since I believe the 1950s to win the nomination only counting 48 states. Talk about change.
He’s the most unpopular dem nominee at this stage of the cycle in quite some time. Not only with the country as a whole but within his own party.
He’s now had something like 7 chances to knock Clinton out and he’s failed each time.
Even in the caucus states that he won overwhelmingly, when real folks actually show up and vote, his totals drop dramatically. He went from winning 68% in NE in Feb to not even clearing 50% last week. He went from close to 70% in WA to 50%.
He’s had more trouble with key dem demos such as seniors, catholics, jews, hispanics, women, and working class voters than any nominee I can remember.
Most of Clinton’s supporters have visceral dislike for him and it is only growing.
Basically, he lucked out that after Super Tuesday there was a run of caucus states and 4 states where black turnout avgeraged over 40%. If Ohio and Pennsylvania were after Super Tuesday instead of Lousiana, Virginia and the caucus states, he’d have been long gone. Fate and luck of the calendar won it for him.
If I were him, I wouldn’t be measuring the drapes just yet.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Connecticut Poll
http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2008/04/ct_poll_a_mccainlieberman_tick.html
May 19th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
New Mexico poll
http://www.hedgehogreport.com/?p=8136
May 19th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
JA,
Of course he did well with black voters. Dems always win black voters. Chris Dodd has done great with black voters. So did Hillary in her Senate races. There’s some reasons to think Joe would be a good choice. But to say he’d help with black voters? Against Obama?
McCain will be lucky to break 5% of the black vote against him.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
The fact that Larry Kudlow is pushing Joe makes me inclined to believe Team McCain recruited Kudlow to do this.
Can you say short list?
May 19th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
EGS,
Very interesting. In the New Mexico polls, the best comparisons are McCain/Lieberman tickets to McCain/Huckabee, because both are national figures. The McCain/Huckabee does better then McCain/Lieberman in both scenarios. Unsurprisingly.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
I meant in all three matchups. And I didn’t notice they included Romney. McCain/Romney also does better then McCain/Lieberman in all three matchups. Despite the disaster I think McCain/Romney would be, again this doesn’t surprise me. Those folks who are getting embarrassingly excited over McCain/Lieberman are kidding themselves about what he’d add to the ticket.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
I’d have to see more polling.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
These polls are being done outside of the relevant context: Obama escalating his positive, hopeful, unity rhetoric a la Reagan, vs. a GOP ticket when the public blames the GOP for partisanship. Contrasted with a media that’s all ga-ga over the first bipartisan ticket. How will people see things when the options would be framed like that?
May 19th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
DaveG, GC is with you on JL
May 20th, 2008 at 12:01 am
The media will not go “ga-ga” over a McCain/Lieberman ticket. The media is bound and determined to make Barack/Obama president. Admittedly, they’ll be more “ga-ga” then they would be over McCain/Romney or McCain/Huckabee, but then that cuts both ways. X number of Republicans like Joe Lieberman right now, which is the only reason this ticket is even thinkable. What happens when the media says “wow, McCain’s really bi-partisan. He’s willing to select a guy who voted against partial-birth abortion bans, favors socialized medicine, etc, etc”. The more the focus is put on Lieberman, and the bi-partisan nature of the ticket, the more obvious Lieberman’s liberalism will become. Lots of Republicans like the hawkish Joe, at least in theory; considerably less will like the one that’s unabashedly and fully pro-choice, the one that’s against Samuel Alito, etc. Notice those polls have a McCain/Lieberman ticket doing worse without any significant bleeding of Republican support. The ticket does basically as well with Republicans as McCain/Romney (oddly enough, McCain/Romney do the best with independents).
May 20th, 2008 at 12:06 am
34 - polls of course are always open to criticism, but it’s pretty weak to criticize them on the basis of what you hope the media reaction will be. The opposite reaction is just as likely: “McCain abandons conservative principles; reemphasizes War stance.”
May 20th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Matthew, you’re neglecting how Independents and Democrats would react to the media examining all of Joe’s positions… with which they tend to agree.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:13 am
I think Survey USA needs to do similiar polling like this in Ohio,PA,MI with the pairings that they have for New Mexico. Let’s see how McCain/Pawlenty,McCain/Romney,McCain/Huckabee stack up in these states.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:16 am
Those New Mexico numbers are fascinating.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:21 am
MetroRepublican,
Sure. But, as I was saying before, how is this likely to effect them? Unlike a normal VP, Joe could not be expected to exercise any influence on domestic priorities. Or is McCain going to say “Now that Joe’s on the ticket, I’ll change my positions on A, B, and C, so we can come together and compromise?” If not, I can’t imagine why any Democrat or any independent would be terribly more likely to vote McCain. At least if he picked a traditional Republican who they happened to like, they could say to themselves “well, that’s a good team up there, and maybe the Veep will keep McCain in line”. There’d be no expectation of Joe keeping McCain in line, or helping to moderate his actions, because it would be both tacitly and explicitly conceded that Joe wasn’t shaping the agenda in any which way.
Tell me, would you be more likely to vote for Obama if he selected Chuck Hagel as his running mate? I certainly wouldn’t, because the only major position they have in common is a position I don’t share; opposition to the Iraq War. And Chuck is so obviously conservative on other issues, that I wouldn’t take it as a sign that Obama had somehow moderated and was a reasonable sort of fellow.
No, if McCain wanted to set up a compelling bi-partisan narrative, he’d be better served picking a much more centrist Democrat, where independents and Democrats could actually conceive of the two candidates setting a common agenda. On the other side of the ledger, Obama/Huckabee would be more powerful then Obama/Hagel, because Huckabee actually agrees with Obama on quite alot of issues, and comes close on others, and one could envision them papering over the few big differences (abortion, guns, gay marriage), to put together some sort of compromise agenda.
Regardless, you’re expecting a compliant media. The media will not be compliant. There’s too much silliness involved in the idea a ticket with diametrically opposed views on 80% of the issues, for even a fair media to avoid asking fairly obvious questions “why are these folks so obsessed with the war, that almost nothing else seems to matter?”. And a media so thoroughly in the tank for Obama? A lengthy honeymoon is unthinkable.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:24 am
The cross tabs of the surveyUSA are pretty fascinating. The base McCain v. Obama among Republicans is 76, 18, 7. With Huckabee and Edwards, the numbers are pretty close (73, 22, 6), but with Huckabee, if Obama picks any other name McCain’s numbers among Republicans go up to 83. Weird. Romney causes a bigger dip vs. Edwards (down to 70), and then holds McCain steady for all the other Dem picks. On the whole, among Republicans, Edwards is worth 5 to 7 points for Obama, the other Dems 0 to negative 2, Huckabee is worth 6 to 8 points for McCain, Romney 0 to 1, T-Paw and Lieberman negative 5ish.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Actually, I take it back. Looking at those New Mexico polls, even now McCain/Lieberman tickets do noticeably worse with Republicans; McCain seems to lose 8 points or so, relative to McCain/Romney tickets, and around 12 points relative to McCain/Huckabee. And Joe’s pretty much at the height of his popularity among Republicans.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Matt’s also correct on the effect on Indies, which is very different. For Indies, the Dem choice is almost irrelevant except at isolated points. Romney gets a plus 6 to 8, except against Ed Rendell, where he nets -2. Lieberman is worth -1 to 1 points for McCain, except against Hagel where he nets -6. Huckabee nets -3 or -4, -6 against Hagel. T-Paw loses 2 to Edwards , 5 to Sebelius and Hagel, and 7 to Rendell.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:33 am
SurveyUSA is releasing 16 other polls like this in other battleground states.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:35 am
I don’t consider McCain/Pawlenty numbers meaningful, relative to other Republicans. Pawlenty is in the position of Sebellius and Rendell; they’re a drag on the ticket, simply in virtue of not being well-known. But, I’d like to see at least one other unknown paired with Pawlenty, as a means of comparison. Because it strikes me as interesting that McCain vs. Obama is tired at 44, but McCain/Pawlenty vs. Obama/Rendell is 41-37 and McCain/Pawlenty vs. Obama/Sebellius is 43-36. I’m not quite sure what to make of that; it could indicate, I suppose, that McCain just has firmer support. I.e, a certain percentage of voters just go undecided whenever veeps are added, since they assume it might conceivably change their decision, and this group of voters is much larger in the Obama universe (whereas all the McCain folks know they’ll be voting for McCain, regardless). It could also mean that Pawlenty makes a real difference for the voters who know of him, though that strikes me as highly unlikely, given his extremely low name recognition.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Finally, looking at Dems, the only clear answer is Edwards on the ticket brings a few dissidents back into Obama’s fold, while every other choice in this poll is a net drag for Obama. The GOP choice makes virtually no difference, unless it’s Huckabee, which drags a few points McCain’s way.
So, among New Mexico voters, out of the choices given, Huckabee helps among Republicans and Democrats, and hurts a little among Indies, Romney helps among Indies and doesn’t hurt among Republicans and Democrats, and Edwards helps Obama among Ds and Rs and doesn’t hurt indies.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:53 am
I’d be pretty upset with a McCain-Leiberman ticket, but I’m pretty sure I’d vote for them. But honestly, if the only way to keep Obama out of the white house was to vote for a McCain-Sean Penn ticket, I’d still vote for McCain. I think there are many stronger AND conservative options than McCain-Leiberman.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:05 am
After the Rasussen Poll for NM showed Obama up 9 points, SurveyUSA has some MUCH better numbers.
AND they even included numbers for President and VP matchups.
In NM, SUSA has:
McCain 44
Obama 44
Essentially according to the poll, J-Mac/Huck, J-Mac/Romney, J-Mac/Pawlenty and J-Mac Lieberman ALL beat Obama - unless he puts Edwards on the ticket.
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=bc4b7825-1ea9-4cf6-be2e-bbeb0f7c2d5f
May 20th, 2008 at 2:07 am
And if I refreshed my screen, I would have seen that other people already saw that
May 20th, 2008 at 2:35 am
Re:SurveyUSA
Somewhere a Huckabee is smiling…
Somewhere a Cheney is ticket off. Dick Cheney’s daughter said it would be a sad day if McCain won the nomination and in the same TV segment implied Huckabee was no better than the Democratic candidates.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:40 am
Preach it Liz Cheney!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXNZaYPeF8s
The American people to the Cheney’s: SO?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SypeZjeOrY4
Poetic justice doesn’t get any sweeter.
May 20th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Thomas Sowell:
May 20th, 2008 at 7:23 am
Why would surveyusa not ask about Obama/Clinton since that is the most likely dem ticket?
May 20th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Joe Lieberman is a liberal on every issue including the war. He is a Trotsky Neocon. He will keep working hard to keep America’s dollars flowing into his nation of Israel. He is pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, huge government spender and also huge military spender. How could the Republican Party even consider this guy? Is it because he used to be a Democrat? Wow great idea Republicans. Load the ticket with liberals. This party has completely changed for the worse.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Today’s New York Times features a piece talking about McCain’s ties to lobbyists and one figure jumped out at me. The article states that McCain met a Russian businessman with alleged ties to organized crime. So I googled this guy, Oleg Deripaska, and found the link below. Turns out the lobbyist running McCain’s campaign arranged for McCain to meet this guy in Switzerland because he is barred from entering the US. This is quite troubling.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012403383_pf.html
May 20th, 2008 at 9:10 am
I hope Barry keeps up his whining about lobbyists. It opens the door for McCain to talk about how Barry was all too happy for Ayers to kickstart his senate campaign. Ayers doesn’t need ties to organized crime because he IS organized crime.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Huh? Ayers is a college professor I thought.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Pablo,
Sure. A college professor with a colorful resume.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Well, after the polls coming out today showing Lieberman dragging the party down, maybe all these stupid postings about him will stop.