John McCain is apparently getting too soft and squishy on womb control (yawn, yeah, right) and the fundies and pro-choicers in the party are erupting.

ABC News’ Teddy Davis and Rigel Anderson Report: John McCain’s campaign signaled on Wednesday that the Arizona senator is backing away from his previously stated goal of changing the GOP’s platform on abortion.

...McCain’s decision to leave the platform untouched follows a warning from a prominent social conservative.

“If he were to change the party platform,” to account for exceptions such as rape, incest or risk to the mother’s life, “I think that would be political suicide,” Tony Perkins, the president of the conservative Family Research Council, told ABC News in May. “I think he would be aborting his own campaign because that is such a critical issue to so many Republican voters and the Republican brand is already in trouble.”

...“If he doesn’t change the platform, then he’s being the same kind of hypocrite that he accused Bush of being in 2000,” Jennifer Blei Stockman, the co-chairwoman of Republican Majority for Choice, told ABC News in May.

If McCain picks a pro-choice VP, watch out; Dobson et. al. will explode. Or at least I would expect the hypocrite of Colorado Springs to do so; after all, he’s already had to eat crow for coming around for the Arizona senator after swearing he’d stay home rather than vote for him. In fact, in 2000, he said this about McCain:

“The Senator,” Dobson said, “is being touted by the media as a man of principle, yet he was involved with other women while married to his first wife, and was implicated in the so-called Keating scandal with four other senators.  He was eventually reprimanded by the Congress for the ‘appearance of impropriety.’ The Senator reportedly has a violent temper and can be extremely confrontational and profane when angry.  These red flags about Senator McCain’s character are reminiscent of the man who now occupies the White House.”

Gee Daddy D, how has it all changed for you these days?

Speaking of drop-kicks and pressure on McCain from the fundies as he hones in on his Veep pick, conservative Richard A. Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com (always good for a press release to beat on who he thinks is too soft to be a true conservative), wrote a hilarious open letter to the presumptive GOP nominee—it’s below the fold.

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Joe Lieberman will speak at the Republican convention on Monday night, along with Bush, Cheney, Laura Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Besides Vice Presidential Nominee Mittens, who’s speaking the other three nights?  Rudy?  Fred Thompson?  Someone who’s held elective office in this half of the decade? 

It’s one of the most critically undercovered stories about John McCain’s Republican Party - between the indicted people, the ones whose seats are in trouble, the ones who don’t want to be around Republicans, the ones who don’t like John McCain and the ones who just don’t handle crowds well, it’s going to be a Labor Day of losers followed by three days of country music and occasionally snide speechifying.  It should be interesting to see what happens - when McCain takes the reigns of the most dysfunctional iteration of the GOP since Watergate, all their problems become his. 

Unless he mavericks his way out of it by having a roll call of all the Republicans who refused to show up or participate (which pretty much includes all of them not on his Veep list at some point).

Here are the words of a man who knows where all the bodies are buried in this corrupt, amoral administration. Obama need not take the advice of former White House

professional liar

spokesperson. Investigate all of them and throw these criminals in the pokey.

[W]hen asked what advice he would give to a President Barack Obama or Democratic Congress on the matter of handling former Bush officials, McClellan speaks now of the perils of probing the past.

“If Obama were to win,” he said last week, “that would be an issue his administration would have to face early ... because he’s pledging to be a uniter, not a divider — without saying those exact words we campaigned on in 2000. He’s pledging to change the way Washington works, and if Congress were to pursue that, it would be very divisive.”

It’s not divisive to get to the bottom of the lies and illegal acts that this administration has perpetrated on this country, aided and abetted by the GOP-run lapdog Congress for so long.

Is there a need for a tiny violin?

Jim Geraghty wonders when in the world John McCain ever challenged Barack Obama’s patriotism. 

John McCain’s got a little something on his homepage.  Just a little something.  Over to the right.  A little bit more to the right.

Oh, fuck it, never mind.

John McCain’s campaign blogger issues an apology to Dungeons & Dragons players. 

Now for the McCain campaign to issue free black t-shirts adorned with airbrushed fantasy art to the next 1,000 donors. 

ROLLED A DOUBLE 20: The above is an apology for the original D&D reference by McCain’s blogger, what the campaign will do now that they’ve broken trust again remains to be seen.  I’ll draw up the scenario, I need John Cole to bring the snacks.

Is John McCain seriously reluctant to talk about Vietnam, my friends, seriously? 

We are, after all, repeatedly told that he is, my friends, to the point where supporters seriously - can I - seriously implore him to - seriously, really - talk about it more. 

My friends, even when John McCain travels overseas - and partisanship does end at the water’s edge, at least, seriously, for the person that’s overseas - he’s reluctant to talk about it, as national media will tell you after relating the story that he told them in his utter reluctance.  I know that I frequently share reluctant stories with a national media that will inevitably cover them, as you can see on my upcoming CNN special, Living With Bedwetting, anchored by John King.  Seriously.

His reluctance is so thorough, so absolute, that he trails off for literal seconds, my friends, before he starts ruminating on the experience. 

McCain was likewise reluctant to ask Psuedo-Presidential Liaison Joe Lieberman to join his campaign.  He was reluctant to engage in personal criticism of Hillary Clinton.  He was reluctant about his support for George W. Bush. 

I don’t think it’s less possible for the word “reluctant” to mean “reluctant”, short of a wholesale rewrite of the dictionary.

The presumptive GOP nom continues his humiliation of the Log Cabin Republicans these days by making sure he publicly trashes LGBTs and runs for cover. The gay Republican organization has gone out of its way to support McCain, court him, and obviously donate to him and all they have to show for it is, well, a big goose egg of commitments and a public kick in the posterior.

However, apparently the gay cash from online man-on-man cruising service Manhunt’s co-founder Jonathan Crutchley isn’t green enough. The $2300 max personal donation was just too tainted by the homoaroma to handle it. Crutchley turned around and gate it to Obama. (Boston Herald):

“Politically, it was just off-base, with the whole feeling over here at Manhunt,” said site co-creator Larry Basile yesterday, pointing out McCain’s views against adoption by gay couples and same-sex marriage.

McCain’s camp seemed just as eager to distance themselves from the brief alliance. McCain spokesman Jeff Grappone didn’t return multiple phone calls on the subject, and Crutchley has apparently been informed that his $2,300 will be returned.

“He said, ‘If John is too good for my money, I’ll give it to (presumptive Democratic nominee) Barack (Obama),’ ” Basile said yesterday.

Crutchley, who originally defended his donation in an online post, did not return a call for comment.

Crutchley’s original position was that hair-trigger temper McCain would be a better commander-in-chief (!) than Obama.

“If we have an experienced, seasoned person defending the country in this dangerous age, we will be able to argue about the gay agenda later.”

No mention was made of the whole low tax BS, a hallmark excuse by LCR-types for letting homobigots like McCain get a pass.

In related news, perhaps McCain should have reconsidered that Manhunt cash.

Senator Barack Obama’s campaign announced today that more than 65,000 new donors contributed to the Obama campaign during the month of July, bringing the total raised for the month to over $51 million.  More than 2 million people have now contributed to the campaign.

“The 65,000 new donors to the Obama campaign demonstrate just how strongly the American people are looking to fundamentally change business as usual in Washington.  We are proud of the millions of volunteers and more than two million donors to the Obama campaign who will provide the backbone of our campaign to put America back on track and reject the old politics and failed Bush policies, which is all John McCain is offering,” said David Plouffe, campaign manager of Obama for America.

Related:
* Manhunt chairman, feeling the heat for McCain contribution, steps down
* The Log Cabin Republicans want to ‘educate’ LGBTs about McCain
* McCain: I’ll take a pro-choice VP, but not a pro-gay one

After yet another gonzo fundraising month, the real story is, of course, that Barack Obama is doomed, doomed I say, boy, doomed.

Hot Air:

All in all, the Obama campaign has had a good summer.  However, they’re increasingly playing at a disadvantage.  Obama won’t get the $84 million in public financing McCain receives on September 4th, and which will last him the final 60 days of the election.  McCain won’t have to spend a dime to get that money, and can continue to assist the RNC in their highly successful efforts — which will have all of the focus after the convention.

But here’s the problem.  Right now, Obama has about $66 million on hand.  Provided he can bank $18 million in August (which, given his week off, likely helped decrease his burn rate), he’ll have…$84 million on hand.  By the convention, he and McCain will be on equal footing financially and he’ll still have two more months of $50 million-plus fundraising to kick in.  He’s looking at a likely 2-1 or better money scenario.  This isn’t including the DNC’s fundraising (the problematic thing for the RNC is that McCain’s already started funneling his donors to them, and they’re starting to get outraised by the DNC), or the DCCC and DSCC’s superior operations. 

Math is hard, though, as Don Surber amply demonstrates:

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The right wing bible-beaters are really having a tough week. Take this crew in Michigan calling itself “Huck’s Army.” The fringe supporters are threatening to abandon support of John McCain if the rapist/murderer-releasing, Christian Reconstructionist-supported, Man-On-Dog wannabe, former Arkansas governor, Baptist minister-without-a-theology-degree and failed GOP presidential candidate is not picked as Veep.

The fact that McCain tried floating a trial balloon about a pro-choice VP this week made them explode. Look at the uprising in Michigan. (RightWingWatch):

A group of Michigan social conservatives who support former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee threatened Thursday to abandon Republican nominee John McCain, upset that McCain’s vice presidential choice may not reflect their anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage positions.

The uproar came after a pair of meetings Wednesday—while McCain was campaigning here—in which his campaign hoped to strengthen its support with religious conservatives. Huckabee supporters said they were especially upset at word that, at a meeting in Birmingham between McCain and a small group of conservative activists, a top McCain ally had floated the possibility he’d pick a running mate who is for abortion rights.

You won’t believe the email that Huck’s Army is circulating. Read the untethered-from-reality letter below the fold.

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(NOTE: But John McCain will take gay money—in fact, he took $2300 from the owner of the #1 online man-on-man cruising site. Read about that here. Will he give it back? Will the squishy-in-love-with-McCain MSM even cover this? Do pigs fly?)

As John McCain mulls over his short list, which includes Joe Lieberman, Tom Ridge, Tim Pawlenty, and Mitt Romney, he was asked about whether the pro-choice positions held by Holy Joe and Ridge (and Romney at one time) would be a problem for him.

“I think that the pro-life position is one of the important aspects or fundamentals of the Republican Party,” McCain said. “And I also feel that—and I’m not trying to equivocate here—that Americans want us to work together. You know, Tom Ridge is one of the great leaders and he happens to be pro-choice. And I don’t think that that would necessarily rule Tom Ridge out.”

McCain’s comments came in response to a question about comments he made to several reporters during the Republican primary season. During that exchange, McCain was asked whether New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg would make a good running mate. McCain offered strong words of praise for Bloomberg but said that Bloomberg’s position on abortion—he is also pro-choice—would make it difficult to choose him as a vice presidential candidate.

So what was the Arizona senator’s problem with Bloomberg, given McCain’s been getting pressure from the religious wingnut faction?

“I think it’s a fundamental tenet of our party to be pro-life but that does not mean we exclude people from our party that are pro-choice. We just have a—albeit strong—but just it’s a disagreement. And I think Ridge is a great example of that. Far more so than Bloomberg, because Bloomberg is pro-gay rights, pro, you know, a number of other issues.”

So Log Cabin folks, how do you like being sh*t on by John McCain yet again?

You’ll recall that the LCRs held what it called “a series of productive meetings” with John McCain and his campaign and said that the presumptive GOP nom is “unashamed, unembarrassed and proud to work with” the LCRs, yet there wasn’t any of the meeting on the Log Cabin web site or its blog, and McCain’s peeps were silent.

You’ve got to feel for the LCRs (ok, maybe not)—every time an opportunity arises to “educate gay and lesbian voters about Sen. McCain” to tell us why LGBTs should cast a ballot for him, he goes and takes a big public dump on them.

Howie Klein doesn’t hold back. Click over for more.

Also:
* Log Cabin/McCain Blend posts

This is beyond hilarious. Man-On-Dog makes his way out of the kennel to drool this bile out. He even name-checks gay philanthropist Tim Gill. Woohoo!

From: “Human Events”
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:48:20 -0700
To:——
Subject: A Special Message from Rick Santorum
 
Below please find a special message from one of our advertisers, National Organization for Marriage. From time to time, we receive opportunities we believe you as a valued customer may want to know about. Please note that the following message does not necessarily reflect the editorial positions of Human Events.

An Important Message from Rick Santorum August 13, 2008
 
Dear Friend of Marriage,  My friend, I’ve never come to you with a more urgent message:  Unless we act today, we will lose the battle for marriage—not a decade from now, not “someday,” but quite possibly in the next few months.  How? Just weeks ago, a handful of out-of-touch judges overturned the will of the people in California by repealing Proposition 22,  which defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman and was overwhelmingly approved by the voters in 2000.  Four California judges endorsed two big, very bad ideas. First,  they extended the internationally recognized human right to marry to include same-sex marriage. Not even in Massachusetts or in New Jersey could the courts stomach the idea that same-sex marriage is deeply rooted in our foundational American traditions of human rights.  The second big idea endorsed by the California court is even less promising: sexual orientation should be treated just like race under the California equal protection amendment, subject to “strict scrutiny.”

This is a ruling which, if left undisturbed,  means that Protestants, Catholics, Jews and Muslims who see marriage as the union of husband and wife, and view sexual activity as best confined to marriage so defined, are in the exact position as racists under California law.

Hollywood, academia and some in the medical profession launched a huge offensive over the past decade to change the attitude of Americans about the homosexual community.  They have succeeded in shaping the minds of young people against traditional marriage and intimidating and punishing anyone who offers a defense of marriage. A sophisticated network of wealthy gay activists are now trying to exploit this change in attitudes by spending millions on stealth campaigns to defeat pro-family state legislators and pass gay marriage laws.  They are pushing the battle first where the secular left is the strongest: deep in “blue states” including New Jersey, New York,  Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Maryland and now even in my home commonwealth, Pennsylvania. 

That’s why I need you to act today. Use this hyperlink to help launch the National Organization for Marriage’s 2008 State Action Plan, including a sophisticated issue ad campaign—radio, TV,  and print ads to drive home the point: don’t mess with marriage.

If we don’t fight back, our children and grandchildren will get harmful and confusing messages about marriage, including this one:  there’s no difference between same-sex and opposite-sex unions and anyone who defends marriage is a bigot.  Make no mistake, gay marriage is not about letting Adam visit Steve in the hospital or letting them do what they want in private.  Gay marriage is about using the power of government to propagate a new faith: Individuals who oppose gay marriage are hateful bigots and they and their faith community should be punished.

The insanity continues below the fold.

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Let’s just continue saying it!

Could it be any more obvious that McCain would have leapt on any conflict anywhere in the world to play make-believe George W. Bush circa September 2001?  Shadow ambassadors, asinine and utterly contradictory assertions - John McCain is so hungry to appear presidential that he’s willing to give himself a blank slate on which to project his vision of foreign policy, reality and history be damned.

One might almost call it…presumptuous.  If one were into using words to describe things.

Ralph Reed, the Jack Abramoff-tainted GOP operative and former head of the Christian Coalition, is cozying up to John McCain, and the Arizona senator doesn’t have a problem associating with this character—as long as the buxx flow into his campaign coffers from a fundraiser to be held in Atlanta next week. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW):

On Thursday afternoon, Republicans around Georgia received an invitation from Reed, who will serve as a host of a “special event” for McCain at the downtown Marriot Marquis on Aug. 18.

“John McCain believes in a strong national defense, a smaller, more accountable government, steady economic growth and opportunity, the dignity of life and traditional values,” wrote Reed, whose 2006 campaign for lieutenant governor sank under the weight of evidence detailing his relationship with Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff — much of it uncovered by McCain’s Indian Affairs Committee.

John McCain may want to review the 66 pages of correspondence between Mr. Reed and convicted felon, Jack Abramoff, which was obtained by his committee. Those emails between Reed and Abramoff are posted at governmentdocs.org.

Reed has also agreed to serve as a member of the McCain Victory 2008 team.  He also still has his talons deep into the fundie infrastructure, so it’s clear McCain still longs for the Base of the party.

“[Reed’s] hypocrisy is legion — now matched only by John McCain’s attending a fundraiser he’s helping host,” said Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director. “You just have to wonder who’s the bigger hypocrite.”

...John Feehery, a former House GOP communications strategist who has bemoaned Abramoff’s corrupting influence on the party, said Reed maintains strong ties to Christian conservatives, a key GOP demographic McCain needs to attract. For instance, in the Indian Affairs Committee’s Abramoff report, Reed boasts of having contact information for 3,000 pastors and 90,000 religious conservative households in Alabama alone.

McCain has so far refused to cancel the fundraiser.

In terms of the conservative constituency of the Republican Party, Sen. McCain is an opportunistic infection that threatens to ravage and destroy its defenseless body. Tragically for America, in the larger context of our national political life he still plays the role of the AIDS virus, masquerading as a republican while opening the way for Barack Obama, the opportunistic infection that will ravage the defenseless body of our republic.

—Bombastic failed presidential candidate Alan Keyes

Start popping the corn and melting the butter...behold the best batsh*ttery of the week so far. Alan Keyes scorches James Dobson of Focus on the Anus for his flip-flop support of John McCain, a man the Colorado-based fundie swore he could never vote for.

In a mind-boggling WorldNetDaily op-ed Keyes goes on at length, disgusted at the state of the conservative movement, and Dobson’s betrayal on womb control and the protection of marriage.

Dr. Dobson declared that “in good conscience” he could not vote for John McCain. Respect for his integrity requires us to assume that a man of his professed faith and commitment to Christ spoke with sincere respect for the Christian standard of conscience. Comparing what Christ requires with what John McCain represents, he reached the accurate conclusion that McCain fails to measure up. But now, it seems, he is preoccupied by Barack Obama. Comparing McCain with Obama, he now entertains the possibility of voting for McCain. In this comparison, what has become of the standard, which is Jesus Christ?

From Dr. Dobson’s words, both Obama and McCain depart from that standard, though McCain not as much as Obama. What does this mean? Is the difference a matter of degree, or a matter of principle? Given Christ’s instruction, the difference in principle must be decisive, for God is the first principle, and our relation to the will of God the first priority. Does Dr. Dobson mean to say that support for Obama’s candidacy departs from good conscience in principle, whereas support for McCain’s does not? If so, a change of heart may be justified. If not, it is sadly mistaken.

...McCain’s statements on the issue of homosexual marriage, civil unions and the need to protect traditional marriage by constitutional means show no regard for the profound destruction of moral principle that will result from overthrowing the claims of the natural family. Like Barack Obama, he takes positions exclusively calculated to win votes from the constituencies he needs for political victory, no matter if they risk the soul and moral foundations of the republic. At the very least, he wants to harvest votes from people deeply concerned about the besieged moral foundations of our liberty even though he obviously lacks the understanding needed to defend them.

Keyes continues his rant below the fold.

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America, do you really want John McCain running the country? His

babysitters

campaign aides have to keep the cell away from the cranky, discombobulated senator. (NYT):

Senator John McCain is so quick to pick up his gold-colored cellphone to solicit advice — from senators, campaign consultants, even the stray former deputy press secretary — that aides, concerned about his tendency to adopt the last opinion he has heard, have tried to cut back on the time he has to make calls.

...Out of his hearing, Mr. McCain is called the White Tornado by some people who have worked for him over the years. Throughout his presidential campaign, he has been the overseer of a kingdom of dissenting camps, unclear lines of command and an unsettled atmosphere that keeps aides constantly on edge.

...Mr. McCain’s style contains contradictions, veering between a shoot-from-the-hip tendency and assertions of damn-the-consequences authenticity on the one hand and a grudging acceptance on the other of the need to give in to the discipline of programmed politics. While he avidly seeks advice and contrary opinions, he routinely resists basic political counseling, such as when aides pleaded with him not to campaign sitting on a horseshoe-shaped couch in the back of his bus because they feared it made him look like an old man rumbling around the country in an R.V. He refused.

His management of his campaign offers a glimpse of how he might run the White House. He would, it appears, be a president who is intensely interested in issues (particularly foreign affairs) and open to conflicting opinions, but also impetuous at times and tolerant of the kind of internal churning that can impede orderly decision-making and keep aides on edge.

The article goes on to compare his style to Bill Clinton’s.