“How the journalistic elite got taken for a ride on the Straight Talk Express is one of the revelatory sagas of modern-day Washington. Matt Welch has the audacity to think that John McCain’s views matter, not only his legends, and he smokes out McCain with gusto. You don’t have to follow him every inch of the way into libertarian politics–as I do not–to be dazzled by the light he casts on a telling tragedy of American politics.”–Todd Gitlin, author of The Bulldozer and the Big Tent: Blind Republicans, Lame Democrats, and the Recovery of American Ideals

“John McCain’s love affair with the news media is a decade old. But McCain makes clear that that love affair is over.”–Glenn Reynolds, author of An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths, and blogger at Instapundit

Praise for Matt Welch’s Op-Ed piece on John McCain in the Los Angeles Times, “Do We Really Need Another T.R.?”:

“I hope a lot of Americans read Matt Welch’s definitive LAT editorial on the subject of McCain’s political philosophy…. [I]t should be a reputation-maker for Welch.”– Colby Cosh, columnist for Canada’s National Post

“Congratulations to the LAT’s Matt Welch for this morning’s penetrating column on John McCain…. Listen up, pundits. Matt Welch has sent you a signal. It won’t kill you to look into the mind of the desert angel and see what he thinks.” — Todd Gitlin, author of The Intellectuals and the Flag

“The redoubtable Matt Welch does the unconscionable today: he writes an op-ed for the LA Times in which he examines John McCain’s actual views on the issues…. Hear hear…. [McCain's] flip-flops get a lot of attention mainly because they’re easy to find and satisfying to point out. Actually looking past his occasionally “maverick” views is far more important.” — Kevin Drum, The Washington Monthly

“Matt Welch of the Los Angeles Times does a significant public service in exposing John McCain’s intrusive, statist agenda.” –Doug Bandow, author of Foreign Follies: America’s New Global Empire

“Kudos to Matt Welch for managing to reveal some truths about St. McCain without falling into the usual trap of trying to argue about where he actually fits on the imaginary political spectrum and instead just telling us what the dude thinks about things.” –Duncan Black, proprietor of the Eschaton (Atrios) blog

“[A]n astute analysis.” –Joel Connolly, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Great op-ed by Matt Welch on what John McCain actually thinks about the world.” –Matthew Yglesias, The American Prospect

“Matt Welch, now with the Los Angeles Times, perspicaciously sizes up everyone’s favorite politician — especially given that no one seems to actually care about his political beliefs — Sen. John McCain. [...] [R]ead the whole thing, before this whole “McCain for President” thing goes too far.” — Brian Dohery, Reason

Product Description:

John McCain is one of the most familiar, sympathetic, and overexposed figures in American politics, yet his concrete governing philosophy and actual track record have been left curiously unexamined, mostly because of the massive distractions in his official biography, but also because of his ingenious strategy of talking ad infinitum to each and every access-craving media person who happens by. The more he has spouted, the less journalists have bothered trying to see through the fog.

McCain gives the voting public what it wants but can’t find — a flesh-and-bones political portrait of a man onto whom people are forever projecting their own ideological fantasies. It is a psychological key for decoding his allegedly ‘maverick’ actions, and the first realistic assessment of what a John McCain presidency may look like. McCain will quickly lay out in overlapping detail the root cause of the senator’s worldview: his personal transformation from underachieving punk to war hawk uber-patriot, in which he used the “higher power” of American nationalism to save his life and soul.

As McCain wrenches himself inside-out in pursuit of the prize that eluded him in 2000, McCain will look behind the war hero, behind the maverick reformer. Journalist and pundit Matt Welch brings to this project an investigative eye and a coolly analytical mindset to provide Republicans, Democrats and Independents a picture of the man in full before they enter the voting booth in 2008.

Non-partisan fact-check operations, newspapers and opinion columnists are also charging McCain, once a darling of the press, of cloaking the election in sleaze and unfairly smearing Democrat Barack Obama.

With the United States locked in two foreign wars, punished by its thirst for Middle Eastern oil and with the economy plummeting, the race was consumed for two days last week by McCain camp claims Obama called Palin a “pig.”

US election campaigns and hardball advertising always push the limits of truth and often amount to outright distortion — the Obama camp has not hesitated to blur McCain’s record too.

   Cartoon — By David Horsey

Campaigns and experts usually steer clear of blatantly accusing a candidate of lying, but the term is being bandied about following McCain’s latest hard-hitting assault on Obama’s character and defense of Palin’s record.

Last week, the McCain campaign accused Obama of wanting to teach sex education in kindergarten. In reality, the bill he voted for as an Illinois lawmaker mandated warnings for young children about sexual predators.

Palin was accused of saying she visited Alaskan troops in Iraq when it emerged her trip was to an Iraq/Kuwaiti border post.

She is also taking heat for repeatedly saying she blocked a notorious multi-million dollar project to build a bridge to a sparsely-inhabited island in her state which she initially backed and of not fully returning all the federal dollars doled out for it.

“Generally those come out as outright lies, not just not incorrect,” said Larry Powell, a professor of communications of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The McCain camp is also now being accused in news reports of embellishing attendance figures at campaign rallies.

The Obama camp derided the volley of accusations as “disgusting lies” and questioned McCain’s honor.

Newspapers and independent fact-checking groups also accused Republicans of peddling untruths.

“The claim is simply false,” said FactCheck.org of the sex education ad.

The St Petersburg Times complained: “McCain’s straight talk has become a toxic mix of lies and double-speak.

“It is leaving a permanent stain on his reputation for integrity.”

Republicans, like President George W. Bush’s guru Karl Rove, have been playing hard knocks-style politics for more than 20 years, often taking a Democrat’s perceived strength and turning it into a liability.

Ironically, McCain was a victim of such treatment, bowed out embittered by the 2000 primary campaign against Bush and apparently not willing to take the high road again.

Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota Sunday said Democrats were descending into “hysteria.” Another top McCain aide Carly Fiorina said McCain’s foes were panicking and accused them of unfairly exploiting McCain’s age.

McCain himself denied on Friday that his attacks were rooted in untruth.

“Actually, they are not lies,” McCain said on the ABC show “The View.”

“This is a tough campaign.”

Whatever its morality, the final judgement on McCain’s strategy will be dictated by whether it works.

An earlier negative barrage that branded Obama an empty “celebrity” seemed to jolt the Democrat last month, changing a race McCain appeared to be losing.

Latest broadsides slowed Obama again: for every hour he spends defending himself, he is not talking about the failing economy or comparing McCain to Bush.

“They are trying to put Obama on the defensive… to make a whiner out of him,” said Powell.

Latest polls give McCain a slight edge, but can a scorched earth policy work all the way through to November 4?

“If that is the only thing they are doing, then they would be in serious trouble,” said Kathleen Kendall, a communications professor at the University of Maryland.

“A lot of things are happening at once,” she said, mentioning positive advertisements the campaign is running and speeches by McCain on issues. Palin is also reinvigorating Republicans.

Obama’s response is also critical.

“I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage,” he said before launching a fight-back.

But he does not seem comfortable in the political gutter.

“He doesn’t want to go as sulphorously negative as his opponents are if he can avoid it,” said Bruce Buchanan, of the University of Texas at Austin.

McCain’s aides are like “guerrilla fighters fighting those who are following Marquis of Queensbury rules,” he said.

We have to spread the truth about McCain ourselves because it’s clear the corporate media won’t. NOW. FAST. FURIOUS. EVERYWHERE.

We are in the two-minute drill with no timeouts. No more sitting on the sidelines and allowing the McCain campaign to rack up points with countless distortions.

Watch the video (above) and forward it to everyone you know.

As we’ve seen with The Real McCain 2 (nearly 4.5 million views and counting!), once the truth gets out, it’s hard to stop. In the last few days we have seen a disgusting descent into the worst of sleazy smear politics. We need to spread the facts and the truth. Send this to your friends and relations, especially if they are unsure or undecided — they’re more willing to believe you than a talking head!

Vote this video up on Digg and Reddit, and rate, comment, and favorite it on YouTube.

The Real McCain 2

Spread the truth. Don’t wait. It starts with you.

Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New team

Debra Esthmeyer, 28, of New Knoxville, Ohio, said, “I’m insulted, as a woman. If Sarah Palin were a man with her same credentials, there is no way John McCain would have picked her.” Palin’s “no Condoleezza Rice. She’s no Hillary Clinton,” Esthmeyer said. “She’s no Michelle Obama, either.”