McCain's appeal to Latinos

Senator McCain put out a new video today highlighting the accomplishments and patriotism and faith (damn, how's that for a grand slam?) of Latino immigrants.



Curiously, toward the end, it cuts away to a shot of Tom Tancredo. Marc Ambinder thinks that this is an example of dog whistle politics signaling to Latino voters that he is willing to challenge his party's orthodoxy and extreme bigotry. I'd agree.

It's a pretty effective ad that ties together Vietnam vets with Iraq and Afghanistan vets who are not even green card holders. The final quote:

"So let's, from time to time, remember that these are God's children. They must come into our country legally but they have enriched our culture and our nation as every generation of immigrants before them."

Quite artfully said and an appeal to Christian values as well as the politics of the Church. With more and more churches now joining the sanctuary movement, and with bishops playing key roles in the immigrant rights movement, a clever way to appeal to two constituencies. The words and imagery stir even this cold jaded heart. Is this a sign that with Steve Schmidt ascendant that the McCain ship is somewhat righting itself, or just that Ken Mehlman's brand of outreach to traditional Democratic bases (Mehlman was notable for apologizing in 2005 to the NAACP convention for use of racial politics) is on the upswing. I would give more credence to the latter, and this thought also lends additional weight to Ambinder's hypothesis that it's Melhman's proteges, not Rove's who are now controlling the McCain campaign.

Rove was not known for the "you attract more flies with honey than vinegar" approach - if anything he delighted, as Mark Penn still does, in dissecting and chopping off pieces and fingers and toes of the American people - segmenting into infinity. An ad like this that deliberately calls out to the Latino community is something that Mehlman would have done, if nothing else to minimize the percentage of Latinos who vote Democratic.

And it's a smart move - it's too late to go after African American voters but not too late to wedge Latinos, although that window of opportunity is fast closing as immigrant communities come to find out more about Obama and welcome him increasingly.

McCain blows up at NYT reporter

THe funniest part of all of this is that it's at Elizabeth Bumiller, who is generally not considered to be the one asking the hard questions or even the followup questions. She's a GOP scribe and lapdog if you ever saw one.

I bet that this is probably the last time she even bothers asking a question apart from, "May I have some fries with that?"

I mean, cos it's soooooo terrible for the man who was previously "enchanting" you on his ranch and feeding you BBQ to now be getting angry at you like your grandpapa. McCain's temper and ferocity is legendary - he's said "fuck you" to many GOP senators, and had to apologize many times over. Is this the man you want with his finger on the red button!?!?

now documented here, here and here.

The following is an ABC News transcript of the conversation:

New York Times correspondent Elisabeth Bumiller: Senator can I ask you about Senator Kerry. I just went back and looked at our story, the Times story, and you told Sheryl Stolberg that you had never had a conversation with Kerry about being, about Vice President –

John McCain: Everybody knows that I had a private conversation. Everybody knows that. That I had a conversation. There’s no living American in Washington -

EB: Okay.

McCain: - that knows that, there’s no one.

EB: Okay

McCain: And you know it too. You know it. You know it. So I don’t even know why you ask.

EB: Well I ask because I just read –-

McCain: You do know it. You do know it.

EB: Because I just read in the Times in May of ’04 you said.

McCain: I don’t know what you may have read or heard of, I don’t know the circumstances. Maybe in May of 04 I hadn’t had the conversation --

EB: But do you recall the conversation?

McCain: I don’t know, but it’s well known that I had the conversation. It is absolutely well known by everyone. So do you have a question on another issue?

EB: Well can I ask you when the conversation was?

McCain: No. Nope, because the issue is closed as far as I’m concerned. Everybody knows it. Everybody knows it in America.

EB: Can you describe the conversation?

McCain: Pardon me.

EB: Can you describe the conversation?

McCain: No, of course not. I don’t describe private conversations.

EB: Okay. Can I ask you –

McCain: Why should I? Then there’s no such thing as a private conversation. Is there (inaudible) if you have a private conversation with someone, and then they come and tell you. I don’t know that that’s a private conversation. I think that’s a public conversation.

EB. Okay. Can I ask you about your (pause) Why you’re so angry?

McCain: Pardon me?

EB: Nevermind, nevermind.

McCain: I mean it’s well known. Everybody knows. It’s been well chronicled a thousand times. John Kerry asked if I would consider being his running mate.

EB: Right.

McCain: And I said categorically no, under no circumstances. That’s all very well known.

EB: Okay, let me ask you… (moves on to another question.)

UPDATE: Hmm, here's some video footage, he doesn't look as angry as thought. however, it does seem as those he snaps at her. Supposedly McCain has been taking anger management classes . . . perhaps it's helping a little. I still wouldn't want him near the red button. Or the red phone.

Two soundbites: McCain and Hillary staff

At this juncture in the race, I wanted to alert you to two soundbites. One is this video of John McCain calling himself a "proud conservative liberal Republican" and the editor has helpfully mashed in some pictures of weed and colorful 60s tie die waviness. Marc Ambinder helpfully confirms that he did indeed say this.



The other is rather more serious - it's John Dickerson from Slate on a call with Clinton advisors asking when in her career, has she ever been tested by a foreign crisis?

The long silence is deafening, and the sophomoric attempts to make shit up afterwards don't help.

"What foreign policy moment would you point to in Hillary's career where she's been tested by crisis?" he said.

Silence on the call. You could've knit a sweater in the time it took the usually verbose team of Mark Penn, Howard Wolfson and Lee Feinstein, Clinton's national security director, to find a cogent answer. And what they came up with was weak -- that she's been endorsed by many high ranking members of the uniformed military.

Go to Hotline blog, which has the audio.

Words matter, names matter

Words matter - look at why will.i.am, a master wordsmith in his own right, decided to make the whole Obama video. He says that Obama's New Hampshire speech cinched it for him, that before that he was "torn."

and then there was New Hampshire

it was that speech...
like many great speeches...
that one moved me...
because words and ideas are powerful...

It made me think...
and realize that today we have "very few" leaders...
maybe none...

Republicans are well aware that words matter - they've had Frank Luntz, master messenger, on their side for a long time, making phrases that that short but memorable - tax relief, death tax instead of "reducing taxes" or "estate tax." They coined the term "compassionate conservative" to give us a president who was neither.

Words reverberate and they sit inside of us, touching us with meanings and feelings. All words hit different nerves that recall memories, thoughts, gut instinctual responses. If I say "home" it resounds differently for you than it does me, but for the vast majority of people, it brings up pleasant memories. If I say "security" at a time of war, it plays on fears for your home and family.

This is all covered by George Lakoff, progressive linguist.

So why do the Republicans and their echo machine of rightwing talk radio continue to insist on using Obama's middle name of Hussein? Because they want to hit Americans on fear, fears associated with what is really a very common middle name. They want to paint Obama as being anti-Semitic and un-American. When in reality, Obama is the melting pot. He represents America better than any other candidate - all of America.

In the Bible, when God grants Adam the ability to name objects, animals and other items in the Garden of Eden, that is when they first come to life. Words are meaning, words breathe life.

So I really admire Juan Cole's take down of radio host Mike Cunningham and of the Tennessee GOP with his thoroughly researched and cited post on the many many Semitically-named American heroes (hat tip as usual to prolific blogger Ben Smith, my first read every day.)

You should really read the whole thing but here's a teaser from Informed Comment:

I want to say something about Barack Hussein Obama's name. It is a name to be proud of. It is an American name. It is a blessed name. It is a heroic name, as heroic and American in its own way as the name of General Omar Nelson Bradley or the name of Benjamin Franklin. And denigrating that name is a form of racial and religious bigotry of the most vile and debased sort. It is a prejudice against names deriving from Semitic languages!

. . . Barack and Hussein are Semitic words. Americans have been named with Semitic names since the founding of the Republic. Fourteen of our 43 presidents have had Semitic names (see below). And, American English contains many Arabic-derived words that we use every day and without which we would be much impoverished. America is a world civilization with a world heritage, something Cunninghamism will never understand.

Barack is a Semitic word meaning "to bless" as a verb or "blessing" as a noun. In its Hebrew form, barak, it is found all through the Bible. It first occurs in Genesis 1:22: "And God blessed (ḇāreḵə ) them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth."

Here is a list of how many times barak appears in each book of the Bible.

Now let us take the name "Hussein." It is from the Semitic word, hasan, meaning "good" or "handsome." Husayn is the diminutive, affectionate form.

Barack Obama's middle name is in honor of his grandfather, Hussein, a secular resident of Nairobi. Americans may think of Saddam Hussein when they hear the name, but that is like thinking of Stalin when you hear the name Joseph. There have been lots of Husseins in history, from the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, a hero who touched the historian Gibbon, to King Hussein of Jordan, one of America's most steadfast allies in the 20th century. The author of the beloved American novel, The Kite Runner, is Khaled Hosseini.

Juan Cole also notes that John Mccain's adopted daughter, Bridget, is from Bangladesh, and that it's entirely possible that she also has relatives named with some variation of Hussein. He makes the good point that because the Bush campaign race-baited him with having a black daughter in 2000 in South Carolina, that it's understandable that McCain wouldn't abet this behavior, but wonders how far he will go.

Also, is there a particular reason why Bridget doesn't get included in official campaign mailings featuring the family? Or do they relate to her like George P Bush, whom Barbara has referred to as "the brown one?" Lastly, in an ABC interview, Cindy McCain says that her daughter feels hurt that the President of the United States doesn't like her because she's black.

The McCains adopted Bridget from Bangladesh in 1991, but opponents — the senator believes the Bush campaign, but it has denied it — used push-polling to make voters believe that he had fathered a black child out of wedlock.

Bridget, who is now 15, found out about the incident only a year ago when she Googled herself. Mrs. McCain McCain said Bridget was confused and hurt by the discovery.

"[She] was hurt by the fact that she thinks people don't like her because she's black," she said. "She asked me why the president of the United States doesn't like her and I said honey that's not what happened, you know this was about people that were mean spirited and wrong, they did wrong things you know, it's hard, it's been hard I'll say."

But she's really brown, and Asian American. Poor girl.

Portrait of McCain's Economic Advisor

Yeah, it almost sounds like a joke, but here's an interview with McCain's economic policy wonk . . . who isn't being paid.

Last time I checked, that wasn't good economics - either something is very wrong with the demand or the supply is overly plentiful.

Plus, I really fear for our economy under McCain and the interview doesn't do much to assuage that.

I think you said-correct me if I'm wrong-that a 10 percent individual income-tax cut would result in a $1.24 trillion revenue loss over 10 years.
That was the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] study? ... I don't remember the details of the study, but that certainly sounds about right.

So the basic argument is that you have to do something about the entitlement programs, correct?
Yes.

So what does Senator McCain propose? I don't think he is willing to raise the cap on payroll taxes, or undertake any other major initiatives that would really address the issue. Is that incorrect?
There's Social Security, and then there's the health programs: Medicare and Medicaid. On Social Security he's said that you can fix it, [that] you can fix it without raising taxes, and that the real obstacle is political. He has not put forth a plan, because he doesn't want to somehow make it harder to get the political consensus done. He's going to ask Congress to solve it, and if they don't, he's going to send them a plan and ask for an up-or-down vote.

What kind of a plan?
He hasn't put out a plan, it's true. But if you look at the menu of things that are out there-the thing called "Pozen price indexing," which slows the benefits at the upper end [of the income scale], or if you raise the normal retirement age from 67 to 68 ... a combination of things easily brings the system into balance over the long term. This is not rocket science. There are a lot of options. He knows that, so rather than dictate a solution that will run into political problems, he's saying, "Look, I know we can do this. It's a political issue to get it done. I'll call on the Congress to do it the minute I'm president."

So what's ahead is cuts to healthcare and Social Security. Bon voyage!

John McCain is the ultimate flip flopper

I know the man talks about honor in the trenches, and I respect the service he has given to our country. But I wonder just how much he believes in when he abandons not one, but TWO major bills that he was a major sponsor of.

1) IMMIGRATION REFORM (McCain-Kennedy): Has gone from supporting a path to citizenship and to stronger border control measures. (per Media Matters and also here.)

2) CAMPAIGN FINANCE (McCain-Feingold): This eponymous bill has largely been ground down into dust by McCain, who recently announced that for his presidential campaign, he will opt out of public financing. Way to support your core values and beliefs and to take one of the things you've accomplished and to spit on it.

In conclusion, I bring you the much blogged about parody of Obama's "Yes We Can" music video called "No We Can't" for John McCain: "There's going to be other wars, We're going to have a a lot of combat wounds, and it's going to be tough . . . 10,000 years, 10,000 years. Iraq withdrawal date: 12,008."

1:39 minutes of concise funny mixed with sadness. Also, later I'll be blogging the Potomac primary results with on the ground reports. Not much to liveblog since well, the only thing that's going to be surprising is by what margin...

McCain's Senior Moment

Ouch, Ron Paul's remix of McCain's stuttering, stumbling answer on the economy is pretty awesome.

Now, the remix with Miss South Carolina's incoherent babblings interspersed. McCain doesn't know jack about the economy.



McCain's actual response: The economies! Back in mah daze, we climbed up the hillz, both waez, and then downs. . . A list of names. Clearly a gotcha question, but one that hit its mark.

Swiftboating: McCain gets shat on

Readers of this site will know that I do not love John McCain, especially not his "gook" comments or his disavowal of the immigrant rights movement. But I do think that even for Republicans, the other side has sunk to some new lows.

Someone put out new ads by the "Vietnam Veterans against John McCain" alleging that he abandoned Vietnam Vets.

OUCH! Talk about kneecapping and political jiu jitsu - this is what happened to John Kerry in 04, almost exactly. Shadowy GOP opponents take one the the candidate's main strength (valor in military service) and turn it around on them. Especially one who purposefully did NOT accept offers to leave imprisonment and confinement early due to his status. Instead, he wound up staying a few years extra in prison, being tortured.

I mean, OUCH! Look at me defending McCain!

So who do I think is behind it? Some Romney funders, most likely, since Huckabee doesn't have the money for this, and is more likely to hit McCain on Christianity and liberalism. Additionally, he seems to go out of his way to praise McCain and shares some slightly less crazy views on certain social issues. Also, Romney has shitloads of cash, and would benefit the most. I would be surprised if Giuliani's folks put this out, because it's so evil and strategic, and well . . . his campaign has shown a remarkable lack of strategy (who came up with the let's wait to battle it out after 5 states and 5 weeks of media time have gone by?!?!) Also, how much does it hurt that Giuliani is running behind McCain in his home state of NY?

It sure seems like McCain just can't catch a break from his own party - first being accused of having a "tar baby", a black lovechild by the Bushies in 00 in S Carolina, when really he has an adopted Bangladeshi daughter (but we all look the same right??!!?)

Unless, you are really an evil genius, and McCain's people did this to himself to 1) boost his standing in the general election - remember, McCain has spent most of his time running as an incumbent this time around (can't say that's worked great for him since his 00 appeal was his maverick willingness to speak the truth.) anyway, if he can hit back strong, and the vets go away, it only highlights his military experience and makes people feel bad for him (sympathy vote.) Oh wait, that only works with liberals like me in the general election. anyways, it's probably registered as a 527 so we can't get to the bottom of who the funders are really, since it takes advantage of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform laws.

McHuckabee: What I don't want for Christmas

Yeah, I know we're kinda past that date. But here's what I'm pretty deathly afraid of - a McCain-Huckabee ticket. Back when McCain was actively imploding and had to reduce its staff by a third, I was relieved, because I see him as one of the biggest threats in a general election. Now Republicans, sick of EVERYONE in their field, are coming back around to McCain (per politicalwire.)

Robert Novak: "Sen. John McCain, given up for dead a few weeks ago as he ran a cash-starved, disorganized campaign, today is viewed by canny Republican professionals as the best bet to win the party's presidential nomination. What's more, they consider him their most realistic prospect to buck the overall Democratic tide and win the general election. Indeed, if Mike Huckabee holds on to actually win the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, the road forward could be clear for McCain."

Meanwhile, the Washington Times notes the "once nearly bankrupt campaign" of McCain "was negotiating yesterday to charter a fleet of 'Straight Talk Express' buses for use in early primary states."

Why are GOP insiders coming back to the horse they staunchly rejected in 2000 for Dubya?
1) Because one of the original top candidates, Mr. 9/11liani is sick and wouldn't release health records, which kind of freaks out most people who worry that he will keel over on the campaign trail, not to mention his drag-wearing, gay-befriending, taxpayer-aided affair-flaunting ways. If you've got nothing to hide, why wait?!?

2) Because the Christian conservative base is freaking out about Romney the Mormon and can't stop talking about or thinking about this one part of him. Also, he's not ready for primetime. Plus he's the original flip-flopper, much like someone else from his home state, he supported abortion rights and attended a Planned Parenthood fundraiser Cos well, some of the Christian right could overlook him being from what they consider to be a cult and all, but donating to Planned Parenthood crosses the line.

3) And because McCain's not totally crazy, unlike some of the other Republican candidates, and because his "maverickness" and willingness to deviate from GOP boilerplate makes him a more attractive candidate to undecided and independent voters. Of course, this is before McCain decided to run as Bush 2.0 and try to pull a Hillary and claim the mantle of legitimacy in an election cycle when even Repubs are running as far away as they can from Bush's legacy of failed empire. In fact he's so not crazy and instead crazily strategic that he ditched his one defining characteristic as an independent to hitch his wagon to the Bush caravan, which keeps careening over the edge into the canyon. Repeatedly. (Imagine some M. C. Escher depiction of Manifest Destiny with 2 cowboys, a burning caravan, and lots of picturesque rugged landscape - canyon after canyon - as soon as you think you've gone over the edge, you see another canyon.)

And sure, McCain is steadfast. So steadfast that he hasn't changed his mind on anything from immigration (let's see, former sponsor of immigration reform - the McCain-Kennedy bill - turned neo-xenophobe.) Come on, your name was ON the (sorta) pro-immigrant bill as a lead sponsor. Now you're all, "I don't know him, he doesn't ride with me?" How ridiculous can you get? At least he's sticking with his guns and standing up against torture. Because at least that's not too controversial a position - who is going to stick their neck out and say "Hey, I'm pro-torture!"

(Well, apparently, a whole slew of the current field is pro-torture. Not sure how this is a Christian sentiment though.)

But this initial pro-immigrant stance is what would make Huckabee a good running mate for McCain. Huckabee was pro-DREAM Act, before he was against it. Huckabee provides political cover for the Christian right, as a former pastor. And McCain has even publicly stated that he and Huckabee get along well.

Sen. John McCain's strategists "are openly boosting Mike Huckabee in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses as their candidate's best hope for winning the New Hampshire primary five days later," Robert Novak reports.

"Reports have been leaked that McCain personally likes Huckabee and dislikes Mitt Romney. Apart from personal preference, the McCain camp acknowledges that a Romney victory in Iowa may trigger a win in New Hampshire and a chance to sweep subsequent primaries. The McCain insiders feel Huckabee will not be a serious candidate even if he defeats Romney in Iowa." (Political Wire)

Combined, the McHuckabee is like some god-awful ideal Republican monster, at least from my perspective, it's the last thing I would want to send our eventual Democratic ticket up against.

McCain provides the foreign policy heft, and Huckabee the "awshucks" common man factor and charisma that would be the most formidable GOP ticket in my estimation. Plus McHuckabee sounds like some kind of McDonald's special 2 for 1 offer, or their latest Sausage-syrup hybrid designed for the lowest common demoninator [pun intended], designed to appeal to all your bizarre fringe tastes. Here you can satisfy your NRA needs for your home-schooled kids and your foreign policy hawkness to the Christian base. One stop, hopefully stoppable shop.

To clarify in LOLspeak: DO NOT WANTZ McHUCKABEEZ!

Of course, McCain might actually wind up the GOP presidential nominee, since the Republicans seem to be stuck in a cycle kinda like our 2004 - low buzz or enthusiasm for candidates, culminating in a "Must stop Candidate X" coalition that props up some candidate who earlier had trouble making payroll. Kerry actually had to self-finance his campaign with a new $6 million mortgage on his home. Of course, if he had known then what he knows now, he wouldn't have done it given the crushing tide of foreclosures due to resetting rates.

And Huckabee sure seems to be playing the same sunny optimist role that Edwards did last time around. I've never hoped that a GOP candidate would emulate a Democratic campaign so much. We can only hope, cos we all know how that election ended in a crash-and-burn. (Oh yeah, don't forget to overpay your media consultants and starve your swing state GOTV efforts particularly in Florida and Ohio.)

Add in the Ron Paul 3rd party factor, and I think it's game, match, set for the Democrats. Because when the candidate on your team who generated the most heat (money) is a racist nutjob whose supporters are obnoxious spammers and who represents what you thought was a best the most fringe of the fringes of your party, you know your base is heavily dissatisfied and ain't gonna vote, no way, no how. It's pretty impressive that Paul's $20M haul for this quarter puts him on top of GOP fundraising. I can't wait to watch the incipient intra-party battle, especially since our top 3 candidates are pretty stellar, and share similar policy goals. Not to mention that the economy is in the crapper and a majority of Americans think we will enter a recession next year, well, it's no surprise that even Republican voters are awakening to the fact that in recent history, Republican presidents have brought us shitty economies (Reagan, Bush I, Bush II): "We did better when (Bill) Clinton was in than we did with Bush. It's just terrible." (AP via Yahoo)

So I'm looking forward to seeing not just who we pick, but also who the GOP picks. Because I'm pretty sure we can beat anyone from Giuliani (who I think is weakest) to the Paulster to McHuckabee. That's right, I can nickname as good as our dear leader with his beloved press corpse.

Yeah, Santa, this is all I want for Christmas, so Fed-Ex Next Day this sucker. (Miss the snark much?)

Politics, the Politico, and news coverage

Via politicalwire, the WashPost reports that McCain has missed his 5th straight week of votes. 42 votes in a row if anyone's counting. . . and Arizona voters ought to be - cos really, what else are they paying him for?!? Since April 1st, he's only made it to THREE floor votes. This is a preposterously low number. I understand that his campaign is in a tailspin ever since his embarrassingly low fundraising figures came in and that he's fired/moved around senior staff, but here's some free advice:

The reason why no one wants to donate to you is the same reason why Bush has an approval rating below 30% - Americans hate the Iraq War. So your "principled" and unwavering stance in favor of it, and for continuing it, and even kickin' it up a notch - it doesn't move even GOP voters. You abandoned one of your namesake bills on immigration, the McCain-Kennedy bill, so that you could spend all your time politicking, and pirouetting and spinning for GOP base. And they still don't trust you. They don't trust you because you're trying to run Bush's campaign without being Bush. So find your own voice.

Your current trajectory is losing you supporters and voters quicker than any amount of begging and pleading you can do, or any money-tree shaking you can do.

---------------------------
I don't want to admit this because I'm addicted to my fix of political news, but I gotta say that the Politico is a pretty partisan hack journal. It's been said before. Look at the headlines on their front page:
-Obama gets Playboy's vote
-Murtha accused of ethics violation (thte top story - somehow this beats out immigration, gay marriage, etc.) of of respect for our staff people.
-Liberals feel stiffed by new Dem majority
-Dems float weaker-than-expected lobbying bill

I wish it wasn't because they update so frequently, but it's gotta be put out there. I'm going to continue linking to them because they remain a valuable font of info. But as always, be aware of slanted opinions.

Death knell for the McCain campaign?

Well, first Senator John McCain (R-AZ)'s presidential campaign claims that they won't make their fund raising goals, despite him having hired all the top political staff way back when. While this might just be an expectations ploy, there's no arguing that his stubborn clinging to the Dubya playbook and failed Iraq War policies hangs on his poll numbers like a dead weight.

Now we get confirmation that McCain's chief of staff, Rudy Weaver (who is now a Chief political advisor to the campaign) approached top Democrats about switching parties in 2001. (Hat tip political wire.) This had been rumored but never before confirmed. As reported in The Hill (read the whole thing, it's really good):

In interviews with The Hill this month, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and ex-Rep. Tom Downey (D-N.Y.) said there were nearly two months of talks with the maverick lawmaker following an approach by John Weaver, McCain’s chief political strategist.

Democrats had contacted Jeffords and then-Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) in the early months of 2001 about switching parties, but in McCain’s case, they said, it was McCain’s top strategist who came to them.

At the end of their March 31, 2001 lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Bethesda, Md., Downey said Weaver asked why Democrats hadn’t asked McCain to switch parties.

Downey, a well-connected lobbyist, said he was stunned.

“You’re really wondering?” Downey said he told Weaver. “What do you mean you’re wondering?”

“Well, if the right people asked him,” Weaver said, according to Downey, adding that he responded, “The calls will be made. Who do you want?” Weaver this week said he did have lunch with Downey that spring, pointing out that he and Downey “are very good friends.”

Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle also confirms meetings with McCain to discuss committee assignments:

Daschle noted that McCain at that time was frustrated with the Bush administration as a result of his loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 Republican primary.

Daschle said that throughout April and May of 2001, he and McCain “had meetings and conversations on the floor and in his office, I think in mine as well, about how we would do it, what the conditions would be. We talked about committees and his seniority … [A lot of issues] were on the table.”

Here's the money line:

McCain consistently shot down the rumors, though Weaver acknowledged this week that the senator did talk to Democrats about leaving the GOP.

Weaver disputes the Democrats' version of things, though, saying that he was approached by top Dems. Nonethless, after Jim Jeffords defected from the GOP, talks with Chafee and McCain ended.

McCain’s links to Democrats were so clear that Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) — now a close ally of McCain — publicly criticized him in the early part of 2001 for keeping “unusual company.”

Jeffords pulled the trigger on May 24, 2001, throwing control of the Senate to Democrats. Chafee and McCain then broke off their discussions with Democratic leaders, according to Democrats.

Downey said he talked to Weaver at least once a week during McCain’s discussions with Democrats, asking him questions like, “What is the state of play?” and “Where are we?”

“Weaver was very active in this,” Downey said, “None of this happens without Weaver.”

Damn. I'm not sure how he intends to get past the primary with this one. Weaver has since become a Democrat, and is doing a poor job of protecting his former boss. For the Christian conservative base, this has got to be the last straw. Although this piece of info elevates him for the general, it's doesn't really matter because as hard as he sticks to the Bush 2000 playbook, Steve Schmidt can't spin his way out of this one. The lingering doubts will always be there when the voters go to the polls. And yeah, bipartisanship or the semblance of such might get Ahr-nuld elected in California, but the California Republicans are like Connecticut Democrats.

This type of hesitation will not play well in South Carolina, and it's no wonder that McCain is doing poorly in primary polls in his own state.

Look at how poorly former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack was doing in his own backyard, and how quickly he dropped out. McCain knows he has more than that going for him, so he'll stay in it for the long haul, but don't be surprised if the general exasperation amongst the Republican base leads to someone outside the top tier of soft GOP candidates (McCain, Guiliani, Romney) to someone much more palatable - think Huckabee or Brownback. Their alliance and allegiance to the rightwing evangelical movement is unquestioned, and unlike the top tier, there's no photos of them in drag, blue state ties, or repudiation of Jerry Falwell which have to be recanted.

Me, I'm psyched that this tidbit was uncovered because I actually feared McCain the most for the general election, regardless of his idiotic insistence on embracing the failures in Iraq. I think that his military record, and "straight talk" (even if he forgot how to do it in an express fashion) make him a compelling general election candidate.

Meanwhile, I think our top three candidates (Clinton, Obama and Edwards) are incredibly strong, and Democrats in general seem to be happy with our field. I'm feeling like a Blue America in '08.

Update: Interesting, it may be that Steve Schmidt, Rove protege and Arnold's campaign manager and former press secretary of Matt Fong, 1998 California Republican candidate for Governor, left the McCain campaign to be a partner at Mercury Public Affairs. And if that's the case, I echo Azi's question: why don't they mention McCain in the hiring press release? Could it be that they don't want to associate themselves with a flailing campaign?