[Vision2020] [Bulk] Re: Make-Believe Maverick

[Paul Rumelhart]

No Weatherman wrote:
> Paul,
>
> 1.	The first thing I noticed is that Rolling Stone is hardly a
> credible source on presidential candidates when you consider the fact
> that eight years ago they air-brushed a boner on Al Gore to enhance
> his package for their cover:
>   

Alleged airbrushing aside, their credibility will be reflected in their 
ability to get facts correct in this story.

> 3.	The third thing I noticed was that the writer found 15 different
> people to say negative things about Senator John McCain ...

The question is: how truthful are those 15 different people?

>
> 4.	The fourth thing I noticed was that the story was largely a
> narrative that was completely unsupported by any sources whatsoever.
> Consider the following example:
>
> "McCain's admittance to Annapolis was preordained by his bloodline.
> But martial discipline did not seem to have much of an impact on his
> character. By his own account, McCain was a lazy, incurious student;
> he squeaked by only by prevailing upon his buddies to help him cram
> for exams. He continued to get sauced and treat girls badly. Before
> meeting a girlfriend's parents for the first time, McCain got so
> shitfaced that he literally crashed through the screen door when he
> showed up in his white midshipman's uniform."
>
> No source is identified for this storyline and the majority of the
> story reads just like this.
>   

I took the "by his own account" part to mean he mentioned it in one of 
his autobiographies, either "Worth the Fighting For: A Memoir" or "Faith 
of my Fathers".  A little googling shows some references to his time 
spent in Annapolis in FomF.  I have not read this book, but I have found 
many references that cite it as a source for his habitually large number 
of demerits (he was in the "century club"), his drinking, and his bad 
grades (he was fifth from the bottom of his class when he graduated).  
Here are a few:

http://www.b-29s-over-korea.com/book_reports/The-John-McCain-Story01.html
http://www.buy.com/prod/faith-of-my-fathers/q/loc/106/207653945.html 
(contains an excerpt that mentions his large number of demerits, and 
refers to "frivolous escapades")
http://www.slate.com/id/1003569/ (summaries of indiscretions from the book)



> 5.	The fifth thing I noticed was the author's objectivity. He really
> impressed me with his inability to find one mitigating circumstance,
> one kind construction, one favorable witness, or one good thing to say
> about Sen. John McCain.
>   

He does not seem to like him very much, nor did he try overly hard to 
give a balanced review of his misdeeds.  That's why I'm asking about this.

> 6.	The sixth thing I noticed is that John McCain, who is 72 years old,
> has written only one memoir (at least that this story referenced)
> whereas Barrack Hussein Obama, who is 47 years old, has already
> written two. One man has served his country for his entire adult life,
> the other is a former community organizer who has a couple of years in
> DC under his belt.
>   

McCain has written two memoirs:

http://www.amazon.com/Faith-My-Fathers-Family-Memoir/dp/0061734950/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223245385&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Worth-Fighting-Education-American-Maverick/dp/081296974X/ref=pd_bbs_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223245385&sr=8-6

and at least two other books:

http://www.amazon.com/Why-Courage-Matters-Braver-Life/dp/0345513347/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223245520&sr=1-2
http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Call-Art-Great-Decisions/dp/044669911X/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223245520&sr=1-8

However, I can't really find the measure of "number of memoirs" to be 
that revealing about a candidate, good or bad.  Except, of course, for 
what was published in them.


> 7.	Finally, the last thing I noticed is that if RS could fabricate
> this much dirt on John McCain, using only 15 sources to confirm
> absolutely none of the narrative, can you imagine what they would
> discover if they started asking the hard questions about Barrack
> Hussein Obama's long-standing personal and professional relationship
> with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers? Now THAT would be juicy!
>   

You use the word "fabricate", when I think you mean "reveal".  Unless 
you have some sources that conflict with what was published in the 
article.  So far, I have been able to find sources backing up everything 
we've discussed here, some written by John McCain himself.

Paul