Howard Dean: What’s McCain Hiding?
Submitted by jmeasley on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 00:30.
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While Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have released years of personal tax returns, Republican John McCain has released two years of limited returns. Recently, DNC Chair Howard Dean wondered what McCain is hiding?
"John McCain's lack of transparency is troubling and raises questions about what he's hiding. From his willingness to skirt FEC law to releasing less information about his tax returns than any other candidate since Ronald Reagan, John McCain continues a troubling pattern of thinking the rules don't apply to him. McCain should hold himself to the same standard set by past presidential candidates, both Republican and Democrat, and the example already set by both Democratic candidates,” Dean said.
He also said that McCain should be held to the same standard that John Kerry was in 2004. "In 2004, the Republican National Committee called on the Kerry campaign to release Teresa Heinz Kerry's tax returns, saying 'Americans value disclosure and transparency in campaigns.' We expect the RNC will call on John McCain to release Cindy McCain's records just as they called on the Kerry campaign to do so in 2004. The connection between the McCains' business ventures and their political ties have been well documented and the American people deserve to know how McCain's role as a public official may have benefited their bottom line," Dean said.
What John McCain is hiding is very simple. He doesn’t want voters to know just how rich he and his wife really are. It will be difficult to label Barack Obama a liberal elitist, once the world knows that McCain’s wife is worth $100 million and that for decades McCain has been living a life replete with private jets and vacation homes.
This is the exact situation that the Republicans used to paint John Kerry as a rich elitist in 2004, so why wouldn’t the same standard apply to McCain in 2008? Much like George W. Bush, McCain has a blind spot towards his own wealth.
Republicans will do their best to define the Democrats as the elite this year, but as usual the real elitist will be the candidate who is trying his hardest to act like a regular guy.
Dean’s Statement:
http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/latest.jsp?beat=BEAT_GOVERNMENT&view=...
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mccains war
McCain has said repeatedly that he was afforded no special treatment while in the " Hanoi Hilton ". Yet when he was first interviewed by the North Vietnamese he is shown at a hospital reserved for Vietnamese military and he was seen by Soviet Surgeons . He was drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes while being interviewed. This was a far cry from the way the rest of the POWs were treated .
His wife at the time, was a member of the National League of Families and she fought to make sure that John McCain came home. He rewarded this loyalty by divorcing her after his return.
He was shot down October 26, 1967, and by November 9, 1967 he was giving interviews to foreign correspondents, providing information on his prior command, casualties and tactics, in direct violation of the Code of Conduct. (The U.S. military Code of Conduct is the definitive code specifying the responsibilities of American military personnel while in combat or captivity. Article V of the Code is very specific in ordering U.S. military personnel to avoid answering questions to the utmost of their ability and to make no oral or written statements disloyal to the United States and its allies, or harmful to their cause. Any willful violation of the Code is considered collaborating with the enemy .)
The Communist Vietnamese erected a bust of John McCain beside the lake where he was shot down. His defenders say that this is a tribute to the PAVN gunners that shot him down.
In the interview that he gave on November 9, 1967 to VNA International, he claims when he bailed out and landed in the lake, that locals pulled him out and took him to the hospital . Yet in the U.S. News and World Report - May 14, 1973. McCain is quoted as saying "I think it was on the fourth day (after being shot down) that two guards came in, instead of one. One of them pulled back the blanket to show the other guard my injury. I looked at my knee. It was about the size of a football . . . when I saw it, I said to the guard, Ok, get the officer '...an officer came in after a few minutes. It was the man that we came to know very well as ' The Bug '. He was a psychotic torturer , one of the worst fiends that we had to deal with. I said, Ok, I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital."
While testifying before the Senate Select Committee, the very man McCain claims was responsible for his own torture , his interrogator, " The Bug " was appearing. When the moment of confrontation came, McCain rose from his seat, walked from the podium to the floor and stood face to face with the man who was responsible for torturing him and countless other Prisoners of War...McCain then grabbed the man and embraced him!
He has been a consistent advocate of lenient treatment of Vietnam.
While a member of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs (1991-1993) he referred to POW/MIA Family Members and POW/MIA Activists as whiners ,vultures and the lunatic fringe .
Although the Senate Select Committee concluded that we left men behind, McCain crossed party lines to help lift the embargo and normalize relations with Vietnam. "It's very important for us to recognize that the war is over, ... In my view, an improvement in relations between our two countries does a whole of lot things from a practical standpoint, but it also , from a spiritual standpoint indicates that we are ready to close that chapter," McCain said. (Many POWs and families of MIAs would strongly disagree that is time to close this chapter! Improving relations with Vietnam stood to benefit the McCain’s family as they hold a large interest in the Budweiser Corporation. Surprise, surprise Bud was among the first large U.S. Corporations to enter Vietnam after relations were normalized.)
He ignored a letter from former POW, Capt. Eugene "Red" McDaniel, co-signed by 50 former POWs which asked that the embargo not be lifted and not to normalize relations and still McCain would not be swayed.
When the Missing Service Personnel Act of 1996 came on the Senate Floor for debate, Senator McCain called this bill " un-necessary " and " burdensome " even though the MSPA was sponsored by the then majority leader and the man who had considered asking John McCain to run with him, Sen. Bob Dole.
McCain managed to get the MSPA amended by removing criminal liability and several articles that were important to POW/MIA Family m embers.
McCain voted against campaign-finance reform in 1987/1988.. and didn't support the concept until 1990, just after the Keating story broke.
Until McCain began thinking about running for national office he was consistently anti-gay (he even spoke at a fundraiser for Oregon's anti-gay rights initiative) Now he says they are "not inclusive enough".
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