McCain Rolls the Dice…A Lot
Posted on September 28th, 2008 in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »
The Times reports that John McCain has a gambling problem. Suddenly everything starts to make sense.
Mr. McCain portrays himself as a Washington maverick unswayed by special interests, referring recently to lobbyists as “birds of prey.” Yet in his current campaign, more than 40 fund-raisers and top advisers have lobbied or worked for an array of gambling interests — including tribal and Las Vegas casinos, lottery companies and online poker purveyors.
Let’s consider that a moment: 40 fundraisers and advisers? That is simply astonishing. And McCain has a record of helping the industry.
As factions of the ferociously competitive gambling industry have vied for an edge, they have found it advantageous to cultivate a relationship with Mr. McCain or hire someone who has one, according to an examination based on more than 70 interviews and thousands of pages of documents.
The problem with gambling, of course, is that you can’t help but wonder what the industry has on John McCain—probably, either money or women [emphasis added]….
The former [campaign] official said he would tell Mr. McCain: “Do we really have to go to a casino? I don’t think it’s a good idea. The base doesn’t like it. It doesn’t look good. And good things don’t happen in casinos at midnight.”
“You worry too much,” Mr. McCain would respond, the official said.
In one instance, McCain spent a night at Foxwoods casino in Connecticut and came away winning several thousand dollars. (Do you think the casino would let him lose? If so, I have some mortgage-backed securities to sell you.)
Mr. McCain’s spokesman, Tucker Bounds, would not discuss the senator’s night of gambling at Foxwoods, saying: “Your paper has repeatedly attempted to insinuate impropriety on the part of Senator McCain where none exists — and it reveals that your publication is desperately willing to gamble away what little credibility it still has.”
It’s all about judgment—and as with his choice of Sarah Palin, John McCain is increasingly showing that there are serious gaps in his.
This is a blockbuster story. Congrats to the Times.
10 Responses
9/28/2008 9:22 am
Rich,
I guess you were shocked, shocked to find out that gambling was going on. While I agree that it doesn’t show good judgement for McCain to be gambling in casinos given his relationships with them, I hardly think this qualifies as a blockbuster story. To me, this story is a yawner, especially with attention being focused on the bailout bill.
9/28/2008 12:52 pm
I know it’s a long article, puh-lease, but did you get to the end, where it describes the remarkable efforts of McCain and his staff to help particular tribes who hired his friends and punish others for hiring the wrong lobbyists? It’s not a yawner.
They probably should have run this as a series, because there’s a number of interesting points here and they’ll get lost in the epic scope of the piece.
9/28/2008 8:03 pm
I only made it to page 4. I guess I’ll have to read the whole thing.
9/29/2008 10:53 am
Ever seen Godfather 2, puh-lease? Remember the senator (I think it was) who wakes up with the dead girl…?
Who knows what dirt lobbying interests have on McCain, and now much pressure on him they could bring to bear as a result?
It’s about judgment and a sense that McCain seems to have that the rules don’t apply to him.
9/29/2008 12:38 pm
The “gambling problem” is better described as a “total f-ing hypocrisy with regard to his anti-special interests rhetoric problem”.
9/29/2008 9:52 pm
Rich,
You act like I’m a McCain fan. If you’ve read my posts, it’s pretty clear that I HATE both parties. Politicians from BOTH parties think the rules don’t apply to them. And that includes Obama. He hasn’t been around as long as McCain, so there are less skeletons in his closet, but don’t think for a second he’s a shining knight. He’s intelligent, well spoken, and appears unflappable. But he’s still a politician, which means I don’t trust him for a second. That being said, I really can’t see him losing to McCain and as President, it would be next to impossible for him to do a worse job than Bush.
As for the Times story, by “yawner”, I wasn’t referring to whether it was an interesting article or not (though given that it was a Times article, that’s a reasonable assumption). I was pointing out that an article telling us that a politician is a hypocrite is hardly a blockbuster and will have NO traction in the news cycle, especially with all hell breaking loose on Wall Street.
9/30/2008 12:36 am
p-l, “NO traction in the news cycle” doesn’t convert to no impact on the race. Already the gambling thing is getting in sotto voce in various asides I’ve picked up. My guess it will (and SHOULD) factor in for independents and thinking republicans who have questions about this man’s temperament, recklessness, and unsuitability to have his finger on the trigger.
Why do you bring McCain outrages back to vague implications about Obama, to whom you make a paradigm shift with your “he’s still a politician, which means I don’t trust him for a second”. Does that mean you support no one, since you don’t trust politicians, or what??? Won’t vote?? Do tell.
9/30/2008 9:44 am
RT,
I can’t imagine myself voting for a candidate from either major party. I’ll vote for Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate, not that I trust him either (I have a hard time forgetting his right wing past)
As for my vague insinuation about Obama, I could be specific, but we don’t really need to rehash his associations with Wright and Rezko and Ayers and groups like ACORN. My point is that there are plenty of outrages on both sides, and if Rich wants to delude himself into thinking that only the other guys are a bunch of lying hypocrites, that’s his prerogative, but I’m not buying it.
Lastly, if you think that the recent swing towards Obama has anything to do with the NYT story, you’re sadly mistaken. In fact, it has little to do with McCain at all. It’s about the economy. The more the focus is on the economy, the better Obama’s chances.
9/30/2008 4:35 pm
wait a minute, what’s wrong with ACORN?
9/30/2008 11:22 pm
Lets’ see. Voter registration fraud, financial improprieties, and cover-up of said financial improprieties just to name a few things. That’s without going into their role in helping to create the subprime mess or their corporate shake-downs by holding up bank mergers via the CRA.