{"id":11186,"date":"2007-03-21T16:06:54","date_gmt":"2007-03-21T23:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2007\/03\/21\/politicians-are-politicians.html"},"modified":"2007-03-21T16:06:54","modified_gmt":"2007-03-21T23:06:54","slug":"politicians_are_politicia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/03\/21\/politicians_are_politicia.html","title":{"rendered":"Politicians are Politicians"},"content":{"rendered":"

For all that I recently lambasted Hillary<\/a> for being unable to answer a straight (so to speak) question, it’s only fair to critique John McCain for similar obfuscation.  I’ve had a certain measure of admiration for McCain — or aspects of him — in the past.  But the closer we get to 2008, the more delicately politic he’s become, the less of an ostensible maverick.<\/p>\n

So in Iowa, he was asked whether he approved of federal aid-funded funded condoms in African nations to fight the spread of HIV.  He could have said, “Yes.”  He could have said, “No.”  He could have nuanced either of those answers.  Instead, he hemmed, hawed, turned to his handlers, and couldn’t come up with any <\/em>answer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Reporter: \u201cShould U.S. taxpayer money go to places like Africa to fund contraception to prevent AIDS?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. McCain: \u201cWell I think it\u2019s a combination. The guy I really respect on this is Dr. Coburn [Senator Tom Coburn, a physician and Republican from Oklahoma]. He believes \u2013 and I was just reading the thing he wrote\u2013 that you should do what you can to encourage abstinence where there is going to be sexual activity. Where that doesn\u2019t succeed, than he thinks that we should employ contraceptives as well. But I agree with him that the first priority is on abstinence. I look to people like Dr. Coburn. I\u2019m not very wise on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Mr. McCain turns to take a question on Iraq, but a moment later looks back to the reporter who asked him about AIDS.)<\/p>\n

Mr. McCain: \u201cI haven\u2019t thought about it. Before I give you an answer, let me think about. Let me think about it a little bit because I never got a question about it before. I don\u2019t know if I would use taxpayers\u2019 money for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: \u201cWhat about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush\u2019s policy, which is just abstinence?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) \u201cAhhh. I think I support the president\u2019s policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: \u201cSo no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) \u201cYou\u2019ve stumped me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: \u201cI mean, I think you\u2019d probably agree it probably does help stop it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. McCain: (Laughs) \u201cAre we on the Straight Talk express? I\u2019m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I\u2019m sure I\u2019ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian [Jones, his press secretary], would you find out what my position is on contraception \u2013 I\u2019m sure I\u2019m opposed to government spending on it, I\u2019m sure I support the president\u2019s policies on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: \u201cBut you would agree that condoms do stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Would you say: \u2018No, we\u2019re not going to distribute them,\u2019 knowing that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. McCain: (Twelve-second pause) \u201cGet me Coburn\u2019s thing, ask [senior advisor John] Weaver to get me Coburn\u2019s paper that he just gave me in the last couple of days. I\u2019ve never gotten into these issues before.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Brian Jones later confirmed that McCain “had a record of voting against using government money to finance the distribution of condoms.”<\/p>\n

So one of two possibilities I see:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. He didn’t want to offend social conservatives — his bete noir<\/em> last time he ran — by supporting (gasp) contraception and condoms.  By the same token, he didn’t want to lose his wavering moderate support by coming out directly against it.  So he punted to “I’ll answer later, once my advisors do their job and tell me what I should say.”<\/li>\n
  2. He’s not fast enough to figure out a reasonable answer, based on his principles and policy beliefs, in a public setting, and, instead, had to turn to his advisors to tell him what his position actually was, or should be.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In either case, not exactly presidential material, nor in keeping with his “tough, maverick, do-what’s-right” self-promoted image.<\/p>\n

    (via Les<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    For all that I recently lambasted Hillary for being unable to answer a straight (so to speak) question, it’s only fair to critique John McCain for similar obfuscation.  I’ve had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elections-2008"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12967,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/08\/29\/the_next_dick_cheney.html","url_meta":{"origin":11186,"position":0},"title":"The Next Dick Cheney?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 29-Aug-08 9:58am","format":false,"excerpt":"It looks like McCain has selected his VP running mate -- and gone against all the punditry and received wisdom as to who the choice will be. 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