My phone- and internet- friend Paul Begala, who so generously blurbed The Coup, has written a couldn’t-be-more-timely book called Third Term: Why George W. Bush [Hearts] John McCain. Paul–political consultant, White House counselor, CNN commentator Georgetown professor–and is feisty, combative, and wonderfully witty–the very definition of a Happy Warrior. I’m thrileld that he found time to take some questions:
We all saw the GOP convention. We saw John McCain warn Washington that change is coming. We saw Sarah Palin promise that a McCain administration would shake up the capitol. We saw the two of them stand up there like Mr. and Mrs. Amavericka (TM pending). How come you’re so dubious?
I love “Mr. and Mrs. Amavericka.” But even in choosing Gov. Palin, McCain was acting like President Bush. Going with his gut, acting rash and reckless, gambling the future of the nation on an impulse. McCain had only met Gov. Palin once (and spoke to her on the phone once for 15 minutes) before he asked her to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. And a 72-year-old heartbeat at that. This guy makes Bush look downright cautious. Hell, I wouldn’t go to dinner with someone I only met once – and he’s willing to turn supreme executive authority, thousands of nuclear weapons and a million-person army over to her? If McCain’s that impetuous in choosing a running mate, how much thought is he going to give before launching another war or two?
Okay, let’s get into some specifics. How is McCain like Bush on foreign policy?
McCain is Bush on steroids. As a former National Security Council staffer said, McCain is a man, “who hasn’t seen a country he doesn’t want to bomb or invade.” He still says the war in Iraq was a good idea, even though Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction and was no threat to America. His running mate has said the war is part of God’s plan. (God told me that was bullshit.) He has surrounded himself with many of the same neocon crackpots who got us into the mess in Iraq, and has said that if the fighting ever dies down, he’d leave troops there for 100 years.
Economics?
McCain opposed Bush’s tax cuts when they were temporary. Now he wants them to be permanent. That’s like marrying a girl you didn’t want to date. He owns nine homes (not the seven you’ve heard about; nine) in three time zones, so it’s no wonder he supports tax cuts for the rich. But he also supports $1.74 trillion – with a T – in tax cuts for corporations, while raising taxes on everyone who gets health care from their employer. Of course, McCain has famously repeated Bush’s nonsense that, “the fundamentals of the economy are strong.” What fundamentals is he talking about? Jobs? Health care? Incomes? The cost of energy or education or food? I’m spooked by economic fundamentalists like Bush and McCain.
What about the environment? We all know McCain busted Bush’s chops about global warming.
Yeah, and I hope he’s serious about it. We’ve been burned before. Bush himself ran against Al Gore promising to limit CO2 emissions, which cause global warming. Then when he got into office he flip-flopped, probably at the behest of lobbyists for Big Oil. Whether McCain will keep his promise on global warming is conjecture. What’s real is that in 26 years in Washington, he’s developed a 24% voting record from the League of Conservation Voters. He’s voted against making polluters pay to clean up toxic waste sites, against clean energy, and against more fuel-efficient cars.
What else about the two men sticks out?
One of the things that surprised me most in researching this book is how comfortable McCain is with lobbyists. He has by my count 134 current or former lobbyists in his campaign. Everyone from the campaign manager to the fundraisers to his advisers. Lobbyists for foreign dictators, Big Oil, insurance conglomerates – you name it. They’ve donated over a million dollars to McCain. Call me a skeptic, but I don’t think 134 lobbyists are supporting McCain because they think he actually is a reformer. If John McCain is a reformer, I’m a Hassidic diamond merchant.
And just so we’re clear: when you say that McCain will bring us Bush’s Third Term, you don’t mean to make that sound like a good thing, do you?
Good point. This is not a negative book – unless you think George W. Bush has been a bad president. I don’t have any dirt in it about McCain’s personal life in this book. I frankly admit that I admire his heroic suffering in Vietnam. But his policies, politics and personality are more like George W. Bush’s than anyone I know. And that scares the shit out of me.
So let me ask you-why is Obama playing it so cool lately? In the last few days, he’s been on TV talking to George Stephanopoulos and Keith Olbermann, and he’s been as mild-mannered as Clark Kent. We all know Muhammed Ali had a lot of success rope-a-doping George Foreman, but when is Obama going to throw a punch?
I sent copies of my book to Obama’s top folks, and in one of them I wrote this inscription: “Attack, attack attack, attack, attack, attack, attack. Attack.” That’s my 8-point plan for victory. Obama is not easily rattled – I like that. And his speech at Mile High Stadium in Denver was so strong, so clear, so tough. It showed me a side of him I loved. His task is to put McCain on trial – and by extension Bush. It is McCain who wants to continue all of Bush’s policies. If I were Obama I’d make sure every American knew just two numbers: 91 and 134. McCain votes with Bush 91 percent of the time, and McCain has stocked his campaign with 134 lobbyists.