The Truffle

I'm not comfortable with the caricature of McCain as a mean grump. I think McCain is afflicted with the Bob Dole syndrome. Dole let himself be cast as a cranky old man. After he lost, he showed that he actually had a sense of humor! Dude appeared on Cartoon Network talking about Bugs Bunny. He did a Pepsi commercial with Britney Spears. For an old fogey failed presidential candidate, Dole is actually kind of a funny guy. I wonder why he didn't follow Fred Thompson into acting. I'm hoping McCain loses so that maybe he can take up a second post-Senate career as a standup comedian. Or maybe a nightclub act with Cindy. Admit it--you've always wanted to see Cindy McCain in a sequined dress, standing next to John McCain as he sings "Big Spender."

Once again, wingnuts' ridicule has come back to bite them on the ass. Is this money coming from campaign funds? Or is Cindy loaning him the money? So, John McCain has reportedly paid more than $5,500 to Tifanie White, the makeup artist who works on "American Idol," for similar cosmetic services. It is yet another incident of a politician -- regardless of ideological stripe -- coughing up a lot of money for the sake of good looks. Earlier this cycle, one may recall, former Sen. John Edwards was subjected to days of ridicule over the fact that he had made two separate payments of $400 for two haircuts. Leading the charge was the media -- keen on pointing out that a self-professed man of the people was spending the equivalent of a months rent, in some places, on personal grooming. Maybe he wants to upstage the Precious Princess.

A CNN poll finds that the GOP is taking most of the blame for this recent Wall Street meltdown. In the new survey, released Monday afternoon, 47 percent of registered voters questioned say Republicans are more responsible for the problems currently facing financial institutions and the stock market, with 24 percent saying Democrats are more responsible. One in five of those polled blame both parties equally, and 8 percent say neither party is to blame. The poll also indicates that more Americans think Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, would do a better job handling an economic crisis than McCain, the Republican presidential nominee. Forty-nine percent of those questioned say Obama would display good judgment in an economic crisis, 6 points higher than the number who said the same about McCain. And Obama has a 10 point lead over McCain on the question of who would better handle the economy overall. P.S. The first presidential debate is this Friday. Supposedly, John McCain is...

John McCain is mad at CNN. So mad that he canceled an appearance on Larry King.

You've got at least one Latino voter. ABC News' Bret Hovell Reports: While making an appearance on Monday at the high school alma mater of his wife Cindy, John McCain received the endorsement of Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee. Daddy Yankee, whose real name is Ramon Ayala, is a Latin Grammy winner. He is known mostly for his song "Gasolina," which, according to several translations of the Spanish lyrics and interpretations of the Spanish slang, is not particularly family-friendly, and has absolutely nothing to do with energy independence.... "I'm here endorsing Senator McCain because I believe in his ideals and his proposals to lead this nation, you know?" Daddy Yankee said at Phoenix's Central High School. Via Atrios , the words to Daddy Yankee's big, big hit.

That's the only way to explain Dick Cheney's presence at the GOP convention. I guess it partly explains why so many Republicans are antsy about even showing their faces there . What Mensa candidate thought it would be a good idea for Cheney to show up? Are they going to have Jack Abramoff give a speech by satellite from prison, too? Is McCain going to give Cheney a big hug the way he did with Bush in 2004?

Note to Andrew Rosenthal: It's nice that your daddy was friends with Bill Kristol's daddy. But dude? You may want to rethink this little op-ed gig you gave him. Especially after his latest embarrassment : Early Friday, I went to the Real Clear Politics Web site, as I do every morning, for my fix of political news and commentary. I perked up when I saw the third entry on the list of that day’s notable articles — “No. 44 Has Spoken.” “Hank Aaron has spoken? Wow,” I thought as I clicked through. Yes, it's Bill Kristol, professional papa's boy and perennial Mr. Wrong, pretending he's a Troo AMERIKAN!11!!1! He likes baseball! He likes Hank Aaron! He's trying for the same right-wing populist shtick that Rush Limbaugh works when he isn't spending his millions on Oxycontin and admitting he's a right-wing water carrier. Said shtick involves Kristol being really disappointed that Der Spiegel was writing about Barack Obama and not Hank Aaron. Actually, I th...

Note to Senator McCain: If you want to win an election, don't ever, EVER say "I would rather lose a political campaign." Specifically, don't say this, especially in relation to Situation FUBAR: This is a clear choice that the American people have. I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign. From Joe Klein , who's joined Tweety in The Land of Finally Getting a Clue: This is the ninth presidential campaign I've covered. I can't remember a more scurrilous statement by a major party candidate. It smacks of desperation. It renews questions about whether McCain has the right temperament for the presidency. How sad.... Smart politicians leave the scurrilous stuff to their aides; in fact, a McCain spokesman expressed these words almost exactly on July 14. There is a reason why politicians who want to be President don'...

Guess whose pastor is a raving bigot? Hint: It's the GOP presidential candidate. Aren't you relieved that this isn't another post on Jeremiah Wright? Aren't you wondering why the MSM didn't pick up on this story? (Via Politopics .)

The political wonks are speaking. They're consulting election patterns. It doesn't look so hot for McCain. Specifically, the above linky-winky takes you to history professor Alan Lichtman's "13 keys to the White House." Basically, if you OR your party has problems with one of these keys, your chances are pretty much--what's the word?--fucked. Key 1: Party mandate. After the midterm elections, the incumbent party holds more seats in the U.S. House than it did after the previous midterm elections. 2006 elections anyone? Key 2: Contest. There is no serious contest for the incumbent-party nomination. Remember Rudy? Yosemite Mitt? Mike Huckabee--who WON IOWA?!?!? Heck, remember Ron Paul? (Don't worry if you don't remember Duncan Hunter.) Key 3: Incumbency. The incumbent-party candidate is the sitting president. Key 4: Third party. There is no significant third-party or independent campaign. McCain has no problems here. Bob Barr's Libertarian Par...

Sigh. Who's going to give a galvanizing speech for John McCain? Dubya? Yosemite Mitt? Karl Rove? In his speeches, he looks as if he's this close to telling his supporters, "You know, I don't know how I got this far, and I don't know what I'm doing here." Shades of Warren G. Harding, who allegedly once said: "I am not fit for this office and should never have been here." Presidential scholars generally agree, considering Harding to be one of the worst presidents of all time. And speaking of Harding...if he hadn't died 80 years ago, I'd swear he and McCain were separated at birth...

If (Gawd forbid) McCain does become president, Keith Olbermann's going to giving him televised bitch-slaps from now until 2013. Last night's Special Comment, in two parts, is here:

Oh dear. The 28 percenters aren't going to like this . Over the Fourth of July weekend of 1999, I had the good fortune to accompany my then fiancée (and now happily my wife) to the McCain vacation home in Sedona where she was interviewing them for a Home and Garden Television show. The interview itself was entirely apolitical, focusing on fabrics and furnishing in their lovely Oak Creek abode, topics about which I do recall the senator was less than comfortable discussing. Always the goods hosts, the McCains also invited us to spend the day with them, including for barbeque, a favorite of John's. And as McCain flipped burgers, I could not help but ask his views about then candidate George W. Bush. "He's as dumb as a stump," McCain offered. We then went on to discuss other matters (including Vietnam) but that quote remains seared in my memory. I suspect more stories of McCain dismissing and ridiculing Bush are going to come out as this election cycle progresses.

Supposedly, Obama is now doing what he's supposed to be doing: focusing on John McCain and not La Hill. Alas, McCain is taking all this personally, saying that Obama's making fun of his age. Lieberman, meanwhile, follows McCain like the neocon puppy dog he is. I'm sure he's jockeying for a VP slot. I also suspect that he won't get it. Just an instinctive thing. Both seem to be in serious denial--and I'm not talking about a goodwill trip to Egypt, either. Anyhow, Obama's pointed out McCain's disconnect from The World as It Truly Is: Speaking to a few dozen employees of a software company, Obama said McCain was "dead wrong when he said recently that he thinks our economy has made 'great progress' under George Bush. Is there anyone outside of Washington D.C., who could truly believe that?" Meanwhile, McCain keeps insisting he did in fact vote for Bush in 2000. Next up: the wingnuts will be asking why they should vote for a guy who...

John McCain's efforts to introduce a third Bush administration have just hit a snag . It turns out that hobnobbing with liberal blogger Arianna Huffington and the cast of NBC’s "The West Wing" on the left coast can be a risky proposition for a Republican with White House ambitions. In Jersey City Friday morning, John McCain emphatically denied a report by Huffington on her blog that he confessed, during a Beverly Hills dinner party in 2001, that he had not voted for George W. Bush after his bitter defeat in 2000. But "West Wing" cast members -- who said in published reports they supported a Democratic ticket -- back up Huffington’s story. I have only one thing to add to this: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!

...and trying to tie his presidential race to Situation FUBAR, the Drum Major Institute has graded him on issues affecting the middle class. Surprise! He sucks. Okay, he doesn't suck. He just missed all the key votes on legislation affecting middle class voters, so the DMI gave him an incomplete. He's admitted, "The economy is not my strong point." No wonder he's schlepped off to the Middle East. Maybe he'll start singing "Bomb Iran" again to win over some wingnuts. La Hill and Obama, meanwhile, received A+ grades.

Man, this is even harsher than when Mr. Gay Penguins accused his fellow wingnuts of behaving like liberals. John McCain increasingly is looking like the hapless Hubert H. Humphrey of 1968. Captive to his own partisan support for a disastrous war; too timid to stake out an agenda for change; passively permitting an unpopular president to embrace him as heir; squandering what little was left of his good repute in shabby political maneuvering. It's Humphrey all over again. McCain is busy tying a dead weight around his shoulders that he imagines is the mantle of the presidency. The endorsement today by Bush went a long way toward sealing his fate. Maybe Dubya will hit the campaign trail to convince people that the Iraq war is going swimmingly. After all, as McCain has said, he'll lose if people believe otherwise. Feh. I always thought that John McCain was overrated.

So Dubya endorsed McCain. Whoopity doo. Who else is in the race now? Ron Paul? You think Dubya's going to endorse a loopy far-right libertarian who hates the Iraq war? Me neither. But I really hope that Bush campaigns for McCain. In fact, I hope that there are lots of pictures of Bush and McCain hugging and shaking hands and waving at people. It'll be political poison gold.

Who's advising this guy, anyway? I ask because trying to tie your success to that of an unpopular, disastrous war is a stupid idea. John McCain said Monday that to win the White House he must convince a war-weary country that U.S. policy in Iraq is succeeding. If he can't, "then I lose. I lose," the Republican said. He quickly backed off that remark. "Let me not put it that stark," the likely GOP nominee told reporters on his campaign bus. "Let me just put it this way: Americans will judge my candidacy first and foremost on how they believe I can lead the county both from our economy and for national security. Obviously, Iraq will play a role in their judgment of my ability to handle national security." "If I may, I'd like to retract 'I'll lose.' But I don't think there's any doubt that how they judge Iraq will have a direct relation to their judgment of me, my support of the surge," McCain added. "Clearly, I...