I've always been less than impressed by John McCain (notable Midtopia posts on the good senator are here and here). He's always struck me as a half-hearted maverick, who tends to raise objections and then cave almost immediately. And I've never been particularly impressed with his grasp of facts.
Tht said, this still surprised even me.
Q: “What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush’s policy, which is just abstinence?”
Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy.”
Q: “So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?”
Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.”
Q: “I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?”
Mr. McCain: (Laughs) “Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.”
Q: “But you would agree that condoms do stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Would you say: ‘No, we’re not going to distribute them,’ knowing that?”
Mr. McCain: (Twelve-second pause) “Get me Coburn’s thing, ask Weaver to get me Coburn’s paper that he just gave me in the last couple of days. I’ve never gotten into these issues before.”
Let's repeat this quote for emphasis: "You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it."
I understand it can be hard to keep track of the nuances of opinion on hundreds of different issues. But this isn't about nuance, and it's not about some minor bit of wonkery. It's "I have to find out what my position was" on a major social issue -- while being sure that, whatever that position was, it supported Bush.
I wasn't going to vote for him anyway, but stuff like this helps persuade me that he's not mentally up to the job.
Update: Oops, screwed up the link to the Q&A. It's been fixed now.
McCain, politics, midtopia
5 comments:
God loves John McCain and has a wonderful plan for his life, but after dissing Republicans and Republican media outlets in favor of Republican-hating MSM outlets for the past seven years, I don't think being the Republican nominee is part of that plan...
Agreed. Although it'll be interesting to see where GOP primary voters fall on the "policies vs. electability" spectrum.
Giuliani may be the most electable, but he's the most liberal as well.
Romney has damaged his conservative credibility on several key issues.
Brownback, while a solid conservative, simply can't win the general election, IMO.
Hagel, if he does decide to run, is a social conservative with a solid antiwar record, which gives him crossover appeal. But he's pulling a Mario Cuomo with his "will I run or won't I?" striptease. People will get tired of that fast.
Where did you get that question and answer exchange? What interview was it? Who was asking the questions? Not enough information provided---but it sounds to me like John McCain was dismissing the whole line of questioning as ridiculous. As it was.
JP5
I can't believe that you would post on a make believe interview like that and try to pass it off as real. Didn't you notice that it only is on blogs and that the interviewer isn't named? I can't believe you did that. Tsk. Tsk.
12th
as far as pam said:
it was on the NYT, heres a link:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/mccain-stumbles-on-hiv-prevention/
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