Wow, Time publishes incredible fiction in obvious attempt to bolster McBlunder's maverick status

[ProSense]

Frenemies: The McCain-Bush Dance

Wednesday, Jul. 16, 2008 By JAMES CARNEY

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In a business of bitter rivalries and awkward alliances, few political relationships have been more bitter, awkward or downright tortured than John McCain's eight-year entanglement with George W. Bush. After their nasty 2000 battle for the G.O.P. nomination, McCain's differences with Bush were so numerous and so deep that in 2001 he discussed with top Democratic leaders quitting the Republican Party. Three years later, McCain remained so estranged from the White House that John Kerry begged him to run with him on the Democratic ticket against Bush. Even though their rapprochement in 2004 drained some of the bile from their relationship, the two men have never been friends. At best, theirs is a partnership sustained by the benefits each has conferred on the other and a grudging admiration each has for the other's toughness.

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A Maverick in Full

The U.S. Senate was split down the middle between Democrats and Republicans when Bush took office in January 2001. The Democratic leader, Tom Daschle, knew that all he needed to take control of the chamber was the defection of one Republican. Daschle had three targets, all of whom were finding themselves increasingly alienated from and isolated within the G.O.P.: Jim Jeffords of Vermont, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and John McCain of Arizona.

Jeffords and Chafee were members of a dying breed — the liberal New England Republican. McCain, on the other hand, was a Western conservative from Arizona who had gone to Congress as a Reagan Republican. But after the searing experience of getting entangled in the Keating Five scandal in the 1980s, McCain had grown increasingly independent, pursuing campaign-finance reform and other causes that made his fellow Republicans doubt his ideological convictions.

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An Uneasy Truce
In the spring of 2004, John Kerry secretly urged his fellow Vietnam vet to join him on a unity ticket. It was, to put it mildly, a full-court press: Kerry offered to make McCain both Vice President and Secretary of Defense and to give him control of foreign policy. Kerry lobbied McCain's wife Cindy and even enlisted the help of Warren Beatty, with whom McCain had become friendly. McCain turned Kerry down. Aides say he sincerely believed that Bush had been and would be a better President than Kerry.

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Summary: Kerry working hard to get counter Bush on Iraq wanted warmonger and arch enemy McCain as VP. So much so that he lobbied McCain's wife and offered him not only the VP slot, but also the Secretary of Defense position.

WTF?

Facts: here, here and here.

[Blaukraut]

1. Now Time Magazine, too!

Is there any media outlet at all that isn't firmly entrenched in McCain's bowels? The sycophants are falling all over each other to legitimize and prop up that old goat. This election cycle is proving to be as bad - if not worse - than '04.

[ProSense]

2. It's surreal.

Gossip is news, and anything McCain says is treated as a fact. The couple of reports calling out McCain mean nothing if they simply revert back to repeating his false statements in subsequent articles and news segments.

He keeps rolling along, making ridiculous assertions and unbelievable blunders.

[AZBlue]

3. Hey, McCain's wife's company buys billions of dollars of print advertising - what did you expect?

[Median Democrat]

4. Bullshit - McCain and Bush Are In Lockstep

Progress Media's website has a great issue by issue comparison showing McCain repeating Bush's talking points word for word:

http://progressiveaccountability.org/category/security/

For example, echoing Paul Wolfowitz:

McCain Said Iraqi Oil Reserves Would Cover The Cost of War. During an interview with National Journal, McCain said, “Everybody now is talking of post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. I look on it with optimism and hope. As far as the cost is concerned, Iraqis have vast oil reserves and they, I’m sure, would shoulder the cost of the transition.”

[ProSense]

5. Who can forget: