Flip Off

The Republicans are in full attack mode now, using the same methods that worked on John Kerry in 2004, the flip-flop. Yes, Barack Obama has changed his position on campaign financing, opting out for public funds after he promised to publicly finance his campaign last year.

Well wait... not exactly, Obama was open to the idea and said he would try to work out some agreement with the Republican candidate. However, as recently as June 5th, McCain claimed he was not sure if he would accept the public funds or decide to opt out. Of course, we now know McCain is not opting out, and he is using the opportunity to say Obama went back on his word. Of course, the part the "liberal" media isn't reporting is that McCain can't opt out of public finance without approval from the Federal Election Commission due to a loan McCain took out late last year after his campaign went broke. It all gets quite muddy from there, and it could be leading to news coming out that McCain has broken election laws.

You can read all about that here: http://mediamatters.org/

But okay, the bottom line is, Obama said something and decided against it. I'm not going to argue that of course Obama is opting out of the public financing because he's generating a ridiculous amount of money from small donors. He's built up the biggest grassroots campaign of any politician in history and has shattered all fundraising records. So obviously he wants to keep that money and momentum coming for the general election and he's going to need it to fight off the Republican Smear Machine that is just waiting to start playing those Reverend Wright clips on an hourly loop. So admittedly, this is all about Obama doing what is best for the Obama campaign, no argument here.

What bugs me is that all I see on the news today is "FLIP-FLOP, FLIP-FLOP!!!" We've been down this road before and it's just stunning to me that Obama gets called out on this while John McCain has seemingly flip-flopped in the last two years on every issue that made me respect him so much when he ran in 2000. Let's go down the list, shall we?

• The Associated Press reported in 1999 that while McCain was campaigning in New Hampshire as a pro-life candidate, he assured reporters that he would not support repealing Roe vs. Wade. Saying that doing so would force women into dangerous and illegal operations like back alley abortions. So while McCain was against it, he seemed to be more in tune with the Bill Clinton idea of abortion, keeping them "safe, legal and rare." However, as John McCain locked up the Republican nomination, his stance has change - he's flip-flopped. Saying in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, "I do believe that it’s very likely or possible that the Supreme Court should — could overturn Roe v. Wade, which would then return these decisions to the states"
• In 2002, McCain called Jerry Falwell an "agent of intolerance" and spoke out against radical nutjobs like "Pat Robertson on the Right or Al Sharpton on the Left." In 2006, John McCain gave the commencement speech at Falwell's university.
• During his 2000 run for the Republican nomination, McCain filed a complaint against two Texas businessmen - Sam and Charles Wyly - saying they violated campaign finance laws and used "dirty money" to support George W. Bush. The Wylys are now on McCain's campaign.
  
• McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts twice and now wants to make them permanent.
• McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam who was tortured by the enemy and staunchly opposed the practice for years, now thinks it's okay.
• Bush was blasted by McCain in 2000 for campaigning at Bob Jones University, the Christian fundamentalist school that banned interracial dating and called Catholicism a "Satanic cult" - in 2006, McCain said he wasn't opposed to speaking there, claiming they've made progress. Progress? After the 2004 election, Bob Jones sent George W. Bush a letter saying quote, "God has graciously granted America — though she doesn’t deserve it — a reprieve from the agenda of paganism." Oh... it gets even crazier, "You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you."
• And to tie it all together; McCain, longtime supporter of campaign finance reform, suddenly no longer supported it in 2006 when he was gearing up for the campaign. You know, so he could opt out of public funds if he were legally able to do so.
• If you'd like more information on John McCain the flip-flopper, click here.
  

My point in all this? Obama gets called out on a kinda flip-floppy thing he said a year ago while McCain gets a reprieve for switching his stance on almost every major issue he's discussed in the last eight years. Fucking liberal media!