Have you no shame, Senator McCain?

By Michael Gaynor

Is McCain a liar, or too old to know what he's doing? Either way, he's not fit to be president.

I am surprised how Florida's Republican primary has developed.

I'm NOT surprised that Mitt Romney will win it. After all, (1) Florida's is a Republicans-only primary, (2) the economy is troubled and center-stage, (3) Mitt is the most qualified and acceptable of the viable Republican candidates, (4) Mitt is vigorously competing in Florida after winning in Wyoming, Michigan and Nevada and coming in second in Iowa and New Hampshire, (5) only Mitt has been running a nationwide campaign, (6) Mitt has the most delegates and (6) Mitt has raised the most money (NOT including his own).

What surprised me are that Rudy Giuliani is losing with grace and John McCain became a disgrace.

McCain once prided himself on appearing to be an officer and a gentleman who talked straight.

Fighting desperately, the septuagenarian Senator who is running again despite his age and the obvious rigors of serving as President of the United States took to lying.

It was bad enough that McCain had brought his 95-year old mother on MSNBC's "Hardball" and she had proceeded to fulminate against Mormons and Mormon Mitt. At least McCain immediately had said that he did not agree with his mom.

Was Mom McCain a very old lady not responsible for her remarks, or her son's willing instrument in implementing a dirty campaign tactic?

Now there's ample reason to wonder about that.

After a slim victory in New Hampshire (thanks to Democrats and Independents who voted in the Republican primary), McCain was a pessimist, but not a liar, when he said in Michigan that there were lost jobs that would not be coming back.

McCain had won Michigan's Republican primary in 2000, but lost by a wide margin to Romney (and by a wider still margin among Michigan Republicans) as the economy became the focus of the campaign.

Seeing defeat again looming, the aged, ambitious McCain recently denied that he had said he was not as familiar with economics as he should be and pretended otherwise during Florida's Republican debate.

A falsehood, but not as bad as being false witness against another.

Then McCain sunk lower, bearing false witness against his leading rival, by claiming that Mitt had said he was with the liberal Democrats on setting timetables for withdrawing from Iraq.

That lie was utterly shameless.

DEMONSTRABLY shameless!

Watch the whole interview of Mitt or read the whole transcript and decide for yourself.

Mitt Supporter Jeff Fuller, in "'I'M MAD AS HELL . . . AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!': How McCain Lost His Integrity in Dishonest Political Trick Against Romney":

"Much has been said on Romney blogs and elsewhere expressing outrage at McCain's desperate tactic to dishonestly smear Gov. Romney's stance on 'timetables' and the Iraq war. It's blatantly apparent that McCain only did this to bring the issue of 'Iraq"'back into the race. McCain knows (and has repeatedly admitted) that 'the Economy' is not his strong point, and that he'll lose to Romney in a head to head fight when that is the #1 issue. So, McCain's solution is to invent a controversial position for his main rival that plays to his own strength. Pitiful politics at its worst.

"I've heard this false 'timetables' accusation once before (good old Huck), so I was initially willing to believe that McCain was maybe just going off of bad information — that he would correct the situation once he realized the context. But when Romney's recommendation for a McCain apology was met with a 'Romney should apologize to the troops for being willing to abandon them' (paraphrased) rebuttal I started getting downright angry.

"When I realized that yesterday McCain said 'My friends, I was there — he said he wanted a timetable for withdrawal' my anger turned to OUTRAGE!

"Then on Meet the Press this morning, Tim Russert went softball on McCain on this issue with no follow-up, allowing McCain to repeat his position unchallenged with the follow-up of 'please read on Senator' when Romney says that he would, like President Bush, veto any legislation setting timetables for Iraq. That's either biased or shoddy journalism folks.

"McCain is LYING! He's inventing this pseudo-smear to bring back his preferred issue into the limelight . . . Iraq. Then I find out that, last year, McCain recommended a similar strategy (and his would have been PUBLIC . . . in contrast to Romney's) of benchmarks that, if not met by a certain date, would lead to pulling out of Iraq before success was achieved!! This took my OUTRAGE to the next level . . . the "''M MAD AS HELL! AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!' level."

"Beyond Romney's supporters 'McCain Disdain' should be felt by every conservative and pro-Military American, who should view him with much less respect for dragging the American soldiers into this contrived controversy. Utterly shameless Senator McCain.

"I know a lot of conservatives with influence see how dishonest McCain is being. But even the liberal MSM is calling this 'scuffle' for Romney. This isn't just a nuanced misunderstanding, this is dirty politics full of tricks and lies, and it's pretty easy to see where the facts stand."

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin: " Speaking of straight talk, no American politician has gotten more adoring press coverage than John McCain. But let's be clear about what John McCain is doing about Mitt Romney. He's lying. He's lying about Mitt Romney's position, no question about it. And you know I think that — this idea that Mitt Romney supports timetables, in fact most Americans support timetables to get out of Iraq, Mitt Romney doesn't happen to be one of them. That's really outrageous what McCain is doing bringing up this ancient interview and distorting it at the last minute so he doesn't have to talk about the economy."

Is McCain a liar, or too old to know what he's doing?

Either way, he's not fit to be president.

© Michael Gaynor