Noun, verb and POW.

HAHAHAHAH...this is getting pathetic.

someobdy should ask mccain if he EARNED those houses or INHERITED them after his FIVE AND A HALF YEARS, ALAN!! FIVE AND A HALF YEARS!

God knows, the last person we need confronting a monumental tangle of intractable problems is one of those pointy-headed professor types.

If America falls for this crap again, we're circling the drain.

Less important than the arguments that are made in Obama's commercials, or McCain's response, is the importance of controlling the news cycle. If tonight is all about McCain's houses, and tomorrow (and the weekend) is all about Obama's VP pick, and next week is the convention, then there will be close to ten days before McCain's campaign is able to control the agenda.

The celeb ad and others like it-- their supposed success -- had less to do with the merit (or lack thereof) of their content and the fact that Obama was always in response mode.

He's playing the POW card from the bottom of the deck!

But seriously, if they keep tossing it out where it's utterly irrelevant, will the press start noting it? Perhaps even mocking him? For the tactic, of course, not for his POW-hood.

Man, Halperin is really trying to bury this story. He's had the most ridiculous "Hillary Clinton for VP?" nonstory at the top of his page almost all day, and the next story down is how McCain is "going nuclear" on Obama.

I know it was inevitable, but I gotta pat myself on the back for calling it this morning.

Please, people. Let's not forget that Obama enjoys eating fancy lettuce.

WHO'S THE REAL ELITIST HERE????

SAT time:

Guiliani:9/11::McCain:___________?

a) Canada
b) POW
c) bunny rabbits
d) Charles Keating

McCain was a POW?

As our esteemed VP Dick Cheney recently quipped, "So what?"

LOL, this is too funny and too stupid. I think the Schmidt guy is on vacation.

Wow, just wow. Is this for real? They really played the POW card so blatantly? They really said "pointy-headed"? Laugh it off, and PIVOT.

Don't back down, Obama and surrogates, keep on pounding!

I still think the question should be rephrased: Senator McCain, how many of your houses would have to be foreclosed before you would be homeless?

I get back from lunch and the POW card has been played. Well done, McCain.

NEWS FLASH: Just in, he was a POW! And you know that cross from the prison guard who dragged his foot in the sand? Well, it turns out he was really trying to indicate he has a wide stand!

Hello Election Central folks?

McCain is up by 1 in Nevada, according to what's posted on Pollster.com....

Pointy headed intellectual, is it now,,,,,,, may the spirit of Adlai Stevenson come back and pop McCain one upside the head.

McCain would like arugula to be elitist. If the Repugs stay in power it probably will be, people like me won't be able to afford it. Us lower middle class guys will be stuck with cheap, processed crap like Ramen instead. Eating healthy is elitist!

Hey where's the sarge?

Sarge, are you in one of your 10 homes, laughing about how "elitists" eat arugula? (man, a $3 batch of greens are SOO snobby!)

Erik: I think it would be useful if you report the ENTIRE response from his campaign to WaPo, not only the POW line.

They are essentially saying they are now liberated by Obama to make this campaign really personal.

This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years

THAT MAKES 11 HOUSES HE HAS, NOT 10!

Wow, if only other war heroes had multiple houses.

Alas, thanks in part to John McCain and his GOP pals in D.C., too many of today's war heroes are homeless.

McCain starts WW3 with Russia - "It's not his fault he was a POW..."

His campaign is really cheapening his sacrifice by blatantly and apologetically using it the way they are.

It was also used to justify his love of ABBA.

John McCain - a noun, a verb and POW!!!!

Can't wait to see what the late night comics do with it.

Take a look at the wire stories regarding this. It's not the POW thing. It's this:

"We're delighted to have a real estate debate with Barack Obama," said spokesman Brian Rogers, adding that the press should focus on Obama's house. "It's a frickin' mansion. He doesn't tell people that. You have a mansion you bought in a shady deal with a convicted felon."

and this,

"In terms of who's an elitist, I think people have made a judgment that John McCain is not an arugula-eating, pointy headed professor-type based on his life story."

That's going to be the story. frickin mansion, shady deal, convicted felon, pointy headed.

Okay the POW card has been played, how long before they start shouting Reverend Wright and "God Damn America" in their next attempt to distract.

I love how only now the McCain Camp is threatening to get personal. This isn't personal, he's not attacking McCain for having seven houses or for being worth $100M, he's attacking McCain for not knowing how many houses he has.

Aren't there plenty of former POWs who are offended by this? Shouldn't someone pull a few together and make a commercial with them saying:

"John McCain using his POW history as an excuse for his political blunders is an insult to us and our uniform. We don't use it as an excuse in our lives and neither should he."

Obama should scold the McCain campaign for using John's POW status as nothing more than a campaign tool. He can do this because he's going out of his way (much to many peoples chagrin) to constantly praise McCain for his service and his POW heroics. He could say something to the effect -

"I honor John McCain for his Military service and POW heroics in every speech I give, it's just too bad his own campaign has decided to belittle it to such a degree by using it as a campaign catch-all defense"

I apoligize to Mr Dylan for this (and to all of you):

How many homes must a man own
Before you can call him out of touch?
Yes, 'n' how many wars must McCain want to wage
Before you can call him a mad man?
Yes, 'n' how many times can McCain make a gaffe
Before we can call him senile?
The answer, my friend, is he's a POW,
The answer is he's a POW

Maybe McCain can donate 1 or 2 of those houses to the homeless, or to those losing their homes in the sub prime scam?

Let's see...who will I vote for? The really smart guy who taught Constitutional Law and eats good food..OR..the guy that couldn't talk his way out of a paper bag and blames every current mistake on a something that happened in the 60's?

Tough decision.

What's with the "pointy headed" comment anyway? How mature.

Another good question to hit McCain with: Senator, there's nothing wrong with being rich. Everyone dreams of being rich. Senator, give the rest of us some tips - how did you become rich?

In June when Newsweek reported McCain owed taxes on one of his ten properties, I guess that was a result of his POW experience, right?...please. McCain is a first rate loser.

If John McCain's own camp is claiming that their guy is so befuddled from PTSD that he can't even remember how many homes he has, then haven't they logically disqualified him from becoming president?

In June when Newsweek reported McCain owed taxes on one of his ten properties, I guess that was a result of his POW experience, right?...please. McCain is a first rate loser.

Lifestyles of the rich and famous, McCain">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7PfSEtiXPw">McCain edition. Watch, then digg. Fuel to the fire!

...yeah what is it with the fifth grade comebacks from the McCan't camp?? 'He may be insanely wealthy but at least he's not an egg head!' Seriously?!?!? Did Webster re-define "Elitist" to mean: one that possesses intelligence ??

uhh...obama had no wrongdoing with rezko

McCain doesn't like to remind people he was a POW, except when he has to explain why he cheated on his first wife, why he voted against making MLK's birthday a national holiday, why he can't remember how many houses he has, etc.

and they're off...Ben Smith picked up Eric's post, and the snark is rolling in fast and furious.

POW just jumped the shark.

Its a killah lettuce!!!!

Toss the holy grenade of Antioch!

Okay fine... he was a POW and it explains why he 'can't remember', 'cheats', 'lies'. Fine that is the reason. Well then, my friends, the reason that John McCain cannot be and should never be president is because he was a POW which makes him have lapses in memory, cheat, and lie. It is unfortunate but apparently as his campaign insists we have to face the 'truth' here. This man has been affected by being a POW in such a way that if he were president he would be a danger to his own country. I will accept that if his party and his campaign will.

Here's Wonkette's version of McCain's response:

McCain Hits Back: ‘Obama Million$ Elite Bitter Cling Arugula Rezko Black’

An interesting quote forom a HuffPo article -

Preceding this election, there was a fairly wide-ranging belief that McCain was hesitant to use his POW experience in a political context. The Senator himself, during the 2004 election, said he was "sick and tired of re-fighting" the Vietnam War.

"It's offensive to me, and it's angering to me that we're doing this," he said. "It's time to move on."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/21/mccain-camp-plays-pow-car_n_120428.html

YES!!

Other times McCain has used the POW Defense -

When Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Senator John Edwards, ridiculed McCain's health care policy, his aides didn't respond with a substantive retort. Rather, they declared that their boss knew what it was like to get inadequate care "from another government." Even earlier, when the topic was about earmarks, McCain criticized Sen. Hillary Clinton for proposing funds for a museum celebrating Woodstock. He didn't know what there was to celebrate, he said, because he was "tied up" during the music festival.

The Senator has even brought his military record into discussion of his music tastes. Explaining that his favorite song was "Dancing Queen" by ABBA, he offered that his knowledge of music "stopped evolving when his plane intercepted a surface-to-air missile." Dancing Queen, however, was produced in 1975, eight years after McCain's plane was shot down.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/21/mccain-camp-plays-pow-car_n_120428.html

Hey, speaking of all the McCain family shenanigans, check out this:

"Although McCain suggested in his autobiography that months passed between his divorce and remarriage, the divorce was granted April 2, 1980, and he wed Hensley in a private ceremony five weeks later. McCain obtained an Arizona marriage license on March 6, 1980, while still legally married to his first wife."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-divorce11-2008jul11,0,6546861.story

Is that even legal? Would love to hear from an Arizona divorce lawyer on this. Poked around on the web, and it does say that you don't need to present an actual divorce decree to obtain a marriage license there. But can you obtain a valid license if you are, in fact, still legally married at the time? (If so, he'll probably be neighbors with Mitt in no time).

Remember how the repubs made fun of John Kerry being a vietnam vet? Well, we know how well that worked for him.

Yeah and McCain is also a bitter, incompetent, lying, cheating asshole too. Please please lets start tearing McCain’s face off about his military service. If this fuck nut continues to make his time as a POW the central theme to his campaign its fair game. Gen Clark was so right. Gen Clark should be a headliner next week not shipped off to Siberia.

What’s next from the McCain camp of trolls you cant attack or criticize him because he had cancer.

AP updated the story with the McCain response, but surprisingly enough they actually corrected it:

However, the McCain campaign erred in part of its criticism: Hawaii has no private beaches. Obama, who was born in Hawaii and spent most of his youth there, visited relatives during his vacation and joined members of the public swimming and surfing in the ocean.

I guess McCain just assumed that, since he would get a private beach, that's what Obama would do.

"John McCain is not an arugula-eating, pointy headed professor-type based on his life story."

No...he's an ahi tuna, Napa cabbage, farfalle pasta, passion fruit mousse-eating, lunk-headed adulterer based on his life story...

POW? What????

I mean, no shit!

Lieberman just corrected Mccain "Its Arugula training AQ in Iraq not the Iranians."

This is getting worse and worse by the minute for Mccain. All the things that can be tied to this that lay dormant like kindlewood looking for a flame are now piling onto to this huge mistake. The timing right before the convention, the comments related to this now tied into actions into total paradox and the kneejerk reaction with POW meme its unfolding as if Obama planned it...

This gives the Dems an easy message to pound at the entire convention. Mccain just framed himself all the Dems have to do rinse and repeat again, again and again.

"This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," spokesman Brian Rogers told the Washington Post.

I used to have some respect for McCain, though I wouldn't vote for him. Now I think he's a sniveling opportunist.

Any of you who haven't read this piece from another POW on why he won't vote for McCain should check it out:

http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,164859,00.html

The thing is that home ownership is visceral. It is something every American aspires to. Most families have one that they don’t even own; the bank does. It’s most Americans’ biggest investment during their lifetimes. A guy who has seven and doesn’t even know it will appropriately be deemed out of touch with middle class struggles. This is a winner for Obama and when he starts hammering McCain for endorsing a draft, it’ll be game, set and match!

Link to youtube of McCain endorsing draft:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRMFwXGBMfI&eurl=http://www.politicalplace.com/mccain_draft.htm

Huh, and here I thought enemy combatants were being punished- but NO!, we merely gave them houses. We are very nice to our prisoners here in the U.S.

The two million plus in federal prisons also have houses!! They are soooo lucky! I wonder if the new census will reflect that?

That's not change we can believe in.

Interestingly enough, the same treatment(which everyone would agree constituted torture) that McCain endured and which has become a cornerstone of his campaign is, for the most part, the same treatment he pretty much is fine with depending on who's doing the torturing. So if he is making such a big deal out of something he considers legal, why then are we giving him a pass?

I was thinking about that the other day - and I was thinking how both have hosted SNL and how wonderful it would be if they had appeared together in drag. Couldn't you just see the vid? The possibilities of that ticket...

Arugula? If you can't stand the roughage, get out of the race.

he was a pow?

fuck dat!

a pow?

fuck dat!

For a guy who never wants to talk about his POW experience, he sure does spend a lot of time talking about it. And worse, he uses his POW experience like a crutch. That's offensive.

"This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," spokesman Brian Rogers told the Washington Post.

McCain: He Wants Your Pity and Your Vote this November.

this is great, someone at dailykos made an actual McCain, POW "get out of gaffes" card. Ties in nicely with the Monopoly theme that was on TPM earler today. McCain is not going to land on Pennsylvania Avenue this time.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/21/16410/0565/504/572077

McFastdraw has another problem. Everyone in the media have been sidestepping his age problem. Now it is really out in the open. The following is a quote from the AP aricle on Yahoo.

"It's also another example of how McCain, nearly 72, can be fuzzy and forgetful on some facts."

This is the starting point. Those media that wouldn't bring it up themselves can now just quote the AP.

And as far as it being anti seniors, hell, I'm 65 and sometimes don't remember if I ate breakfast!

He is getting senile and the string of mis-statements is getting longer and longer. Unless we are careful we will end up with a shadow group standing behind him and putting words in his mouth for the next four years.

I think that this would be a great opening for a bit of pointed satire... Soemthing like:

This is a great example of how the strategists in the upper level of the GOP think. When presented with a problem the first reaction is to change the subject. For example: Oops... No WMD... no problem. Saddam was a bad man.

Then equate this pitch to the 'get rich quick' schemes that are the advertizers on right wing radio. It all points to the fact that the GOP does not have a very high opinion of their base. They believe that their base will believe anything. We give them much more credit than that. We will stay on point, deliver the facts and let them decide on the merits.

This is my post in response to this.

Using the POW Argument One Too Many Times OR When Being A POW Becomes THE Reason He Cannot Be President

I am willing to accept the context that Senator McCain does not remember how many houses he owns because... 'he was a POW'. And maybe the fact that he agreed that the only way to chase Osama Bin Laden to the 'Gates of Hell' is to reinstate the draft was because... 'he was a POW'. And perhaps the reason he cannot be expected to keep warring factions of various conflicts straight is because... 'he was a POW'.

Maybe he really did need to divorce his first wife by choosing a new one while still married and the first was recovering from a tragic car accident because... 'he was a POW'. Perhaps he offered his wife Cindy, the potential next first lady to particpate in a contest much more lude than a wet t-shirt contest because... 'he was a POW'.
Maybe he got into a physical conflict with one of his colleagues in the senate because... 'he was a POW'. Perhaps he felt embellishing the story of how he and his wife came to adopt their daughter by adding a lie that Mother Theresa had asked Cindy to take her (She never met Mother Theresa and they were caught in the lie) because... 'he was a POW'.

Maybe the reason that McCain thinks that the economy has done well during the Bush years is because... 'he was a POW'. And then it might explain the reason that he was ready to go to war in Iraq the day after 9/11 with NO facts, it was because... 'he was a POW'. I would love to believe that the reason that he has already declared victory in Iraq twice but still is dedicated to 'winning in Iraq' is because... 'he was a POW'.

Maybe he really wants to drill 'right here, right now' wherever he happens to be when he says it, is explained by the fact that... 'he was a POW'. It stands to reason that you could explain the re