.McCain's 'reformer' strategy designed by legendary lobbyist, Charles Black

[maddezmom]

McCain aide Black still plugged in
Posted September 21, 2008 7:15 AM

by Andrew Zajac

WASHINGTON--In selecting little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain has underscored his determination to run as a reformer intent on ending the cozy deal-making of big-money special interests in Washington.

But an architect of that very strategy is Charles Black Jr., a legendary lobbyist and consultant who has deftly used his connections with business leaders and politicians to influence policy and, in the process, make a good deal of money.

Black, a senior adviser to the McCain campaign, has represented at least 120 clients from more than two dozen countries within the past decade. He has used his clout to help kill tax reforms that could have hurt foreign clients, and he once even pressed a judge to go easy an associate convicted of fraud.

Earlier this year, amid criticism that McCain's reformist message was being undercut by a campaign top-heavy with lobbyists, Black, 60, retired from his lobbying company.

But that hardly marked Black's departure from the Washington influence business, nor from private business dealings directly dependent on the decisions of the federal government.

See an expanded version of the story in today's Tribune about McCain adviser Charles Black here in the Swamp:

more:http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/09/mccain_aide_black_still_plugge.html

[jsmyth]

1. Is McCain the real-life Manchurian Candidate – or worse

Subject: Is McCain the real-life Manchurian Candidate – or
worse

Please pass this email along to your friends and anyone that
votes.

We all know that John McCain spent 5 ½ years as a POW in North
Vietnam. But do we know what happened during that time? There
are closely held rumors that McCain was subjected to intense
brain-washing by North Vietnam and Russian KGB agents. You may
be aware of the movie The Manchurian Candidate which tells the
story much like this rumor. As a POW, the character of the
movie was brainwashed by his captor in a plot to ultimately
control the outcome of an election.
 There has been debate for years as to the extent of Soviet
KGB and GRU (Soviet military intelligence) involvement in
attempts to "turn" American POWs, with attempts by
the Pentagon, supported always by McCain, to deny that the
Soviets were involved in any such activity. Nevertheless,
there was extensive testimony in Congress that POWs were
interrogated and possibly recruited.

Events that provide credence to this rumor that McCain may be
under foreign influence include his time on the United States
Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs.  On this
committee, McCain was an attack dog against the POW/MIA
activists that were pushing for a resolution to the status of
POW/MIAs. McCain attacked anyone and everyone working to keep
the search alive.   McCain demanded and received a U.S.
Justice Department investigation of two major POW/MIA activist
groups..McCain showed more interest in bettering relations
with Vietnam, in consort with greedy U.S. big business
interests, than resolving the POW/MIA issue by accounting for
the missing men; in McCain's case his FELLOW POWs.
Have you watched McCain in speeches? He seems to be sending
code using eye blinks. Is he talking to his handler?
More recently, McCain abandoned his hard-felt beliefs as a
maverick and independent as soon as he was a serious candidate
for president. These examples of 180 degree flip flops can
only be explained by some force greater than that of a man of
principal. Some examples of this include the following.

McCain authored a bill in 2005 that would provide a path for
illegal immigrants to obtain a legal status. Then once in the
presidential race he said he would not vote for his own bill –
what kind of a man feels so strong about a topic that he would
introduce a bill and then later say he would not vote for his
own bill – did circumstances change? Only the fact that he
needed to be accepted by the right-wing  to get elected and he
was willing to sell his soul to the devil – or the KGB to get
there. Must-get-elected- must-get-elected ….

McCain really wanted to have his friend (and fellow hawk)
Senator Joe Lieberman as a running mate. But because Lieberman
was not acceptable to his base, he picked an unknown,
unqualified, and scandal-ridden Sarah Palin as his running
mate in a desperate attempt to pull an upset. As a 72 year-old
man with a history of cancer, McCain has a nearly 30% chance
of dying during two terms in office –leading to a high
probability that someone with no national experience, no
foreign relations experience, and the belief that Iraq is a
Holy War,  would end up as president  AND Commander and Chief.
Who in their right mind would do this?
Must-get-elected.-Must-get-elected…

As you might guess, McCain was against torture prior to
becoming a contender. In fact, in 2005 he added an amendment
to the Defense Appropriations bill that would prohibit
inhumane treatment of prisoners, including prisoners at
Guantanamo Bay. McCain even fought and prevailed against a
threatened veto by the Bush white house. But candidate McCain
voted for an intelligence bill that sanctioned torture. McCain
of all people – after suffering 5 ½ years of beatings in North
Viet Nam - is now OK with torture. How –and better yet WHY -
would someone with his background and such strong beliefs that
he would fight the white house – all of a sudden change his
mind on such a fundamental subject?  This isn’t a choice
between Pepsi and Coke – I’ll have no torture – no I changed
my mind – I’ll have the torture. First McCain sponsors a bill
to prevent torture then candidate McCain declares the supreme
court’s decision that  habeas corpus protections apply to
detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, as “one of the worst
decisions in the history of this country.”  Would a man of
principals simply change his mind on such a fundamental topic?
What would cause such a severe about-face? All I can think of
is such an unbridled drive to become president that he would
do ANYTHING to get there.  Must-get-
elected-must-get-elected-must-get-elected…

In 1999 and during the 2000 Presidential campaign, McCain
scolded the “special interests in Washington” that sought
offshore drilling leases. Today candidate McCain says
drill-drill-drill. Must-get-elected- must-get-elected…

In 1999, McCain saw no need to overturn Roe Vs Wade. Later,
Candidate McCain said “I do not support Roe Vs Wade, it should
be overturned. In '00 and '07, McCain Called for Exceptions in
the GOP's Platform on Abortion for Rape, Incest, and potential
issues related to the Mother's Life.  Today candidate McCain
who is charge of that platform and in a position to make these
exceptions is full-bore pro-life with no mention of
exceptions.  Furthermore, he selected Sarah Palin who is a
right-to-life hawk. Must-get-elected-must-get-elected.
Other examples:
•	Against Warrantless Wiretapping - now he’s for it.
•	Against Privatizing Social Security -  now he’s FOR it.
•	For Liberman-Warner to curb Global Warming - now he’s
Against it
•	McCain promises “not to take the low road to the higher
office in the land”, then turns so negative that Karl Rove
said he went too far---Karl-the-king-of-slime-Rove

The list goes on and on.

So back to the question at hand. Why is a self-professed
maverick –someone that has a reputation of fighting his own
party, suddenly abandoning hard-felt fundamental principals? 
Many brainwashing victims become fractured personalities – and
clearly John McCain is a fractured personality. 

But to answer the question – he is doing these about face flip
flops to get elected at any cost. So the possibilities for
this are:
 1) McCain was brainwashed by communists and was a sleeper
agent for years then activated by becoming the party’s nominee
for president,  
2) He really has changed many deep fundamental beliefs, or 
3) He’s just doing whatever it takes to get elected because he
wants to be ppresidet. 

Let’s look at these possibilities. If #1 above is true, we
really can’t blame McCain. He was literally beaten and
brainwashed. This is bad for the US, but McCain is not
culpable.  If #2 is the case, then McCain has a real case of
Schizophrenia. In this case, the person you think you are
electing will probably have really different beliefs by the
time he is in office-God knows what he will be for next year.
As further proof, Schizophrenia is characterized by
disorganized speech and thinking-I think these symptoms are
obvious. If #3 is the case, then Country First is bullshit-
Its McCain first at any cost –even to the point of abandoning
his most fundamental stances and selling out his own views for
the support of the far right to get elected.

I’m not sure which is worse! 
 
Note that McCain’s slogan “Country First” doesn’t say which
country!