Ahem....pic of McCain playing craps in Vegas (2006)

[rainbow4321]

http://www.jedreport.com/2008/05/john-mccain-a-2.html






"McCain is an avid gambler. Wes Gullett, a close friend who worked for McCain for years, told me that they used to play craps in Las Vegas in fourteen-hour stints, standing at the tables from 10 a.m. to midnight." (Emphasis added.)

As a Las Vegan, McCain's affinity for gambling doesn't bother me in the slightest, though it might irritate his family values base.

What really interests me though is the relationship between McCain and his gambling buddy Wes Gullet. Gullet is a lobbyist, and he once worked for McCain, both on the campaign trail and in the Senate.

It would be a great story for an intrepid reporter willing to dig a little deeper into their relationship. Even better, it involves the biggest land swap in Arizona history -- and one of McCain's top contributors was the primary beneficiary.

Here are the key elements of the story:

Wes Gullet is an old friend and gambling buddy of John McCain. They rolled dice together in 14-hour-long sessions in Las Vegas.
Gullet was McCain's campaign manger and top senate staffer and is now a lobbyist.
Gullet was hired to lobby McCain on the largest land swap in Arizona history, exchanging private land in the wilderness for valuable federally-owned land rady for development.
McCain, who initially opposed the swap, changed his position and supported it after Gullett was hired.
The land swap benefited one of John McCain's top fundraisers who has hauled in more than $100,000 for his Presidential campaign.

[SharonAnn]

1. When I heard about his gambling, I figured he was a craps player. It fits

his temperment and decision making processes. Impulsive, not thoughtful, high on "the action", betting on something he has no control over.

On the other hand, I'd think Obama would be more of a chess player or, if gambling, a poker or even blackjack player.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

6. IIRC, Obama has been touted as quite a good poker player.

Don;t recall who was the source, but I have no trouble believing that he would be quite savvy.

[Jack Rabbit]

29. I heard it on NPR recently

Obama is a poker player.

[mopinko]

12. poker

played Friday nights in Springfield with people from both sides of the Aisle. cleaned them out, too.

[pokerfan]

16. I can see that

Poker requires you to get inside someone else's head and see what they're seeing. Not a characteristic I would associate with McCain.

McCain's idea of a bluff would be to shove in all his chips on the first hand. I've successfully bluffed with what would have normally looked like a value bet on the river.

[Snotcicles]

22. That exact point was brought up just the other day on an Air America program I was listening to.

They were saying McCain was more of a risk taker.
Obama was more of a thinker/planner/calculate r.

[Twinguard]

32. I would love to play chess with Barack.

He is a poker player, but he strikes me as someone who would be fantastic at chess. He evaluates and analyzes before making his move. That would make for a very fun and challenging chess match.

I'd also like to play him at poker, but I stink at cards, so I'd like to play him using McCain's money.

[ColbertWatcher]

2. Is this supposed to boost his man-cred? It doesn't.

He's still old and he's playing games with other people's lives.

Not what I'd call manly at all.

[greenvpi]

3. Ahaha, the Christian morons are going to have a cow!

[rainbow4321]

7. They are so blinded by his bullshit

They'll put SOME kind of frigging spin on it.

Would love to see how many "business/political trips" McCain has taken to Vegas. Traveling to gamble using the taxpayers' dime?

[City Lights]

14. They didn't have a cow when Bennett was exposed.

Their expectations for others are much higher than their expectations for themselves.

[Marr]

15. They won't care.

Morality is only an issue for them when it's convenient.

[onenote]

24. have you ever been to Vegas?

Plenty of god-fearin' types go to Vegas. Remember what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas....

[stillcool]

4. It's fun to gamble when..

you're playing with other people's money.

[rainbow4321]

5. Guess we can see why Cindy is in charge of the checkbook

Wonder if McCain gets a monthly gambling allowance??

[UTUSN]

8. K&R big #5!1 KickaHEE, KickaHO, KickaDoodleDOO!1 n/t

[Morning Dew]

9. I like the big change sign behind him

Is this change you can believe in?

[Toucano]

38. Good one! n/t

[barbtries]

10. that little story interests me much more than the picture

which i have to admit, i'll just take your word for it that mccain is in that picture. but the story stinks to high heaven of total corruption and broken laws. that should go wide.

(being a gambler myself)

[wildflowergardener]

11. Craps

I don't recall where I heard it - maybe Thom Hartmann show - but they were saying that the games people play can tell a lot about how they govern.

They said that McCain was a craps player, and Obama a poker player. They said in poker you always have to think a few moves ahead and plan everything in advance. With Craps - well don't you just roll the dice and see what happens - like in the term Crapshoot?

Which would you prefer as president?

Ok - editing to add a link to the article in Time Magazine that they were talking about.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1819898-2,00.html

Ok - editing again - not really sure if it was the time magazine article or not, but still it's interesting.

Meg

[pokerfan]

13. Yet he is too disabled to use a computer mouse?

:shrug:

[Marr]

17. "You know, I spent five years without a craps table."

I can hear it now...

[undeterred]

18. Its a game he can play with his disability.

[Mari333]

19. Lots of old people hang out at casinos

my aunt is 96 and she is wheeled into a casino once a week and plays the slots to this day. He seems right at home there.

[onenote]

26. studies show that the main demographic for gambling is males, 18-34

That appears to be the case not only for online gambling, but also for casino gambling. And if my two most recent trips to Vegas (in 2007 and 2008) are any indication, older people were a very distinct minority in the casinos.

[rainbow4321]

27. How the hell does someone play for 14 hours straight????

I don't care what their age may be....

If this doesn't smell of a gambling addiction I don't know what does.
Would love to have seen his temper tantrums after his losses. Wonder how many times he was comp'd by the casino he played at? Suites? Gambling money? Meals?

[ensho]

28. uppers?

nt

[Mari333]

37. that may be true but here in michigan at the indian gaming casinos

busloads of seniors arrive daily for their gambling habit. I once went in to one of the casinos, I think it was the four winds casino, and it was like visiting an aarp convention.

[marmar]

20. He seems like the dour old coot at the otherwise lively crap table......

.... who you wish would go back to the 5 cent slot area and yell at the machine.

[Uncle Joe]

21. Come on lucky Iraq, come on lucky Iraq, daddy needs a new pair of shoes.

I wonder if he ever gambled with Bill Bennett?

[tom_paine]

25. You KNOW that's a virtual certainty, though I suspect that McBush begged off

when Bennett toddled over to his domina's to get his ass whipped, after the craps session.

[sunnystarr]

23. Gullet's ties to McCain are much closer than that ...

Mr. Gullett, who had never represented tribes before Congress, had known Mr. McCain since the early 1980s. Mr. Gullett met his wife while they were working in Mr. McCain’s Washington office. He subsequently managed Mr. McCain’s 1992 Senate campaign and served as a top aide to his 2000 presidential campaign. Their friendship went beyond politics. When Mr. McCain’s wife, Cindy, brought two infants in need of medical treatment back to Arizona from Bangladesh, the Gulletts adopted one baby and the McCains the other. The two men also liked to take weekend trips to Las Vegas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/us/politics/28gambling-web.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

[lonestarnot]

33. Very comprehensive rundown here

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/28/192244/263/766/517922

[lonestarnot]

30. You may have already seen this, but if not, you will find it interesting.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/28/192244/263/766/517922

[rainbow4321]

39. Thank you!!

Think of being the person who has to tell Mclame "well, the information about your dealings and your past are beiung shared all over the Internet..Um, yeah, the Internet, people get on their computers and share stuff and....(sigh)..never mind, Senator, they just KNOW stuff, OK?"

[leftofthedial]

31. Here is John McSame's economic plan

huge tax cuts for the house

and the careful "protection" of the middle class's small remaining stack of dollar chips.

[lonestarnot]

34. I am not familiar with KOS posting, but I wonder why this was never finished

I finally accessed Pinal County property records and the Town of Florence donAted property to the IDA in 2003.

The IDA sold property in 2005 for $30k to Langley Historical Momentum LL and sold property in 2006 for $275k to Langley 330 North Main Street LLC. It also bought property for $60k from Dan and Bonnie McQueen of San Diego.

Steven G. Rees, Manager of Langley Farm Investments LLC signed for Langley 330 North Main Street LLC.

In 2005, Langley Farm Investments appealed a court decision involving the purchase of 5,075 acres in Apache County from Petrified Forest Ranch LLC. The company handling the sale of the land was Rensko Inc.

5,075 acres? Rensko vs Renzi?

If I have time tomorrow, I will go through the court doc and tie in the names.

"I feared the worst when I saw that butterscotch incident."

by Mrs Panstreppon on Thu May 29, 2008 at 08:10:45 PM PDT



Were the dots ever connected to Renzi?

[Lionus]

35. “Johnny gets wood when you hand him the bones.”

And, this is news?

Johnny McMyWayOrTheHighway has been driven by a contrarian, passive-aggressive, sociopathic and borderline demonic personality disorder since even before he crashed his third piece of Military Hardware.

Okay, so the Times used the story of how Johnny McMuckenfess combined his willingness to sell the power and authority of his Office to Jack Abranoff, Rick Davis, and the other 170 Lobbyists who now dominate his Campaign...with the fact that Little Johnny LetItRide has a Reserved Space at every Crap Table from the MGM Grand to the the Principality of Monaco.

And, this is news?

Sure, there were some interesting life parallels I found in the story, between Johnny TwoDogsScrewing and my own life. My first two legal clients were the Sac & Fox Tribes of Oklahoma and Nebraska, and the Pottawatomie Nation. And, I can assure you...that story would be far more interesting, and revealing, than the fact that Johnny Boxcars has a “Gambling Problem.”

If the selection of Sarah TundraTrash didn’t already scream out the need to have Johnny Foxwoods tattoo the word “1-800-Gambler” on either his forehead, or the seriously sagging cheeks inside of his Fruit of the Loom clad holding cell where his brain resides...well, somehow I don’t think anything the New York Times could add to that subject was going to change your vote.

[POAS]

36. When you do favors for

the gambling industry playing craps isn't gambling, it's a payoff.

[ObamaMagnets]

40. Roll 'em Cowboy!!!