Cliff's Corner

The Week That Was 4/25/08

Another week more preposterousness to report,

I was heartened when George Stephanopoulos--for all the heat he has taken over the ABC debate--asked John McCain a question on This Week this past Sunday that I have been waiting to hear the media ask the "straight-talking," mavericking, reforming, BBQ-providing, demi-God for a long time now. To paraphrase, Stephanopoulos wondered why if government health care has been good enough to talcum the two cheeks where Mark Salter's lips lie permanently wedged his entire life, it is not good enough for the rest of us peasants.

That's right, John McCain, the son of an Admiral, has has his healthcare taken care of by the government for the last seven decades at taxpayer expense. Yet, when asked this question he was only able to muster a lame joke in response recounting the years he was being taken care of in a different country (where else but the Hanoi Hilton--which McCain wields like Giuliani did 9/11). Let's face it, McCain can even be more annoying to listen to when talking about himself than serial-hack Lanny Davis after inhaling a weather-balloon of helium.

Especially when King McCain doesn't even feel compelled to explain why he voted against the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), so that countless children would lose the very government health care on which he has relied upon long enough that diapers have become bookends.

This wasn't the first time I heard this question, mind you. It was brought up to me when I was speaking to a real straight-talking vet, Paul Hackett, for my book The Real McCain. But it was the first time the media brought it up, that I am aware of. And it shouldn't be the last.

As for the rest of us, just remember this the next time McCain burps up some silly charge of elitism and spews it towards a Democrat, while lounging at one of the 8 homes he inherited by treating his first wife like a old Buick while cruising off with that hot, new, rich young thing named Cindy. Or, perhaps, when the old codger goes on another fun-filled Barneys bender.

Cliff Schecter is the author of The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him And Why Independent's Shouldn't. It is only $10, and for that low-low price you can help defeat McCain and keep Cliff's kid in diapers--a pretty good deal for all.