There really is no way McCain can distance himself from the remarks of Charlie Black. They are right out of the Bush/Rove playbook. No doubt, the pundits will try to give McCain yet another pass, but this one is too much. McCain has to fire Black. There is no other option. Otherwise, McCain is basically owning Black's words:
A top adviser to Sen. John McCain said that a terrorist attack in the United States would be a political benefit to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, a comment that was immediately disputed by the candidate and denounced by his Democratic rival.
Charlie Black, one of McCain's most senior political advisers, said in an interview with Fortune magazine that a fresh terrorist attack "certainly would be a big advantage to him." He also said that the December assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, while "unfortunate," helped McCain win the Republican primary by focusing attention on national security.
"His knowledge and ability to talk about it reemphasized that this is the guy who's ready to be Commander-in-Chief. And it helped us," Black told the magazine in its upcoming issue.
The comment reinjected the fear of terrorism into the campaign as both candidates had been shifting their conversation to the economy and $4-per-gallon gasoline. It also vividly recalled the 2004 contest between President Bush and Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry, in which Republicans repeatedly questioned Kerry's ability to protect the country from terrorists.
The comments also returned the political spotlight to McCain's advisers and, in particular, to Black, who has drawn criticism for his long lobbying career and his representation of controversial foreign governments. McCain has been criticized for surrounding himself with top advisers who were lobbyists.
Black earlier this year severed ties to the lobbying firm he founded. Records show that his firm had represented the Pakistan People's Party, which Bhutto led until her death.
Again, the punditry is going try to let this one slide. But, remember, Samantha Powers got canned after a media outcry over far less. She made a catty comment about another candidate. Charlie Black, on behalf of McCain and the GOP, basically said that if Americans were killed by terrorists, it would be a "big advantage" for McCain and the GOP. That's so 2004. And, it's so wrong.
John McCain really is running Bush's 2004 campaign all over again. The politics of fear are front and center. Terror attacks are considered political advantages. Via Think Progress:
Asked if another terrorist attack on U.S. soil would help McCain as well, Black told Fortune that it would be “a big advantage to him“:
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December was an “unfortunate event,” says Black. “But his knowledge and ability to talk about it reemphasized that this is the guy who’s ready to be Commander-in-Chief. And it helped us.” As would, Black concedes with startling candor after we raise the issue, another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. “Certainly it would be a big advantage to him,” says Black.
Another 3,000 dead Americans would be a "big advantage"? That's actually pretty sick.
Now, maybe if Bush captured the terrorists who attacked the U.S. instead of launching a war in Iraq, this wouldn't be a factor. But it is. This comment really does show how the Republicans think. Their political gain comes before the safety of Americans. No, it comes at the expense of Americans. John McCain's own top campaign adviser sees terrorist attacks as good things to take advantage of.
Yesterday, MoveOn.org's ad spotlighting the top lobbyist on John McCain's campaign, Charlie Black, began running on nation wide on cable stations. We've posted the video of the ad a couple times. It's a very hard hitting ad documenting Black's work for some very despicable despots including Ferdinand Marcos from the Philippines, Mobutu Sese Seko from Zaire and Jonas Savimbi from Angola. You can see the ad here.
Today, Charlie Black's lobbying on behalf of those shady characters -- and a couple others -- warrants a front page article in the Washington Post:
Longtime uber-lobbyist Charles R. Black Jr. is John McCain's man in Washington, a political maestro who is hoping to guide his friend, the senator from Arizona, to the presidency this November.
But for half a decade in the 1980s, Black was also Jonas Savimbi's man in the capital city. His lobbying firm received millions from the brutal Angolan guerrilla leader and took advantage of Black's contacts in Congress and the White House.
Justice Department records that Black's firm submitted under the Foreign Agents Registration Act detail frequent meetings with lawmakers and their staffs and lavish spending by Black and his partners as they attempted to ensure support for Savimbi, whose UNITA movement was fighting the Marxist Angolan government.
Then in his 30s, Black already had established himself as a pioneer of the revolving door between campaign consulting and lobbying, having been a senior adviser on President Ronald Reagan's reelection campaign before returning to K Street. And his clients, as often as not, were foreign leaders eager to burnish their reputations.
In addition to Savimbi, Black and his partners were at times registered foreign agents for a remarkable collection of U.S.-backed foreign leaders whose human rights records were sometimes harshly criticized, even as their opposition to communism was embraced by American conservatives. They included Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Nigerian Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre, and the countries of Kenya and Equatorial Guinea, among others.
Apparently, there was very good money in representing brutal dictators, if you didn't mind the blood all over it.
John McCain wanted everyone to think he was some kind of maverick who was going to change Washington. McCain never was a maverick. In fact, he's just a puppet of the GOP's hard core lobbyists. They run his campaign. They'd run his White House.
John McCain is supposed to be the great reformer. That's just pure bull. He scammed the FEC's public financing system last year -- something for which he's not been held accountable -- yet. And, his campaign is rife with very powerful D.C. lobbyists who work for some very shady characters -- and that's really starting to damage the McCain brand:
"It's the biggest anti-Washington streak in the American electorate in decades, and McCain's problem is that his campaign is full of Washington-lobbyist types," said Chris Kofinis, a former John Edwards aide. "You can't be the guy who is striving for reform when the people who run the campaign are fighting against reform."
Democrats have hammered McCain on that very issue for months, noting that campaign manager Rick Davis and senior adviser Charlie Black have spent decades lobbying in Washington. Both have left their companies.
The criticism exploded this month with the disclosure that two McCain advisers worked for DCI Group, a consulting firm that several years ago worked with a moderate member of Myanmar's military junta.
McCain was furious. The two resigned and the new policy followed.
Then, McCain fired an energy policy adviser who lobbied energy companies and asked another consultant to resign from the campaign's Virginia leadership team given a conflict. Former Texas Rep. Thomas G. Loeffler also resigned as McCain's national finance co-chairman because of lobbying ties that reportedly included Saudi Arabia.
Uh oh. Did I just read the McCain was furious? Watch out. We're told by many who have seen it (and many, many have) that a furious McCain is a very, very scary thing indeed. Problem for McCain is that he should be furious with himself. This is all his fault. He gathered all these lobbyists to run his campaign. Obviously, McCain didn't think it would be an issue -- but it is.
McCain's campaign is rife with lobbyists. They run the entire operation. Last week, two of them were dumped because they represented the brutal regime in Myanmar. Another one left over his involvement in an anti-Democrat 527.
This week, another one -- a very top fundraising official -- has already dropped. This one, Thomas Loeffler, McCain's national finance co-chair, not only represented Saudi Arabia, he lobbied McCain on behalf of Saudi Arabia -- after saying he didn't:
John McCain's national finance co-chairman has stepped down, becoming the latest adviser to leave the Republican's presidential campaign because of ties to lobbyists.
Former Texas Rep. Thomas G. Loeffler, one of McCain's key fundraisers, resigned after the campaign last week instructed staff to disclose all lobbying ties and to make certain they are no longer registered as lobbyists or foreign agents.
McCain's campaign on Sunday confirmed Loeffler's resignation.
Loeffler lobbies for the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., which with Northrop Grumman Corp. won a lucrative contract to provide air refueling tankers for the Air Force. McCain helped scuttle an earlier contract that would have gone to a competitor, Boeing Co.
Newsweek reported over the weekend that Loeffler's "lobbying firm has collected nearly $15 million from Saudi Arabia since 2002 and millions more from other foreign and corporate interests, including a French aerospace firm seeking Pentagon contracts."
Lobbying disclosure records also showed that on May 17, 2006, Loeffler listed meeting McCain along with the Saudi ambassador to "discuss US-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia relations," even though Loeffler told a reporter last month that he had not discussed his clients with McCain, Newsweek said.
The lobbying staff are dropping like flies at the McCain campaign. There's not going to be anyone left over there before long.
So, when is McCain going to fire Charlie Black? Or is Black's work for brutal regimes okay?
Via Huffington, Charlie Black is unfazed by the criticism of his work for brutal dictators:
I'm not ashamed of anything the firm did," McCain adviser Charlie Black says of his days as the principle in one of Washington's most influential lobbying firms. "If they want to use it to fire up the left wing, well, that's fine."
MoveOn's new ad is about one of John McCain's top advisers, who also has advised Ferdinand Marcos, Mbuto in Zaire, and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi. Then again, John McCain's filthy rich wife, whose corporate jet McCain flies on for his campaign, had $2m in investments dealing with the nasty folks in the Sudan. Anyone else seeing a pattern? Watch it, it's good.
