John McCain

Kat and I made arrangements to travel to D.C. for the inauguration a few months before the election. Our plan was to attend regardless of who was elected president, but we preferred Obama over McCain and his winning the election solidified our plans. We flew to D.C. on U.S. Airways Flight 44 to see the 44th president inaugurated, leaving 72-degree weather in Phoenix and arriving to 26-degree weather in D.C. We had prepared with layered clothing, but I found that my toes were still freezing in my shoes with two layers of socks, so we visited a mall near our hotel and found evidence of massive price deflation in coats and boots. I picked up a nice pair of Dupont “thinsulate” insulated boots, and Kat bought a full-length padded coat, each of which were only $20. We saw some further evidence of price deflation in goods at the Smithsonian gift shop in the National Museum of the American Indian, where T-shirt prices had been lowered from $20 last time we visited to $16 this trip. Food prices, however, seemed to be about the same, and the price of a 7-day Metro pass had climbed from $20 to $26.40 (no doubt still a subsidized price). On Saturday, we visited the newly-reopened National Museum of American History, where there were special events going on with actors portraying figures from American history such as Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington. We paid a visit to the American flag from Fort McHenry (the star-spangled banner), the First Ladies’ dresses collection, the pop culture exhibit, “The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden,” musical instruments, the Gunboat Philadelphia, and a few other exhibits. We followed this up with lunch at the National Museum of the American Indian, then checked out the new Capitol visitors’ center and took a look at the setup for the inauguration. We then walked over by the Newseum, passing the Canadian Embassy and its huge banners welcoming President Obama. The theme of pending change was everywhere–not only the expected political banners, but in commercial advertising (e.g., Metro ads from Pepsi and Ikea), religious advertising (the Seventh-Day Adventists were handing out a magazine with Obama’s photograph on the front), and even by the homeless begging for “change I can believe in." On Sunday we went to the Columbia Heights Metro station and were amazed at how much the area has changed. We visited an apartment building in the area where Kat used to live in the 1990s, finding it boarded up and for sale (last sold 10/16/2008 for $1.1M). Next was Adams-Morgan, where there was a kiosk to “Tell the President … tell him what you think! tell him what you want!” by sticking up handwritten notes. A few examples: “TAKE A STAND 4 PALESTINE,” “WE ARE HUMANS NOT MACHINES,” “GAY MARRIAGE,” “Make Weed Legal,” “fix our schools,” “NO MORE LIES PLEASE,” “Respect our privacy! Stop USA spying on Americans!,” and “MAKE LOVE TO ME." We visited a friend’s clothing store (Redeem, on 14th St. south of S), walked past the Church of Scientology near Dupont Circle that was in the act by offering free “touch assists” for D.C. visitors, and approached as close as we could to the White House, which was to walk on Pennsylvania Ave. near the president’s inaugural parade viewing stand. From there we could hear U2 playing at the “We Are One” concert on the Mall, which we chose not to brave the crowds to see. Monday we spent time with family in the early afternoon, and spent the rest of our afternoon paying a visit to the American Humanist Society’s MLK Day open house. In the evening, we went back to Dupont Circle, where a giant inflatable George W. Bush with a giant nose labeled “GIVE BUSH THE BOOT” was available to throw shoes at. Tuesday morning, we got up at 5:30 a.m. and got to the Silver Spring Metro Station by 6:40 a.m. The station was packed, and we squeezed into a very crowded train. We got out at Gallery Place and walked towards the Mall, where we ran into an immense crowd at 7th and E that was waiting to go through security screening to the inaugural parade seats. We hung out there for a while, where several people from Meetup.com were handing out nametags and pens, and then walked around the security perimeter to the west to get to the Mall. This required us to go back north to I St., and west to 19th St. (we could have gone down 18th, but 19th was less crowded). We went through no security and had no trouble getting to the Mall. We walked east past the Washington Monument, but U.S. Army soldiers suddenly closed the road at 15th St. and so we went back and found a good spot in front of the Jumbotron just northeast of the Monument. The crowd continued to build, and the Jumbotron showed a replay of the “We are One” concert from Sunday (which would might have been annoying if we had already seen it). At long last, the Jumbotrons switched to a live (with audio slightly delayed) feed, with a live mike somewhere in the expensive seats that seemed unintentional. We got to hear one side of multiple conversations, including Sen. Joe Lieberman telling someone, “I love your mother!” The captioning was a little behind the already-delayed audio, and occasionally bizarrely off. When Aretha Franklin sang, one caption at the end of her song said “THREAT RING." I thought that Pastor Rick Warren’s invocation was awful–it was sectarian and it was blatantly hypocritical (cf. Matthew 6:5-7), and I considered it, along with the cold, to be the low-light of the swearing-in ceremony. George W. Bush attracted some mild booing, and we almost (but not quite) felt sorry for him. But the crowd was ecstatic at Obama’s being sworn in (and at Bush’s helicopter leaving). Obama’s inaugural speech seemed to mostly be fairly generic new-politician-in-office platitudes, but there were a few standout positive points for me. First, his acknowledgement that some Americans are nonbelievers and we have a stake and a voice in this country was a breath of fresh air. I cheered that line, and several people near by looked at me and smiled. His affirmation that science must be “restore[d] … to its rightful place” was another good one, as was his statement that we cannot give up the Constitution for safety. It is a pleasure to again have a president who can speak in complete English sentences and not make me cringe every time I hear him. After the swearing-in ceremony was over, it took us well over an hour to leave the Mall. People were packed in trying to leave, and at one point we saw the crowd knock down a barricade on the north side of the Mall, and a second barricade just north of that, to get access to Constitution. We moved in the opposite direction, which proved to be the right move to get to a flowing stream of people moving towards the actual exit. Police showed up at the downed barricades after about ten minutes, and put them back in place. On Wednesday, we visited the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Catholic church in North America, on the grounds of Catholic University of America. It was interesting to see the different ethnic versions of Mary, Mother of Jesus in the Shrine, including Our Mother of Africa, the Virgin of Guadalupe, and Our Lady of La Vang (Vietnam). We did a little shopping for Obama swag at Union Station. On Thursday, our last day in D.C., we visited Battleground National Cemetery on Georgia Ave., a little-known burial ground of Union soldiers killed at the battle of Fort Stevens, the only Civil War battle that occurred in D.C. We also visited Fort Stevens itself, which has a monument where President Lincoln stood on the rampart and was told to “Get down, you fool” as he was likely to be killed by attacking Confederate soldiers there. Finally, we visited the recently restored Lincoln Cottage at the Old Soldier’s Home, just north of Catholic University of America, where Lincoln spent about a quarter of his presidential term, made many of his decisions, and drafted and finalized the Emancipation Proclamation. ...

Newsweek reports some interesting tidbits from behind the scenes of the election process in both the McCain and Obama campaigns: Both the McCain and Obama campaigns had computers compromised by “a foreign entity or organization [which] sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps’ policy positions.” And that entity was successful in collecting such data, apparently. Palin’s shopping spree was more extensive and expensive than has previously been reported: “While publicly supporting Palin, McCain’s top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards.” The spending was allegedly tens of thousands of dollars more than reported. McCain rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and although she wanted to speak in Phoenix along with McCain for his concession speech, this was vetoed by McCain’s campaign strategist, Steve Schmidt.The Secret Service reported “a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied."Palin attacked Obama about his connection to William Ayers before the campaign had finalized its plan about that issue–McCain had not given his approval, and a top advisor was resisting it.Hillary Clinton was on much better terms with McCain than with Obama, and McCain feared that Hillary Clinton would be named as Obama’s VP, and was glad when he chose Biden.There are lots of other interesting bits in the article, as well.

Arizona will now have a majority of Democratic Representatives in the House, as Rick Renzi is replaced by Ann Kirkpatrick in District 1 in a close race. The other close race is District 5, where Harry Mitchell has defeated David Schweikert. This means the Arizona delegation will be Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl (both Republicans), and Representatives Ann Kirkpatrick (D-District 1), Trent Franks (R-District 2), John Shadegg (R-District 3), Ed Pastor (D-District 4), Harry Mitchell (D-District 5), Jeff Flake (R-District 6), Raul Grijalva (D-District 7), Gabrielle Giffords (D-District 8). Bad news: Andrew Thomas was re-elected as Maricopa County Attorney, and Joe Arpaio was re-elected as Maricopa County Sheriff. And Arizona went for John McCain as president, though he has graciously conceded to Barack Obama. Some bad results on the propositions: Prop. 102 is passing, amending the Arizona constitution to ban same-sex marriage, Prop. 101 on medical choice is failing. But there’s also good news: the payday loan industry-backed Prop. 200 is failing (that would add barriers to entry to new payday loan companies, as well as prevent the current payday loan legislation from sunsetting), and Prop. 100’s ban on additional home transfer taxes is passing. UPDATE (November 5, 2008): Prop. 101 is still too close to call, with “no” votes leading by 2,195 votes (867,924 no, 865,729 yes). There should be a conclusive result tomorrow. UPDATE (November 6, 2008): Still counting on Prop. 101–it’s now a 2,944-vote lead for no, 887,821 to 884,877. UPDATE (November 12, 2008): Prop. 101 has been defeated, 961,567 no votes to 950,440 yes votes. ...

From the Iowa State Daily: Audience members escorted out of Sen. John McCain’s, R-Ariz., campaign event in Cedar Falls questioned why they were asked to leave Sunday’s rally even though they were not protesting. David Zarifis, director of public safety for the University of Northern Iowa, said McCain staffers requested UNI police assist in escorting out “about four or five” people from the rally prior to McCain’s speech. Zarifis said while the people who were taken out weren’t protesting or causing problems, McCain’s staff were worried they would during the speech. “Apparently, they had been identified by those staffers as potential protesters within the event,” Zarifis said. … Lara Elborno, a student at the University of Iowa, said she was approached by a police officer and a McCain staffer and was told she had to leave or she would be arrested for trespassing. … Elborno said even McCain supporters were among those being asked to leave. “I saw a couple that had been escorted out and they were confused as well, and the girl was crying, so I said ‘Why are you crying? and she said ‘I already voted for McCain, I’m a Republican, and they said we had to leave because we didn’t look right,’” Elborno said. “They were handpicking these people and they had nothing to go off of, besides the way the people looked.”

Amy Silverman’s “Love the War, Neglect the Warrior: His fame’s based on his POW status, but Senator John McCain’s made a point of voting against fellow veterans," tells the story of McCain’s voting record on support for war veterans, and how various veterans’ groups and retired military personnel feel about him: Most vet special-interest groups decline to officially take sides (even VoteVets hasn’t made a presidential endorsement). But VoteVets is among many veterans groups to note the discrepancy between John McCain’s talk and his actions. ...

There are reports that Sarah Palin is “going rogue” by continually going off message and clashing with key McCain aides. One McCain aide reports: “She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone,” said this McCain adviser. “She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else. “Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."This is not the kind of person who should be in a position of political leadership in a representative democracy–perhaps in a banana republic, but not a first-world nation. (I do agree with her that “robocalls”–prerecorded political advertisements–are extremely annoying.)

Daniel Zubairi, one of McCain’s state leaders for Maryland, stepped forward to publicly criticize a person who was criticizing Obama and claiming that he’s tainted because of a Muslim background. CNN wanted to put Zubairi on air, but the McCain campaign said no. (Via Daily Kos.)

Arizona ballot proposition 101, the Medical Choice for Arizona amendment, says this: Be it enacted by the People of Arizona: 1. Article II, Section 36: Constitution of Arizona is proposed to be added as follows if approved by the voters and on proclamation of the Governor: ARTICLE II, SECTION 36. BECAUSE ALL PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT THEIR HEALTH CARE, NO LAW SHALL BE PASSED THAT RESTRICTS A PERSON’S FREEDOM OF CHOICE OF PRIVATE HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS OR PRIVATE PLANS OF ANY TYPE. NO LAW SHALL INTERFERE WITH A PERSON’S OR ENTITY’S RIGHT TO PAY DIRECTLY FOR LAWFUL MEDICAL SERVICES, NOR SHALL ANY LAW IMPOSE A PENALTY OR FINE, OF ANY TYPE, FOR CHOOSING TO OBTAIN OR DECLINE HEALTH CARE COVERAGE OR FOR PARTICIPATION IN ANY PARTICULAR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM OR PLAN. ...

This is no doubt not a representative cross-section of McCain and Palin supporters, but it’s a disturbingly ugly set of them. It’s fortunate that most of the worst comments are from the older generation–I hope that younger people are less likely to hold such views. McCain has shot down such remarks from supporters when they’ve been made in his presence, to his credit. (And yes, this is from Aljazeera.) UPDATE: Here are more bigoted McCain and Palin supporters in Johnstown, Pennsylvania: UPDATE (October 20, 2008): Sarah Palin says if she heard such bigoted comments she’d shut them down: “What we have heard through some mainstream media is that folks have hollered out some atrocious and unacceptable things like kill him,’ " Palin said, referring to a Washington Post story two weeks ago about angry supporters at a Palin rally in Florida. “If I ever were to hear that standing up there at the podium with the mike, I would call them out on that, and I would tell these people, no, that’s unacceptable."She goes on to break with McCain by supporting a U.S. Constitutional amendment to oppose gay marriage and claim that “Faith in God in general has been mocked through this campaign, and that breaks my heart and that is unfair for others who share a faith in God and choose to worship our Lord in whatever private manner that they deem fit." UPDATE (October 21, 2008): And here’s another video, from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (same link provided by Hume’s Ghost in the first comment), of McCain and Palin supporters entering Lehigh University (the school where intelligent design advocate Michael Behe is a professor): UPDATE (October 22, 2008): And be sure to check out this woman’s reasons for voting for McCain, at the Secular Web. UPDATE: And more videos of McCain supporters heckling early voters (most of whom were from an Obama rally) in West Virginia. UPDATE (April 10, 2026): Google seems to think that this calling out of bigoted and ignorant statements from 18 years ago itself constitutes “dangerous or derogatory content” in 2026, which is absurd. These videos are hosted on YouTube, Google’s platform, so if they have a problem with the content they should take down the videos. UPDATE (April 13, 2026): My request for a review was unsuccessful. Here’s the policy that Google claims is being violated by this 18-year-old blog post in 2026 (a time when the rhetoric has become far, far, worse, including from the president of the United States): “We do not allow content that:incites hatred against, promotes discrimination of, or disparages an individual or group on the basis of their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or other characteristic that is associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization.harasses, intimidates, or bullies an individual or group of individuals.threatens or advocates for harm to oneself or others.relates to a current, major health crisis and contradicts authoritative, scientific consensus.exploits others through extortion."It is absolutely absurd to think that the content of this blog post does any of these things. ...

The Economist conducted a poll of 683 research associates of the National Bureau of Economic Research. 142 responded, of whom 46% self-identified as Democrats, 10% as Republicans, and 44% as neither. 80% of respondents, 71% of those who did not identify a political affiliation, and 46% of those who identified themselves as Republicans said that Obama has a better grasp of economics than McCain. (Only 23% of those who identified themselves as Republicans said that McCain had better understanding of economics.) 81% of respondents, 71% of the unaffiliated, and 31% of the Republicans said that Obama will pick a better team of economic advisors to run the country than McCain. The full results can be found at The Economist’s website. ...