McCain: The Myanmar mess
Posted: Monday, May 12, 2008 9:04 AM by Mark Murray
The fact that the firm DCI, a major player in GOP circles, has ties to the Myanmar junta running the country formerly known as Burma, is causing mini-headaches for McCain. He's losing two key aides. From The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder: Doug Davenport, the regional campaign manager for the mid-Atlantic states, founded the DCI Group's lobbying practice and oversaw the contract with Myanmar in 2002. He joins former DCI Group CEO Doug Goodyear, who resigned yesterday from the post of convention CEO after Newsweek reported that DCI was paid more than $300,000 to represent Myanmar's ruling junta.
There aren’t many GOP campaigns that don't have ties to DCI. How bad is this going to be for DCI? Had there not been this tragedy to the people of Myanmar/Burma, this controversy may not have popped up. It just goes to show folks, you just never know what's going to pop in a presidential.
Just how much credit will McCain get for simply being a Republican who acknowledges climate change is a problem? Apparently, his folks believe that's enough. His first TV ad on the issue doesn't talk about his plan; it just notes he believes it's a problem. "I believe that climate change is real,” McCain says in the ad. “It’s not just a greenhouse gas issue. It’s a national security issue. We have an obligation to future generations to take action and fix it."
The Washington Post, meanwhile, looks at McCain's enviro record. "McCain has made the environment one of the key elements of his presidential bid. He speaks passionately about the issue of climate change on the campaign trail, and he plans to outline his vision for combating global warming in a major speech today in Portland, Ore. ‘I'm proud of my record on the environment,’ he said at a news conference Friday at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. ‘As president, I will dedicate myself to addressing the issue of climate change globally.’”
“But an examination of McCain's voting record shows an inconsistent approach to the environment: He champions some ‘green’ causes while casting sometimes contradictory votes on others. The senator from Arizona has been resolute in his quest to impose a federal limit on greenhouse gas emissions, even when it means challenging his own party. But he has also cast votes against tightening fuel-efficiency standards and resisted requiring public utilities to offer a specific amount of electricity from renewable sources. He has worked to protect public lands in his home state, winning a 2001 award from the National Parks Conservation Association for helping give the National Park Service some say over air tours around the Grand Canyon, work that prompts former interior secretary and Arizona governor Bruce Babbitt to call him ‘a great friend of the canyon.’ But he has also pushed to set aside Endangered Species Act protections when they conflict with other priorities, such as the construction of a University of Arizona observatory on Mount Graham."
Some one-term chatter.
As we noted last week, Mark Salter memos and complaint emails are going to become legendary by the end of this campaign. Newsweek posted the one they received in response to their Obama piece in full. If there is one thing that gets the conservative elite fired up and on McCain's side, it could be their growing charges of press bias by the MSM -- which a year ago would have been dismissed as laughable. Now the McCain campaign is very nervous it will not be the candidate with the most favorable coverage, a position McCain's never been in before.
From Salter's email to the mag: "By accepting the Obama campaign construct as if it were objective, Evan and Richard framed this race exactly as Senator Obama wants it to be framed – every issue that raises doubts about his policy views and judgment is part of a smear campaign intended to distract voters from the real issues at stake in the election, and, thus, illegitimate. And even if Senator McCain might not be inclined to support such advertising, if he can’t stop them from occurring then he will have succumbed to the temptation to put ambition before principle. How this notion could appear credible after MoveOn, the AFL-CIO and the DNC launched negative ad campaigns weeks ago, and after leaks from the Obama campaign that they would soon start running negative ads against McCain, is mystifying."
