McCain: Ellen vs. McCain?
Posted: Thursday, May 22, 2008 9:15 AM by Mark Murray
The Washington Post details Charlie Black's lobbyist past, including his frequent representation of foreign governments. This comes on a day when MoveOn is out with a TV ad attacking Black.
The New York Times previews Friday's release by the campaign of McCain's medical records. "In an unforeseen bit of timing, the release of the records, which cover 2000 to 2008, will follow by three days the disclosure that Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, who is Mr. McCain’s good friend in the Senate, has a malignant brain tumor. Mr. McCain, who still has a puffy left cheek and a scar down the back of his neck from his surgery, told reporters that he continued to see an oncologist for regular checkups. The most recent visit was this month. ‘I could probably get away with seeing her every six months,’ Mr. McCain said, ‘but just to be on the safe side, I see her every three months.’”
Per NBC’s Bethany Thomas, McCain didn't dance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, but he did field some tough questions on Ellen's upcoming marriage to actress Portia de Rossi in a newly legalized California civil ceremony. Ellen thanked McCain for coming on the show and said she had encouraged all of the presidential candidates to come on, regardless of whether they see eye to eye, "I don't think anyone should judge Republicans or Democrats or gays or straight or anything. Nobody should be judged by other people's opinions." Later in the interview, Ellen said, "Let's talk about the big elephant in the room." She told the senator and the audience that she will be soon marrying her longtime girlfriend. She said she was planning on marrying her before the state made it legal and asked McCain what his thoughts are on the same-sex marriage issue.
McCain said, "I think that people should be able to enter into legal agreements and it's something that we should encourage, particularly in the case of insurance and other areas and decisions that have to be made. I just believe in the unique status of marriage between a man and a woman and I know that we have a respectful disagreement on that issue."
Ellen responded, "I think that it is looked at and some people are saying the same that blacks and women did not have the right to vote. Women just got the right to vote in 1920. Blacks didn’t have the right to vote until 1870 and it just feels like there's this old way of thinking that we are not all the same. We are all the same people. All of us. You are no different than I am. Our love is the same. To me, what it feels like, I will just speak for myself, it feels like when someone says, 'You can still have a contract and you'll still have insurance and you'll get all that' -- it sounds like you can sit there, but you can't sit there. That's what is sounds like to me.”
The audience’s reaction to this seemed to be a combination of awkward silence and some members cheering for Ellen's nuptials. But McCain did get a laugh when she joked, "So, you'll walk me down the aisle?" (In the promo taped after the show, Ellen said, "We have Senator John McCain on the show and I'm pretty sure he's going to walk me down the aisle…well, I'm not so sure.")
McCain’s problem? “Even while losing primaries and fending off bad press over his former pastor, Democrat Barack Obama was able to raise $1 million a day last month. John McCain, unrivaled and secure in his eventual nomination, had his best fundraising month and raised only $18 million. The Democratic problem: The Republican National Committee, with McCain operatives in place, raised nearly $16 million and had more than $40 million in the bank at the start of May. The Democratic National Committee had $4.4 million.”
