Did McCain Vote For Bush In 2000?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Blogging, Bush, McCain, Media, Republicans
That’s the question circling around the left-o-sphere.
It started because Arianna Huffington said she was at a dinner with the McCains after the 2000 election and they had some unkind things to say about Bush, including that they didn’t vote for him.
Then a couple more Democrats who were at the dinner backed up Huffington’s accusation and then another said McCain told him that Bush was “as dumb as a stump.”
So maybe McCain did and maybe he didn’t, but does anybody think he could actually say that he didn’t and still win his party’s nomination? And of course he’s going to say he voted for Bush. What else can he say?
But here’s the most important thing: there’s absolutely no way to know.
And that’s the thing that makes Huffington’s accusation so craven. She knows she can throw anything “that she heard at a party” out there and hang it over his head. And because there’s no real record of it, and a couple Dem loyalists will back her up that, has the effect of making it seem like it’s true.
One thing’s for sure…I bet it’s good for traffic.
This entry was posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Blogging, Bush, McCain, Media, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
I disagree, we all know that McCain back in 2000 was a braver man then he is now, since then he’s flip flopped on everything, and he was ticked off at Bush for all the smears he used on McCain.
Its very believable, if it wasn’t people would dismiss it without even a second look
May 10th, 2008 at 4:00 am
After the disgusting tactics Bush employed to beat McCain in the primaries, I don’t see how anyone could blame McCain for not giving Bush his vote. I also don’t see how this rumor will hurt McCain; Republicans won’t believe it or WILL suspect it but will vote for him anyway, and Independents will hear it and gain a more favorable opinion of McCain since it only serves to make linking McCain with Bush’s tenure more difficult.
Avinash is right, McCain circa 2000 and McCain circa 2008 are two very different politicians, but polls seem to show he still has his image as a maverick intact despite his recent flip flopping and embracing the far right. I think it’s safe to presume the average voter doesn’t pay quite so much attention to these sorts of things as people who routinely check political blogs like us.