44

THE MAD MAN WHO WOULD BE PRESIDENT

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain arrived late at his Senate office on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, just after the first plane hit the World Trade Center. “This is war,” he murmured to his aides. The sound of scrambling fighter planes rattled the windows, sending a tremor of panic through the room.

Erik Jacobs for The New York Times
John McCain said he had consulted Henry A. Kissinger on foreign policy before and after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Within hours, Mr. McCain, the Vietnam War hero and famed straight talker of the 2000 Republican primary, had taken on a new role: the leading advocate of taking the American retaliation against Al Qaeda far beyond Afghanistan. In a marathon of television and radio appearances, Mr. McCain recited a short list of other countries said to support terrorism, invariably including Iraq, Iran and Syria.

“There is a system out there or network, and that network is going to have to be attacked,” Mr. McCain said the next morning on ABC News. “It isn’t just Afghanistan,” he added, on MSNBC. “I don’t think if you got bin Laden tomorrow that the threat has disappeared,” he said on CBS, pointing toward other countries in the Middle East.

Within a month he made clear his priority. “Very obviously Iraq is the first country,” he declared on CNN. By Jan. 2, Mr. McCain was on the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt in the Arabian Sea, yelling to a crowd of sailors and airmen: “Next up, Baghdad!”

Now, as Mr. McCain prepares to accept the Republican presidential nomination, his response to the attacks of Sept. 11 opens a window onto how he might approach the gravest responsibilities of a potential commander in chief. Like many, he immediately recalibrated his assessment of the unseen risks to America’s security. But he also began to suggest that he saw a new “opportunity” to deter other potential foes by punishing not only Al Qaeda but also Iraq.

“Just as Sept. 11 revolutionized our resolve to defeat our enemies, so has it brought into focus the opportunities we now have to secure and expand our freedom,” Mr. McCain told a NATO conference in Munich in early 2002, urging the Europeans to join what he portrayed as an all but certain assault on Saddam Hussein. “A better world is already emerging from the rubble.”

To his admirers, Mr. McCain’s tough response to Sept. 11 is at the heart of his appeal. They argue that he displayed the same decisiveness again last week in his swift calls to penalize Russia for its incursion into Georgia, in part by sending peacekeepers to police its border.

His critics charge that the emotion of Sept. 11 overwhelmed his former cool-eyed caution about deploying American troops without a clear national interest and a well-defined exit, turning him into a tool of the Bush administration in its push for a war to transform the region.

“He has the personality of a fighter pilot: when somebody stings you, you want to strike out,” said retired Gen. John H. Johns, a former friend and supporter of Mr. McCain who turned against him over the Iraq war. “Just like the American people, his reaction was: show me somebody to hit.”

Whether through ideology or instinct, though, Mr. McCain began making his case for invading Iraq to the public more than six months before the White House began to do the same. He drew on principles he learned growing up in a military family and on conclusions he formed as a prisoner in North Vietnam. He also returned to a conviction about “the common identity” of dangerous autocracies as far-flung as Serbia and North Korea that he had developed consulting with hawkish foreign policy thinkers to help sharpen the themes of his 2000 presidential campaign.

While pushing to take on Saddam Hussein, Mr. McCain also made arguments and statements that he may no longer wish to recall. He lauded the war planners he would later criticize, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney. (Mr. McCain even volunteered that he would have given the same job to Mr. Cheney.) He urged support for the later-discredited Iraqi exile Ahmad Chalabi’s opposition group, the Iraqi National Congress, and echoed some of its suspect accusations in the national media. And he advanced misleading assertions not only about Mr. Hussein’s supposed weapons programs but also about his possible ties to international terrorists, Al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 attacks.

Five years after the invasion of Iraq, Mr. McCain’s supporters note that he became an early critic of the administration’s execution of the occupation, and they credit him with pushing the troop “surge” that helped bring stability. Mr. McCain, though, stands by his support for the war and expresses no regrets about his advocacy.

In written answers to questions, he blamed “Iraq’s opacity under Saddam” for any misleading remarks he made about the peril it posed.

The Sept. 11 attacks “demonstrated the grave threat posed by a hostile regime, possessing weapons of mass destruction, and with reported ties to terrorists,” Mr. McCain wrote in an e-mail message on Friday. Given Mr. Hussein’s history of pursuing illegal weapons and his avowed hostility to the United States, “his regime posed a threat we had to take seriously.” The attacks were still a reminder, Mr. McCain added, of the importance of international action “to prevent outlaw states — like Iran today — from developing weapons of mass destruction.”

Formative Years

Mr. McCain has been debating questions about the use of military force far longer than most. He grew up in a family that had sent a son to every American war since 1776, and international relations were a staple of the McCain family dinner table. Mr. McCain grew up listening to his father, Adm. John S. McCain Jr., deliver lectures on “The Four Ocean Navy and the Soviet Threat,” closing with a slide of an image he considered the ultimate factor in the balance of power: a soldier marching through a rice paddy with a rifle at his shoulder.

“To quote Sherman, war is all hell and we need to fight it out and get it over with and that is when the killing stops,” recalled Joe McCain, Senator McCain’s younger brother.

Vietnam, for Senator McCain, reinforced those lessons. He has often said he blamed the Johnson administration’s pause in bombing for prolonging the war, and he credited President Richard M. Nixon’s renewed attacks with securing his release from a North Vietnamese prison. He has made the principle that the exercise of military power sets the bargaining table for international relations a consistent theme of his career ever since, and in his 2002 memoir he wrote that one of his lifelong convictions was “the imperative that American power never retreat in response to an inferior adversary’s provocation.”

But Mr. McCain also took away from Vietnam a second, restraining lesson: the necessity for broad domestic support for any military action. For years he opposed a string of interventions — in Lebanon, Haiti, Somalia, and, for a time, the Balkans — on the grounds that the public would balk at the loss of life without clear national interests. “The Vietnam thing,” he recently said.

In the late 1990s, however, while he was beginning to consider his 2000 presidential race, he started rebalancing his view of the needs to project American strength and to sustain public support. The 1995 massacre of 5,000 unarmed Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica under NATO’s watch struck at his conscience, he has said, and in addition to America’s strategic national interests — in that case, the future and credibility of NATO — Mr. McCain began to speak more expansively about America’s moral obligations as the only remaining superpower.

His aides say he later described the American air strikes in Bosnia in 1996 and in Kosovo in 1999 as a parable of political leadership: Mr. McCain, Senator Bob Dole and others had rallied Congressional support for the strikes despite widespread public opposition, then watched approval soar after the intervention helped to bring peace.

“Americans elect their leaders to make these kinds of judgments,” Mr. McCain said in the e-mail message.

It was during the Balkan wars that Mr. McCain and his advisers read a 1997 article on the Wall Street Journal editorial page by William Kristol and David Brooks of The Weekly Standard — both now Op-Ed page columnists at The New York Times — promoting the idea of “national greatness” conservatism, defined by a more activist agenda at home and a more muscular role in the world.

“I wouldn’t call it a ‘eureka’ moment, but there was a sense that this is where we are headed and this is what we are trying to articulate and they have already done a lot of the work,” said John Weaver, a former McCain political adviser. “And, quite frankly, from a crass political point of view, we were in the making-friends business. The Weekly Standard represented a part of the primary electorate that we could get.”

Soon Mr. McCain and his aides were consulting regularly with the circle of hawkish foreign policy thinkers sometimes referred to as neoconservatives — including Mr. Kristol, Robert Kagan and Randy Scheunemann, a former aide to Mr. Dole who became a McCain campaign adviser — to develop the senator’s foreign policy ideas and instincts into the broad themes of a presidential campaign. (In his e-mail message, Mr. McCain noted that he had also consulted with friends like Henry A. Kissinger, known for a narrower view of American interests.)

One result was a series of speeches in which Mr. McCain called for “rogue state rollback.” He argued that disparate regional troublemakers, including Iraq, North Korea and Serbia, bore a common stamp: they were all autocracies. And as such, he contended, they were more likely to export terrorism, spread dangerous weapons, or start ethnic conflicts. In an early outline of what would become his initial response to the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. McCain argued that “swift and sure” retribution against any one of the rogue states was an essential deterrent to any of the others. But Mr. McCain’s advisers and aides say his “rogue state” speeches stopped short of the most sweeping international agenda put forth by Mr. Kristol, Mr. Kagan and their allies. Mr. McCain explicitly disavowed direct military action merely to advance American values, foreswearing any “global crusade” of interventions in favor of relying on covert and financial support for internal opposition groups.

As an example, he could point to his 1998 sponsorship of the Iraqi Liberation Act, which sought to direct nearly $100 million to Iraqis who hoped to overthrow Saddam Hussein. The bill, signed by President Bill Clinton, also endorsed the ouster of Mr. Hussein.

Mr. McCain said then that he doubted the United States could muster the political will to use ground troops to remove the Iraqi dictator any time soon. “It was much easier when Saddam Hussein was occupying Kuwait and threatening Saudi Arabia,” the senator told Fox News in November 1998. “We’d have to convince the American people that it’s worth again the sacrifice of American lives, because that would also be part of the price.”

Hard Calls

Mr. McCain spent the afternoon of Sept. 11 in a young aide’s studio apartment near the Capitol. There was no cable television, nothing but water in the kitchen, and the hallway reminded him of an old boxing gym. Evacuated from his office but stranded by traffic, he could not resist imagining himself at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. “There are not enough Secret Service agents in the world to keep me away from Washington and New York at a time like this,” Mr. McCain told an adviser.

Over the next days and weeks, however, Mr. McCain became almost as visible as he would have been as president. Broadcasters rushed to him as a patriotic icon and reassuring voice, and for weeks he was ubiquitous on the morning news programs, Sunday talk shows, cable news networks, and even late-night comedy shows.

In the spotlight, he pushed rogue state rollback one step further, arguing that the United States should go on the offensive as a warning to any other country that might condone such an attack. “These networks are well-embedded in some of these countries,” Mr. McCain said on Sept. 12, listing Iraq, Iran and Syria as potential targets of United States pressure. “We’re going to have to prove to them that we are very serious, and the price that they will pay will not only be for punishment but also deterrence.”

Although he had campaigned for President Bush during the 2000 general election, he was still largely frozen out of the White House because of animosities left over from the Republican primary. But after Mr. Bush declared he would hold responsible any country condoning terrorism, Mr. McCain called his leadership “magnificent” and his national security team the strongest “that has ever been assembled.” A few weeks later, Larry King of CNN asked whether he would have named Mr. Rumsfeld and Colin L. Powell to a McCain cabinet. “Oh, yes, and Cheney,” Mr. McCain answered, saying he, too, would have offered Mr. Cheney the vice presidency.

Even during the heat of the war in Afghanistan, Mr. McCain kept an eye on Iraq. To Jay Leno in mid-September, Mr. McCain said he believed “some other countries” had assisted Osama bin Laden, going on to suggest Iraq, Syria and Iran as potential suspects. In October 2001, when an Op-Ed page column in The New York Times speculated that Iraq, Russia or some other country might bear responsibility for that month’s anthrax mailings, Mr. McCain interrupted a question about Afghanistan from David Letterman on that night’s “Late Show.” “The second phase is Iraq,” Mr. McCain said, adding, “Some of this anthrax may — and I emphasize may — have come from Iraq.” (The Federal Bureau of Investigation says it came from a federal government laboratory in Maryland.) By October, United States and foreign intelligence agencies had said publicly that they doubted any cooperation between Mr. Hussein and Al Qaeda, noting Al Qaeda’s opposition to such secular nationalists. American intelligence officials soon declared that Mr. Hussein had not supported international terrorism for nearly a decade.

But when the Czech government said that before the attacks, one of the 9/11 hijackers had met in Prague with an Iraqi intelligence official, Mr. McCain seized the report as something close to a smoking gun. “The evidence is very clear,” he said three days later, in an Oct. 29 television interview. (Intelligence agencies quickly cast doubt on the meeting.)

Frustrated by the dearth of American intelligence about Iraq, Mr. McCain’s aides say, he had long sought to learn as much as he could from Iraqi opposition figures in exile, including Mr. Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress. Over the years, Mr. McCain often urged support for the group, saying it had “significant support, in my view, inside Iraq.”

After Sept. 11, Mr. Chalabi’s group said an Iraqi emissary had once met with Osama bin Laden, and brought forward two Iraqi defectors who described terrorist training camps and biological weapons efforts. At times, Mr. McCain seemed to echo their accusations, citing the “two defectors” in a television interview and attesting to “credible reports of involvement between Iraqi administration officials, Iraqi officials and the terrorists.”

Growing Impatient

But United States intelligence officials had doubts about Mr. Chalabi at the time and have since discredited his group. In 2006, Mr. McCain acknowledged to The New Republic that he had been “too enamored with the I.N.C.” In his e-mail message, though, he said he never relied on the group for information about Iraq’s weapons program.

At a European security conference in February 2002, when the Bush administration still publicly maintained that it had made no decision about moving against Iraq, Mr. McCain described an invasion as all but certain. “A terrorist resides in Baghdad,” he said, adding, “A day of reckoning is approaching.”

Regime change in Iraq in addition to Afghanistan, he argued, would compel other sponsors of terrorism to mend their ways, “accomplishing by example what we would otherwise have to pursue through force of arms.”

Finally, as American troops massed in the Persian Gulf in early 2003, Mr. McCain grew impatient, his aides say, concerned that the White House was failing to act as the hot desert summer neared. Waiting, he warned in a speech in Washington, risked squandering the public and international support aroused by Sept. 11. “Does anyone really believe that the world’s will to contain Saddam won’t eventually collapse as utterly as it did in the 1990s?” Mr. McCain asked.

In retrospect, some of Mr. McCain’s critics now accuse him of looking for a pretext to justify the war. “McCain was hell-bent for leather: ‘Saddam Hussein is a bad guy, we have got to teach him, let’s send a message to the other people in the Middle East,’ ” said Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts.

But Mr. McCain, in his e-mail message, said the reason he had supported the war was the evolving threat from Mr. Hussein.

“I believe voters elect their leaders based on their experience and judgment — their ability to make hard calls, for instance, on matters of war and peace,” he wrote. “It’s important to get them right.”

Your phony hero.

JOHN MCCAIN, TRAITOR TO HIS COUNTRY, COLLABORATOR WITH THE ENEMY, MILITARY DISGRACE.

Ted Sampley, a Vietnam Veteran and former Green Beret, issued a CHALLENGE to John McCain "If you can show us that the information presented in our mailer is untruthful . . . we will Stand Down" This CHALLENGE was issued during an interview with INSIDE EDITION on January 17, 2008.
John, family members of Vietnam POW/MIA(s) have been waiting for more then 14 years for you to have the courage to face them eye to eye in front of the American Public - Here is your opportunity for some "STRAIGHT TALK." Stop hiding behind your fabricated "War Hero" persona. You know we can prove your collaborations with declassified government documents . . . It is time for the American people to get to know the REAL John McCain - the John McCain that the POW/MIA families witnessed during the 1991-93 US Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs .
Bring It On John! HERE IS OUR NUMBER 252-527-0442

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JOHN MCCAIN, TRAITOR TO HIS COUNTRY, COLLABORATOR WITH THE ENEMY, MILITARY DISGRACE.
Ted Sampley, a Vietnam Veteran and former Green Beret, issued a CHALLENGE to John McCain "If you can show us that the information presented in our mailer is untruthful . . . we will Stand Down" This CHALLENGE was issued during an interview with INSIDE EDITION on January 17, 2008.
John, family members of Vietnam POW/MIA(s) have been waiting for more then 14 years for you to have the courage to face them eye to eye in front of the American Public - Here is your opportunity for some "STRAIGHT TALK." Stop hiding behind your fabricated "War Hero" persona. You know we can prove your collaborations with declassified government documents . . . It is time for the American people to get to know the REAL John McCain - the John McCain that the POW/MIA families witnessed during the 1991-93 US Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs .
Bring It On John! HERE IS OUR NUMBER 252-527-0442

After spending millions upon millions of dollars (from WHO KNOWS WHERE?!) Mr. Obama still cannot get a lead to win the general election. This is because he is NOT the legitimate candidate. He also has no experience. He was chosen by only a few at the DNC, and it is showing now that he is in fact NOT ELECTABLE. Why would he be??? This is for the office of the President of the United States. For 8 years we have had someone in the office that has totally destroyed the fabric of our country because he did not have any experience, and now you are setting up another person for the run WITH NO EXPERIENCE, just like GWB. I don't think you can fool people three times around! The people pushing GWB's candidacy ALSO threw millions upon millions at their candidate. And don't forget the media went all ga-ga over GWB also, just like Obama!
Hillary Clinton was the legitimate candidate and should be the one making the run for the White House. She does have the experience and carried the 18+ million historic votes.
It is also OUTRAGEOUS the amount of money being spent by the candidates while our country is down the tube economically. THIS! is NOT new politics. Mr. Obama only appeals to the people that sit around watching t.v. and American Idol. It is all make-believe and made up......just like George W. Bush.

A must read. A look into the mind of a madman who may be our next president.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/us/politics/17mccain.html?hp

Obviously the use of the word "modern" refers to differentiate between a third world country and countries with modern and advanced cultures and educational systems. It is not a time reference. The comment itself is the sort of thing you may find in a comprehension section of an IQ test. You didn't do very well. In answer to your other comment, there is an old saying

"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups"

That is the freighting part of a democracy.

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Anonymous coward wrote: "Average US IQ 97 one of the lowest among modern countries"

Yeah, there was a lot of IQ testing done in ancient countries. Glad you made that distinction.

I think people who complain about the American IQ should rather be wondering why such morons are so globally dominant. Bad luck, you'd probably say. Freakish chance.

IQ is supposed to be a predictor of achievement, not a substitute for it. You suffer from a common mistake. If your results aren't matching your test, maybe you need a new test.

This criticism of stupid IQ factoids in defense of America is brought to you by someone Rush would describe as a wild-eyed liberal Demoract Party member socialist marxist anti-American gay-loving tree-hugger facist. With a 160+ IQ (oh boy! guess I'm smart!), and relatives who have fought in every war since the Revolution, including both sides of the Civil War. Born in Omaha. Love my country. Embarrassed and appalled by what Republicans are doing to this shining city on a hill.

Obama 2008!

Posted by: drossless | August 17, 2008 2:03 AM

"On the other hand, McCain lies about Church membership. Imagine someone who brags about his membership in a Southern Baptist Church when in fact he only attends. Perhaps he is trying to win over Christian conservatives by telling a lie, or perhaps he is just just stupid, or perhaps he is so ignorant about Christian behavior in spite of his claim at being a Christian conservative. Of all the things I would not lie about it would be church membership. Who cares what his church membership is? But a lie is a lie is a lie."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It's not necessarily a lie and people shouldn't be judgmental about how others pursue their faith.

If Sen. McCain has accepted Jesus then it can be said that he's been baptized by the spirit. And that, according to Acts 1:5, should be more than enough. Part of the beauty of the baptist faith is that people are saved by grace, not by some social church activity or some other social thing.

Having said that, I'm voting for Obama. But people shouldn't judge other people.

Sen. McCain may be running a sleazy campaign, but he deserves to be treated with dignity and compassion when it comes to his personal religious beliefs.

Anonymous coward wrote: "Average US IQ 97 one of the lowest among modern countries"

Yeah, there was a lot of IQ testing done in ancient countries. Glad you made that distinction.

I think people who complain about the American IQ should rather be wondering why such morons are so globally dominant. Bad luck, you'd probably say. Freakish chance.

IQ is supposed to be a predictor of achievement, not a substitute for it. You suffer from a common mistake. If your results aren't matching your test, maybe you need a new test.

This criticism of stupid IQ factoids in defense of America is brought to you by someone Rush would describe as a wild-eyed liberal Demoract Party member socialist marxist anti-American gay-loving tree-hugger facist. With a 160+ IQ (oh boy! guess I'm smart!), and relatives who have fought in every war since the Revolution, including both sides of the Civil War. Born in Omaha. Love my country. Embarrassed and appalled by what Republicans are doing to this shining city on a hill.

Obama 2008!

Average US IQ 97 one of the lowest among modern countries

==========
overseas american wrote: "remember that half the people in america have an IQ that is below average."

No, actually half the people in America have an IQ that is below the median. You're confusing the median with the mean (average).

If there were a small number of very smart, or very unintelligent people, the average could be pulled above or below the median.

Actually I have no idea how much the average and median IQ differ; I suspect only by very little. But let's keep the difference between the median and the average straight :).
Posted by: yrral | August 16, 2008 9:02 PM

On the other hand, McCain lies about Church membership. Imagine someone who brags about his membership in a Southern Baptist Church when in fact he only attends. Perhaps he is trying to win over Christian conservatives by telling a lie, or perhaps he is just just stupid, or perhaps he is so ignorant about Christian behavior in spite of his claim at being a Christian conservative. Of all the things I would not lie about it would be church membership. Who cares what his church membership is? But a lie is a lie is a lie.

well you can't accuse McCain of having Mad Cow disease since he is immune... that is he has had it and so he can't get it again....

Who cares how much his campaign raises. This guy is an inexperienced con artist with radical ties with stupid pastor wright, farakhan, auchi rezko and others..
He will prove to be weak against radical islamic terrorists

Graduated from Annapolis 894th of 899.

5th from the goat.

Stupid.

Half-dyslexic, at best.

Reading comprehension of a slug.......

THANK YOU, REPUBLICAN PRIMARY VOTERS.

You did it again and this time with a one-dimensional dummy (McCain).

And he dumped a crippled wife, almost as bad as what Gingrich did dumping his wife when she had cancer.

Come Jan 2009 the Repuglican Party will officially become 4th Party Gadflies!

So what? He's still unfit. All the money in the world will never change that fact. The only thing this means is that he's bought and paid for.

overseas american wrote: "remember that half the people in america have an IQ that is below average."

No, actually half the people in America have an IQ that is below the median. You're confusing the median with the mean (average).

If there were a small number of very smart, or very unintelligent people, the average could be pulled above or below the median.

Actually I have no idea how much the average and median IQ differ; I suspect only by very little. But let's keep the difference between the median and the average straight :).

DemPublicans and Campaign Oh-Eight...

Let's say a person is trying hard to find reasons for not supporting a Pub for the W'House. But you think, well, what about BO's decision to forgo federal campaign financing for the general election? I mean, it's clear he's doing it because he can raise boatloads more than the fed limit. That sounds pretty much like "old politics": whichever pile of money is larger, grab it. No "change" there.

So a person Googles "Federal campaign funding" and on the first page of results is a blog by somone named Jim Shipp which has been incorporated into Obama's official 2008 Presidential Campaign website. And a person thinks, well, let's see how BO's people justify the big money grab. And what does BO/Shipp say? I'll paraphrase: Those guys have control of the White House. We want to get control of the White House -- by way of electing Barack Obama of course. Our cause is so grand and magnanimous that we have to dismiss any spending limits. Especially since (I love this part), those guys LIE! (Imagine: a political campaign in which your opponent, well, LIES! Whoda thunk it, Jethro?) The only part of this screed which didn't make me laugh was when BO/Shipp called George W. Bush, "the village idiot". I don't disagree. But as far as BO is concerned, I don't really see much change.

Obama's breaking records with his campaign donations - but can't break the tie with McCain, in spite of all the reasons the GOP candidate should have been left in the dust.

In the end, it won't matter how much money is thrown at Obama. He remains as unelectable as he's ever been.

Responding to the last two posters:

1. I pray to Yahweh and to Jesus that John McCain picks Joe Lieberman for his running mate. They would make a dynamic duo.

2. President George W. Bush is one of the greatest Presidents who ever lived.

Lieberman, McCain! Yeah!

Israel rocks!

Joe ain't just usin' McCain. He really likes him, you can tell.

This is a question for just the stupid people here:

How y'all like George Bush?

He tellin' dem Ruskies off good now, huh?

I herda good one t' other day. Let's see if I can remember...

How do you starve a republican?

Hide his food stamps in Barbara Bush's giant labia!

Ain't that a hoot?

I think it is obvious they are carefully managing Mccain to make it through November. What ever happens after that they don't care, he can drop dead for all the republicans care.

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Anonymous at 7:33 posted (w/o link):
John Mccain on Alzheimer's drugs

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski and John Jalsevac

August 15, 2008 Insiders claim John Mccain has been taking Cholinesterase inhibitors, . . . . The drugs are used in the early treatment on alzheimers.

And I respond by noting this site with a comprehensive collection of gaffes that the MSM is hiding and/or not talking about:

http://www.stopthinkvote.com/concern.html

Posted by: Anonymous | August 16, 2008 7:48 PM

Wow, I had not seen that. There is no spin or innuendo that is what has been going on. Is it posable we are about to elect a man president who is losing his mind?

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Anonymous at 7:33 posted (w/o link):
John Mccain on Alzheimer's drugs

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski and John Jalsevac

August 15, 2008 Insiders claim John Mccain has been taking Cholinesterase inhibitors, . . . . The drugs are used in the early treatment on alzheimers.

And I respond by noting this site with a comprehensive collection of gaffes that the MSM is hiding and/or not talking about:

http://www.stopthinkvote.com/concern.html

Posted by: Anonymous | August 16, 2008 7:48 PM

Anonymous at 7:33 posted (w/o link):
John Mccain on Alzheimer's drugs

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski and John Jalsevac

August 15, 2008 Insiders claim John Mccain has been taking Cholinesterase inhibitors, . . . . The drugs are used in the early treatment on alzheimers.

And I respond by noting this site with a comprehensive collection of gaffes that the MSM is hiding and/or not talking about:

http://www.stopthinkvote.com/concern.html

I'm votin' for the niger.

The same can be said for Mccain. He is a failure in life, a drunk and someone who never accomplished a thing on his own. Obama a is a brilliant self-made man, not someone who finished next to last in his class like Mccain and needed daddy to get him his degree. Then relied on daddy to get him into flight school so he would not have to o to war. Then later on his father in law to buy him his political career. Mccain is the consummate loser and phony. No matter how one tries to spin it, Mccain can not run away from his past as a drunk, womanizer, adultery, wife abuser and so on.

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I am still waiting for Obama to explain to the american people what his experience "is" and what "success" he has had as a "leader" that qualifies him to be the next POTUS. He can take all the millions from Soros he wants, but that won't cut it.

Posted by: Anonymous | August 16, 2008 7:34 PM

YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED YOURSELF THAT BEFORE YOU VOTED FOR BUSH TWICE YOU RETARD FACIST RETHUGLICAN!

------------------

I am still waiting for Obama to explain to the american people what his experience "is" and what "success" he has had as a "leader" that qualifies him to be the next POTUS. He can take all the millions from Soros he wants, but that won't cut it.

Posted by: Anonymous | August 16, 2008 7:34 PM

I am still waiting for Obama to explain to the american people what his experience "is" and what "success" he has had as a "leader" that qualifies him to be the next POTUS. He can take all the millions from Soros he wants, but that won't cut it.

HAHAHA!!!

HEY YOU INBRED WINGNUT CRACKER, WE'VE ALREADY SEEN WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE WHEN THAT DUMB OLD MAN (MCCAIN) YOU'RE RUNNING LOSES TRACK OF THE TELE-PROMPTER AND IT AINT' PRETTY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vxCgxRzjFQ

HAHAHA!!!

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Take away the telepromter and what do you have, a walking talking idiot. But don't criticize the Messiah, for he is really Black and truly knows what it is to be an american. lol

Posted by: Toxic Avenger | August 16, 2008 7:17 PM

From a london paper, it may be over

UK EDITION

John Mccain on Alzheimer's drugs

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski and John Jalsevac

August 15, 2008 Insiders claim John Mccain has been taking Cholinesterase inhibitors, a type of drug that improves the effectiveness of acetylcholine either by increasing the amount of it in the brain or by enhancing nerve cells' response to it. The drugs are used in the early treatment on alzheimers. This came from a confidential source inside the Mccain campaign. He takes several medications and one that was said to be for high blood pressure was recognized as a Cholinesterase inhibitor. The source was familiar with the drug from a family member who takes the same drug. We will be following up on this in days to come but if true this may signal the end of the candidates campaign for the United States office of it's President.

Why?

Do we have two black governors? Why do we
have a black for President? It is called
Affirmative Action Politics. Those that
govern so badly want a black they manipulate and confuse our political situation. DISGUSTING...not because they are black but because it is rigged!!!
How many Algerians are provincial leaders in France? Turks in Germany? Blacks in Brazil, Whites in South Africa, rigged rigged rigged.

YES!

The War Criminal is OUT!

General Wesley Clark is not attending the Democratic National Convention. I was told by General Clark's personal office in Little Rock that he would not be attending.

Clark was informed by Barack Obama's people that there was no reason to come.

General Clark has been given no role of any kind at the convention.

YES!

Yes, the young and dumb crowd giving their parents money to the radical from corrupt Chicago. Just smile Osama Obama, image is everything when you have no intellect or common sense. Take away the telepromter and what do you have, a walking talking idiot. But don't criticize the Messiah, for he is really Black and truly knows what it is to be an american. lol

CitizenAJ,

Can’t you read? I ASKED where all the money is going if only $90 million has been spent in expenses. The Obama campaign to date has taken in more than $400 million dollars. In June, headlines read he was the $500 million dollar man – that was projections – and then the money taken in primaries. I am asking for an accounting and a report on that. A question is not slander. A question is to this newpaper and writer, to make the article more informative. Tell us more facts instead of the same reports for nine months!

Still a few commie GOP whiney loosers about but less each day.

Racists. Terrified little white boys. Drooling little edless lilly white illiterate thugs murderin colords for oil contracts. pathetic dross.

hey clyde you biggoted inbred moron, go suck your maw-maw's weenie. the muslims are coming to reproduce with your gerbal and your jowel sucking sis germinating a redneck with a brain. Obama is raising enough money to go door to door to exterminate the dross from Dixie.

Did you hear Howard Deans statement Friday on National Radio when he called the Republican Party the White Party. He quickly corrected himself. Wonder what color he thinks the Democratic Party represents.

Obama London: your comment about Obama stickers being all over London is because there are 60,000 Muslims (mostly radicals, some trained by al Qaeda) in London and they all are proObama. The Western European nations opened their borders to the Muslims in the 1980s and they (Muslims) have reproduced in great quantities and their offsprings are now European citizens and most are radicals. Most are not yet on U.S. terrorist list and can enter the U.S. on European passports. W. Europe will have a majority population of Muslims by the tern of century. Doesn't that make you happy? All this Obama money is probably coming from the Islamic nations illegally.

Your maw-maw's calling you edless little inbred chevy. pathetic little inbred twit. go murder some colored folks for oil hick boy, oh, you already are. mr. magoo and little limbaughs in their footy jammies terrified of black people. go screw yourself little edless chevy.

anotherperspective1,

Are you trying to accuse the Obama campaign of foul play? Making accusations like that SHOULD be backed by some evidence and not just your suspicions. That is slander. If you DON'T want to vote in your best interest this Fall, that is fine. Don't come on some blog making half-baked accusations based on your unfounded suspicions to try and stain what has been a very well ran campaign thus far. Shouldn't you ask the same questions of the Republican National Party and John McCain's campaign? Get real, state some facts, stop spreading lies! That is all you republican supporting folks can do, LIE! Just like them so we should expect it.

Dear "another perspective"

Conventions are always funded separately from campaigns. It is the same with the Republican convention.

Obama is having to compensate for the fact that the Democratic Party has not been very successful in raising money. He and McCain have roughly equal amounts of money being spent on their campaigns. If he had agreed to campaign spending limits this would not be true.

As to accounting for his expenditures - yes, there are campaign laws that require him to account for every penny he spends. You can even get the information from the Federal Elections Committee, if you are curious.

I'd also like to know who exactly contributed to McCain; how many lobbyists are donating to his campaign?

In a election that is all about change it sure was nice of the Republic Party to run a nearly 100 year old man (McCain) who has the very same disasterous policies that the Bush/Cheney mis-administration does:
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBfngOsvmA0
-

Chevy55 or whatever name he/she wants to go by is ONE MORE REASON why I cannot bring myself to vote for Senator McCain. If he/she is the type of citizen that McCain draws, then I DO NOT WANT that type of person representing me as a citizen or this fine nation. Imagine the type of people Senator McCain will put around him. Senator Graham already said "Americans have become whiners" when he was discussing he economy. In other words, shut up poor working class citizens, let us rich folk make our money in silence.

Chevy55, you are one of those people who is easily manipulated into voting against your best interest. Look what happend the last 8 years, Mr. Educated.

In a election that is all about change it sure was nice of the Republic Party to run a nearly 100 year old man (McCain) who has the very same disasterous policies that the Bush/Cheney mis-administration does:
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBfngOsvmA0
-

Old man Mr McGoo can't hardly remember his name half the time let alone what his policiy positions might be from day to day without the help of his Rovebot campaign flunkies and Turncoat Joe Liebertoad. The Repuglican Party concern trolls on here would be laughable if they weren't so pathetic, they know their about to become 4th Party Gadflies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqMQFlV0R90

I would like to know what is happening with all the money Obama has raised. In a report earlier today, it mentioned that $91 million has been on expenses. Where has all the other $700 million gone? Is anyone keeping an accounting on all this money? If Obama has so much money, why is the Democratic National Convention broke? Who is getting rich from all this money? Someone is going to be really rich and loaded with money after this election. Obama will be richer than Oprah! Can someone please report on where all this money is used? By the end of this campaign, either way, almost $1 billion dollars will have passed through to his campaign. Can we get a report on this?

Chevy55sc

You are the reason racism still exist and you cause your fellow white Americans to feel guilty, because you still live and breath hate. With sc in your name it means South Carolina, at least we know where you are. It's good to know where evil and wicked thrive so we can avoid it. Unfortunately, racism wont work not this time not this year. I hope you get through this b4 November 4th but probably not otherwise when OBAMA gets in the White House you will implode and all the hate will implode with you.

OBAMA '08

OBAMA STICKERS ARE ALL OVER LONDON, UK.
I am pleasantly shocked to report, from out here.

OBAMA STICKERS ARE ALL OVER LONDON, UK.
I am pleasantly shocked to report, from out here.

OBAMA STICKERS ARE ALL OVER LONDON, UK.
I am pleasantly shocked to report, from out here.

OBAMA STICKERS ARE ALL OVER LONDON, UK.
I am pleasantly shocked to report, from out here.

MAYBE it's because they've seen war in other countries that they don't support "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Eye-Ran" McCain.
MAYBE it's because they know what sirens sound like during aerial bombardments.
DEFINITELY not because they love French Fries.

I am a Stepford McSame racist moron.

I mindlessly parrot the neocon propaganda.

Squawk!

$51 million in July. $55 million in February. $52 million in June. Plus Hilary. Plus McCain. Plus Edwards, Romney and Giuliano.

MasterCard and VISA must be lovin' it!

RACIST Barry Obama stated that his Grandmother is a "TYPICAL WHITE PERSON"
GD Racist!!
"http://www.hiphop-elements.com/article/read/4/18998/1/"
Chevy - Educated Redneck - Bringing you up-to-date DEM News

"Um, let me, let me, be, absolutely clear, uh, Israel, doh, is a strong friend of Israels." Barry Obama 072108

"Um, what a, you know, It's "always" a bad practice, doh, to say "always"" Barry Obama 072108

If it's always a bad practice to say "always" then why would you use the word "always" to say it's bad to say always?

Chevy - Educated Redneck - Bringing you up-to-date DEM News

Barry Obama hawks a LUGGI at our wounded men in Germany and disses them because he couldn't use them for a photo op because the press was not allowed. So he spits in their face.

Make NO mistake, this racist is a cancer.

Chevy - Highly Educated Redneck

Since Obama is going to win, can we count on you like yourself when this is over? That alone would make voting for Obama worth it. Get rid of some of that gene pool that is ruining this country. In a country with an average IQ of 97 something needs to be done if we are to compete as a nation. We don't need a leader who graduated 894 of 899 in his class or retards like you running around

=======
DEM HUMPING News the Media refuses to Print

Muslim, Racist, Barry Hussein Obama is the DEMS first Black presidential candidate and it was created by a white woman who was all horned up one Night and decided to have a one-night Hump in Africa to a native tribesman who had multiple wifes.

It's important to bring this to light because the final product (Barry) is the sum of it's parts. And the parts ain't lookin all that good.
Chevy - Educated Redneck - Bringing you up-to-date DEM News
Posted by: chevy55sc | August 16, 2008 5:42 PM

Chevvy, Do you hate anybody?

yeah idiots

Posted by: Charles | August 16, 2008 5:41 PM

I SPITS IN THE FACE OF "BLACK PEOPLE"

"I can no more disown [KKK] than I can disown my grandmother" chevy

I am sticking the knife in the back of THE black RACE by defending a McSame who preached "hate blacky" "Hate the Dems" and "GD the Constitution" sermons for the past 20 years.

Chevy - Misleading you up-to-date DEMonized News

According to the bible, hating a fellow human being is the same as hating God.

Posted by: Charles | August 16, 2008 5:38 PM

SO WHAT

Chevvy, Do you hate anybody?

yeah idiots

Posted by: Charles | August 16, 2008 5:41 PM

If McCain is any good, he would have win in year 2000, not Dummy The Bush. It's funny, how he got rejected and now he is all republicans got left. So long with republicans; we will see them back on feet in year 2039.

GOP HUMPING News the Media refuses to Print

Stepford, Racist, John McSame is the GOPs first Senile presidential candidate and it was created by a neocon racist Cheney who was all horned up one Night in the White House and decided to have a one-night Hump with Bush and a fake reporter but real gay male prostitute.

It's important to bring this to light because the final product (McSame) is the sum of it's parts. And the parts ain't lookin all that good.

Chevy - UnEducated Redneck - Bringing you up-to-date DEMonized News

Chevvy, Do you hate anybody?

Posted by: Charles | August 16, 2008 5:41 PM

someome is writing crap and signing my name idiot

"Iraq borders Afghanistan" McStepford McSenile McSame

LOL and the little neocons wonder why Racist Stepford McSame is tanking.

LOL LOL 59 mistakes with geography being one of them?

Just Brilliant McSame

Chevy - Highly UnEducated Redneck

DEM HUMPING News the Media refuses to Print

Muslim, Racist, Barry Hussein Obama is the DEMS first Black presidential candidate and it was created by a white woman who was all horned up one Night and decided to have a one-night Hump in Africa to a native tribesman who had multiple wifes.

It's important to bring this to light because the final product (Barry) is the sum of it's parts. And the parts ain't lookin all that good.

Chevy - Educated Redneck - Bringing you up-to-date DEM News

wheetie00@aol.com said...
"unqualified people who . . . are now in jobs they don't qualify for."

And all the attorneys and immigration judges hired by Monica Goodling, Alberto Gonzales, et. al. at DoJ are qualified? Qualified for what?

They answered all the political and religious questions correctly (which, BY LAW, those are NOT to be considered when hiring for career, non-political, positions), but what about their knowledge of the law and the Constitution? Very little, probably. If they WERE actually qualified, they would have known the hiring was based on illegalities.

Where's a 'law and order' Republican when you need one? Oh, yeah, the 'law and order' Republicans only wanted to enforce the segregationist laws, not the laws that protect Americans from illegal government actions in all aspects of life.

Wheetie, you can continue whistling Dixie, but it won't bring back the South as it existed prior to 1861.

Chevvy, Do you hate anybody?

According to the bible, hating a fellow human being is the same as hating God.

Obama evident of how he raises campaign fund shows how he will effectively run this country as President. He has the heart of millions of people who contribute to his campaign. He knows how to speak and is very smart and intelligent. McCain is the opposite of Obama. McCain is not as smart as Obama and is hot headed and ready to fight other countries at the drop of a hat. Obama will have enough funds to travel and put out good ads that let the people know what he will do as President. On the other hand, the only kind of ads McCan put out are smut ads that does not let the people know what he hope to do. The reason he puts out smut ads about Obama is because he knows he will not win. Right on Obama and may God bless you.

Chevy55sc,

I just forwarded your threat against Senator Obama to the Secret Service and the FBI.

Your hate is going to destroy you and the pthers around you. Stp while you are ahead.

Your lies and deceit will not work this time.

What have you got to say about your old. forgetful, angry and inept candidate?

Posted by: Helen | August 16, 2008 5:22 PM

=======================================

Good, maybe they'll arrest this anti black hating american.

Give me their e-mail so I can send some of McSame's anti black comments. I am too stupid to go to FBI.gov and find it myself.

Thanks in Advance,

Chevy

Another great month for Barack. Tonight my DJ Party at a Thai restaurant in Midtown Atlanta will raise him another $1000. God, I love sending Barack money!!

I just absolutely love how people can throw around the fact that Obama is a Muslim, but you show no PROOF....where is your PROOF....because you heard it on the internet or in a spam email? Seriously people get with the program and educate yourselves....many of you sound completely ignorant and avoid of any facts whatsoever....that's why the educated people choose Obama - they know the facts.....try Truth rather than Hate sometimes, it works wonders

"I've now been in 59 states, I think one left to go. Alaska and Mexico" Barry Obama - LATimes

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/05/barack-obama-wa.html

LOL and the little libbies wonder why Racist Barry Obama is tanking.

LOL LOL 59 states with Mexico being one of them?

Just Brilliant Barry

Chevy - Highly Educated Redneck

What's this??

Ba dee, ba dee, uh, uh ug, hmmm ya know, and ya know...

Barry NObama on the campaign stump

Chevy

Chevy55sc,

I just forwarded your threat against Senator Obama to the Secret Service and the FBI.

Your hate is going to destroy you and the pthers around you. Stp while you are ahead.

Your lies and deceit will not work this time.

What have you got to say about your old. forgetful, angry and inept candidate?

Posted by: Helen | August 16, 2008 5:22 PM

=======================================

Good, maybe they'll arrest this anti white hating american.

Give me their e-mail so I can send some of Barry's anti white comments.

Thanks in Advance,

Chevy

excuse me, not daffy lame duck Bush, my husband corrected me McSame talks like Porky Pig Cheney.

ba Dee, ba dee, ba dee, ug and uh, uh, uh

Go McSame...you da man Porky Cheney

Ba DEEEEEEE!!

excuse me, not daffy duck, my wife corrected me NObama talks like Porky Pig.

ba Dee, ba dee, ba dee, ug and uh, uh, uh

Go Barry...you da man Porky

Ba DEEEEEEE!!

Why Corsi has no point about McSame and his current Depends diaper use.

Notice lately when he talks he sounds more and more like daffy lame duck Bush?

You can't listen to him anymore he's constantly mumbling incoherently.

da, da, der uh, uh. what a babling baffoon.

Just like me!

excuse me, not daffy duck, my wife corrected me NObama talks like Porky Pig.

ba Dee, ba dee, ba dee, ug and uh, uh, uh

Go Barry...you da man Porky

Ba DEEEEEEE!!

excuse me, not daffy duck, my wife corrected me NObama talks like Porky Pig.

ba Dee, ba dee, ba dee, ug and uh, uh, uh

Go Barry...you da man Porky

Ba DEEEEEEE!!

Most headline News today wrote about McSame tanking in fund raising.

I predicted a month ago black America will not tolerate his Neocon Stepford talk as he uses it more and more when he doesn't have a prepared speech. It also shows how dumb he is.

Chevy - UnEducated Redneck - Bringing you up-to-date DEMonized News

Well, we are going to find out if enormous amounts of money and an empty suite can indeed win an election.

Still in favor of letting President elect Barack keep the change.

Packard

Why Corsi has a point about NObama and his current drug use.

Notice lately when he talks he sounds more and more like daffy duck?

You can't listen to him anymore he's constantly mumbling incoherently.

da, da, der uh, uh. what a babling baffoon.

Chevy55sc,

I just forwarded your threat against Senator Obama to the Secret Service and the FBI.

Your hate is going to destroy you and the pthers around you. Stp while you are ahead.

Your lies and deceit will not work this time.

What have you got to say about your old. forgetful, angry and inept candidate?

this is the chance 4 america s to sho that they r not racist.am suprised to hear all those coments about obama. such things make the rest of the world to hate americans and that makes americans unsafe. decist racism and racial segregation. god bless america

McSame is nothing more then a Stepford wife of Bush who attended Holy Roller church for 20 years bashing Blacks.

"My grandmother wears army boots" Racist McSame.

McSame spits in the face of black people yet some low-lifes on here still support this racist pig.

Chevy - UnEducated Redneck - Bringing you up-to-date DEMonized News

"I've now been in 59 states, I think one left to go. Alaska and Mexico" Barry Obama - LATimes

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/05/barack-obama-wa.html

LOL and the little libbies wonder why Racist Barry Obama is tanking.

LOL LOL 59 states with Mexico being one of them?

Just Brilliant Barry

Chevy - Highly Educated Redneck

lEAVE IT TO me to get all paranoid and accuse a Dem TO WRITE CRAP AND THEN SIGN MY NAME.

UNLIKE THESE OTHER NEOCON MAGGOTS I ALWAYS CITE MY PARROTING OF THE PROPAGANDA, SMEARS AND LIES SOURCES WHEREAS THEY JUST POST CRAP

True Hallmark of a coward, ME
Chevy

What a waste. If only he hadn't lied about using federal funding limits. Now the Republicans have 30million more cash on hand than he does.

Can't buy you love Obama. Thought you would have learned that from squeaking through after outspending Clinton 4 to 1.

I wish he'd donate all that money to the Michigan Public Schools!

Hey, wait a minute, isn't this is the McCain--er, Washington Post!

Given the fact that Obama raised 52 million the PREVIOUS month, shouldn't the actual headline of this story be:

"Obama Fundraising slips in July--a sign of problems for the 'Uppity' candidate???"

If I didn't know better, I'd think that the Post was ONLY interested in reporting FACTS, and crazy stuff like that!

Why are the Electoral College polls not so close? Simple. Because people are not going to vote for a McSame person for president. Come on and just admit it. You can hide behind your screen name and your blog. No one's going to hurt you, except Blackwater.

lEAVE IT TO A dem TO WRITE CRAP AND THEN SIGN MY NAME.

UNLIKE THESE MAGGOTS I ALWAYS CITE MY SOURCES WHEREAS THEY DON'T CITE CRAP, JUST SPEW LIKS

True Hallmark of a coward

Chevy

I am a meatball and don't like what I write, tell me i'm losing my mind?

OH well, just writing facts about McSame. That kind of says it all.

BTW Obama picked up another 6 million dollars in the last two days.

I knew this was coming as Black Americans see this McSame racist black hater for what he is

Also I should...STOP TRASHING AND APOLOGIZING THE COUNTRY I HATE. AMERICA!!

I really do make me sick I am a POS!!

Republicans have already ruined this country do we really want to give them another chance to screw it up more? Keep whining about baby killers you rednecks, your president has killed over 600,000 iraqi's, men, women and children. Your president gave us this crappy economy. Your president made the world hate us. You are the poster children for every bad stereotype the world has about Americans.

I hope Obama wins but Im not gonna bet on it, too many ignorant people in this country. We will get the government we deserve, when only 100 million people vote and 50 million of them are loud violent and ignorant.

Why are the polls so close? Simple. Because white people are not going to vote for a black person for president. Come on and just admit it. You can hide behind your screen name and your blog. No one's going to hurt you.

Somebody's goin to drop the smoldering torso of a dead Iraqi baby slaughtered by inbred Neanderthals like the jowel sucking edless heavy chevy family down your throat. hear edless chevy family calling yourself the Value Vote this week. Idiota! Crawl back from the ooze from whence you germinated edless Chevy family plebe.

Muslim Racist Hussein NoBama hucks a LUGGI at the White race

"My grandmother is a typical White person" Racist Barry Obama 03/21/2008.

Barry Obama spits in the face of the white race yet some low-lifes on here still support this racist pig.

You idiots that support this white hating racist have no shame.

You're the lowest of the lowest to have someone spit in your face and say

"HEY…He's got my Vote"

Chevy - Educated Redneck - Bringing you up-to-date DEM News

I find it pretty amazing that McSame is raising ANY money. The 1% of the upper income people I see wearing elitist designer clothing look like they have enough money to fund an empire. Where are they getting all this money to give to him, stealing it from the middle class?