Here's Where Time Magazine Screwed Up

Much buzz going on, out on the World Wide Web, over an interview conducted by Time Magazine's James Carney and Michael Scherer, of Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain.

On board the Dead Campaign Express, they describe the Fly Boy from Arizona as "prickly"

It was on the 13th question (or exchange) that their fatal error occurred;

Jumping around a bit: in your books, you've talked about what it was like to go through the Keating Five experience, and you've been quoted as saying it was one of the worst experiences of your life. Someone else quoted you as saying it was even worse than being a POW ...

That's another one of those statements made 17 or 18 years ago which was out of the context of the conversation I was having. Of course the worst, the toughest experience of my life was being imprisoned, so people can pluck phrases from 17 or 18 years ago ...

I wasn't suggesting it as a negative thing. I was just saying that ...

I'm just suggesting it was taken out of context. I understand how comments are taken out of context from time to time. But obviously, the toughest time of my life, physically and [in] every other way, would be the time that I almost died in prison camp. And I think most Americans understand that.

Do you see it? ... Can you spot it?

They asked, directly, a question of him about his POW-POW-POW status.

You would have thought that two veteran reporters would have caught on by now.

If you ask him directly, he has nowhere to go with it.

He needs something else, anything else, in which to trigger the POW-POW-POW stuff ...

It's been clear, for some time, that anything can be the Manchurian Candidate Queen-of-Diamonds for Stumblin' Bumblin' Johnny, and his POW-POW-POW stories, but never, never a direct question about it.

Ask'em if he heard the questions, or cheated, at the Saddleback Show... BANG, you get the the POW-POW-POW.

Make a joke about him forgetting how many houses he has ... BANG, you get the POW-POW-POW.

Ask him directly (and offered a million dollars) how many houses he owns ... BANG, you get the POW-POW-POW.

Besides, The Garlic already exposed what's going on with the POW-POW-POW thing, in our Mas Que Nada ... McCain Goes Pow Pow Pow - Again! Or: Donate To John McCain, and Be Included In The Telling of His Next POW-POW-POW Story;

Not only that, but he's added a "fish story" element to it, an umbrella of sorts, extending the magic POW-POW-POW powers to his father-in-law.

I think he's on to something here, that, maybe, he shouldn't have let out of the bag like that ...

Fundraisng!

We know he's been living, high-off-the-hog, on Cindy, her Daddy's scratch, but why settle for that?.

The Rove Rats, and Stumblin' Bumblin' McCain Campaign's next step can be to offer, for a certain-level donation, that "Senator McCain will include you in his next telling of his POW-POW-POW experience.

Christ, they let loose with that, and it will make Obama's prodigious fundraising look like lunch money.

NeoNitWits and jingoistic jackasses will come out of the woodwork, cash-in-hand, lapping it up like happy soup.

A little more than two-months left of campaigning, a POW-POW-POW story, a day (hey, you don't want to dilute it, after all) ... Charging a premium if he does it in an interview, national media, versus local ... Cable news versus network news ... Newspaper or magazine ...

This Time Magazine interview shows how well the Rove Rats have programmed him.

Who knew, they had a "Cone of Silence" on the Dead Campaign Express?

Media, be warned, he might give a little taste, now-and-then, but he's not going to give the POW-POW-POW cow away for free any longer.

Jeepers ... Time Magazine ... And they couldn't figure that out ....Or come up with some big bucks (or a box of donuts) to pay for it?


Bonus Stumblin' Bumblin Here's Johnny Riffs

The Ultimate McCain POW Song

Brilliant at Breakfast: John McCain = 4 more years of secretive, unaccountable government

Wonkette: Nasty McCain Now Just Yelling At People To Buy His Books

Steve Benen: THE PRICKLY TALK EXPRESS...

No More Mister Nice Blog: THE DON'T GET SUCKED IN -- HE'S FAKING IT

Greg Sargent: Prickly McCain Refuses To Define "Honor" In Interview

Think Progress - McCain: Iraq is ‘A Peaceful And Stable Country Now’

Mas Que Nada ... McCain Goes Pow Pow Pow - Again!

Or: Donate To John McCain, and Be Included In The Telling of His Next POW-POW-POW Story

We told you so ...

In our post Sunday, "The Ultimate McCain POW Song", we said it would come again ("don't worry, it will be soon, very soon").

And, we didn't have to worry, or to wait much more than, roughly, 24-hours.

Hit with 'houses' on Leno, McCain cites POW experience and more

LENO: Welcome back, Sen. McCain, for one million dollars, how many houses do you have? (Jay laughs, McCain squirms and chuckles)

MCCAIN: You know, could I just mention to you, Jay, and a moment of seriousness. I spent five and a half years in a prison cell, without—I didn’t have a house, I didn’t have a kitchen table, I didn’t have a table, I didn’t have a chair. And I spent those five and a half years, because—not because I wanted to get a house when I got out. And you know, I’m very proud of Cindy’s father, he was a guy that barely got out of high school, fought in World War II in the Army Air Corps, came home and made a business and made the American dream and so somehow. You’ve had Cindy on this show ...

We spend our time in a condominium in Washington, a condominium in Phoenix, some time over here in the state of California, and then we have a place up in northern Arizona,’’ he said. And my friends, I’m proud of my record of service to this country, and it has nothing to do with houses. What it has to do with putting Americans in houses and keeping them in their homes.’

Jesus ...

In a softball setting like 'The Tonight Show', rather than banter, or shoot back a zinger to Leno, he stumbles and bumbles into robot-mode with the POW-POW-POW bullshit.

Not only that, but he's added a "fish story" element to it, an umbrella of sorts, extending the magic POW-POW-POW powers to his father-in-law.

I think he's on to something here, that, maybe, he shouldn't have let out of the bag like that ...

Fundraising!

We know he's been living, high-off-the-hog, on Cindy, her Daddy's scratch, but why settle for that?.

The Rove Rats, and Stumblin' Bumblin' McCain Campaign's next step can be to offer, for a certain-level donation, that "Senator McCain will include you in his next telling of his POW-POW-POW experience.

Christ, they let loose with that, and it will make Obama's prodigious fundraising look like lunch money.

NeoNitWits and jingoistic jackasses will come out of the woodwork, cash-in-hand, lapping it up like happy soup.

A little more than two-months left of campaigning, a POW-POW-POW story, a day (hey, you don't want to dilute it, after all) ... Charging a premium if he does it in an interview, national media, versus local ... Cable news versus network news ... Newspaper or magazine ...

Once again, as much of his life, Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain falls up the ladder.

He can go home, burst through all seven front doors and shout out "Cindy ... Honey ... You don't have to steal recipes anymore ... We hit the jackpot!"

Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 - Mas Que Nada

The Ultimate McCain POW Song

I was looking to take it easy today.

A rough day, or two, on the homefront, and even worse, in the Allergy Department (I am beginning to resemble the Our Gang dog, Petey, with a black circle blossoming around my left eye, from rubbing and scratching it).

But these guys just don't get it.

I mean, Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain, and his gang of Rove Rats, just don't get it.

I believe we are entering the territory of, if it's a cloudy day on the campaign trail, for the Dead Campaign Express, they'll make some reference to McCain's POW status, like "He'd be grateful for a cloudy day ... He didn't get to see many clouds for nearly five-years, while he was in his prison hole ...".

On Saturday, newly-minted Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden lobbed a great zinger in his speech Saturday, squarely at Stumblin' Bumblin' Johnny;

Ladies and gentlemen, your kitchen table is like mine. You sit there at night before you put the kids -- after you put the kids to bed and you talk, you talk about what you need. You talk about how much you are worried about being able to pay the bills. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's not a worry John McCain has to worry about. It's a pretty hard experience. He'll have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at.

And, as on cue, less then 24-hours later, we have Stumblin' Bumblin' Johnny, brushing off his dementia of not knowing how many houses he has with this;

From Greg Sargent, at TPM;

McCain slipped a reference to his war captivity into an interview McCain did with CBS that's airing today. He appeared to be referring to Joe Biden's crack yesterday that McCain has trouble considering people's kitchen table issues because he has to decide which of his own seven kitchen tables to use...

"I am grateful for the fact that I have a wonderful life," McCain said. "I spent some years without a kitchen table, without a chair, and I know what it's like to be blessed by the opportunities of this great nation...So the fact is that we have homes, and I'm grateful for it."

To which Sargent also noted;

But the "McCain-as-POW" currency the McCain camp is printing at such a furious rate -- and throwing wads of at every controversy that comes along -- is now losing value faster than the German Mark after World War I.

POW-POW-POW hyperinflation alert!

POW-POW-POW ...

It didn't take me long to A) slap myself upside the head and, B) start searching for the Ultimate McCain Pow Song, found very quickly.

Mas Que Nada!

It's a classic, covered by a bevy of folks (younger readers will likely believe it came from the Black Eyed Peas), and while I knew who did the original hit (posted below), I was hoping to find the Dizzy Gillespie version of it - he really puts some good chops into it.

One of the things that makes this the Ultimate McCain Pow Song is its meaning;

From Wikipedia;

In Brazilian Portuguese slang "mas, que nada" means something like "yeah, right", "don't be silly", or "no way, man". Literally the words mean "but, that [is] nothing".

Fits rather nicely into picture here.

So, hum and, sing along if you can

Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 - Mas Que Nada




And the next time (don't worry, it will be soon, very soon), Stumblin' Bumblin John McCain throws out the POW sob story, to excuse one of his miscues, flubs and gaffes (an ever-growing list), just start humming or singing 'Mas Que Nada'.

Much more pleasant to have this tune in your head, then the voice of "Whispering John" (H/T Barry Crimmins), bleating out another POW-laced excuse.


Bonus POW-POW-POW Links

kubla000: MoDowd Nails McCain's POW-POW-POW Defense w/ New Example ~ Updated: POW Ad Coming!

Maureen Dowd: Too Much of a Bad Thing

The Jed Report: A noun, a verb, and...

Ana Marie Cox: In His House There are Many Mansions

Sam Stein - Fineman: McCain Is Trivializing His POW Past

Steve Benen: A NOUN, A VERB, AND P.O.W...

Kagro X: McCain Eats the Seed Corn

No Sooner Had I Finished ...

"The insinuation, that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, doesn't know how many houses he has, is outrageous!"

McCain Waves The POW Flag