19 August 2008

Did John McCain cheat at Saddleback?


I wasn't going to blog this, because most TYWKIWDBI visitors probably don't care about the subject, but it's been nagging at me. Two incidents from the Saddleback event are troublesome.

John McCain was supposed to be in a closed room at the studio or church while Obama was being questioned, so that in his "cone of silence" he would not hear the questions ahead of time (both candidates were to be asked the same questions) and be able to prepare his responses. In point of fact, McCain was NOT sequestered. This is admitted by McCain's Campaign Manager, Rick Davis: "The fact is that during Senator Obama's segment at Saddleback last night, Senator McCain was in a motorcade to the event and then held in a green room with no broadcast feed...."

McCain was in a limosine in his motorcade while the event was being broadcast live on television and radio. He could have heard the questions, or he could have (truthfully) "not listened" but had one of his handlers hear the questions and tell him what they were.

When he got to the program and was asked about being in the "cone of silence," McCain joked he was trying to listen through the walls - an total obfuscation.

Yesterday I pointed out that during his interview with Pastor Warren, McCain asked about "getting back" to the question of Supreme Court justices, when in fact that topic had not yet come up.

This evening I found another disturbing aspect of the McCain interview. It's in the YouTube clip above. Barack Obama was asked these questions:

DO YOU THINK BETTER TEACHERS SHOULD BE PAID BETTER?

(DO YOU THINK) THEY SHOULD BE MAKING MORE THAN POOR TEACHERS?

Now, here's a transcript from when the McCain interview came to the same topic:

Q ALL RIGHT. LET’S TALK ABOUT EDUCATION. AMERICA RANKS 19TH IN HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATIONS, BUT WE’RE FIRST IN INCARCERATIONS. EVERYBODY SAYS THEY WANT MORE ACCOUNTABILITY IN SCHOOLS.

A UH-HUH.

Q ABOUT 80 PERCENT OF AMERICA SAYS THEY SUPPORT MERIT PAY FOR THE BEST TEACHERS. NOW, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOUR STUMP SPEECH ON EDUCATION...

A YES. YES. AND FIND BAD TEACHERS ANOTHER LINE OF WORK.

Q YOU KNOW –

A CAN I –

Q YOU ARE ANSWERING SO QUICKLY.

Note - McCain answers the questions "YES. YES." -- BEFORE HEARING THE QUESTIONS. The Yes, Yes is accompanied by his hand thumping the table indicating two distinct answers. Perhaps he could guess a question was coming as to whether he supports merit pay for teachers. But two questions? I think he knew what the questions were going to be.

2 comments:

  1. It intrigues me that the issue concerning this "saddleback" interview is McCain's seeming foreknowledge of the questions, rather than the issues at stake. I watched the whole thing and found that Barak Obama answered eloquently and with "mostly" centrist views that were quite contrary to his voting record. McCain kept to his usual stump remarks and provided little to no new information or insight into his character.

    The real blame goes to Warren, who should have made sure that McCain stayed in a "cone of silence". This of course raises the question of Warren's biases, which obviously lean toward McCain.

    Ah...politics.

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  2. Well, there is apparently more than one way to read the transcript you are quoting, as I do see a logical flow to the conversation.
    "Everybody says they want more accountability in schools (point 1). About 80% of America says they support merit pay for the best teachers" (point 2)
    McCain answers "Yes" (response to more accountability), "yes" (response to merit pay for the best teachers) "and find bad teachers another line of work..." (his own comment)
    Clearly you, Brian and I demonstrate that we all heard what we wanted or expected to hear. But I am not persuaded that the only explanation is foreknowledge of questions. When I hear hoofbeats in Arizona, my first thought is not zebras.

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