NEW! Ticket video chat: Matt Welch, author of 'McCain: Myth of a Maverick' -- Part I
This is the first in a series of series of conversations with people in politics. We'll be chatting on camera with politicians, staffers, strategists, people formerly in politics, writers of politics, all in our continuing effort to get inside politics for Ticket readers.
This video segment is the first of eight with Matt Welch, the author of "John McCain: The Myth of a Maverick," not a biography but a sort of how-to guide to understanding this intriguing, independent, straight-talking, blunt-talking former fighter pilot who will later this summer be handed the presidential nomination for the Republican Party.
Is he what he seems?
In this segment we talk with Matt, a former Times writer, about the origins of the book and the, shall we say, lack of cooperation he encountered from the Arizona senator's camp.
The Ticket will publish other segments in coming days, eight altogether, exploring what Welch discovered about the man from his life, his writings and his friends.
If you have any questions for the author after viewing the segments, leave them in the comments section and we'll get answers from him for another item later.
--Andrew Malcolm
Excellent interview, looking forward to part 2. Like many Libertarian/Conservatives, I will likely vote for McCain. However, while he has, in my mind, fewer negatives than Obama (who champions failed leftist ideology, and has personal associations with terrorists, crazies and felons), he is still unsettlng. Oh well, Part 2 may provide more insight. I'll buy the book. Andy Malcom should do more on-camera interviews.
Posted by: Dr. Banks | June 19, 2008 at 08:59 AM
Dr. Banks, if you truly are a "Libertarian/Conservatives" as you claim, then there should be no way you could vote for this man. It is true that there are many of us, but most will not vote for a clear statist. His agenda spits in the face of the Constitution and philosiphy of small government. Just because he proposes tax cuts, does not mean that spending will decrease. Obama's domestic policies are proven failures, I agree. But with withdrawl of this failed and illegal war which is hardly conservative, there will be more money to fund his projects. While Universal Healthcare makes me cringe. I'd much rather have the trillions spent on war providing health care to people in need. Surprising more Chrisitians on the right don't share the same beliefs.
Posted by: Mike | June 19, 2008 at 02:56 PM
Why vote for either of them? If you are truly a Libertarian, vote for Bob Barr. How bad do the candidates from the 2 major parties have to get before this country really considers another party?
Posted by: Ryan | June 19, 2008 at 07:31 PM
I agree. I've been a life long Republican, but I will not vote for a statist. If we continue voting for the lesser of two evils, we will continue to get evil.
I'm not going to waste my vote anymore. I'm voting for Barr and have joined the Libertarian Party.
Posted by: David A. Singhiser | June 19, 2008 at 09:07 PM
My problem is my age. At 64 I may not have the time to see us successfully erase the extreme damage to our freedom caused by a second Carter presidency. Even more dangerously, Obama's ascendency means terrorist attacks on the US are much more likely because he will follow the Clinton precedent of treating terrorists as if they are citizen-felons, with all the rights attendant. I work in NYC, saw the WTC come down and knew a few people killed. I don't want to join them next time. Bob Barr can do nothing but help give the election and power to Obama and his socialist-democrat congress. You may have the time to ride out the storm, pick up the few pieces of our liberty and rebuild. The prospect of living out my life in the bureaucratic gulag Obama and his party will create and the legacy of leftist judges he will appoint is reason enough to vote for McCain.
Posted by: Dr. Banks | June 19, 2008 at 11:04 PM
Dr. Banks, it sounds as though you are afraid of dying and you are afraid of losing your savings. This is understandable but I know you aren't really willing to sacrifice more of the Bill of Rights and US Constitution for the future of America so the government can ignore their oath of office and continue to be safe? There is always a chance than serial killers or thugs will bring about devastation in any country. Americans must always remain vigiliant if they want to be free.
John McCain stood hook, line and sinker by George Bush 95% of the time the past 8 years. I respect the fact that he bravely endured torture as a Vietnam Veteran and I don't resent him for being born rich, out of touch and privileged but he finished 5th from the bottom of his class in college and I feel he has demonstrated a very poor knowledge or recollection of history. Is it patriotic to bankrupt a nation, steal their rights, and mislead the future of America into a war without end? I don't think so. For me, it is Bob Barr or Ralph Nader unless Ross Perot runs again. Please reconsider.
Posted by: Brian Randall | June 20, 2008 at 07:17 AM
Brian: Not afraid of dying but very fearful of dying under mismanaged, socialized Obamacare, which your vote will give us, just as Perot gave us Clinton in 1992.
Can there be any doubt that Clinton's failed response to WTC 1993 gave us the promised 2001 attacks? Offered arrest of the international terrorist, BinLaden, by Somalia,Clinton refused, wondering about "legal rights" to arrest the N0. 1 terrorist on Interpol's list. Have you any doubt that Obama will behave similarly, that his Undersecretary of state William Ayers, or his clone, will begin appologies to terrorists moments after the next attacks (you know the ones promised again by BinLaden last week). I live less than a mile and a half from ground zero.
You say "Americans must always remain vigiliant if they want to be free." Yet your choice is to vote for anyone who will help put in office an extreme leftist who has already promised to abolish freedom in several areas of daily life by confiscating lifetimes spent saving for a future not run by government bureacracies.
Brian. Your vote puts at risk not only 45 years of saving and investing but the lives of my loved ones. That is unacceptable.
Posted by: Dr. Banks | June 20, 2008 at 08:41 AM
Dr. Banks: Obamacare will go the way of Hillarycare. Nowhere. The Clinton years were the golden years of prosperity compared to what most Americans are facing today. Sure, you haven't had your taxes raised. I am not sure this has happened in modern history before while the US has been at war but let the clever folks in Washington figure it out. The central banks of China, Germany and Japan are paying for most of it all with our credit cards. I hope you enjoyed your tax rebate. George Bush and the big government wing of the GOP (reformed Trotskyite Neoconservatives) sure did a great job at managing the finances. If they can't spend it all, why, we'll all have to gladly help. Thanks for the handout. Who wants seconds? The dollar is worth virtually nothing now. It is being refused. When honest-to-goodness, born again, preemptive murder, secret prison advocating politicians need money, they have it printed. Or they ask God. And when you print more and more money, it becomes worthless. A novel concept.
"The best way to destroy capitalism is to debauch the currency." - Lenin
Dr. Banks: This is where I lose you completely and turn into an extremist "kook". I don't believe the official story of 911. At the very least, we know that we, collectively, as Americans don't know who, other than Al-Qaida (which we built but set free?) and gazillionaire nomadic boogeyman Bin Laden, who rarely remembers to remove the grey from his beard and oddly enough chooses to live in a high tech 'War on Terror' axis of evil cave that noone can trace, attacked us on that dreadful day. Many of the hijackers are alive which tells you right away don't trust your government. The matriarchs seem wonderfully human as do the kids but the CIA and the Bush patriarchs are the worst thing that has happened to America in years in my opinion. And I may have insider knowledge to verify that and I may not. I would by definition be a treasonous, unlawful enemy combatant and you wouldn't give a crap about me if I were to know something and explain it further here though. For the purposes of this blog and the Secret Police, I, of course, don't know anything so it is all irrelevant. George Bush is not a bad man. He is a man of his people. Live and let live.
Maybe it is all a gradual coup designed to keep you and me scared forever however. Bob Dole's former chief of staff and Vincent Bugliosi ("The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder") don't believe the Bushes but maybe Bush's protege 'Maverick' John McCain is a superhero who will save us all. Let's hope. Let's pray. Let's remember that Economy in the Middle East is booming thanks to us. Let's wave the beautiful flag that the "radicals" who hate Americans can't stand and say the National Socialist inspired pledge of allegiance together. Better yet, let's spend, spend, spend so we have a 'boom' economy of our own. And let's keep the illegal "aliens" who want our crumby jobs out. Let's build a wall. "Mr. Gorbachev, don't tear down that wall."
Posted by: Brian Randall | June 20, 2008 at 12:14 PM
Brian Randall: you made such excellent points. Until you got to the "investigate 9/11" part. There are two problems with this.
First, the conspiracies are wrong. Second, it gives people an easy escape hatch to dismiss your other arguments without responding to them. If Libertarians are going to make any headway at all against the statist, big government status quo, they need to convince people that they have realistic and workable policies, and that they're not just a bunch of cranks.
The hijackers were claimed to be alive in several erroneous stories published shortly after 9/11. The BBC has since corrected an initial story (still widely cited by conspiracy theorists) that confused the dead hijackers' identities with living people. Der Spiegel has also investigated the mix-up. In addition to that, the FBI initially fingered several people who turned out not to have been involved in the attacks. All of this information is available on Wikipedia. I urge you to read it.
Posted by: dr_dog | June 21, 2008 at 05:03 PM
Thanks for your insight, dr_dog. In my crazy mind, I am an American citizen who has good reason to believe that George Bush is a demonic liar and the epitomy of pure evil so maybe I have accidentally turned into a conspiracy crank. Hopefully, that shows up somewhere on your wikipedia.
Do the research yourself if you are interested in the Libertarian Party. It is the party of the US Constitution so hopefully you are still interested in it. I never said my stream of consciousness thoughts were yours or those of America or the Libertarian Party. Bob Barr believes the government's 911 story as does Ron Paul as far as I know. Your television set won't tell you that though so maybe a few people who almost got the courage to dig deeper were turned away by my hypotheticals. So be it. SInce it appears I may have been mistaken and gotten carried away, thanks for the correction however.
Posted by: Brian Randall | June 21, 2008 at 09:36 PM
Dr. Banks,
Your age is no excuse. I'm older than you and have been a Libertarian/Conservative since 1959.
You sir, are no Libertarian and your claim as such is laughable.
A vote for John McCain is a vote for tyranny.
Posted by: Joe Naborz | June 22, 2008 at 09:58 AM
When a conversation on the election dissolves into one of 9/11 theories involving GWB partnering with Osama Bin Ladin to bring down the twin towers (while also telling Jewish citizens to leave the WTC) you can see we are getting into the "Beyond the hourglass" realm of tin-hat Leftism. What next? Shall we start quoting Charlie Sheen saying that it was a "Controlled demolition"?
Personally I don't like either Obama or McCain. I do see the Doctor's point, however, in noting that the damage to our nation via Obama's Marxist leanings could be forever unrepairable. After all, it has always been the plan of statists such as Obama to build a class of illiterate, fawning weaklings dependent on the state for their very survival in exchange for their votes.
Posted by: Eric K | June 23, 2008 at 06:27 AM
I have evidence that things are not as they seem in this country. Yess I do. So help me God. What I mean by this is solely and simply that someone stole the US Constitution and crossed out the important parts. I think we should have a bi-paartisan investigation called THE PATRIOTIC TRUTH INITIATIVE led by our honest RIGHTIST and LEFTIST Congressional LEADERS. This should reveal the truth. Who agrees? Oh, who cares. What we the people want doesn't matter anymore. Let the government decide everything. But don't complain when you lose everything and your favorite TV shows are cancelled for a reality gossip show. This country is in a ffinancial crisis. Only fools, absolute fools, think it is patriotic for their executive(?) leaders to help bankrupt their nation by stealing their rights and misleading them into a war without end to the tune of the national anthem. Wake up. Thank you. Now go back to sleep.
Posted by: Brian Randall | June 23, 2008 at 04:30 PM