Senator John McCain at a town hall meeting today. (Photo: Greg Brown/Associated Press) SOMEWHERE in NORTHERN IOWA — The unthinkable has happened. Senator John McCain met a question, while sitting with reporters on his bus as it rumbled through Iowa today, that he couldn’t – or perhaps wouldn’t – answer.
Did he support the distribution of taxpayer-subsidized condoms in Africa to fight the transmission of H.I.V.?
What followed was a long series of awkward pauses, glances up to the ceiling and the image of one of Mr. McCain’s aides, standing off to the back, urgently motioning his press secretary to come to Mr. McCain’s side.
The upshot was that Mr. McCain said he did not know this subject well, did not know his position on it, and relied on the advice of Senator Tom Coburn, a physician and Republican from Oklahoma.
His press secretary, Brian Jones, later reported that Mr. McCain had a record of voting against using government money to finance the distribution of condoms.
All this took place on the second day of the reprise of the “Straight Talk Express” bus trips that Mr. McCain made a central part of his campaign in 2000. It also comes as Mr. McCain has eagerly been trying to ease strains with social conservatives in the party who, for the most part, do not support using government money to pay for condoms.
A transcript of the encounter follows. (Weaver is John Weaver, his senior adviser, and Brian is Mr. Jones, his press secretary):
Reporter: “Should U.S. taxpayer money go to places like Africa to fund contraception to prevent AIDS?”
Mr. McCain: “Well I think it’s a combination. The guy I really respect on this is Dr. Coburn. He believes – and I was just reading the thing he wrote– that you should do what you can to encourage abstinence where there is going to be sexual activity. Where that doesn’t succeed, than he thinks that we should employ contraceptives as well. But I agree with him that the first priority is on abstinence. I look to people like Dr. Coburn. I’m not very wise on it.”
(Mr. McCain turns to take a question on Iraq, but a moment later looks back to the reporter who asked him about AIDS.)
Mr. McCain: “I haven’t thought about it. Before I give you an answer, let me think about. Let me think about it a little bit because I never got a question about it before. I don’t know if I would use taxpayers’ money for it.”
Q: “What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush’s policy, which is just abstinence?”
Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy.”
Q: “So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?”
Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.”
Q: “I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?”
Mr. McCain: (Laughs) “Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.”
Q: “But you would agree that condoms do stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Would you say: ‘No, we’re not going to distribute them,’ knowing that?”
Mr. McCain: (Twelve-second pause) “Get me Coburn’s thing, ask Weaver to get me Coburn’s paper that he just gave me in the last couple of days. I’ve never gotten into these issues before.”
This went on for a few more moments until a reporter from the Chicago Tribune broke in and asked Mr. McCain about the weight of a pig that he saw at the Iowa State Fair last year.
2007
4:28 pm
So typcial of McCain to pander to whatever the conservative base he seeks to court wants to hear. I’m sure it’s far better to have further transmission of this disease that has already decimated Africa than to offend Bible-thumping Americans by endorsing a low-cost commonsense policy that might, inadvertently, prevent a few pregnancies along with the disease and represent an admission - gasp! - that humans, unlike fundamental Christians - actually do have sex.
— Posted by Les Eversen
2007
4:31 pm
Poor McCain. But I think he answered honestly. I really don’t think a politician has to answer a question right away - it’s perfectly fine with me if he wants to check his voting record and think things through before taking a position. It prevents faux pas like the time Cheney mentioned Yugoslavia although there was no more Yugoslavia. I probably won’t be voting for McCain but would love to have him as my grandfather.
— Posted by Helen
2007
4:34 pm
What kind of Polaroids do the Bushies have on this guy, I wonder, to make him roll over like a lap dog?
— Posted by Rick
2007
4:36 pm
Abstinence in Africa? Right and I am the Pope!
John McCaine and most republicans are so tied down to special right to life groups that they don’t even know which way is up.
What experience with Africa or teens in America for that matter have these Senators for making important decisions on these issues?
When will the right for life group sail off inot the horizon? What about the right for life for soldiers in Iraq?
These republicans have to catch up tot he 21st century before we all end up having AIDS.
He doesn’t know much of anything, maybe he should go back to the desert and enjoy a little golf.
— Posted by Mike P
2007
4:37 pm
HA! Reminds me of Bill Frist’s refusal to state categorically that AIDS can only be spread through sexual contact, and he’s a DOCTOR, no less. No, I am afraid that poor Mr. McCain has started to sell his soul to the right, and they are welcome to it. The Christian attitude - if young people have sex when they shouldn’t, let ‘em die!! No doubt, Jesus is smiling and nodding his head…
— Posted by Steve
2007
4:40 pm
“I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception” (John McCain).
This is the epitome of many modern politicians–saddled by their own lack of knowledge and their adherence to “policy positions” not of their own devising.
I would like a candidate to speak from her or his own mind. I can accept someone admitting to a lack of knowledge. I do not accept a candidate asking an aide what his own position is on an issue.
It seems John McCain has decided to abstain from independent thinking, which will hopefully prevent his spread during election season.
— Posted by Jason
2007
4:41 pm
So, eh, eh, how much did that pig weigh?
— Posted by Dick VS
2007
4:43 pm
I think it is amazing that our leaders can not answer the question: Do you believe that condoms can help stop the spead of H.I.V.. Now I know he has a line that he cannot cross so as to lose the support of his contributers, and as far as republicans go I like McCain, but come on! Even if you don’t support using taxpayer money to pay for this, beable to say that it works… look at what we do in the states
— Posted by Benu
2007
4:44 pm
So how big was the pig?
— Posted by Curious
2007
4:44 pm
Pathetic.
— Posted by p m carpenter
2007
4:45 pm
This exchange demonstrates why McCain is in trouble. The very reason Democrats like I were attracted to McCain in 2000 — his seeming honesty and practical nature — has been lost as he tries to please the disparate elements of Republican primary voters in his quest for the nomination. He’s too fearful of saying the wrong thing out of fear of offending some interest group. Now he’s just like every other politician who cares more about winning votes than doing and saying what he actually believes. I doubt he will be any more successful in this campaign using these tactics.
— Posted by Drew Wong
2007
4:46 pm
Wow! He hasn’t really thought of these issues before? He doesn’t remember his position on contraception? He really is showing his age!
— Posted by new mexico moderate
2007
4:46 pm
Whoa there John- looks like you got caught with your pants down! No pun intended.Contrary to prevailing Christian Right rhetoric; the answer is obvious ,condoms do prevent the transmission of STDs, including HIV. Why is it that Republicans are in denial of sexual reality- folks just do have lots of sex, in marriage, out of marriage (aka adultry-just ask Newt), gay sex, self sex (aka masturbation- news flash it does not cause blindness) etc.etc. No, Ole John comes off looking and sounding sclerotic. This one is a no brainer.The Straight Talk Express should be renamed the Garbled Talk Express. Who would want to know what Coburn thought about this-he is really out of it!! Talk about the blind leading the blind!!!
— Posted by charles
2007
4:47 pm
Straight talk express my foot… This guy spins more than the wheels on his beloved bus.
Sad.
— Posted by SLCGuy
2007
4:48 pm
He doesn’t know if contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV? Does he live in a cave? How far does one go to pander to the extreme right? That exchange was shameful. I dismiss the man as being unworthy of my vote.
— Posted by Ron Derge
2007
4:49 pm
did he know the weight of the pig?
— Posted by Matt
2007
4:50 pm
McCain needs to stop using any form of the phrase “supports Bush’s policy” if he ever expects to get elected. The American public has seen the “success” of these policies, and at this point, are highly suspicious of all-things-Bush.
— Posted by Homer Thiel
2007
4:51 pm
Great…let’s talk about prize pigs. They’re so much easier to deal with than policies to address life-and-death international crises. If Mr. McCain is pandering to those powerful interest groups who would place their moral scruples about condoms above the lives of many millions of people at risk of AIDS, then he is not the right man to be the leader of the free world.
— Posted by Brian Collinson
2007
4:52 pm
While I’m not a fan of Senator McCain and think his position (and the president’s) on government funding of contraceptives in reactionary, I can understand how he might not be able to recall his own voting record or even his position, given his incessant political jockeying and the intense scrutiny of the press. At least he admitted his own lack of clarity.
— Posted by Fred Cohn
2007
4:52 pm
How hilarious!!! and this man is running for president????!!!!
— Posted by tom
2007
4:54 pm
How’d they manage to let that reporter on the bus?
— Posted by Ed
2007
4:56 pm
Is this story pathetic or what? No advice on the role of condoms in stopping the spread of STD’s? Get me my position paper that I surely issued in the past? The president is right about everything? And Coburn the physician assassin is the go-to source on matters sexual? A man who would publicly burn Victorian sex education manuals as filthy and degenerate? Mr. McCain–once you have become a whore, you have to remember to speak standing up too, not just lying on your back pandering to the client. Anybody wonder why we’re “straight talking” again or why this man’s GOP favorability rating is sinking like a stone? This would be even more hilarious if this were not a presidential candidate caught with his political pants down.
— Posted by Roger W. Davenport
2007
4:56 pm
“I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception”
This is not acceptable. How can you have to be reminded of what your position on an issue is? All that shows is that he doesn’t believe in his stances on issues. Do we really want someone who does not believe in what they “believe in” in the White House?
— Posted by JTR
2007
4:56 pm
Gotta love a politician that knows where he stands. Maybe he should get an expert on each issue
to tell him what his position should be.
— Posted by JSRBCT
2007
4:58 pm
Maybe he should just reach for a condom and pop it in his mouth. Chewing latex helps prevent foot in mouth disease.
— Posted by Steve Fortuna
2007
5:01 pm
He doesn’t know whether condoms help stop the spread of HIV? Any literate American who has read a newspaper in the past fifteen years should know the answer to that question. To be stumped by such a simple factual question implies either a total disconnect from reality or simple dissembling. Not sure which I think is better…
— Posted by jacob
2007
5:01 pm
The distribution of condoms would save lives, but the religious right prefers that people die in huge numbers just so they can sleep better at night becausethey preserved the concept of abstinance. It’s sickening.
— Posted by Thomas
2007
5:03 pm
This pandering to the right has really made me back off on supporting McCain. It’s disappointing.
— Posted by Emmie
2007
5:04 pm
“Straight Talk” - well a different meaning, surely. The only informed stance the Republicans can take on this issue is, “Yes, we agree with the commonly held medical opionion that contraceptives help protect against STDs but no, we don’t feel that Federal tax dollars should be spent on contraceptives or education about their use.” One surmises that they feel a majority (of the people they cater to) doesn’t wish their taxes spent that way.
I don’t want my tax dollars going to officials who think that protecting our society from contraceptives is a legislative priority. I don’t want my tax dollars spent on subverting foreign governments, or on corrupt war profiteers but I guess I don’t have the influence these others have.
“The buck stops here” is said to have been on a sign atop Harry Truman’s oval office desk. I suspect the sign in the current oval office reads, “Look over there, something shiny!” To ALL our representatives I say, please do something to raise the productivity of our government. Do the important work that benefits ALL of us.
… or should we consider outsourcing Washington?
— Posted by Bob
2007
5:04 pm
Don’t forget, things like the AIDS epidemic are the right-wing hope for population limitation not otherwise likely under their policies.
— Posted by Steve Bolger
2007
5:07 pm
In speaking of his position paper which would remind him exactly what he thinks regarding this topic, McCain stated, “We’ve lost it”, in the most revealing kind of Freudian slip. Even more troubling, he then guessed he agreed with the President, without really knowing what that stand was.
This perhaps sheds light on how McCain came to support the Bush Iraq war fiasco..
But the worst is now knowing that McCain is relying on Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma for ANYTHING. He really respects Tom Coburn?
Among Coburn’s greatest misses:
1. He advocates the death penalty for abortionists.
2. He protested NBC’s airing of the historically significant movie “Schindler’s List”. Coburn said in airing the movie NBC had taken television “to an all-time low, with full-frontal nudity, violence and profanity”. He also said the broadcast should outrage parents and decent-minded individuals everywhere.
3. Everytime he squares off against a political opponent, he frames it as a battle between good and evil. He’s always Mr. Good.
4. He has suggested all doctors demand an HIV test from patients before providing care.
5. He has declared homosexuality is the greatest threat America faces, apparently even greater than Al-Qaeda.
It appears that physically, mentally and emotionally, Senator McCain has run out of gas.
— Posted by filmex
2007
5:07 pm
Well, Mr. McCain, you’re either on the Straight Talk Express or you’re pandering to the rapid right, and you can’t have it both ways. Why in heaven’s name do you think you NEED those people? When, on the Letterman show, you said that American lives have been “wasted” in Iraq, there wasn’t a moment of hesitation or confusion in your voice - because you said what you believed, which is something you used to be famous for. Didn’t you used to be John McCain? Who in heck are you now?
— Posted by Mike in Kalamazoo
2007
5:08 pm
I’m not informed enough on contraception
Do condoms stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases? Senator John McCain has to meet the sex teacher, too.
— Posted by Perry Cason
2007
5:11 pm
It’s a sad state of affairs when John McCain has to cowtow to the religious rightwing to the extent that he can’t stand up for the promotion of information and items that can protect millions from disease and unwanted pregnancies. His stature is fading
— Posted by Ivan Wallace
2007
5:12 pm
As long as he is pandering to his party’s far right base McCain should have to sacrifice the “straight-talker” label. Having conferred it upon him, how long will the media allow him to keep the level? With far less cause than provided by McCaion, the media has happily labeled Gore, Kerry, and both Clintons “flip-flopper”, ‘pander’ and even “liar”. Much of the media still tip-toes around applying the “liar” label to Bush, though thousands of lives have been sacrificed to his duplicity.
— Posted by Daniel Hudson
2007
5:13 pm
This article affirms the need for sex education covering the full spectrum of sexual behaviors especially sexually transmitted diseases. I support sex ed for children and Senators.
— Posted by Blue Fish Canoe
2007
5:14 pm
What a twisted idea of morality! The concept that some one
might be able to have fun safely is worse than the idea of
someone dying slowly of an awful disease.
A picture is worth a 1000 words and lots of empty “moralizing”.
http://urlzy.com/ad1c2c
— Posted by Larry
2007
5:15 pm
Does McCain rhyme with inane or insane? After reading of this exchange, I believe either appelllation will do!
This one exchange should disqualify him from running for anything - except perhaps dog catcher.
Yes, I respect the man’s service to his country and am certain he was - and possibly is - a courageous and gutsy gent. However, he’s clearly unqualified to be President and quite possibly unqualified to be Senator.
— Posted by thebigmancat
2007
5:15 pm
This article shows just how much Senator McCain has abandoned his dignity, principles, and honesty to win the “Conservative Christian” nomination. He was once a man who could have united our great country; instead he is choosing to follow in the polarizing footsteps of President Bush.
— Posted by Giancarlo Sciuto
2007
5:16 pm
what generation is this guy from,anyway? I guess he’s older than baby-boomers, who at least checked into the moral hypocrisies of the 60s and 70s. Doesn’t he know that sex is a biological instinct in the human species? Abstinence is such an outdated and disproved method of birth control that you wonder where this guy has been! We all know Bush is an idiot, but I would think a presidential hopeful would be more informed about facts on the ground, rather than suscribing to some namby-pamby, moralistic, religious wishful thinking about just saying “no”. In Africa, saying no could get you killed, even by your husband!
— Posted by chris, San Francisco/USA
2007
5:18 pm
This is irresponsible elusion and filflopping.
— Posted by venusian
2007
5:19 pm
Pathetic
— Posted by Gene Brady
2007
5:21 pm
I don’t understand why this isn’t striaght talk (no pun intended). He said he was not sure of his position on this and would answer later. The Senator is a reliable republican vote so he probably has a voting record in line
with not supporting AIDS prevention but I don’t doubt that
he has not thought about it much.
Seems to me that he was beginning to think about it and thus took a little time. Keep riding the bus and keep asking questions, but don’t turn a pause for thought into a waffle when it isn’t.
Disclosure: I volunteered for the Senator in 2000 though
I’m not doing so now. I think it is too late now for
republicans to run an honest government even if they
want to as I think the Senator does. They’d just have
too much house cleaning to do and they are not ready to do it.
— Posted by Chris Dudley
2007
5:23 pm
Pathetic. For any Democrat who was ever tempted to think: McCain, he wouldn’t be so bad. Think again.
— Posted by Chris
2007
5:27 pm
I supose a presidential candidate must have an political opinion on every subject under the sun. But if he is going to be a true Conservative the use of condoms must be dondemned where ever
they are proposed. Condoms don’t work in the Conservative’s book . HIV is the result of immoral activity and there fore people who have it deserve it.
McCain is in trouble with the Right Thinking people and he knows it.
— Posted by Richard W. Chapman
2007
5:28 pm
He’s getting old. He’s starting to lose it.
Someone should get him a shawl and a deck chair and a condo in Florida…..
— Posted by Dale Andersen
2007
5:30 pm
The pig was Cheney, right?
— Posted by carnap
2007
5:31 pm
His pandering to the Right is what caused me to request my name be removed from his records.
— Posted by Donald X. M. Fernandez de la Reguera R.
2007
5:40 pm
As I read this, I was reminded of a speech Barack Obama gave on this very subject. Reading this speech was a turning point for me, and soon after I began to support his campaign. His carefully thought-out, pragmatic, and realistic take on this humongous problem, to me, is indicative of the way he would behave as President.
Here’s the link:
http://obama.senate.gov/speech/061201-race_against_time _-_world_aids_day_speech/index.html
— Posted by Auren E. Kaplan
2007
5:41 pm
I’m somewhat astounded at McCain’s lack of familiarity with an issue that’s been widely discussed for some years now. That he couldn’t respond coherently, intelligently without a script and without having someone refresh his memory is either a momentary “senior moment” or something more serious.
— Posted by Bill Masterson
2007
5:43 pm
First, I do sympathize for candidates in that every verb, noun and pronoun out of their mouths can so easily find its way onto the evening news, blogs and YouTube out of context.
But it is hard to ignore how much they sound like canned-puppets in moments such as this.
I do appreciate Mr. McCain’s candidness though, even as he seemed to struggle with making sure not to say something he couldn’t later revise.
— Posted by CB
2007
5:44 pm
This is just disgusting.
He doesn’t know what he thinks?
He has to find out what other people think about AIDS, contraceptives?
With people dying all over the world from AIDS he defers to the worst President in history’s stance?
Amazing. Maybe he can go back to his newfound friends on the radical fringe: Jerry Falwell or James Dobson. They have all the [wrong] answers.
— Posted by David
2007
5:45 pm
WOW. Why is he on the Straight Talk Express? I don’t even recognize this as the same person from 2000. Could he please just try to give a straight answer without checking with consultants? He sounds ridiculous.
— Posted by Disappointed
2007
5:45 pm
Wow… either McCain doesn’t know a thing about condoms, or he is too terrified of the Republican party’s base to acknowledge the fact that condoms reduce the risk of HIV transmission. Whether McCain is demonstrating striking ignorance or spineless pandering, he is not making a good case for himself in the eyes of average, reasonable Americans.
— Posted by Lasomos Muriterez
2007
5:46 pm
I have every confidence in Sen. McCain
— Posted by clharwood
2007
5:46 pm
Do I want this guy for president? hmmmm NO!
— Posted by Pachecosita
2007
5:49 pm
Straight talk takes a detour.
— Posted by Martin Altman
2007
5:50 pm
A great example of why McCain has lost the support of moderate Democrats who would have voted for him in droves in 2000. He’s become a complete sell-out to the social conservatives.
— Posted by MC
2007
5:52 pm
Anyone who has followed the clinical history of AIDS and STDs is cringing at the reporter’s confusion of contraception and disease prevention. Contraceptives prevent pregnancy. The only contraceptive that reliably prevents infection with STDs is the condom. Was the reporter so hung up on saying “condom” that s/he had to further this confusion?
The dialogue makes both parties look a little silly. Paging Borat….
— Posted by Tim Wood
2007
5:52 pm
I respected John McCain until he started doing obeisance to the “Christian Right” in his quest for the presidency. Admittedly this group is crucial to getting the Republican nomination–but prostitution of beliefs is necessary to do business with these bullies.
I don’t believe Christ would recognize the “Christian Right” views as His own. (Hitler might–failing to promote condom use because it “encourages sexuality” is a really cheap way of condemning several generations to an awful death–a HUGE savings over conventional genocide! And you can blame the victims for their own deaths!)
Dr. Coburn perhaps takes the Hippocratic oath to its most hypocritical level when he just counsels abstinence. It only works if you do it–and these people are up against years of tradition–not to mention hyper hormones! “First do no harm…”???
This isn’t “Christianity”–it’s PURE EVIL!!!
— Posted by Carl Ian Schwartz
2007
5:55 pm
The reported (recorded) interchange is hallucinatory, and the question that brought it to a close is too ludicrous for words. Only in America. How can McCain not know anything about the correct use of condoms and the spread of HIV? Doesn’t he read the newspapers, either? What a pathetic display of ignorance and incompetence!
— Posted by John Moore
2007
5:55 pm
What an incredible moment! Is there video of this? audio? McCain’s response needs to be mined further:
1. can’t recall his position on the issue
2. can’t/won’t answer a straight question regarding a matter of scientific fact (all while aboard the Straight Talk Express, no less)
3. seems to regard tom coburn, of all people, to be his sven gali on this issue.
Have you heard of the google, Mr. McCain? type in HIV + condoms + Africa and do about 10 minutes of research. But apparently you’ve chosen to neglect the fastest, easiest, and most reliable database of knowledge the world has ever seen in exchange for Tom Coburn’s expertise? And you want to be my President?
Here’s something google told me that Coburn said in regard to the morning-after pill being made available OTC:
“This decision also greatly increases the risks to teens who will likely discover obtaining morning-after pills over the counter is as easy as obtaining alcohol.” (from Coburn’s own website)
What a moron. And likewise, that makes Mr. McCain a moron by association.
Parting question: Why was the name of the reporter who grilled McCain left out? Was Mr. Nagourney modestly referring to himself? And in that case- with a virtuoso interrogatory performance like that, why doesn’t he take credit for it (or give props to the approprate reporter). Whoever had that interchange with McCain should be acknowleged.
Let me be the first to do so: good on you!
— Posted by Ohad Meyer
2007
5:55 pm
At least he is honestly saying that he does not know anything about it… of course, the question is then why the hell he thinks he can be President of the United States when instead of brain he has just Coburn’s paper. But on other hand why not? If Bush (he is just a monkey) can be president then absolutely anybody can.
— Posted by Victor Larin
2007
5:56 pm
It concerns me that a potential president of these United States does not have a stance on such a critical issue facing our own country and the world. It seems as though the complexities of the issue and the intelligent manner in which the questions were asked poked holes in the conservative veneer that many Republicans hide behind. When it comes to questions of reproductive policy and contraception, the simple recommendation to remain abstinent gives a black and white answer to an issues with many shades of grey. Our next president needs to be honest about the complexities of this issue in order to create a policy that is realistic and responsible. Senator Mccain sidestepped the issue because the party line, on which he readily relies, cannot aptly address the intricacies of the current health crisis.
— Posted by Tyler McGill
2007
5:58 pm
Why is McCain even bothering, again, to run for president?
— Posted by An obvious question
2007
5:59 pm
Incredible! He doesn’t even know his position on things as basic as this? He’s never thought about this issue? Someone give him a memo about what his core principles are. Politicians are so spooked about being labeled “flip-floppers” they can’t even think straight anymore. What a loser!
— Posted by Barbara B.
2007
6:07 pm
It’s better to say, “I don’t know”, than to fabricate a spontaneous, uneducated answer one might later regret. No candidate can be an expert on everything. How the candidate handles an unexpected question for which he has not prepared an answer says more about him than the topical answer itself would.
— Posted by Dorothea Finney, San DIego
2007
6:10 pm
he’s pathetic
— Posted by wowee
2007
6:14 pm
This guy is toast. His window is closed. Move along.
— Posted by gfw
2007
6:15 pm
I would expect he knew the weight of the pig — assuming it was a good Republican pig.
— Posted by ken
2007
6:15 pm
“You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.”
Wow. I wonder what other positions he holds that he’s not aware of?
— Posted by dave marley
2007
6:27 pm
Wheww !! Saved by a pig !!!
— Posted by Bern
2007
6:28 pm
It seems a shame that people who are suposedly “pro-life”, would object to the making available of condoms the use of which would prevent untold suffering and death, including the deathby HIV of parents to children who then, after their parents are dead of the HIV, go into foster care and adoption (if they’re lucky) or abusive situations (if not “lucky”) because one parent had unprotected sex with an infected individual and then carried the disease home to the “innocent” parent.
— Posted by Lily
2007
6:29 pm
apparently he is politician. he has to ask he press sec. what his position is. it appears has no values. just fit the position that will win over the social conser…sorry buy once i thought he knew where he stands on issues.
— Posted by james mclean
2007
6:38 pm
Whatever his stance, how can the fact that McCain had to ask what “his” position was on this issue be acceptable? Are politicians nothing more than figureheads for a machine? Either interpretation is disturbing:
1) He has no opinion of his own on an issue whose importance cannot be understated
2) He is walking so gingerly to pander to the far right that he cannot even keep his engineered persona straight
By the issue being important, I mean that it holds an opportunity to alleviate great human suffering.
— Posted by Dh
2007
6:39 pm
And people accuse Hillary of having no priniciples? These are politicians! But that’s embarassing for McCain…
— Posted by Renee
2007
6:41 pm
McCain unplugged! He ran out of talking points. What an amazing moment. And revealing in another way, besides him being clueless about HIV problems. It showed he is not politically skilled enough — as Bush and Hillary are — at cutting off tough questions. That he allowed this to go on and on is a bad harbinger for his campaign. There are so many holes in his cheesy candidacy, that he had better learn to do a Bush, make a lite statement, then move on to another reporter. What a sad shell of a man he has become.
— Posted by alexis
2007
6:41 pm
This is really acary. That an educated man trying to become leader of this country would a. have to find out what his position is by researching past answers or b. not be able to admit irrefutable proven facts about contraceptoin lowering infection rates, is deplorable. I hope he’s ashamed of himself for becomming such a talking head - and one who can apparently hardly talk, at that. Why can’t religious people just say that they will always stand by abstinence as the only foolproof way to avoid STDs and unwanted pregnancy, but that if people decide to have sex they should use contraception to protect, though not completely, against these risks. Risks that when ignored become problems wasting money, time and lives.
— Posted by Kate Ford
2007
6:43 pm
I think McCain is being well less than straightforward here on his “Straight Talk Express,” and risks comparison in his supposed “no spin zone” candor (yes, like the obscenely disingenuous Bill O’Reilly) with the many other empty facile sloganeering of the rightwingers he is now seeking support from. Clearly what motivates his waffling on this crucial issue is his desire to get the Bushite “family values” rightwingers on his campaign wagon.
— Posted by Jonathan
2007
6:48 pm
John McCain doesn’t know whether contraceptives help prevent the spread of HIV? He knows he has taken “a position” on this before, but can’t remember what it is? Please let this man not be the next president of the United States.
— Posted by Bryn Europe
2007
6:57 pm
Now that’s thinking on your feet! Such independant thinking! Such moral assuredness! Such straight talk! Now that look’s like the best this country has to offer! I would prefer to vote for my plumber, at least he knows what he thinks. Whadda country! Go McCain somewhere else . . .
— Posted by Peter C
2007
6:59 pm
I am truly amazed by this exchange. I don’t know what is more horrifying - the thought of a president who must ask his press secretary what his positions are on given topics or the thought that he doesn’t know if condoms prevent STDs.
— Posted by VS
2007
7:04 pm
Since McCain’s hard tack to the right, I started losing respect for him. This clinches the deal. No respect for him, whatsoever. And I voted for him in the past….
— Posted by Larry
2007
7:07 pm
Unbelievable. Straight talk? I think not. Maybe it should be called the “sound-bite express”. Millions of people in the world are affected by this epidemic and he sounds like he’s never thought about it. Give me a break! He should go back to Arizona and stand guard at the border with the rest of his Bible-thumping, right-wing, white-supremacist buddies.
— Posted by Wayne Pan
2007
7:09 pm
Sounds like McCain should put a condom over his head to protect us from him. Because if he wins the election, we really are screwed.
— Posted by JABURNETT
2007
7:13 pm
Beautiful! What brown noser asked about the pig??
— Posted by Pat
2007
7:13 pm
This is going to come back to haunt McCain - he knows perfectly well that condoms prevent STDs! In pandering to the religious right he’s going to lose the respect of the rest of the world, not to mention their votes.
— Posted by Kevin
2007
7:16 pm
McCain certainly knows how to grovel to the ultra-Christian voter base he’s been wooing for the last few years. What a sad spectacle it is when someone who once had a mind of his own now won’t even admit to the logic of distributing condoms to Africans (or anyone, for that matter) to slow the spread of AIDS and/or STDs. He “thinks” he supports the President’s policy on contraception…meanwhile, one of his aides is finding out what his own policy on contraception is. (Thank heavens for aides…always there to remind you what you think about an issue…) But make no mistake, he still advocates abstinence first and always. Aarrrghhh…he must hate himself at times like that. No wonder so many Americans seem fascinated with Obama; he says what he thinks, not what is politically expedient. That qualifies as a miracle these days.
— Posted by missoula maven
2007
7:17 pm
so, this begs the inevitable question: how big was the pig?
— Posted by methinks
2007
7:17 pm
This is absolutely ghastly. Surely a man of such experience and education cannot be this stupid. The most likely conclusion to be drawn is that he is terrified of making a mis-statement that might offend the “religious” (i.e. radical) right. How sad.
— Posted by William R. Bauer
2007
7:18 pm
Read this story and I submit what you see is a tired old man trying desperately to answer a question on the use of condoms, a preventive health measure that helps control the spread of H.I.V., but it is opposed by the religious nut GOP wing. McCain has shamelessly courted this wing of the GOP, but they have demonstrated a dilike for him; and even thrice-married fellow-GOP candidate Guiliani leads McCain substantially in a poll of these people.
Sadly, McCain, the outsider, who won the hearts and support of many of us in his 2000 bid for the GOP nomination, decided to run as a conventional insider for the 2008 nomination, the public has recognized this flip-flop and he has paid a political price for it.
Moreover, McCain is too old to fulfill the rigorous job of leading the most powerful nation in the free world. He sould retire, write a book on his laurels and teach political science part-time at a university in Arizona. Forrest Gerard
— Posted by Forrest J. Gerard
2007
7:19 pm
Oh you reporters are so smug when you can flummox a Republican on such a stupid issue. Probably 80% of real Americans agree with the President, Senator McCain and the catholic church. Abstinence is the number 1 way to prevent AIDS.
Give us a break, why should any regular American taxpayer even care if poor Africans are dying of AIDS
and why should a dime of taxpayers money be spent on this worthless project.Let Bill and Melinda or Brad and Jolie by the damn things.
— Posted by Tim Ritchie
2007
7:25 pm
What incredibly patheic waffling. What grotesque ignorance. He should be in charge of nothing more complex than pig weights.
Even that.
Feh.
— Posted by paula
2007
7:29 pm
Qué pedo con este señor (McCain)????!!!!!
— Posted by Enrique Torre
2007
7:36 pm
I am shocked that McCain would answer this question do badly. I am doubly shocked that he would look to that troglodyte, Senator Coburn, for advice on this (or any other medical matter). HIV in Africa is transmitted primarily by heterosexual sex between MARRIED individuals (usually this is because the husband has some extracurricular activity). Is McCain truly advocating abstinence between married couples?? The infection rates in some African countries are as high as 20% (perhaps higher)…to exclude condom distribution as HIV prevention in Africa is tantamount to murder. So much for the “right-to-life”.
— Posted by Scott Dougan
2007
7:36 pm
I though this was pretty funny, especialy the last sentance.
— Posted by John Rankin
2007
7:37 pm
This is pretty funny and stupid
— Posted by Riana Moring-Parris
2007
7:38 pm
The correct answer is: “I’m in favor of anything that will help with the ongoing battle against HIV or any disease for that matter. As for whether taxpayer money should be spent on it in the manner you propose, that depends on whether it’s the most effective way to spend that money in connection with the disease. I’m not sure I have the answer to that.”
That would have given him plenty of wiggle room, and given him time to review his options without looking like he needs to ask someone else what he thinks.
— Posted by chuck
2007
7:41 pm
McCain on funding the use of condoms.
What you continually fail to understand is that McCain dose not care what happens to Black people, as far as he is concerned the more of them that die and suffer by contracting AIDs the better.
He could care less about the poor of New Orleans, mostly black so who cares….
Watching the massacre of 200,000 blacks in Sudan he turns his back and not a wink of sleep lost,
We could go on and on but you get the picture.
He wants to rule for a tiny minority of Americans who share his very white well heeled white view of the world like his friends in the white house.
— Posted by Louise H
2007
7:41 pm
McCain is a fool. Trying to be on both sides of everything. Condoms will lessen HIV infection so we should fund them with our foreign aid. McCain has his nose pretty far up into Bush.
— Posted by Bob San Soucie
2007
7:44 pm
Don’t these stupid liberals have anything better to do than crash Republican functions? Get a job. Go to work. Stop smoking pot and having sex all day.
— Posted by Jake
2007
7:46 pm
Ignorant stupid comments designed to use the spectre of AIDs and try to force young people not to engage in sexual activity. It aint ever going to happen you moron. Sex is the most natural thing in the world, a totally natural inbuild drive in all species.
Will they include unathorised sexual activity survellience in the Patriot Act? I’m not kidding…
More denial of reality by the good old boys in the Republican party.
Ignorance as policy for the United States in the 21st century.
No wonder we have become the ridicule and laughing stock of the world.
Who votes for theses idiots? are you living in a world of total denial……….
— Posted by AJ Melbourne
2007
7:46 pm
In other words (and Sen. McCain prays silently that God will send some to prevent him from having to give a straight-from-the-heart,common sense answer), Sen. McCain is most concerned not about whether something, like a condom, can save people’s lives than what kind of hocus-pocus, uncourageous, un-straight-talk answer he can give to avoid making all those born-again Republican fundamentalists who owe their existence to whatever reason or accident their parents did not use a condomn, think he’s one of them. Some straight talk! Some coward. It takes more decisiveness to be a good President than Sen. McCain can muster.
— Posted by Rodney Patterson
2007
7:48 pm
Un… be… lievable.
— Posted by Mike
2007
7:53 pm
What a joke!!
He doesn’t know his “position” on condoms and their effective use against spreading STD’s?
What a complete idiot!!
Is he going to have to ask another senator what color the sky is next? And if that senator says “pink” will be just believe that?
John, your days are not only numbered, but that number is already almost at 0.
— Posted by Jean-Paul Bondy
2007
7:54 pm
The reporter from Chicago tribunal
Who was that stupid/cunning reporter asking for the weight of a pig? Well, cunning might be a compliment for this professional even if he/she intentionally interrupted the senator from disclosing his apathy and ignorance because in the end we all lose if the leaders of the country is reduced to entertaining someone’s moronic and spontaneous (surely it had to be…?) verbalization of irrational thoughts. Who is that reporter? Why is he/she a reporter? Well, getting back to the real issue, I am outraged that another white male in leadership position seem compeletely out of touch in dealing with or understanding one of the biggest threat to humanity of this century. Shame on both of them:the reporter from Chicago Tribunal and Senator McCain.
— Posted by Cathy
2007
7:55 pm
We are 25 years into the HIV/AIDS epidemic and Senator McCain doesn’t know if condoms help prevent infection? Can the world afford another anti-science, anti-public health President of the United States? How can it be pro-life to promote policies that lead to needless deaths?
— Posted by Arthur Fullerton
2007
7:55 pm
As a resident and voter in AZ, it would be nice to have our Senator back again representing the folks here rather than spending all of his time running for president. He has been so busy pandering to all of the folks that he believes he needs to win the primaries that he has totally divorced himself from what may be his real beliefs. It is not surprising that he needed to check with his staff to see what he believed about HIV or any other problem. His pronouncements no longer represent what he believes but rather what his handlers think that he should believe.
— Posted by Al Waitz
2007
7:57 pm
Is McCain kidding? How in the world could you NOT have a position on this issue if you are running for the POTUS? The best part is his asking what his position is from his staff. Not that this particular issue is highest on my list of concerns in the world right now, but who wants a leader without clear conviction? This merely showcases how unqualified and undeserving he is to run for President. We need someone that is going to bring it to the table…not sit at the table and ask what he should have brought.
— Posted by MS
2007
7:57 pm
Nice one. This illustrates nicely the amount of double-think that goes into figuring out the conservative social agenda. More condom use = less AIDS, it’s not a trick question.
— Posted by LaKarune
2007
8:01 pm
Good LORD. 70 years old and you need someone to tell you what your position is….pleeeezzzeeee
— Posted by CharlesJordan
2007
8:07 pm
A lifelong Democrat, I thought at one time that Mr. McCain might just be a good alternative for President. But his “take” on the terrible Iraq war and now on condums leaves me really cold about even considering him for the office.
— Posted by George M. Collins
2007
8:08 pm
This man (McCain) is so uninformed as not to know that condoms help to stop the spread of AIDS, and he wants to run this country?
And people might actually take him seriously, and vote for him?
God help us all.
— Posted by lydia
2007
8:08 pm
Is McCain becoming Dan Quayle of 2008 cycle? This is what happens when you sacrafice your earlier principles to jump to bed with Neo-Con-men/women Publicans.
— Posted by Vic Viswanath
2007
8:25 pm
This is really depressing. A person that I actually had respect for saying “I have to find out what my position was.”, then asking his assistant to find out what todays position should be. Mitt bummed me out to, reversing himself on most of the positions that made him seen not so totally a focusonfamilyheritagefoudation kind of guy.
If this is a prelude to the upcomming election, it appears, at least to me, that with the compression of the primary vote the only thing that is going to get the next president elected is how their personality is packaged. No position ever held,or even promised, can be taken seriously (”uniter not divider” comes to mind).
— Posted by sidecar
2007
8:27 pm
You sure you’re not making this up? It’s too pathetic to be real.
— Posted by newageblues
2007
8:27 pm
dumb, dumb & dumber!
— Posted by thymvano
2007
8:28 pm
Unbelievable. He can’t think on his feet and he’s far too politically driven to take a stand. How can we possibly think of electing someone like McCain when he doesn’t have the guts to take a stand on perfectly logical issue because he wants to cater to the religious right. So sad, McCain is a shell of his former self. The cavalier non-partisan qualities that once made him so appealing are now just distant memories.
…..next candidate please….
— Posted by Pat Marafiote
2007
8:29 pm
McCain is tryin so hard to recieve the support of conservatives that he is sounding as incompetent as Bush, since it seems that is what conservatives vote for.
— Posted by jwm
2007
8:29 pm
I’m a middle class, baby boomer college professor who used to have some faith in McCain, but he’s become (unless he always was) a protypical politician who considers whose support he’ll lose before giving an honest answer to a question. I think there’s a lot of people like me who would have voted for the maverick we once perceived but who apparently no longer exists. It’s a shame.
— Posted by Arthur Frankel
2007
8:30 pm
HEY OUT THERE…Senator McCain is not a one size fits all kinda’ guy. It depends on the audience.
Senator knows that preventing the use of Federal funds for family planning clinics, anywhere, increases the incidence of abortion and disease. That this is done in the name of God, is is an outrage….another Honorary Doctorate Senator?
— Posted by Bob
2007
8:31 pm
I don’t like John McCain’s politics, and I think his fear of answering a simple question is worth reporting, because it indicates that he’s allowed himself to become a slave to this process as much as the average television viewer. That is decidedly not the mark of an effective leader. But since most politicians are only slightly less obviously devoted to avoiding rather than engaging real issues, I think an examination of the cause is in order.
The very existence of the “Straight Talk Express” and McCain’s having to ask someone else out loud what his position on a matter is are both attributable to pressure from the sales-driven news media and pollsters. These two industries work together to demand that the voting public both respond with hypersensitivity to neatly packaged and sold stories and answer “yes” or “no” to simplistic questions that pose as meaningful ones. Then they feed off one another, plunging every issue into a moronic stalemate even before any intelligent discussion of it can get underway.
We deserve lame candidates and their lame behavior because we’re too caught up in the news media sales hype to understand that we’re demanding skillful evasions, rather than policy answers, from these candidates. We ought instead to indulge thinking candidates, allowing for the occasional human moment, and simultaneously demand that journalists focus on seeking out and providing information, rather than controversy. We should condemn media outlets - even big ones with long histories - as tabloids when they fail to meet this basic ethical standard.
— Posted by Tim
2007
8:33 pm
I think it is appalling that he first of all does not know his own position!! And even more appalled he doesn’t know if condoms help stop the spread of HIV…WOW!
— Posted by Josh
2007
8:36 pm
Shoulda left the bus parked and gone carbon-neutral. Then at least his Senate seat wouldn’t be jeopardized. Good for the left!
— Posted by Erik W.65
2007
8:36 pm
Why just Africa? The real question is: If condoms stop the spread of AIDS do you support their distribution here and abroad?
— Posted by wae5
2007
8:37 pm
I used to admire McCann. But the more I hear from the other side of his mouth the less I like him.
Jim
— Posted by Joe L. B.
2007
8:38 pm
Good to hear he doesn’t have a position on a very important topic.
— Posted by Ayal Rosenthal
2007
8:38 pm
what an idiot
— Posted by morgs
2007
8:41 pm
LOL. So much for the “Straight Talk Express.” This guy can’t even articulate what he actually believes. He has to have his press secretary “remind him of what is position is?” You’ve got to be kidding me, how about just saying what you believe? Not what you think you should say. Why not just say, “Let me get back to you tomorrow after we figure out an answer that will be acceptable politically” Give me a break.
— Posted by Ken Copen
2007
8:42 pm
Its a basic question. If you have to look at your own voting record to answer the question directly it means you have to check your lies. Really.
That is the great thing about telling the truth, you never have to check what you have said in the past - just speak the truth as you know it.
If he says he has never encountered that question before he is either lying or really a dunce. Didnt they give GI’s condoms in WWII and Vietnam to prevent STD’s?
You think any guy his age practiced abstainence back in the 1950’s/60’s before AIDS - Bullshit and more Bullshit. Just like Newt was not banging the girl in his office then going home to his wife all the while judging Clinton.
Off topic, Gas was $1.49 a gallon when Bush first took office.
— Posted by dono
2007
8:42 pm
“Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception…” McCain probably should have phrased that better. He probably should be able to figure this out himself. If he can’t, then the reporter probably asked the wrong question: “Are you Senator McCan or McCan’t?”
— Posted by Hilton RC
2007
8:43 pm
Good for the intrepid reporter asking real questions about AIDS in Africa. But I think the state of the US media is reflected more by the idiot reporter who bailed John McCain out by asking the weight of some state fair pig. And the saddest thing is, I bet McCain knew the answer without having to “consult [his] voting record.” If you voted accorded to your principles, and not according to the wishes of various lobbies and Republican party enforcers, wouldn’t you intuitively KNOW your position on an issue as basic as this?
— Posted by maya
2007
8:46 pm
Any respect that I had for John McCain as a centrist was just destroyed by his mentioning of Senator Tom Coburn as a “respected” source on anything.
Coburn has been working for years to convince people that condoms don’t work, HIV/AIDS patients should be identified, and that there is a “gay conspiracy” within the government. Not someone I would want as my future Secretary of Health and Human Services.
— Posted by Derek
2007
8:46 pm
Why shouldn’t the Africans do like the Republicans and go for serial marriages?
— Posted by Harry McRae
2007
8:50 pm
Its too bad that so many presidential hopefuls are unwilling to adhere to ’straight talk’ so long as they believe what they say and are not merely mouthing what they believe the public wants to hear. It is time that we had a candidate who is not afraid to say what he really thinks and is willing to wait for the people to catch up to him rather than allow himself to go backwards. I believe that if a candidate cannot convince the voters of the strength and value of his approach to life then it is the people’s problem not his.
— Posted by Jerry Sweeney
2007
8:53 pm
Let alone the fact that it is an utter detriment that such powerful individuals take such little interest in HIV/AIDS, one of the most devastating human catastrophes in history, I am most disappointed in any physician who can promote the enforcement these kinds of moral ‘gag rules’ on humanitarian aid. Doctors have an obligation to act with benefecence, and to attend to the equitable distribution of medical resources. No respectable doctor could take a view supporting the president’s policy on abstinence.
It would benefit them to learn that US citizens have the most sexual partners per capita of any demographic on the planet!
— Posted by Morgan Clark-Coller
2007
8:53 pm
McCain’s professed ignorance about contraceptives’ ability to reduce the transmission of HIV is preposterous and utterly shameful. If I take him at his word that he has “never gotten into these issues before,” then I must wonder where he has been for the last 20 years’ worth of discussions about HIV. On the other hand, if we refuse to believe that he’s never thought about the role of condoms in preventing sexually transmitted infections, then we have a candidate who is too scripted and afraid of far-right zealots to clearly state his views. In either case, he has shown himself to be far from an appropriate choice for the Presidency. This is what counts as “straight talk”?!
— Posted by helena
2007
8:56 pm
The scariest part of his non-answer wasn’t his embarrassing ignorance and/or unwillingness to give the wrong (i.e., non-right-wing) response, but his stated reliance for “expert” advice from our Senator Coburn whose beliefs about S,TD education and prevention are unscientific, Victorian and as wrong as his denial of a human role in global climate change.
And by the way,Seantor McCain, the question had nothing to do with “contraception”; it was about STD prevention with condoms . . .
. . . but what is your policy on contraception, by the way???
— Posted by pjr md
2007
8:57 pm
I know what he’s thinking: Dude, I’ve gotta win the primaries, and to win the primaries, I’ve gotta get in bed with social conservatives. I get it. But this is beyond belief. This is being held intellectually hostage to a premise that, on its face, makes no sense: that condoms *don’t* help spread HIV. I man held physically hostage for years against his will, is now held intellectually hostage by his own choice. What good is a party that lets this happen to a guy? This is what you get after 25 years of computer-generated gerrymandering. The McCain of 2000 was the first Republican I would even consider voting for. This guy? He’s losing me fast unless he gives me a signal that this is just play-acting for the wingnut crowd.
— Posted by fl3xm0n
2007
8:59 pm
mccain should just give up now. along with hillary and obama. this race is going to look completely different come convention time. the people out there shilling now are just digging their own graves. “find out what my position on that was,” indeed. bend over and prepare for kicks is your new position.
— Posted by andy
2007
9:01 pm
I have resented spending any money on AIDS in Africa. It is just good tax dollars going to waste. No one even dares mention that the people will have to change their behavior. AIDS is a virtually containable disease. If people want to be so promiscuous, they will get sexually transmitted diseases. Until there is real work done to see that Africans engage in more monogomous sexual relationships, it is all a waste. I do not believe in condoning sexual promiscuity for men or women.
The ABC news progam, “Nightline” ran a few series on AIDS in Africa. An African man said that the husband leaves home to find work and he “keeps on sexing it.” Those quoted words, “keeps on sexing it” are the exact words he uttered, and those guys are being completely irresponsible in bringing the disease back to their wives. It is reprehensible behavior. Behavior like that has to be changed. Until they are told that they have be responsible regarding their sex lives and do so, I do not want a penny of my tax dollars going to Africa for AIDS.
I am a Democrat, but I am not an ultra-liberal who will make excues for any and all behavior. More education here to see that AIDS is kept under control is a better idea. It has brought some positive results. All people can be responsbile when it comes to their sexual conduct. People have brains to be used to make responsible decisions, and they can be held accountable for their actions. There really is no excuse for people, bestowed the highest brain power by nature, to have spread sexually transmitted diseases all over the world.
— Posted by Lisa
2007
9:01 pm
HIV is the public health epidemic of the generation, and too say he really hasn’t thought much about says volumes about him.
— Posted by sPa
2007
9:04 pm
You must be kidding me! This is an unbelievable position (or lack of one) for any politician to be taking in this day and on this subject. Six years ago maybe - way too little, way too late.
— Posted by CCDevor
2007
9:06 pm
These homophobic,and probably sexually inadequate evangelical leaders do not speak for the majority of the people, and should not talk out of McCain’s mouth either if he has one of his own.
— Posted by steve c
2007
9:08 pm
This is, in fact, straight talk. McCain is saying that he won’t take positions in opposition to those of the lunatic fringe on the right. Maybe not in those words, but his meaning couldn’t be more clear.
— Posted by Manny
2007
9:12 pm
Wait, this guy is running for President and he CANNOT agree that contraception is proven to stop the transmittal of STDS. Hmmm. I find it absolutely unfathomable in this day and age to see a politican, as slippery and astute as he is (to be one of the front-runners so far), to NOT be able to figure out what his viewpoint is. Asking his press secretary for what he said in a prior time. Bulls***. Either you agree with it fundamentally or don’t. It seems to me that McCain does think that contraceptives are useful and could help, but he is so scared like a little girl that the religious crazies will go nuts over it. My advice - McCain go with your heart, not what a bunch of crazy sheep who cannot think on their own but rely on what a damn book says tell you do.
— Posted by james
2007
9:13 pm
To the poster who stated that HIV is the result of immoral behavior, and people who have it get what they deserve… Huh? Much of the high transmission rate in Africa is within marriages. It can also be spread through blood transfusions, which I didn’t think was immoral. McCain should know his position, and he should know facts. Of course he is welcome to his opinion, but the point is that he used to have opinions all over the place, not just the ones he gets from Coburn and Bush.
— Posted by RT Posey
2007
9:15 pm
I can’t believe it! I may be conservative but I am not ignorant. How can someone plead ignorance when it comes to HIV/AIDS transmission in 2007? It is not like this is a new disease. Has he been under a rock for 20+ yers? I am really am disappointed with Republicans who are not in touch with reality. It is like they refuse to talk about the purple elephant in the room.
— Posted by Christian Republican
2007
9:15 pm
I’m not committed to McCain or the issue of government subsidized condom distribution; but, I can recognize a political pundit feeding frenzy when I see one. He stated his general principle: Not to spend government money on it. Then, the reporter cross-examines him with reasons to favor condom use. Is he trying to report McCains position or debate him on the subject?
It’s like asking a vegetarian, “Do you eat meat?” “No.” “But, don’t you know that eating meat is a proven and common way to get protein into your diet? I mean, don’t you agree with the science and the statistics?”
— Posted by On the Fence
2007
9:17 pm
Say goodbye John,
It is easy, “Goodbye.” Your chance to be president is over. This country won’t elect a confabulator or a liar. If you can’t answer an honest question with an honest answer, just go away!
— Posted by ed kate
2007
9:17 pm
Dear John
I am leaving you. We had some good times together, but we have both changed. I am sure it’s not you, it’s me.
p.s from the Straight Talk Express: Wait - it *is* you.
— Posted by Ernest Nova
2007
9:22 pm
Yesterdays Man
— Posted by william pinknoras
2007
9:22 pm
I don’t see the controversy.
I don’t believe the current policy is unreasonable.
I have never had sex in Africa and, for the foreseeable future, will continue to abstain from sex, protected or unprotected, in Africa.
I don’t need tax dollars to maintain that strategy.
Additionally, I believe most condom packages contain some form of instruction already.
— Posted by mat jones
2007
9:23 pm
As a clergyman just returned from South Africa on an AIDS/HIV project, from a tradition which of course would prefer abstinence, and as a (former) supporter of Sen. McCain, let me say that his dancing around this issue is inexcusable. I have statements from AIDS/HIV clergy and officers in the Reformed, Anglican, and Evangelical traditions saying that the President’s AIDS policy is a disaster. Of COURSE people supporting orphans and the dying take money, with all the strings attached. But to deprive the most vulnerable people of information and the means (i.e., condoms) from protecting themselves and others from this pandemic because our own sense of what is “right” is inexcusable and unethical. Jesus himself saved “the woman taken in sin” from certain death. I’m sure he would have done the same if it took a pack of condoms to do it. The penalty for one mistake, given our policy, could be a death sentence. I am on the record on this stand, I will write on it, and those who protect “family values” from our world of affluence and a moral smugness must be called to account.
— Posted by Fr Anton Ugolnik
2007
9:29 pm
It’s answers like these that will win the dem the white house, comes next year. There is no question… the gop is going down and the good thing is they know it but can’t help it.
— Posted by bob sesay
2007
9:31 pm
It appears to be easier to ignore that people, many people, live with HIV and protect themselves and other HIV negative people using condoms. HIV+ people, as quiet as it’s kept, have sex. And we use condoms. I’m writing this just in case McCain’s people want to know what som eof us think about his decision to stick his head in the sand, and rely on them to advice him of his position.
— Posted by HIV + teacher
2007
9:36 pm
Is this the same Tom Coburn who was obsessed during his last campaign by the subject of lesbianism that he was quoted as saying “lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they’ll only let one girl go to the bathroom.” That Tom Coburn?
Yeah, I thought so. One is often judged, Sen. McCain, by the company one keeps.
— Posted by Mr Blifil
2007
9:37 pm
As a clergyman just returned from South Africa on an AIDS/HIV project, from a tradition which of course would prefer abstinence, and as a (former) supporter of Sen. McCain, let me say that his dancing around this issue is inexcusable. I have statements from AIDS/HIV clergy and officers in the Reformed, Anglican, and Evangelical traditions of South Africa saying that the President’s AIDS policy is a disaster. Of COURSE people supporting orphans and the dying take money, with all the strings attached. But to deprive the most vulnerable people of information and the means (i.e., condoms) from protecting themselves and others from this pandemic because our own sense of what is “right” is inexcusable and unethical. Jesus himself saved “the woman taken in sin” from certain death. I’m sure he would have done the same if it took a pack of condoms to do it. The penalty for one mistake, given our policy, could be a death sentence. I am on the record on this stand, I will write on it, and those who protect “family values” on the backs of Africans, speaking from our world of affluence and a moral smugness, must be called to account.
— Posted by Fr Anton Ugolnik
2007
9:38 pm
As a traditionally liberal voter who is disgusted with the spineless democrats, I had thought about voting for McCain as a possible fiscal conservative with some sort of common sense. No longer. Will someone just form an opinion and stop hedging their bets?
— Posted by W. Little
2007
9:38 pm
John McCain is just another Wash. Politicians that will say or do anything for Money or Votes. The only thing most believe in is Self first, Party next & American Citizens & this Nation is so far down on their priorities that either counts!
— Posted by BL
2007
9:40 pm
#3 is HILARIOUS! Who’s running this guy’s campaign? Moe, Larry & Curly?
I say that as Americans we try to save as many lives as we can, using all available means, abstinance, condoms, cheap drugs, education, everything we can…….
— Posted by Mikey
2007
9:41 pm
The problem is that if Mr. McCain can’t speak about sex, how can he negotiate the country away from the brink of destruction, if tested?
— Posted by dan macht
2007
9:42 pm
What a loser. Another Bush lap dog
— Posted by Arthur from Texas
2007
9:46 pm
I agree with John McCain for once. I read the 63 posts that are up as I write mine, and I see that not one person mentioned the word—-RESPONSIBLE. I guess the liberals in the party are out in force on this issue.
I feel sorry for the children in Africa who are left without parents, but the parents are at fault for it. If they cared about their children, they would think a lot about what they are doing FIRST and the CONSEQUENES.
Not every Democrat against spending money for AIDS in Africa is a far right wing Christian conservative who thumps the Bible. I am a Democrat, but I am a conservative Democrat when it comes to sexual conduct, and I fully believe that people can exercise control and good judgment. From the posts I read, one would believe that people are incapable of controlling themselves, or more bluntly put, that people are no better than animals.
Good values can go a long way. Many people who are suffering from sexually transmitted diseases have themselves and only themselves to blame.
People who want to spend tax dollars for AIDS in Africa can take the money directly out of their own pockets instead. Put your money where your mouths are. I wonder what all of the liberals on this issue would say if they had to foot the bill directly for this themslves.
AIDS is not everyone’s disease. It is a disease transmitted for the most part by sexual misconduct and IV drug use. Some people have been unfortunate to contract AIDS from a cheating partner, a tainted blood transfusion and the like, and I do feel for them. I do not have any real sympathy for those who use IV drugs or have sex with multiple partners. It seems nature say that humans will pay a high price for “free” sex, and there is no such thing.
— Posted by McKenzie
2007
9:51 pm
Utterly pathetic. McCain’s lack of spine and unwillingness to to commit to any straight answer is fantastic. Republicans, pick him. That way it’ll be just as easy to have a Democratic president.
— Posted by Claire
2007
9:53 pm
So, the Viet Cong couldn’t break the young, virile, full of piss and vinegar John McCain. But the rightwing, uncompromising, zealous, narrow-minded, obstinate, self-righteous, delusional, and ultimately stupefyingly ignorant evangelicals have turned him into their willing - and lost - sycophant.
Rename the bus, John, to the straight to Palookaville Express. Yeah, at one time you “…coulda been a contendah…” What’s the price of your soul, John?
— Posted by Lorem Ipsum
2007
9:54 pm
” … relied on the advice of Senator Tom Coburn…”
the guy who supports executing doctors who perform abortions and protested showing Schindler’s List on tv because it was pornorgraphic.
talk about playing to a conservative, evangelical base.
— Posted by unhipcat
2007
9:54 pm
The Republican Party: Our bridge to the 11th century.
— Posted by Bill Youhass
2007
9:55 pm
As a physician, I am ashamed of the total lack of knowledge this ancient, prehistoric person running for President has. Do we want to go back to the dark ages?
Asha Nayak
— Posted by asha nayak
2007
9:59 pm
NEXT!!
— Posted by Chip
2007
10:00 pm
No wonder the country is in the sad shape that it’s in today, and I’m not talking about the President’s poor policies.
I’m referring to the totally perfect focus by the majority of the posters in this forum as well as the writer of this story on the fact that a political candidate - a conservative one, at that - doesn’t have immediate and total recall on his position on a relatively arcane topic, a question out of left field. There is no doubt that McCain has a well-documented position on the subject of federally funded condoms in Africa. There is also no doubt that he will respond to the reporter once he refers to his position papers, assuming the reporter actually even cares.
Rather than focus on the fact that he didn’t know off the cuff and got a little flustered, why not pay more close attention to how he handles himself, where he goes for his facts and information, and what he comes back with for an answer?
It is astonishing given today’s state of American foreign policy with respect to such much more important and pressing issues throughout the world (Iraq, Iran, Korea, Afghanistan, Palestine and Israel, China, Russia) that the liberal left has to freak out because a politician gets a little flustered when an off-center question about HIV, condoms and Africa gets asked. A fat lot the bunch of you probably care about it yourselves!
You guys are just amazing! You are the reason politics has become such a polarizing and nasty business. He might not be your candidate, but your crass behavior shows a pitiful lack of respect for someone of his stature. None of your own liberal candidates would show any such disdain for him, though they may disagree with him.
You guys are pathetic.
— Posted by David Hammond
2007
10:00 pm
“Only in America” can a candidate candidly speak with reporters for hours without missing a beat, falter one time, and on that point alone make headline news. Forget the meaty stuff (too consistent, not enough sex appeal.) No doubt, McCain understands the issues surrounding condoms in Africa. But the price he’s paid here by refusing provide a knee-jerk demagogic response is disturbingly steep.
— Posted by Lorraine
2007
10:00 pm
I think I love you McCain…. if I understand this properly…. this is his only way to tell the world that he no longer supports his partys’ stance on anything! We are talking about Hoover/Bush Sr’s CIA… where you can take 10 conversatons and make them appear as one… at the end of the day… this man is good. This - I believe - is an intentional display of (non) ignorance!
— Posted by Andrea
2007
10:01 pm
We really need a “No candidate left behind” program..what a moron! When are we going to realize that the puritans are all dead and we need to deal with the reality of human sexuality? I’m continually amazed that the right wing “get government off our backs”folks want to be so involved in the sex lives of others. They need to grow up and stop forcing their morality on the rest of the world.
— Posted by stacey avelar
2007
10:03 pm
Poor John,
He should get out of the Presidential race. Of all people, he should cut the radical conservative string and be his own man. He’s not only mixed up on the issue of H.I.V., he’s way off on the invasion of Iraq as well. Of all people, he should have learned the lession of Vietnam. Might maybe right back in the seventeenth century. Our might fail us in Vietnam and it will fail in Iraq.
— Posted by Walter Q Chin
2007
10:06 pm
Anyone for waffles?
— Posted by martin smiley
2007
10:08 pm
Stick a fork in him. I think McCain is done.
— Posted by aeneas
2007
10:12 pm
The reporter should have gone for the throat and asked McCain if he practiced abstinence before getting married. McCain could not have hidden behind voting records, position papers, or faulty memory. If he answers “No”, he’s a hypocrite. If he answers “Yes”, he’s a liar (and it would have opened the door for some entertaining investigative journalism). If he waffles on the answer, he appears spineless.
— Posted by Mark Norman
2007
10:14 pm
Who was the dumb guy from the Tribune who asked about the pig? Maybe he should be the next Attorney General or better yet get Bush’s next Supreme Court nomination!
— Posted by Douglas Neuman
2007
10:17 pm
John McCain sounds like a person suffering from a significant cognitive disorder. I would be truly frightened to have someone functining at this level in a position of real responsibility in the govenment. He should not be allowed to continue in the Senate, never mind the Presidency. John McCain should seek medical advice as soon as possible
I have seen several public appearances of his in the past few weeks and wondered whether he was suffering from organic brain dysfunction. He has seemed to have significant problems organizing his thoughts. Reading this transcript of his conversation underscores this impression. I think he is in the early stages of some form of dementia.
Of course, he wouldn’t be the first person who was demented that we elected President. Somehow though that doesn’t seem to be an adequate reason to allow this to continue…
— Posted by Art Gleiner
2007
10:20 pm
McCain has every right to be hesitant to tender a response to a question about which he is uninformed. Current evidence shows condom distribution actually increases the prevalence of AIDS. The current policy of distributing condoms in Uganda is now part of what is causing a resurgence of the epidemic. There are many among those of us that consider ourselves morally responsible Republicans, that believe AIDS medications are also causing the epidemic to spread. The infection rate due to AIDS was actually falling until the debut of AIDS medications. All Federal funding should be suspended for AIDS medications, condoms, and pornographic “educational” materials, that are all contributing to the spread of this epidemic. The answer is mass quarantine. The Bush administration has been smart enough to require states to report the true identities of people infected with the virus so a quaratine program can be enacted at some future date. Other first world countries can get this information from their public health services. It’s time to take dramatic action to limit the danger imposed on the rest of us by those who choose to engage in immoral behavior.
— Posted by Bob Walters
2007
10:24 pm
It’s neither ignorance nor incompetence.
It’s a calculated fantasy position, to keep his right-wing critics happy (well, happier)
never mind Africa… on planet EARTH abstinence is a fantasy.
the question is simply “do people who violate your view of what they SHOULD be doing sexually deserve to die as a punishment?”
— Posted by weedy
2007
10:25 pm
Was the reporter defenestrated from the so-called
Straight Talk express?
Perhaps they should start with Mr. McCain, methinks.
— Posted by cadpi8
2007
10:27 pm
McCain failed sex education!!
— Posted by robert t
2007
10:32 pm
This Dinosaur is showing just how out of touch with reality and humanity he is. He has no business being anyone’s President.
— Posted by Robert M
2007
10:33 pm
my goodness has he fallen in stature. He’s a shell of the candidate in 2000. I mean this is just pathetic it panders and is another reason the Right doesn’t trust him and a growing number of people in the middle and Left don’t either.
— Posted by AG
2007
10:36 pm
*I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception*
Oh Brian, will you tell me what I think about? God, what a worthless politician McCain has turned into.
— Posted by JoyousMN
2007
10:39 pm
Please, haven’t we all learned yet that any time a Republican gives a thing a name these days, it means the opposite? Orwell called it “doublespeak”. Whereby the public mouth-pieces of a totalitarian regime all speak the same lie without it sounding like a lie to the brainwashed masses (ie, McCain, who has been trying to pass himself off as the “reasonable one” on the Republican side but, as we see when he has to speak about his personal opinion, really is no more than another Bush lackey): the No Child Left Behind Act, the Healthy Forests & Clean Skies initiatives, and now of course, the Ministry of Truth–er, Straight Talk Express. Come on, JM, you’re the last real Republican in Congress. That’s why you have such a hard time putting their words in your mouth. Are you working toward a free republic, or a single-minded theocracy with the power in the hands of a few wealthy (and of course, abstinent) far-right conservatives? Examine your conscience, JM. Get off the fence, and take back your soul. And if you’re going to give us straight talk, then DO IT. Have the courage to stand on the merit of your own opinion. Who don’t need cue cards or aides to say what they believe, because they speak their conscience.
And I recommend using a real medical expert next time, not another mouthpiece. Abstinence, indeed! Americans are not fools.
— Posted by LetYourLifeSpeak
2007
10:43 pm
“Straight Talk Express” - NOT!
— Posted by Jonathan Bush
2007
10:50 pm
Why did I read this article? Why am I posting this? Why am I wasting my time? McCain is about as inconsequential and irrelevant as I am.
— Posted by David Steele
2007
10:52 pm
McCain is far too right-wing for me, especially on Iraq, but I always thought he was smart and fairly honest. In this exchange he came across as looking not only like a total sycophant, but an
idiot as well. Straight Talk Express indeed.
— Posted by Terence Vinson
2007
10:53 pm
McCain can no longer be taken seriously as a viable candidate.
If he is so old and out of touch that he doesn’t know that condoms help prevent AIDS, then he isn’t competent to be the country’s highest elected leader. And he is not a leader. He is a follower of the right wing Christofascits who wish to turn the clock back on the world to the Dark Ages. If his comments are “straight talk”, then give me some doublespeak.
— Posted by Cydni Demonico
2007
10:55 pm
It is unfortunate that America’s once great Vietnam Hero has been reduced to pandering for votes. Our 20th President said that “The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.” So I say to our Senator that we are exiting the dark forest; do not welcome the wolves that put you there. For your time is now, and “Suicide is not a remedy.” Fight against the urge to adopt the failed son, and look forward to the days of truth, justice, and the American way.
— Posted by STDateline
2007
10:56 pm
McCain would like to enlist his press secretary’s help and retreat to a time in which he may or may not have had an opinion on a subject, however poorly reasoned, or not.
— Posted by Jeff Hoffman
2007
10:57 pm
It won’t be the last awkward moment he has as he tries to appeal to social conservatives. So much for the Straight Talk Express.
— Posted by JN
2007
11:09 pm
Why not just vote for Coburn as a write in if he’s McCain’s brain.
It’s so sad, i few years ago i did respect this guy. He’s really gone down the drain fast.
— Posted by Bill Selznick
2007
11:12 pm
It is just Alzheimer or is McCain just someone projecting himself as a leader but in fact is not much more than a speaking behind of his current party leader. I wonder how much value add he brings in…
— Posted by Republican at heart but changing
2007
11:12 pm
The old duffer is all-too-obviously aware that he is riding on the “Last Chance Express”.
— Posted by RAS
2007
11:17 pm
I’d rather have a politician mumbling like this than the smooth talking liar type. I’m a Dem, but I don’t hold it against McCain for not being sure about this. I’m not sure myself whether condoms really stop AIDS. I suppose they do part of the time. Certainly not all of the time.
— Posted by Mariel Strauss
2007
11:43 pm
Wow. a republican who doesn’t know the first thing about HIV.
Who’d have thunk it?
— Posted by jasun Mark
2007
11:45 pm
There is no way that a man who has never thought about AIDS in Africa should be president of the United States.
“And if abstinence doesn’t work…” What kind of fool logic is that? How many seroconversions does it before he would decide that prevention was valid too.
Un-fucking-believable
— Posted by C. Mika
2007
11:52 pm
so sad how desperate McCain is to win the presidency that he’s willing to compromise his own often touted principles on courage in countless books and magazine articles. yet, now he doesn’t have the balls to stand up for what he really thinks anymore bc it’ll piss off the conservative right. way to go McCain. You turned your back on the lefties who were your only real support, in order to pander to the right. Now you have neither. You’re a war hero, but you’re gonna die a bitter old man who never became president.
— Posted by Pat Robertson
2007
12:12 am
Great!!! Another fine example of a intelligent wingnut.. hehe. Hey, does he know what AIDS is?
— Posted by Ellie
2007
12:24 am
i dont understand why we have to pay money to solve a proble that doesnt need money to be solved. Lets say a stranger comes up to you and asks you for money… you ask them what its for… if they said its for food or water you might give it to them. but if it were for something like a new toy you proboly wouldnt.
— Posted by c. m.
2007
12:26 am
(Fake questioner at a republican debate)
“My question is for both Mr. Giuliani and Sen. NcCain. Did either of you remain abstinent while you were with your new girlfriends while straying from your first or second) marriages? Or did you use a condom during sex to prevent pregnancy- and avoid giving your new girlfriends AIDS? I’ll let you answer……”
— Posted by Jim
2007
12:39 am
If the man has no opinion on something which has been so much in the news since 1985. He is a fool.
If he has an opinion and is afraid to state it he is another mealy mouthed politician. If he doesn’t have enough guts to talk straight he has no claim to “Straight Talk”. It may just be senility. I don’t know which but he should not even have a whisker of a chance of being president. Are we to have another lying mealy mouthed crook making enemies for us.
— Posted by angela Birchfeld
2007
12:42 am
It seems odd to have Senator McCain, who apparently found abstinence too difficult a choice to refrain from an adulterous affair during his first marriage, advocating for abstinence as a means for preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. I guess he assumes others have more control of their sexual urges than he does himself.
— Posted by Disgusted Mom
2007
12:47 am
McCain is doomed to be The Man Who Sold His Soul. For nothing. He was right about Bush in 2000. In the unlikely event he wins the nomination the photos of his kissing Bush on the cheek in 2004 will derail the Striated Talk Express. He’s a lost cause. He should retire from the race and attempt to end his career with some kind of dignity. He’s a sad example of what the Republican Party does to anyone in their ranks with integrity.
— Posted by John Ellis
2007
12:48 am
If McCain is confused, it’s a warning sign of loss of memory or courage. Condoms have been overwhelmingly found to slow or prevent transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.
Moreover, instruction in their use, as part of a respectful, whole body sexuality education regime, has been found to delay the start of sexual activity - no matter how politicians define “is” or “sex” - and to delay pregnancy. In the developing world, this can be a matter of life and death, as it was here until sixty years ago.
Mr. McCain well knows that Africa has an epidemic of STD, including HIV, infection. A few cents spend on condoms, and a few dollars on respectful sexuality education, would prevent millions in avoidable healthcare and social costs.
I guess the StraightTalk Express just ran out of steam.
— Posted by mbbsdphil
2007
1:09 am
Lets be kind, he was having a senior moment. Which is why we need young, energetic, mentally nimble leadership. In other words we need Obama.
— Posted by ger
2007
1:26 am
Obama won over at least one Clinton supporter in NH today. From an AP article: Ginny Raymond of Grafton, Vt., said she didn’t know much about Obama but liked what she had seen on the Oprah Winfrey show.
“He just radiates honesty and charisma. I feel it,” she said. “It’s just something that he gives off and it’s transferred from him to others.”
After seeing Obama in person, Raymond said she no longer supports Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign…
— Posted by geri
2007
1:41 am
My Father and I can not stop laughing. Welcome to the new world of fast information. Everything every canidate says even the pause between phrases is in print in minutes. I love it. This will be a short race for someone who is so transparent as he.And I don`t think he will even realize what happened.
I think maybe He and his wife just wanted to travel in the RV and not pay for it.
Is there even a chance he could win the nomination?
— Posted by r garner
2007
1:51 am
Wow!!The liberals tarred and feathered McCain on AID in Africa and his pandering to the Christian right. The liberals and conservatives are very much alike and don’t realize it. Both are flip sides of the same coin, extreme, and they meet at the point of insanity.
To all liberals—part with your own money. Get away from your computers and comfortable homes and got to Africa and teach them how to prevent AIDS. Not one of you would dare roll up your sleaves to even try. You are just as crazy as the far right. You are not sending my money to Africa to control AIDS. They can prevent AIDS by not having sex with anyone and everyone, all day and all night. It seems too many liberals think that humans are incapable of using the brain lodged between their ears to control their sexual behavior.
I am a moderate, and I don’t want to see my tax dollars thrown away on a lost cause. Too much of it is already thrown away on nonsense. I would like to see my tax dollars put to good use here.
— Posted by Jackson Henderson
2007
1:58 am
Re: Art Gleiner
“I have seen several public appearances of his in the past few weeks and wondered whether he was suffering from organic brain dysfunction. He has seemed to have significant problems organizing his thoughts. Reading this transcript of his conversation underscores this impression. I think he is in the early stages of some form of dementia…”
Wouldn’t that be right up the right’s alley to drug the guy… hmmmmmmmm …. sooooooo without conscience
PS DEMOCRAT/LIBERAL ALL THE WAY - BUT WANT THE TRUTH
— Posted by Andrea
2007
2:34 am
Listen up, #168, you say many people get AIDS from their own irresponsible behavior. Even if you think that means they deserve to die, what about all the wives who get it from their ‘unfaithful’ husbands and sometimes transmit it to their children. Not your problem, hunh?
— Posted by newageblues
2007
2:49 am
Dear John,
This is a cock. See, it works like this…
— Posted by newtonusr
2007
2:58 am
I’ve looked up my past positions on this subject, so I can now state, quite consistently: abstinence should be our policy.
We should start by getting all the Evangelicals to sign up for it (extramaritally, that is).
Next, let’s try to get Catholic priests to agree to it (at least with children, anyway).
Then we can turn our attention to the African continent, where it should be an easy sell.
Go. McCain, we’re with you all the way.
Ernie Shrenzel
— Posted by ernie shrenzel
2007
3:10 am
To Bob Walters at 185. Your claim that “condom distribution actually increases the prevalence of HIV/AIDS” in Uganda is completely false. The fall in the HIV/AIDS rate since 1992 has always been attributed to prevention programs that have included condom distribution. The recent rise in HIV/AIDS rates in Uganda directly corresponds to the change in focus of prevention programs to emphasize abstinence at the exclusion of condom distribution and sex education. This change in focus is mainly due to restrictions that the U.S. has placed on HIV/AIDS funds, as well the U.S. directing funds to organizations that already refuse to distribute condoms. But I’m sure you’ll continue to believe what they tell you to believe: condoms cause AIDS, global warming is a hoax, and Valerie Plame was not a covert agent. Right….
— Posted by mrd
2007
3:29 am
Right, Pat…
Leaving the door open for Fred Thompson to adopt the mantle of “Straight-Talk Express.”
— Posted by newtonusr
2007
4:31 am
It is interesting to watch McCain implode as he tries desparately to get his campaign on track in his wish to be president. What he has not yet come to grips with is the fact that nobody likes him any more, that he pandered to Bush and “social conservatives” so much that he lost that glossy (but very very thin) coat of integrity that drew supporters to him in the past. That thin veneer of integrity that he used to wear even enticed many democrats in the past, but it has been rubbed so thin that we are starting to see the cheap wood underneath.
What is so astonishing about the exchange on the bus about HIV and condoms is that McCain would rather let us believe that he is ignorant and ill-informed about the transmission of HIV/AIDS (and by extension other STDs) than come right out and take a position of his own. That he does not remember his own voting record on this should be surprising to no one as very few member of Congress in either house actually read the bills they vote on. Add this to the fact that Republicans have been voting as a block without thought or regard to personal convictions and you are sure to get someone like McCain who has no idea on how he voted and has to look it up.
Other politicians might have the same symptoms but are better at obfuscating their answers so we don’t then to notice.
The problem with all this pandering is that eventually even the slowest voters begin to notice that you believe in nothing. McCain has little support. His bid to be president was over six years ago and he is the only one who doesn’t realize it.
— Posted by Karen
2007
5:06 am
No taxpayer funding of anything not explicitly laid out in teh Constitution, period. That includes condoms. It’s bad enough we’re spending welfare money in this country; now we’re turning over americans hard earned money to people in other countries? I do not see people in Somalia sending me my monthy welfare check or package of goodies.
Private charities are free to fund this themselves. They couled absolutely do it cheaper and more efficiently than the U.S. government could.
— Posted by Alex AnCap
2007
5:35 am
The reporter should not have confused “contraception” with Aaids preventtion. While condoms are one contraceptive, most contraceptives will do nothing to prevent AIDS and the press should not be misleading the public by using the terms interchangeably.
— Posted by Robert
2007
6:26 am
McCain’s soul started bleeding the moment he let George kiss him on the head a few years ago. Once he embraced that succubus, it was the beginning of an inexorable slide toward an absolute absence of self respect and common sense. It didn’t take much foresight to see that Bush would eventually implode. Hitching his wagon to Bush’s was like tagging along with the Donner party because they said they knew the way to the promised land.
Now he seems quite deflated, drumming up moments of energy with rhetoric that promises nothing and solves no problems. Platitudes for the masses no longer work, Mr. McCain…
— Posted by Joe Pound
2007
6:26 am
Does he know what a condom is?
— Posted by john may
2007
6:33 am
Absolutely ubelievable that a guy like Mccain would not know, let alone make up his own mind, on the relationship between condom use and sporead of HIV. Worsem relying on a WACKO like Dr, abortionist Corburn! These guys make US look …..
— Posted by David Majanja
2007
6:39 am
I am so surprised he didn’t pick up the phone and ask the Pope what position he should have on the issue or Karl Rove would have known what he should say.
Sickening by Mccain, he has become a joke with his pandering to the extreme religious right who are happy to send young men to thier death in Iraq for monetary gain but can’t bear to think of black Africans getting down and dirty.
Disguisting, go home John you are beginning to make me puke……. Jesus would throw you from the temple for your sickening regard for your fellow human beings.
Love thy neighbour………. how quickly the religious forget the lords words when it suits them, total HYPOCRITES.
— Posted by We Love Ha HA
2007
6:45 am
Mr. McCain, you’re on the wrong bus.
— Posted by gus
2007
6:46 am
Charlotte’s Web, get me a copy of Charlotte’s Web, I’m pretty sure that’s where you’ll find my opinion on the weight of the pig.
— Posted by John D Edwards
2007
6:47 am
The wages of ungodly sex, according to the ‘Christian’ Right and it’s stooges- like McCain- are unwanted pregnancy and death by AIDS. Is their god really more concerned with what people do together when naked than he is with the fate of fetuses stricken with AIDS in the womb?
— Posted by Julie Miller
2007
6:59 am
are the pauses not to ascertain the truth of the matter but to assess what the answer is that the people want to hear……….
straight talk?????
Orwell and more 1984
— Posted by liz
2007
7:55 am
We can’t have a prez that takes long pauses any more than a village idiot from TX. Anyway, McCain should know about condoms. He admitted that he had an affair.
Wednesday :: Jun 21, 2006
Adultery May Be A GOP Family Value In 2008
by Steve Soto
McCain was still married and living with his wife in 1979 while, according to The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof, “aggressively courting a 25-year-old woman who was as beautiful as she was rich.” McCain divorced his wife, who had raised their three children while he was imprisoned in Vietnam, then launched his political career with his new wife’s family money. In 2000, McCain managed to deflect media questioning about his first marriage with a deft admission of responsibility for its failure. It’s possible that the age of the offense and McCain’s charmed relationship with the press will pull him through again, but Giuliani and Gingrich may face a more difficult challenge. Both conducted well-documented affairs in the last decade–while still in public office.
— Posted by ramaloose
2007
8:03 am
Straight Talk Express is a new oxymoron invented by McCon to speak code to those who want to contol our lives. our bedrooms, and our minds. McCon needs a brain condom so he doesn’t infect the rest of us with his viral neoconism.
— Posted by David Mead
2007
8:08 am
If he has no answer to this question he is much too old to be President!
— Posted by Druthers
2007
8:25 am
Gee how I just WISH he remembered hearing a commercial for “Product Red” items, and said something like “I bought a George Clooney phone.”
Now there will be a publicity stunt where he goes to Africa, and is hugging AIDS women and children. Someone better tell him they can’t vote for him!
— Posted by Chris
2007
8:26 am
STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS DRIVES INTO A DITCH.
How does it feel John to have your two precious little guys firmly in the grasp of the radical Xtians? So much for your so-called “straight talk”. You’re just like every other pandering pol, have to tailor those words oh-so-precisely so you don’t enrage the most intolerant, bigoted, radical, discriminatory, belligerent supporters in your potential “base”.
What century is this? What business does government have suppressing science, public health, common sense and decent public policy, all in the interest of reactionary religious radicals?!
— Posted by D. Thomas
2007
8:31 am
Unbelievable.
Let me get this straight.
1) McCain gets interviewed every day on a number of issues, and the NY Times sees fit to print part of an interview where he did not wish to take a definite stand immediately. On a secondary issue compared to the more serious issues facing our country in this election no less.
2) Within 7 hours or so 206 blogs flood the Times, the majority of which again show how mean spirirted and vicious you ultra left wingers can really be. To the point of being sick with hatred.
Shameful.
— Posted by Joan
2007
8:41 am
McCain doesn’t know where he stands on anything, he has to refer to the Hard Right’s playbook for a simple answer on Aid’s prevention, then adds the abstainence thing. This guy is too old and out of touch to come anywhere near the presidency. He is a bad joke, and should just go awy, into a corner and dribble.
— Posted by Jan
2007
8:45 am
He has thought about AIDS in Africa. He knows condoms prevent the spread of HIV. But the orgiginator of the Straight Talk Express couldn’t say what he knew for fear of alienating Lord Knows Who. He probably also knows that the Surge won’t work, Falwell is divisive idiot, gays don’t threaten traditional marriage, it is up to a woman to choose whether to have an abortion, Iraq is going to be a mess whenever we withdraw and that fighting an insurgency/civil war there doesn’t have a damn thing to do with our security here, yet those are positions he must parrot in order to win his party’s nomination. McCain had a pair, but apparently they’re removable.
— Posted by Hmm
2007
8:51 am
Oh
My
God
I mean, I’m literally flabbergasted.
Here’s the next question I would have asked: “Ummm, I just have one followup: did you mention earlier that you wanted to be President?”
— Posted by John Clement
2007
8:53 am
Appalling. And some call this leadership? Women should be terrified of this man.
— Posted by sandra
2007
8:55 am
The image that accompanies this article is perfect!
— Posted by Cimarron
2007
8:58 am
Clearly, following in Reagan’s footsteps.
Straight talk from someone who has Aszheimer’s
— Posted by Rick Sallen
2007
9:07 am
Imagine a debate between McCain and Hillary. Every question gets this response from both:
I know I have a position on this, but let me find out what it is and I’ll get back to you.
— Posted by Imnotstopping
2007
9:08 am
I bet that Rudy G. knows what condoms are for!
— Posted by Patrick
2007
9:18 am
Even Reagan was better informed about HIV and that’s saying something! It is not ’straight talk’ in 2007 to be 0% informed about one of the major public health (national and world) crises of our times! For those of you who say, ‘well, he was just honestly reflecting that he had no position’, I’d respond that not having an informed position on HIV crisis is like not having an informed position on the Iraq war. It’s possible, but such a person should be far from a position of leadership in this country. That’s what’s shameful about this.
— Posted by JSherwood
2007
9:23 am
To #168 above, who wrote in part: “I feel sorry for the children in Africa who are left without parents, but the parents are at fault for it. If they cared about their children, they would think a lot about what they are doing FIRST and the CONSEQUENES.”
As someone who has adopted an Ethiopian child who around the age of 5 watched her mother and father wither away and die from HIV/AIDS, I think you’re beyond clueless.
You don’t know anything about Africa, where the education gap is colossal, sexual attitudes are entrenched, and denial of the problem is so embedded into the cultures that only incredible sustained global efforts can turn it around.
Obviously these issues extend beyond the span of superficial reasoning like what you have demonstrated in your post. And I fear it’s just as bad or much worse for Senator McCain.
— Posted by Doug
2007
9:33 am
The Straight Talk Express has been derailed for a while now, and if McCain thinks his right wing zombie talk is gonna fly with a disenchanted electorate let alone independent voters he needs to remove the plastic bag from over his head.
— Posted by Cliff Parks Jr.
2007
9:52 am
Just another example that McCain is just too old to handle the job he seeks. He just doesn’t seem to be quick on his feet or able to keep up with the issues facing our nation. The starlight bus tour is a complete joke. Anyone who’s previously supported him is no longer due to his waffling on issues and strong desire to appease the christian vote. He’s become a lap dog to the Bush Administration and a court jester to the American people. It’s painful to watch him campaigning.
— Posted by D. Hubbard
2007
9:56 am
Mr. McCain, does the use of condoms prevent pregnancy?
Better go back to your aides to see how you feel about that!
Such no-brainer questions prove just that…
no brains just lapping tongues
— Posted by len
2007
10:08 am
Further Proof that in order to be a TRUE Republican, you must ignore common sense and reality. How pathetic.
— Posted by Sheldon
2007
10:10 am
My parents were always conservative Republicans in the 40’s and 50’s in Wisconsin and ALWAYS used birth control to plan our family. Since when did contraception get such a bad name? Which religion besides the Catholic religion doesn’t use birth control? Who is having the most influence here on the conservative shift? By the way, all my Catholic friends use birth control and most of m conservative ones do too (in Texas).
— Posted by Barbara Mathews Blanton
2007
10:12 am
It is clear and obvious that if McCain can’t answer a question that has been discussed for the last 15-20 years in all sorts of venues and by tens of thousands of people, that he is not qualified to make a decision on the issue.
Anyone, and I mean ANYONE who must defer to what a) Bush thinks b) the Christian Right believes or c) what Tom Coburn tells him, is totally deluded.
McCain, you are far too old to be an effective president. Give it up now before you totally embarrass yourself.
Oops, too late.
— Posted by Mark
2007
10:14 am
Here’s what I’ve gathered so far in terms of potential new names for McCain’s bus:
1. The Forked-Tongue Express
2. The I’m-Going-To-Screw-You-But-Not-As-Bad-As-Bush Express
3. The Leave-No-Illegal-Immigrant-Behind Express
4. The Straight-Back-To-The-Senate Express
Six more and Letterman can use it…
— Posted by Erik W.65
2007
10:25 am
Romaloose poster #235
Your focus was on divorce and affairs during marriage; your post mentioned Giuliani and the fellow who likes to write up contracts on America, not on the issue of McCain fumbling a question on condoms being distributed in Africa. ROMney many american’s are divorced now a days, and ‘there are divorces, then there are divorces” may be the case. There are even people who involve themselves in divorce cases, when they have another addenda running.
ROMney has even had some in HIS family involved in divorce, and his supporters are the last who should hold ROMney up as a paragon of virtue in the matter of family affairs.
The issue was whether or not condom dispensing should be funded in Africa.
— Posted by Ellie
2007
10:27 am
Are you now or have you ever been a serious candidate for the Presidency of the USA? DUH! The Dems can only hope that McCain wins the nomination with episodes like this one!!
— Posted by ptr
2007
10:48 am
Joan, are you serious? One need not be an ultra leftist to see that Mr. McCain is having some difficulty in appealing to the ultra right social conservatives. Most of us actually believe is smarter than this. It is rather sad to see him contort his intellect, and hopefully conscience to please these extremists, our own American Taliban. I assure you there is no hatred on my part, just disbelief. It is all so pathetic.
— Posted by Kinda Blue
2007
10:51 am
McCain is way past toast. The kitchen’s on fire and smoke is billowing out the windows.
— Posted by John
2007
11:47 am
So, can we get that interview in an .mp3 and put it up on the web?
— Posted by Matt
2007
11:53 am
The Republican free-fall these days is breathtaking.
— Posted by sam
2007
11:57 am
The “Straight Talk Express” is sounding more like the “Lame Brain McCain Train” to me.
— Posted by Quizmos
2007
12:14 pm
“So, the question is how much did that pig weigh? Brian, could you get my opinion on pig weight. How do I feel about pigs? Should I comment? How will the right see me commenting on pigs? This is the Straight Talk Express, and I want to make sure I give it to them straight… straight from my position papers! Brian, how do I feel about feeling about pigs? Hurry up!” — John McCain
— Posted by D. Blank
2007
12:30 pm
Jon Stewart asked McCain, “Are you going to crazy town, now?”, and McCain looked sheepish and said “Yes.”
So that’s where he’s living now.
— Posted by Bob
2007
12:35 pm
if john mccain doesnt know the answer to this question then he is not qualified to be president. we dont need a president of the stupid people. we need a president that will lift our nation to a higher goal of critical thinking and truth. i have no respect for john mccain. he is a phoney.
— Posted by john jay gebhardt
2007
12:48 pm
Every politician who calls for abstinence should be obliged to give their personal history of abstinence to set the example.
— Posted by Framante
2007
12:48 pm
The Democrats need to keep this one in their folders, because if this creepy old guy ever gets the Republican nomination, the views expressed by him yesterday and his reference to Dr. Frankenstein, I mean Coburn, must be made known — shout it loud! Mc
— Posted by Paul K.
2007
12:52 pm
Why even report on how political and opportunistic this old has-been is, its not like anybody with any sense, or actually reads this web-blog is ever going to cast a vote for him: unless its for impeachment!
— Posted by Joel Bayan
2007
1:23 pm
What a fool.
— Posted by Rob
2007
1:47 pm
Aside from BS “morality” issues that the GOP use as an excuse NOT to deal with HIV prevention in medically sound ways, particulary condoms, I am beginning to think that the GOP wants more people infected…so the US can continue to overpay big US companies for AIDS medications here and in Africa. If people stop getting infected, they stop making money.
— Posted by Qjersey
2007
1:49 pm
The thing that I always respected the most about McCain was his straightforward way of tackling issues and his ability to go beyond the “measured response.” It’s somwhat troubling to me to see that he has fallen into the pander to your base type of campaigning that plagues all presidential elections these days. It makes me wonder if he is his own man anymore.
— Posted by Dave C
2007
2:15 pm
What an absolute idiot. I need read nothing else about him. He’s OUT as far as I’m concerned. I am just so/too tired about feeling embarassed by our leaders/potential leaders.
— Posted by Maria
2007
2:18 pm
And they thought Howard Dean was nuts? What a pandering idiot. So much for the brave war hero.
— Posted by J
2007
2:25 pm
Ellie @ 254 you scolded Romaloose @ 235 for not being on topic. You wrote:
“Your focus was on divorce and affairs during marriage; your post mentioned Giuliani and the fellow who likes to write up contracts on America, not on the issue of McCain fumbling a question on condoms being distributed in Africa.”
Actually, the article that Romaloose quoted referred directly to the fact that Senator McCain had an adulterous affair with a then 25-year-old woman whose family was very well politically connected, betraying the wife who had raised his children while he was a prisoner in Vietnam. Whatever you think of such behavior morally, to then have Senator McCain extoll the virtues of abstinence seems the height of hypocrisy.
Of course, of late, hypocrisy seems to be a very common trait among Republican leaders, so perhaps I understand why it doesn’t make much of an impression on you.
— Posted by Disgusted Mom
2007
2:41 pm
Prophylactics don’t prevent AIDS — they don’t even prevent pregnancy! 60% of abortions in America are performed on women whose birth control failed. Bureaucratic malfeasance and ideological agendas aside, they just don’t work!
— Posted by Chris Inwien
2007
3:32 pm
Now we’re up to Blog#273, and the left wing hate fest is still going strong. Over condoms in Africa. You are all the pitiful fools, not McCain.
— Posted by Joan
2007
3:40 pm
PLEASE BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE PIG-TALK! YOU WOULDN’T WANT TO OFFEND ANY MUSLIMS, WOULD YOU?
— Posted by DOUG DOYLE
2007
3:40 pm
How could someone go from so popular to so pathetic so quickly?
— Posted by Lou DiMento
2007
3:43 pm
Don’t give them condums, give em viagara!
— Posted by Wizard
2007
3:53 pm
Can someone PLEASE put a video of this on You Tube??
— Posted by david
2007
4:04 pm
There was a great SNL cartoon about John McCain in 2000 showing him readying himself to introduce Bush at the Republican Convention. McCain freaks out, a la Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now, and throws karate chops at a mirror to the tune of The Door’s “The End”.
I think McCain really did have a life-changing experience when Bush beat him. McCain was sitting in the Hanoi Hilton while Bush was out partying, and yet Bush operatives smeared McCain as being anti-veteran. McCain saw a know-nothing, do-nothing idiot, who projects a sincere image while having evil people do evil things for him, become president. I think McCain lost his mind.
And for the geniuses who think that we should revert to the Victorian Era instead of facing reality, you should know that the Victorian Era had the highest rate of out-of-wedlock births in England’s history. Either you don’t want to face reality that people will have sex, or you simply want those people to die.
— Posted by Eric Buck
2007
4:21 pm
It is almost sad seeing John McCain roll down the highway in the “Forked Tongue Express”. He full well knows that condoms reduce the transmission of HIV. Idiots that deny this would sentence the world to HIV.
Condoms are the only thing we have that works in prevention of pregnancy and HIV. Nothing is 100% but 90-99% is sure a lot better than zero percent without condoms. And don’t give that abstinence crap to me, it just is not workable.
I have been to Africa and seen what HIV does to the young, old and everybody in between. Christians that don’t want people using condoms really are not Christians as Jesus said “Love one another…”. For some reason our American Christian group seems to think they have moral superiority to anyone else.
“It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” John, you and your buddies are in trouble.
— Posted by NEVERvoteRepubliCONagain
2007
4:32 pm
WHAT A WEASEL AND A CREEP YOU ARE, JOHN.
WHAT A SELL OUT.
HOW DO YOU SLEEP?
— Posted by Marcello
2007
4:40 pm
I am concerned that a Presidential candidate doesn’t have the capacity to recall his position on every conceivable topic. He should not have to be reminded of what he has thought in the past. And this is not about cutting him slack because of his advanced age. He wants to hold the most powerful position in the world. If all of his faculties are not completely intact, then he should take a pass on the Presidency. After what our currect “President” has done to this country we can’t afford someone average coming in to fix things.
— Posted by Morgan
2007
4:48 pm
I read 273 posts to find out how big the pig was and no one knows!
— Posted by Robert J.
2007
4:57 pm
Why is this story buried in the blog section. It should be on page 1 of the paper!
— Posted by David
2007
4:57 pm
Instead of consulting Sen Coburn, maybe McCain ought to talk to Sen Elizabeth Dole, her husband does the viagra thing right? They know all about abstinence and are part of the right wing base. Wonder if McCain has an opinion on Alzheimers. And I wanted Kerry/McCain as a unity ticket in 04.
— Posted by Bob Young
2007
5:06 pm
He must’ve forgotten about this, from February 2002:
“Despite criticism from conservative groups, Secretary of State Colin Powell over the weekend defended remarks he made last week on an MTV youth forum in which he urged condom use as a way to prevent the spread of HIV, the Washington Times reports (Price, Washington Times, 2/18)…. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) defended Powell on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, saying, “I agree with him.” He added, “I think we need to use every means possible to try to eradicate [the HIV/AIDS] epidemic that has affected particularly Third World countries” (”Meet the Press,” NBC, 2/17).”
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/Daily_reports/rep_hiv_rece nt_rep.cfm?dr_cat=1&show=yes&dr_DateTime=02-19-02
— Posted by MattK
2007
5:07 pm
The reporter who asked about the pig should collect his pay from McCains campaign and never be allowed to call himself a reporter
— Posted by Phil Dolan
2007
5:19 pm
This not only pathetic it is down right immoral. Do I agree with pre-marital or extra-marital sex? No, but I have enough common sense to know that it is part of the world we live in and has been that way since the beginning of time. Being a pro-life person I believe we should do every thing we can to eliminate this horrible plague.
I would like to add, don’t catagorize all Evangelical Christians with Jerry Fallwell or James Dobson.
I suppose that they would oppose a vaccine to prevent AIDS or any other STD. Consider the opposition to the vaccine that can prevent cervical cancer. We gotta keep those girls pure and hope they don’t wind up with a Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggart and some politicians who not be named.
— Posted by Carole West Valley Utah
2007
5:28 pm
This is ABSOLUTELY not the first time McCain has worked hard to DODGE this question. McCain knows darn well that condoms prevent the spread of AIDS. He also know that the conservative voters that he is after have been conned into believing the somehow “abstinence” education will reduce activity and prevent the spread of AIDS: he also knows that studies show this doe not work.
The Straight-Talk Express left the station years ago and it was lost forever. In its place: the Pander-Express.
— Posted by Stephen Nodvin
2007
6:06 pm
I have to agree with Jason, this whole McCain attempt to put “lipstick on the pig” is endemic of our election process. Just once, I wish a candidate would answer for themselves and say what they really think/believe rather than look for the script that has been written by their campaign strategists that often no more than smoke and mirrors, double-speak, pig lipstick.
Is there a single candidate that is able to simply say what they mean and then mean what they say … is personal no longer political?
— Posted by puttinlipstickonthepig
2007
7:22 pm
The Repubican party seems to have a proclivity for morons. We have Reagan (last six years with dementia and no one could tell the difference) and now Shruby the Chimp (who can’t utter six words in succession with out spiraling into unintelligible babbling). How else could you support the Republican platform? You are either stupid or rich.
— Posted by Piranhicus Rex
2007
8:25 pm
This is really sadder than it looks. Truth is, I don’t think I can name a single politician who DOESN’T have somebody look up “their position” on issues - McCain just flubbed it. Which is not to defend him, only to suggest that with everybody triangulating in an effort not to be the first one to tick off some faction of the electorate, the voters are just left with…what’s the word? Oh yeah, one of the folks above got it: WEASEL.
— Posted by AJ
2007
8:31 pm
And he’s our best senator.
Dennis, Tucson
— Posted by Dennis A. Lepak
2007
9:09 pm
Tar-Baby… baby HAHAHA… McCain is a MORON!!!
— Posted by A-Dad
2007
9:22 pm
Obviously the Hanoi Hilton was harder on him than any of us realizes. Somebody needs to ease him off the stage. I never felt so bad for a guy in front of the press as I did for Ross Perot’s stand in VP, the Honorable Admiral Stockdale. That Perot would have put him in front of the cameras like that and out of bullets was awful. May he rest in peace.
Senator McCain, it is time to hang it up. You were a POW who went home with dignity once, it is time to do that again now. Quit while you’re ahead.
— Posted by Hugh
2007
9:34 pm
This is a tough question. With the aid of a condom, I feel less likely to become infected with a virus. So I am more willing to engage in risky sexual behavior. However, there is still a decent chance that a virus can get through a condom, because condoms are designed to prevent impregnation. They are not designed to prevent the spread of HIV. So condoms may actually encourage risky behavior, thereby increasing the chances of HIV transmission. I empathize with McCain on this one.
— Posted by Joy
2007
9:53 pm
This is an example of what happens when damage from torture, PTSD, and other mental health issues are left unaddressed. Cohenecy is depleted and normal thought threads are lost. Now what’s Bush’s excuse?? Common sense tell anyone that abstinence is a preferred way to not transmit STD’s, however a thinking person knows that just isn’t going to happen. In the neocon and born agains world…..maybe??…..but reality, which these people just don’t get, proves otherwise. It’s interesting though that how these same people shun a woman who is pregnant ‘out of wedlock’, but are more than willing for her to not get an abortion! But, when it comes to assisting this same woman’s child in receiving adequate health care they come apart at the seams! They certainly are talking out of both sides of their mouths. In their perfect world I guess you must live by their standards and their standards only……but, wait, they support the administration that supports killing with complete abandon of innocent children in the name of ‘terror’. Beam me up Scotty!
— Posted by kclaf
2007
10:20 pm
Oh McCain should by all means consult Dr. Tom Coburn, that paragon of piety from here in Oklahoma. He, who doesn’t really like to be in Washington–would rather just practice in his little town in Oklahoma. Many of us wish he’d done that the first time he was elected then decided not to run again, then decided yes, he would. I guess he thought they just needed him there. He makes such thoughtful and profound statements to, such as doctors who perform abortions should get the death penalty—the word is he has done it in his practice. So yes, I can see how McCain would need consult him. Hasn’t he been consulting his mentor (now) George Bush. I just wonder if there is an authentic John McCain locked in this opportunistic man who puts his finger to the wind to guide his policies.
— Posted by Elisabeth Ham
2007
10:22 pm
Condoms are for the prevention of the spread of McCains is the only thing that Senator McCain is positive of about. Why is it OK for a woman be on the pill to treat cysts on her ovaries and not ok for a man to use a comdom to avoid transmitting HIV. Not to wear a condom is sin #2
Not using a condom when you already have 6 children living in your one room hut is sin #3
People should have the right to chose their sins. keep in mind that wanting to sin is a sin. Putting up all of the barricades only causes worst sins.
— Posted by richard
2007
10:33 pm
Ah, the straight talk sputters on… how hard it must be to balance the unfulfilled mission of one in a million gametes where the rubber hits the load against the slow, painful, debilitating death of millions of Africans. Every sperm is sacred.
“If you oppose the distribution of condoms, something is more important to you than saving lives.”
-Melinda Gates
— Posted by Mike
2007
11:30 pm
Condoms reduce but do not eliminate the risk of AIDS. If people engage in high risk sexual activity, they continually increase their risk of contracting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
This blog was very interesting. It seems almost no one believes in monogomy. Much of what the far right Christian conservatives say is crazy but not everything. Monogomy and abstinence are the best ways to avoid AIDS. There is nothing at all wrong with either option.
While Africa is a poor continent and very different from America or any Western country, their cultural practices foster the spread of the disease. When are they going to get the message? How much education does it really take to figure it out? Are my wife and I supposed to pay for them to continue to engage in dysfunctional sexual behavior? This akin to giving them a sex subsidy to continue spreading AIDS. The condom will only reduce the spread of the disease somewhat but not eliminate it. Africa needs fundamental change in its practices. Africa must take care of itself and not look for a handout from the United States. Let the U.N. step up to the table and take care of this one.
— Posted by Jeff Edie
2007
11:32 pm
I used to think John McCain was smart and a straight talker. Not anymore. Anyone who says they respect Tom Coburn or anything he has to say is brainless.
— Posted by An okie with a brain
2007
11:43 pm
“Yes” is an easy answer to that question..do condoms help reduce AIDS?..Should American taxpayers pay for this(and we’ve done it before)?But,I would have this to ask the reporter.
“If we do supply condoms to Africa…whose going to make sure they put them on before sex? Will there be an American Official”Rubber-Putter-On’er?”.(and no!I won’t do it).It’s a fair question!!…We can’t do one without doing the other.Surely the American people don’t believe that Africa absolutely does not have any “rubbers”.”Yes”,they believe it.At this stage of African Aids epidemic,every one there.. KNOWS of the disease and knows how to prevent it.They are not ignorant and unlearned people.But,..Americans “just” feel better… KNOWING they did their part in preventing it.WRONG! We will have done NOTHING.Sad but true!Human beings can still do anything that they put their minds to do.Whether it’s sending a man to the moon or deciding whether to take a chance without a condom or using one.What would you do?
— Posted by bob wills
2007
11:55 pm
McCain’s feigned ignorance of such a key issue would hardly qualify him to run for a city council let alone the White House. HIV is not a poltical end game…people are dying and huge numbers of children are being left as orphans. HIV is a substantial public health issue which is greatly compromising societies around the globe. It can only be postively influenced by someone with compassion, a backbone, and vision.
This should be an issue of basic human decency and respect rather than such vile pandering to total ignorance. McCain appears to have decided on an electoral strategy to influence about 3 - 5% of the total vote. And to think that I actually had considered him a legitimate candidate worth consideration in his last go around. How do these people actually face themselves in the mirror day after day?
— Posted by Astounded
2007
11:56 pm
No funding to Africa to give them the okay to continue with rampant sexual misconduct. Let Africa send money to this country for a change. It would be nice to see that day. I am not funding their disgusting sexual practices. Giving them condoms is giving them the green light to do more of the same. Even with intensive education, I doubt they would be smart enough to use a condom. I doubt they could learn to use one. I am not funding education for them either.
I get nothing for my taxes, and I am not supporting Africans to have even more sex. It seems they are already having far too much of it.
— Posted by Joseph
2007
1:14 am
The diehard liberals want to feel like great humanitarians helping Africans. What a bunch of phonies. I can see why the Democratic party has such a hard time getting elected. The diehard liberals ruin this party.
Africans have known about AIDS for a very long time. They used to call it “slim” disease. They know exactly how they are getting it. They have condoms in Africa. The disease is rampant because they won’t exercise responsibility. The people who referred to changes in behavior, culture and being responsible are correct. Without such changes nothing will change in Africa, including the spread of AIDS. I have even read that many men do not want to use condoms. Condoms are not going to be effective if the men will not use them. The alternatives are change or continue on the same path.
AIDS in Africa has become politically correct. In many parts of Africa, the biggest killers are lack of maternal health care and dysentary. I am a bit surprised that maternal health care hasn’t caught the attention of some celebrity who wants attention. However, dysentary will never be discussed. Dysentary will never be chic.
Controlling the spread of all sexually transmitted diseases in our own country should be a priority.
Many people scoffed at abstinence and linked it soley to the Christian fundamentalists and ruled out monogomy as crackpot ideas. Many people are in monogomous relationships. Responsible parents want their teenage children to be abstinent. The risk for teens is just too high.
— Posted by Margaret
2007
1:32 am
Seems to me like he’s on the Double-Talk Express! What a weasel! Any presidential candidate who has to have his aid look up his previous position on something this important before he can give his honest opion does not deserve to be spending all this taxpayer money running for office. He should just resign now.
— Posted by Nannagal
2007
5:20 am
If you want to see the perfect scenario involving “UNCONTROLLED AMBITION” this is the McCain in wonderland chapter…who in their right mind would support this LOOSE RIGHT WING CANNON who does not have a clue on where to aim next…So bitten by ambition is he ,,I’m sure he will look after our best interests if he were to be elected,,like KFC looks after it’s chicken population??? I feel sorry for this man and his family………………………………Charles Belenchia
— Posted by charles belenchia
2007
11:04 am
It is sad and disheartening to read through the blatant hypocrisy, bigotry, and xenophobia evident in this string. References that degrade and dismiss the entire African continent, their ‘disgusting sexual practices,’ their use of condoms, and supposedly ignored maternal health care are grossly misrepresentative of the facts on the ground and the realities which surround these incredibly important of issues.
In fact, let us consider these issues for a brief moment. First I would look at some ‘disgusting’ sexual practices much closer to home from the blatant hypocrisy of Ted Haggard to the vile pursuit of alter boys by Catholic Priests whose actions were then covered by their Diocese. Then there is the astounding degree of deliberate misinformation sanctioned by our government with regards to the use of condoms (reference the above article about McCain), abortion (it absolutely does not correlate with increased breast cancer), and abstinence (which is not associated with a significant drop in teen pregnancies overall).
Funds for maternal health care in Africa and in other high need areas of the world have been significantly curtailed and manipulated by the American government as it seeks to inject its Theological agenda into everybody’s life. This has occurred as such funds have been reduced or denied if the recipient dares to even talk about family planning, contraceptives, and maternal health care options which sometimes requires the surgical termination of a pregnancy.
The use of condoms and birth control in general has been under a significant assault for years and years with the fundamentalist wings of the main Catholic Church leading this charge with the full support and encouragement of our supposedly secular American government. Distribution programs for condoms in this country have been seriously curtailed by the Theocratic Right in this country with increased misery, pregnancy, and disease a result.
So if writers on this string wish to simply acknowledge their bigotry and lack of information and simply argue their own agendas, so be it. But, please, do not try to place your agendas into a form which even remotely infers either scientific or sociological foundations, information, and analysis. I would strongly advise that many of these same writers should read a bit more broadly first. Then, we can talk some more about these issues.
— Posted by Astounded
2007
12:49 pm
Doesn’t know his position on HIV/AIDS prevention or contraceptives???
This is ridiculous, as HE is for attempting to see if he’s offending anyone before having an opinion on such a serious subject.
— Posted by John Silver
2007
1:02 pm
What absolutely blows my mind is the lack of conviction McCain shows. I am not running for President and I know my ‘position’ on damned near everything. It’s called being educated. If McCain were to be qualified to be the President, he should know his position on even obscure things. He should be extremely well-versed on all things domestically and international and should have the foresight to see distant issues that may occur in the future. I want a brilliant chessplayer, not a champion dissembler.
— Posted by Nathan
2007
1:32 pm
is this Reagan all over again …..7 years to say the word aids!!!….and once again we have Republican leaders completely uninformed by choice…ignorance is bliss guys!!…and furthermore how much longer can we ignore the facts in hiv prevention?…and allow religious fundamentalists decide the fate of so many lives…what happened to the separation of church and state in this country?…our government has a resposibility to its citizens to inform an protect….is that what our government is doing?
— Posted by eric polito
2007
1:53 pm
Regarding post #309
Assigning blame to the fundamental wing of Catholic Church for lack of birth control and family planning is scapegoating the Catholic Church. Fundamental Protestants are just as much to blame. As for the abuse of boys by Catholic priests, that was beyond disgraceful. If one does some reading, one will find that abuse of minors is found in all religions. I agree that many people all over the world should clean up their sexual practices.
People need to make choices. I am not responsible for the practices that take place in Africa, and I owe them nothing. Those who feel that they do have the right to donate to help them.
Africans and many people all over the world will have to change their conduct. I don’t consider it a great achievement by the human race to have overpopulated the planet and spread AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases all over the world. People have the highest brain function in the world, a brain that allows them to make decisions. They can use that brain to make responsible decisions.
— Posted by Lisa
2007
1:56 pm
John McCain has evolved from a breath of fresh air to a pandering sad JOKE. McCain should just withdraw from the race, and admit whatever credibility he once has is in tatters.
— Posted by Louis Matrazzo
2007
2:32 pm
Americans are not responsible for African practices. No American taxpayer is forcing them to engage in sexual practices that spread disease. I am against sending American tax dollars to pay for condoms. I liked what a few people said about responsiblilty, obligation to their children, changing cultural practices. I also agreed with the person who said the U.N. can handle the problem. It is well past time for the U.N. to do something useful. I will never approve of sending American tax dollars to Africa for AIDS while everyone lets them go on with their destructive ways. It is good money gone bad. America needs to take care of itself. Africa needs to do the same.
— Posted by Thomas Healey
2007
3:52 pm
McCaine’s responses will alienate conservatives as well as liberals and moderates. He doesn’t know his his own voting record and stand on an issue as dear to the conservative base as contraception-sex education-AIDS?
AIDS education does NOT teach Africans or any one else that they don’t have to change their behavior. So for all you uniformed fools who cry about your tax dollars being wasted on programs that don’t address behavior, stop worrying. It’s not. The most successful anti-AIDS campaign in Africa was in Uganda. It taught A B C. Abstinence. If you can’t be abstinent, Be faithful. If you can’t be faithful, use Condoms. The abstinence-only lobby in the USA torpedoed the Ugandan campaign because they taught more than just abstinence. And now the AIDS rate in Uganda is going back up. Abstinence only education IS a waste of tax money.
And for the people who think that events in Africa don’t have anything to do with America, please refer the chapter in your history books dealing with Afghanistan, the Taleban and the World Trade Center. Epidemics lead to poverty, instability, revolution, illegal immigration etc.
— Posted by AlaskaMike
2007
4:46 pm
I am no fan of John McCain, but let’s not forget that there is a huge difference between the skills (and team) it takes to run a smooth political campaign and the skills (and team) it takes to be a good leader. Our fearless leader George W Bush ran a much better, tighter, on message campaign than his opponents, but he has been a disaster as president.
It’s been interesting to read everyone’s messages, but they leave me with the lingering fear that we haven’t learned from the past couple of presidential campaigns….so we have the ability to differentiate from an idiotic blunder and the bigger picture of the person’s overall substance (not sure in McCain’s case)? I really fear that we are once again going to vote for our next president for superficial reasons. I, for one, am trying to keep an open mind. In the end, I may compromise on one or two of my own “special interests”…and instead to vote for the person who I feel will be able to reunite and lead our country the best. If we were having brain surgery, we would want the surgeon who would do the best job, wouldn’t we? We wouldn’t care if he/she was nice or “authentic”. And why do we care about that when voting for a president (or if we’d like to have a beer w/ him?)….? Chances are, we are never going to meet him or her in any sort of substantial way. And they are all politicians, so they are all scripted…anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded.
— Posted by Ellen
2007
4:51 pm
To McCain:
Lesson #1: Distribution of condoms helps diminish the spread of AIDS/HIV.
Lesson #2: Abstinence-only sex education does nothing to abate the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases.
Lesson #3: People don’t make decisions about when to have sex or with whom based on their knowledge of contraception.
— Posted by Jason
2007
7:45 pm
This isn’t the first example of this sort of evasiveness from McCain. I remember, in the lead up to the 2000 election (probably in the Fall of 1999), when he was on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, and a man called in with an impassioned request to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), the absurdly straightforward sexual orientation anti-discrimination act which still hasn’t passed. McCain said something that sounded nice and sincere about how he’d have to learn more about the issue.
A few minutes on the net, however, told me that he apparently already felt he knew enough to vote on it–in 1996, when it had failed in the Senate by one vote, McCain had stood up to be counted and cast his vote aginst ENDA. That is, he voted to make sure that employers could still fire employees simply for their sexual orientation. And years later, he wouldn’t own up to it.
Don’t be fooled by the “straight-talking” maverick image. McCain is deceptive and easily pushed around.
— Posted by Matt in Michigan
2007
8:00 pm
McCain has sold his soul, that much is obvious. This omission of ANY knowledge the man has about condoms preventing the spread of HIV is just the surface. McCain has hired the schmucks who killed his 2000 presidential ambitions in the South Carolina push-polling scandal. Winning is all that matters to this shell of a man. Plus, the senator agrees with Bush’s opinions on torture, even tho McCain himself was once a P.O.W. Atrocious.
— Posted by Alex
2007
9:58 pm
The pig!
Chicago Tribune Reporter Jill Zuckman included this in today’s paper from her interview with McCain:
“He’s also made what he calls “the obligatory visit” to the Iowa State Fair to view a 1,187-pound pig named Waldo and eat pork on a stick, all rites of passage for those who wish to become president.”
Here’s what she reports on AIDS:
“En route to Cedar Falls, McCain hesitates and then demurs when asked if he would support taxpayer funding for condoms to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in Africa. He praises Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a family physician, for his work promoting abstinence. And he won’t say whether he thinks condoms stop the spread of disease, blushing at the question.”
— Posted by DCharney
2007
12:50 am
“In the fight against AIDS, condoms save lives. If you oppose the distribution of condoms, something is more important to you than saving lives.” -Melinda Gates
How astounding that several people posting on this blog think that those of us who have had sex with more than one person deserve HIV infection. Monogamy is certainly not a guarantee of avoiding infection. Many monogamous partners in Africa, the USA, and around the globe have been infected by their partners.
At the same time, sex workers who’ve had thousands of partners have avoided infection through condoms. I’m now monogamous, but certainly wasn’t in my youth. I’m certain that condoms have kept me HIV negative.
How astounding that Americans should be so stingy as to gripe at paying a few pennies for condoms. This is money well spent. It saves us a million-fold down the road. Not only the costs of treatment of those infected, but the destabilization of societies that could otherwise be productive, and threats to our own national security.
After all we’ve been through, does the USA still think it can shut itself off from the problems of the globe?
— Posted by Mike
2007
1:18 am
Ouch.. nice one. Hopefully John doesn’t want to spend (read: waste) money in Africa. It might not be a bad idea over here in America though.
— Posted by Johnny
2007
2:51 am
Wow…
pandering to conservatives much?
And seriously, do condoms prevent AIDS?
Let me think about that one for a while…
— Posted by Ana Casian Lakos
2007
9:13 am
Contraceptives prevent pregnancy by definition. Condoms ALSO help prevent HIV.
The two terms contraceptive and condom are NOT interchangeable.
Boo to the word mixup to make more of the issue.
— Posted by Me
2007
9:27 am
I like this guy, but I have to say ….having to wait a minute to see if you’ve supported using condoms in the past is ridiculous. If you were to ask any
— Posted by ryan baxter
2007
10:00 am
Of course, if this was a Democrat, say, John Kerry or Hillary Clinton, deferring an answer for some time to research would be a sign of appreciating nuance and understanding the complexity of the issues.
— Posted by Noah
2007
10:50 am
McCain has every right to be hesitant to tender a response to a question about which he is uninformed. Current evidence shows condom distribution actually increases the prevalence of AIDS. The current policy of distributing condoms in Uganda is now part of what is causing a resurgence of the epidemic. There are many among those of us that consider ourselves morally responsible Republicans, that believe AIDS medications are also causing the epidemic to spread. The infection rate due to AIDS was actually falling until the debut of AIDS medications. All Federal funding should be suspended for AIDS medications, condoms, and pornographic “educational” materials, that are all contributing to the spread of this epidemic. The answer is mass quarantine. The Bush administration has been smart enough to require states to report the true identities of people infected with the virus so a quaratine program can be enacted at some future date. Other first world countries can get this information from their public health services. It’s time to take dramatic action to limit the danger imposed on the rest of us by those who choose to engage in immoral behavior.
— Posted by Bob Walters
Perhaps Mr. Walters would like to call these places of mass quarantine ‘camps.’ Oh, what the hell, let’s deny them their civil rights, let’s deny them their humanity. What does Mr. Walters care, he’s safe because he’s such a perfect display of the moral fortitude.
Why don’t we just strip them down and shove them into the showers? You know of those showers, don’t you, Mr. Walters, the ones without water? That would surely purify things for you, wouldn’t it?Perhaps you don’t, seeing you can actually display such comments without understanding the exacting price this disease has caused many people. Time to read a book, sir.
Don’t quote morals, sir, when you want to quaratine human beings to save yourself. That’s highly AMORAL.
You disgust me, sir, and your ideas are an ignorant person who would use fear and hatred to justify your facist and totalitarian views.
Pray a member of your family never gets sick, sir.
As for McCain, George Orwell said it best: “Ignorance is bliss.” Now we have another blissfully ignorant repubican running.
Please, senator, just retire.
— Posted by Bill Lutz
2007
1:08 pm
Contraceptives do NOT prevent AIDS. It figures that so many people jump the gun an attack this guy. Would you sleep with someone that has HIV and uses the pill as a contraceptive? I sure wouldn’t.
— Posted by Eric B
2007
2:09 pm
Seriously? All of the above comments regarding contraceptives preventing HIV are more idiotic than not having a prepared answer. Contraceptives only prevent pregnancy - your spermicidal jelly isn’t going to prevent HIV. No wonder this epidemic is growing.
— Posted by Brian
2007
8:34 pm
McCain surely stumbled. But, the 330 comments above are unscientific and moronic.
Fact: The largest heterosexual epidemiological study in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 1997, followed 175 discordant couples (1 with HIV, 1 without). They had a lot of sex, but not one person contracted the virus. Source
In fact, 25% of the couples did not consistently use condoms.
Yes, condoms are a good thing — to prevent conception (hence contra & ception).
But, claiming that you need condoms to reduce the phantom spread of HIV is a joke.
— Posted by Blaine
2007
11:28 pm
To all the responses defending McCain because the word “contraceptive” was used: The reporter also used the word “condom”. The reporter was not suggesting that the pill would prevent AIDS.
Plus - A condom is a contraceptive. Condoms prevent HIV transmission. Therefore, contraceptives DO prevent AIDS. Not ALL contraceptives, but contraceptives nonetheless.
— Posted by Gregg
2007
11:37 pm
Writing the phrase “the phantom spread of HIV” and insinuating that condoms don’t prevent HIV transmission - THAT is the real joke. A deadly irresponsible joke.
— Posted by Gregg
2007
12:04 am
hey john - ask your buddy Newt if condoms prevent STDs. sounds like he’s had enough experience to give you the 911 on how they work - of perhaps, don’t work so well. as for government funding, well hell — who’s gonna have money left over for contraceptives after we’ve funded our buddies’ abstience courses…
btw, McCain must have been out of his AZ house when C. Everett Koop mailed the GOVERNMENT FUNDED brochure back in the 1980s on HIV, AIDS and condom usage.
— Posted by brian
2007
7:15 am
McCain is just another Right wing puppet; we can only hope the feeble minded don’t fall for it once again.
— Posted by Greg in Indiana
2007
11:34 am
I teach HIV/AIDS prevention. The pathetic, ill-informed response by Senator McCain shows why our HIV rates are soaring. There is so much ignorance among our so-called leaders. I would love to go to Washington and give them a lecture on HIV/AIDS. It sounds like they need it as much as the 12 year olds who are having sex in their districts.
What a bunch of morons!
— Posted by Judi Backof
2007
12:02 pm
McCain’s comment, or lack of, is typical of privileged, white, male, politicians today … he just happens to be from the “abstinence only Republican” side of the fence. SOS, different day! Least we not forget during the Vice Presidential debate when Dick Cheney and John Edwards both were dumbfounded when the moderator asked what their position was on rates of HIV transmission to African American women in the US … Cheney had no clue and Edwards started babbling about HIV in Africa! Wake up America and realize they do not care that people are dying from a preventable disease, only that they stay on point with their position for their constituency. Nothing new here.
— Posted by Pam Collins
2007
12:37 pm
No wonder more and more folks are finding out they are HIV+, this is a top issue in this country and around the world and this idiot thinks teaching abstinence to prostitutes in Africa will stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. This guy is dumber than he was in the last go around. If we can’t find an intelligent person to run this country we are doomed.
— Posted by diane
2007
1:10 pm
“I don’t know what I think, but let me think about what I thought, and I’m sure that what I thought is what I still think. And that is my thought about your question. I think.”
— Posted by Bruce
2007
4:32 pm
I wonder how Giuliani has (or will) answer these questions.
— Posted by Daryl Spitzer
2007
8:58 pm
McCain, you just sunk your ship with me! Going along with Dubya’s stupid approach is not only unreal, but very dangerous!
— Posted by Jerry Edwards
2007
9:10 pm
he’s done anyway
— Posted by mike
2007
2:53 pm
Er uh the Chicago Fair pig? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on that pig in the past. I have to find out what my original guess on the pig was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on that pig? – I’m sure I said it was big, err it was however big the president said that trout was he caught.
— Posted by Felix
2007
6:18 pm
I read these comments in total disbelief! Where has McCain been during the past 25 years? To say that you don’t know if condoms will stop the spread of STD or HIV is irresponsible, unconscienable, immoral and reprehensible. I am forwarding this site to any one who has an inkling for jumping on McCain’s band wagon. And to the Christian right, Jesus never put you in charge of deciding what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior for humans. My God is merciful and understands, having lived as one of us, that it is terribly difficult to expect people to abstain. In the real world which Jesus knew, people are struggling and dealing with emotions and responding to instinct and the human drive to have sex. Under what conditions that sexual encounter takes place is not the business of the Christian Right and they should not be denying something to people who will ultimately pay for their choices made when that person could not always control what was happening to them. Especially women in Africa, who are considered to be the property of men and on earth to provide them pleasure no matter what the cost!
— Posted by Lee
2007
7:33 pm
Whoa! Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa.
I’ve only made it to comment #5 and I’m already irritated with people’s ignorance. It is NOT the Chrisian attitude that people who have sex before marriage should get HIV. Nor, as comment #4 seems to think, should the right to life groups go away. I am a Christian and I believe in the right to life — as my personal choice. I believe in the right to choose because that is a God-given right. He gave us free will and we can choose what we want.
I respect a politician (or anyone for that matter) who is prepared to say, “I’m not sure where I stand; I’ll get back to you.” There’s nothing wrong with taking time to think about a response. However, Americans need to stop placing American values and beliefs on other countries. The ways to prevent the spread of HIV within Africa must be considered with the context of African culture.
What am I thinking? Americans aren’t renowned for their ability in thinking outside of their own culture. It’s the American way or no way.
— Posted by Taunya
2007
1:16 am
But what about gravity? Does the Senator have a position on gravity? Becuase, you know, SOME people think gravity is just a liberal conspiracy to deprive people of their Baby Jesus-given right to fly.
In fact, if Mr. McCain is interested, I’d be happy to show him a great flying cliff back home in Arizona … course, he’s never been to Arizona, so …
— Posted by Matthew
2007
1:08 pm
Comment 345: I respect a politician (or anyone for that matter) who is prepared to say, “I’m not sure where I stand; I’ll get back to you.”
Can you respect a politician that said, I know I’ve taken a position on that before…what WAS my position? I think once you’ve made a decision on where you stand on something like this, you shouldn’t have to consult your PR guy to find out what that is. It’s a question of whether you’re thinking or polling.
— Posted by felix
2007
10:26 am
“The upshot was that Mr. McCain said he did not know this subject well, did not know his position on it…”
I find this as a strength. We haven’t had someone in the oval office for years willing to say, “I don’t know” on a particular subjects.
“Mr. McCain: “I haven’t thought about it. Before I give you an answer, let me think about. Let me think about it a little bit because I never got a question about it before. I don’t know if I would use taxpayers’ money for it.””
I think this is another strength of McCains. Unlike John Kerry he didn’t flip flop in this situation; He said, “Hey wait, let me go do my homework, then I’ll give you an EDUCATED opinion on this.”
Isn’t this what we need in the white house. Someone who is willing to make sure they have the right answers rather than running an office wrecklessly. John McCain was willing to say, “I’m not sure, but if you give me a second to study it, I’ll tell you what I think then. An educated leader will always suceed over a wreckless one.
— Posted by SmokeyBandit
2007
11:37 am
I am sorry to see John McCain’s very public demise from the arena of straight, honest discussion. He has sold his sold to the far-right wing conservative evangelical base. What a humorless lot he has caved in to……
When can the rest of us lobby (everybody else gets to do it, right?) AGAINST these bible thumpers. Why can’t we organize a ‘grass-roots’ campaign to reveal the phonies for who they really are? I would like to see this group marginalized and fast. They are out of step with the rest of society….even people who consider themselves to be religious in a less confrontational, “send us a check at this address” way.
— Posted by Mike Liddell
2007
12:05 pm
As disturbing as it is to read about McCain (an ex-military man) claiming ignorance about the disease-spread-prevention capabilities of condoms - something the military has been teaching for generations now - what’s most disturbing to me in this posting is the last sentence.
I live in Chicago, and frankly I’m embarrassed by the Tribune as it is, but that last sentence just flabbergasts me.
— Posted by Eric Mathiasen
2007
5:42 pm
This we are told in the twenty-first CENTURY!
The fears of offending religious groups is far greater than a Gonzales moment!
— Posted by Lisen
2007
5:50 pm
If McCain gets the nomination, Democrats could run me and win the presidency. Republicans don’t have a chance in hell.
— Posted by Jasmine Nicole Bruns