Who benefits from Obama flap? Obama. Looks like a set up by Bush to me.

Ya know, not all Muslims are bad. the Saudi elite and Bushies are close. I said it first. I will say it again. Obama can’t possibly be who he says he is, and when you take EVERYTHING into consideration (read my blog), it’s a no brainer. Bush wants Obama. Romney wants Obama. They DO NOT want Clinton. Am I the only sober one still standing?

 Obama’s wife sits on CFR. And you think they are bringing the troops home?  LOL

They are going to rearrange the loungers.

So, tonight’s breaking news is another attempt to shift attention away from Rev. Wright and onto the sympathy factor for Obama. Oh My – The Outrage !!  Are they hiding all that secret info about Obama’s secret trip to Iran? So, if there is nothing found in the passport probe, what’s the harm in using it as a tool to turn a tide?

Gawd, we’re so stupid.

Nothing that happens from here on out is what it appears to be. Look to see who benefits. Then have some cake and stop worrying. But, go and vote and you have a brand spankin new covenant with their Gods. You can have them.

whoohooo

Notice the Pastor’s comments exposed before Dem nominee picked? Not after?

There is nothing more a good solid Democrat loves in these times than some Pastor railing against the evil Bush administration. If Obama wants to win the nomination, just keep lookin deep for those same kinds of rants from his Pastor. Dems will flock to him. NOT to Clinton, who would follow in Bush’s footsteps.  So, there’s that.

But, know this, NOTHING is as it appears. NOTHING. Don’t forget that Michelle Obama sits on CFR. And, Obama is teamed with lots of peeps who WOULD NOT bring change. Old Guard with new suits.

 Don’t even try to figure it all out. They have a bigger puter than you.

Just detach my friend. Go on a picnic and hug your children.  Or stay aligned with the world’s most creepish evil and watch it all unfold up close and personal, over and over and over and over.

The right is pushing Romney for VP

It’s official. They want to lose. But why? Why would they want to lose…..unless they could win? But, in order to win, it would take a Clinton or an Obama to win for them. Which one is on their side? Or, are both actors in this Grand Illusion?  Clearly, they don’t want McCain. And, to match him up with Romney is the kiss of death. NOTHING would energize democrats (non mormon) more than a McCain Romney tkt.

 I told you not to count out Romney. There was a reason for that.

McCain courts secret radical religious group

And who, exactly, is the Council for National Policy? I’m glad you asked.

U.S. News reported during the ‘04 campaign:

The supersecret Council for National Policy, founded at the onset of the Reagan era, will be meeting in New York at an undisclosed location in hopes of avoiding protesters. The thousand member group includes political heavyweights like John Ashcroft, Bill Frist, and Tom DeLay, religious leaders from Pat Robertson to James Dobson, media moguls like Steve Forbes, and conservative billionaires Howard Ahmanson and Nelson Bunker Hunt. Conservative Republicans boast that the council’s meeting is the “real” convention. “It’s the old smoke-filled room, but I wouldn’t say it’s corrupt,” says a source. “Rather it’s just where the work gets done.”

McCain Courts Secret Radical Religious Conservative Group

 

By Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report
Posted on March 8, 2008, Printed on March 11, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com//79060/

Usually, political groups trip over one another to try and gain public notoriety and attention. The Council for National Policy, meanwhile, would be perfectly happy if the public didn’t even know it exists. (I’ve long believed the easiest job on Earth would be to serve as this group’s press secretary.)

The CNP is made up of many heavy-hitters from the religious right and conservative movement in general, and they meet periodically to plot and scheme. It may sound excessively cloak-and-dagger of the group, but the CNP has a list of formal rules, one of which reads, “The media should not know when or where we meet or who takes part in our programs, before or after a meeting.”

Fortunately, details routinely leak. Today in New Orleans, for example, the CNP will gather and hear from none other than John McCain. (You know, the one who “refuses to pander” to anyone.)

Sen. John McCain, in his post-victory debut before the conservative movement’s top donors and leaders, will address the Council for National Policy’s annual winter meeting here today.

His remarks at the event, which has always been closed to the public and will have only a partial accommodation of the press this year for the first time, could turn out to be his make-or-break pitch for support from some of the right’s most influential critics of his past positions and policies.

“This is the most distinguished collection of conservative leaders and donors, and he was anxious to appear as part of his ongoing effort to consolidate support for his candidacy within the conservative movement,” said Charlie Black, Mr. McCain’s campaign adviser.

Not everyone will be glad to see him. One veteran CNP member told the far-right Washington Times, “It will say more about the state of the conservative movement than it does McCain. If he is accepted at CNP, this will mark the official end of the conservative movement as we knew it.”

And who, exactly, is the Council for National Policy? I’m glad you asked.

U.S. News reported during the ‘04 campaign:

The supersecret Council for National Policy, founded at the onset of the Reagan era, will be meeting in New York at an undisclosed location in hopes of avoiding protesters. The thousand member group includes political heavyweights like John Ashcroft, Bill Frist, and Tom DeLay, religious leaders from Pat Robertson to James Dobson, media moguls like Steve Forbes, and conservative billionaires Howard Ahmanson and Nelson Bunker Hunt.

Conservative Republicans boast that the council’s meeting is the “real” convention. “It’s the old smoke-filled room, but I wouldn’t say it’s corrupt,” says a source. “Rather it’s just where the work gets done.”

No one really knows what kind of work gets done when these wealthy, powerful right-wingers gather in their proverbial smoke-filled room. We do know that the CNP was co-founded by Tim LaHaye, who provides the Biblical analysis for the popular, right-wing “Left Behind” novels and who has worked to advance the religious right’s agenda for decades.

We also know that the CNP’s membership reads like a who’s who of some powerful far-right players. In addition to those mentioned in the U.S. News piece, readers may recognize names such as Grover Norquist, Phyllis Schlafly, and Oliver North.

Perhaps the best mainstream report on the CNP came from ABC News a couple of years ago, which described the Council as “the most powerful conservative group you’ve never heard of.”

When Steve Baldwin, the executive director of an organization with the stale-as-old-bread name of the Council for National Policy, boasts that “we control everything in the world,” he is only half-kidding.

Half-kidding, because the council doesn’t really control the world. The staff of about eight, working in a modern office building in Fairfax, Va., isn’t even enough for a real full-court basketball game.

But also half-serious because the council has deservedly attained the reputation for conceiving and promoting the ideas of many who in fact do want to control everything in the world.

As for McCain, the Washington Times added, “‘We agreed the press could sit in a separate room and listen to the speech and the questions and answers,’ a CNP official said, speaking anonymously because the rules of the council forbid officials or members to speak by name in public.”

It should be interesting. Right Wing Watch also has a good item on the CNP.

Steve Benen is a freelance writer/researcher and creator of The Carpetbagger Report. In addition, he is the lead editor of Salon.com’s Blog Report, and has been a contributor to Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Crooks & Liars, The American Prospect, and the Guardian.

© 2008 The Carpetbagger Report All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com//79060/

Hmm. Lemme get this straight. It’s an election year and the economy is tanking, gas is up, jobs are down, and Bush has no power?

Sounds to me like they want Obama to win. They sure as hell don’t want McCain. What does that tell you about who OBAMA REALLY IS?

think people

I have done the numbers on Obama. HOLY CRAP ! Same with Clinton…..

They left McCain for dead. What kind of *wind* picked McCain up and carried him to the nomination? It wasn’t party leadership, that’s for sure. They want him gone. That means, I can support only McCain. I am a liberal dem, in no way in support of Clinton or Obama. But, the man the repubs hate is your only choice. I have seen tons of conservative discussion boards and lists touting a vote for Obama. Gee Wiz, that’s odd since he *appears* to be very anti Bush and war, and greed, and yadda yadda.

Bet on it.

ARE YOU STILL IN DENIAL OVER FEMA CAMPS?

There over 600 prison camps in the United States, all fully operational and ready to receive prisoners. They are all staffed and even surrounded by full-time guards, but they are all empty. These camps are to be operated by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) should Martial Law need to be implemented in the United States.

The Rex 84 Program was established on the reasoning that if a mass exodus of illegal aliens crossed the Mexican/US border, they would be quickly rounded up and detained in detention centers by FEMA. Rex 84 allowed many military bases to be closed down and to be turned into prisons.

Operation Cable Splicer and Garden Plot are the two sub programs which will be implemented once the Rex 84 program is initiated for its proper purpose. Garden Plot is the program to control the population. Cable Splicer is the program for an orderly takeover of the state and local governments by the federal government. FEMA is the executive arm of the coming police state and thus will head up all operations. The Presidential Executive Orders already listed on the Federal Register also are part of the legal framework for this operation.

The camps all have railroad facilities as well as roads leading to and from the detention facilities. Many also have an airport nearby. The majority of the camps can house a population of 20,000 prisoners. Currently, the largest of these facilities is just outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. The Alaskan facility is a massive mental health facility and can hold approximately 2 million people.

A person named Terry Kings wrote an article on his discoveries of camps
located in southern California. His findings are as follows:

Over the last couple months several of us have investigated three soon-to-be prison camps in the Southern California area. We had heard about these sites and wanted to see them for ourselves.

The first one we observed was in Palmdale, California. It is not operating as a prison at the moment but is masquerading as part of a water facility. Now why would there be a facility of this nature out in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no prisoners? The fences that run for miles around this large facility all point inward, and there are large mounds of dirt and dry moat surrounding the central area so the inside area is not visible from the road. There are 3 large loading docks facing the entrance that can be observed from the road. What are these massive docks going to be loading?

We observed white vans patrolling the area and one came out and greeted us with a friendly wave and followed us until we had driven safely beyond the area. What would have happened had we decided to enter the open gate or ask questions?

This facility is across the street from the Palmdale Water Department. The area around the Water Department has fences pointing outward, to keep people out of this dangerous area so as not to drown. Yet, across the street, the fences all point inward. Why? To keep people in? What people? Who are going to be it’s occupants?

There are also signs posted every 50 feet stating: State of California Trespassing Loitering Forbidden By Law Section 555 California Penal Code.

The sign at the entrance says: Pearblossom Operations and Maintenance Subcenter Receiving Department, 34534 116th Street East. There is also a guard shack located at the entrance.

We didn’t venture into this facility, but did circle around it to see if there was anything else visible from the road. We saw miles of fences with the top points all directed inward. There is a railroad track that runs next to the perimeter of this fenced area. The loading docks are large enough to hold railroad cars. [lrec]

I wonder what they are planning for this facility? They could easily fit 100,000 people in this area. And who would the occupants be?

Another site is located in Brand Park in Glendale. There are newly constructed fences (all outfitted with new wiring that point inward). The fences surround a dry reservoir. There are also new buildings situated in the area. We questioned the idea that there were four armed military personnel walking the park. Since when does a public park need armed guards?

A third site visited was in the San Fernando Valley, adjacent to the Water District. Again, the area around the actual Water District had fences logically pointing out (to keep people out of the dangerous area). And the rest of the adjacent area which went on for several miles was ringed with fences and barbed wire facing inward (to keep what or who in?) Also, interesting was the fact that the addition to the tops of the fences were fairly new as to not even contain any sign of rust on them. Within the grounds was a huge building that the guard said was a training range for policemen. There were newly constructed roads, new gray military looking buildings, and a landing strip. For what? Police cars were constantly patrolling the several mile perimeter of the area.

From the parking lot of the Odyssey Restaurant a better view could be taken of the area that was hidden from site from the highway. There was an area that contained about 100 black boxes that looked like railroad cars. We had heard that loads of railroad cars have been manufactured in Oregon outfitted with shackles. Would these be of that nature? From our position it was hard to determine.

In searching the Internet, I have discovered that there are about 600 of these prison sites around the country (and more literally popping up overnight do they work all night). They are manned, but yet do not contain prisoners. Why do they need all these non-operating prisons? What are they waiting for? We continuously hear that our current prisons are overcrowded and they are releasing prisoners because of this situation. But what about all these facilities? What are they really for? Why are there armed guards yet no one to protect themselves against? And what is going to be the kick-off point to put these facilities into operation?

What would bring about a situation that would call into effect the need for these new prison facilities? A man-made or natural catastrophe? An earthquake, panic due to Y2K, a massive poisoning, a panic of such dimensions to cause nationwide panic?

Once a major disaster occurs (whether it is a real event or manufactured event does not matter) Martial Law is hurriedly put in place and we are all in the hands of the government agencies (FEMA) who thus portray themselves as our protectors. Yet what happens when we question those in authority and how they are taking away all of our freedoms? Will we be the ones detained in these camp sites? And who are they going to round up? Those with guns? Those who ask questions? Those that want to know what’s really going on? Does that include any of us? The seekers of truth?

When first coming across this information I was in a state of total denial. How could this be? I believed our country was free, and always felt a sense of comfort in knowing that as long as we didn’t hurt others in observing our freedom we were left to ourselves. Ideally we treated everyone with respect and honored their uniqueness and hoped that others did likewise.

It took an intensive year of searching into the hidden politics to discover that we are as free as we believe we are. If we are in denial, we don’t see the signs that are staring at us, but keep our minds turned off and busy with all the mundane affairs of daily life.

We just don’t care enough to find out the real truth, and settle for the hand-fed stories that come our way over the major media sources television, radio, newspaper, and magazines. But it’s too late to turn back to the days of blindfolds and hiding our heads in the sand because the reality is becoming very clear. The time is fast approaching when we will be the ones asking “What happened to our freedom? To our free speech? To our right to protect ourselves and our family? To think as an individual? To express ourselves in whatever way we wish?”

Once we challenge that freedom we find out how free we really are. How many are willing to take up that challenge? Very few indeed, otherwise we wouldn’t find ourselves in the situation that we are in at the present time. We wouldn’t have let things progress and get out of the hands of the public and into the hands of those that seek to keep us under their control no matter what it takes, and that includes the use of force and detainment for those that ask the wrong questions.

Will asking questions be outlawed next? Several instances have recently been reported where those that were asking questions that came too near the untold truth (the cover up) were removed from the press conferences and from the public’s ear. Also, those that wanted to speak to the press were detained and either imprisoned, locked in a psychiatric hospital, slaughtered (through make-believe suicides) or discredited.

Why are we all in denial over these possibilities? Didn’t we hear about prison camps in Germany, and even in the United States during World War II? Japanese individuals were rounded up and placed in determent camps during the duration of the War. Where was their freedom?

You don’t think it could happen to you? Obviously those rounded up and killed didn’t think it could happen to them either. How could decent people have witnessed such atrocities and still said nothing? Are we going to do the same here as they cart off one by one those individuals who are taking a stand for the rights of the citizens as they expose the truth happening behind the scenes? Are we all going to sit there and wonder what happened to this country of ours? Where did we go wrong? How could we let it happen?

FROM:  http://www.abovetopsecret.com/pages/camps.html

112TH POPE AND OBAMA

George Bush refers to Obama as THE POPE. Very telling.

 

But, does it mean what you think it means, or it’s opposite. 🙂

 

Wrote Lindsey: “The prophecy concerning the 111th pope says of him, ‘Gloria Olivae,’ which means ‘the Glory of the Olive.’ Could it be that he will be from the Order of Saint Benedict, also known as the Olivetans? Could he be an African, a continent symbolized by the olive tree?

 

“The olive tree is also frequently a symbol for the Israelites in the Bible. Could this mean that this pope will be an Israelite who will be seen as the glory of his people? It bears watching as to who will be this pope.”

 

Joseph Ratzinger, 78, who was elected pope today by the College of Cardinals, chose as his name Benedict XVI. The name Benedict comes from the Latin word for “blessing.”

“St. Malachy predicts, ‘In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign “Petrus Romanus” (Peter the Roman), who will feed his flock amid many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people,'” wrote Lindsey.

 

“If any of this is true, then I suspect that the 111th pope will not live very long. We are just too close to the final events before Christ’s return for him to reign for a long period.”

Revelation chapter seventeen details the final judgment of the Mystical woman symbolically named Babylon the great. John the Apostle identifies the woman, “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits …” and “And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 17:9, 18 NKJ) When John wrote this, there was only one city that reigned over the kings of the earth – ROME, which sits on seven hills.

The coming Popes will seize upon the popularity created by John Paul II with the secular world. With the help of the media, it is easy to foresee how “Peter the Roman” will be able to mesmerize the world to follow his counterfeit of Christ.

It is time to make sure where you stand with God.

I underlined, bolded and italicized what applies to Pope Benedict XVI. If this prophecy is true (and so far it has yet to be proven false), we now only have one more pope to go after this one before the 1000 Kingdom is set up.

MY NOTES:

_______________________________________

THE LATIN WORD FOR BENEDICT IS “BLESSING”

THE HEBREW WORD FOR BARAK IS “BLESSING”.

Please remember that Barak backwards is K ARAB

The K = 11

ALSO NOTICE THE NAME PETRUS.

OUR GENERAL IN IRAQ IS PETRAUS

HIS NAME ALIGNS EXACTLY WITH END TIMES USING MY SYSTEM..

As you were. Who do you think will win American Idol?

I forgot the link to this.

The Real Barak Obama ?

WHO IS BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA – 117 H  –  234 V  –  351 HV……….

This matches The Great Pyramid of Giza precisely.

______________________________________

BARA K    THIS IS ARAB 11  (look at it bkwrds)

K = 11

The bkwrds alphabet includes the C that is omitted in the fwa.

I have already posted some of those findings. Barak Obama aligns deeply with the Mormon church numerically, and the Illuminati, which includes The Scottish Rite. I am not seeing in the numbers someone who is truly aligned with light for the Jewish community. I am seeing Egypt and Arab. And Mormons. Which sheds some light on Mormons (again).  There is no other church Barak aligns with. The first Mormon church was called THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. Barak’s church is United Church of Christ and they recently honored Louis Farakan.

One of Barak’s biggest successes in the Senate he co-sponsored with Orin Hatch, of Utah,  for the protection of church tithings in the Banckruptcy bill. At the same time, he accidently voted against children’s health care in Illinois. He was called on it and asked that the record be corrected.  This happened on other occassions.  His zip code is 666 and is the same zip code for BOEING’S INTL HEADQRTS.  Think planes. It’s all about the planes my friend.  The new Boeing Dreamliner is called 777.  The PYRAMID # FOR LATTER DAY SAINTS IS 777. Think Vegas with it’s slot machines. Think Area 51 and money laundering.

You need to knowthat Barak Obama could be a TROJAN HORSE.

That is the last time I am saying it.

When you vote for someone you are actually making a covenant with them.

It matters.

http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Blessings-of-Prayer.pdf

http://www.studylight.org/lex/heb/view.cgi?number=01288

http://www.smallboatbigsea.org/22/

B is for Blessing

This has been at the heart of every Jewish Sabbath meal since Abraham. It was a vital part of the early church composed of Jewish converts. The Hebrew for ‘blessing’ (barak) means to ‘empower to strength’. When we gather we should seek God’s blessing and then to pass that blessing on to members of our community.

http://jaysnell.org/Book1HTM/chapter_one.htm

Blog article by flazna

Obama

Thursday, February 7th 2008, 3:45 AM 12 0I would like to remind all who call themselves Christian that
it is your first and foremost responsibility to seek God as to
who He wants as President. He has to listen to the same crap
lies. He does however say to pray for those who are in
leadership, not against them, so here is what God told the
Prophet Joe.

He said since I have you writing things about the Hebrew
language and you know nothing about the Hebrew language, then
look up the names of the runners in Hebrew. The only one who
comes close to a Hebrew name I could trust is the one whose
name matches the one blessing.
Barak atai adonai elohenu or Blessed are you oh Lord.

Bamah means to be high or elevated.
Barak O Bamah means Blessed is the most high God.
~Prophet Joe Dooly, Miami, AZ~

——-

I had to check this so I looked it up in my Hebrew dictionary.
Here are the full Hebrew dictionary meanings.

1288. barak, baw-rak’; a prim. root; to kneel; by impl. to
bless God (as an act of adoration), and (vice-versa) man (as a
benefit); also (by euphemism) to curse (God or the king, as
treason):– X abundantly, X altogether, X at all, blaspheme,
bless, congratulate, curse, X greatly, X indeed, kneel (down),
praise, salute, X still, thank.

1116. bamah, baw-maw’; from an unused root (mean. to be high);
an elevation:–height, high place, wave.

NOTE FROM SHEREE :  111 X 6 = 666

http://www.chillx.com/?L=blogs.blog&article=24010

THEN THIS

 BARAK O BAMAH  means Blessed is the most high God (hebrew)

BARAK O BAMAH =  37 H —-  73 V —-   110 HV

The word Barak means BLESSED

Backwards alphabet BLESSED =  556 hv

The difference is 110

110 = President  (using reg alphabet)

THE ORIGIN OF BLESSED= 111 H

111= WHO IS THE ANTICHRIST H

Backwards alphabet  GOD =  10 h    55 v   65 hv

They use the forward number added to the bakcward number:

10 + 01 = 11

55 + 55 + 110   (another 11)

11 + 11 = 22

65 + 56  = 121  = ANTICHRIST v  – THIS IS  6-556

You already know what 22 is.

bama   mabus

the ending us is  U.S.

M A  is  131 expression when assigning numbers under letters.

  ….which is 13 going backwards and forward.

It’s all about 13.

Why doesn’t Russert ask them about Blackwater, and Spying On Our Citzens, and Oil Profits, and Impeachment and ….

We have had a gazillion debates with the same old tired questions, but none relating to EXACTLY what will impact this country more than anything else. THE LOSS OF OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES. Oh, and our ignorance.

 We just keep going along like good little sheep. They don’t ask, because they are WARNED not to ask.

Wake the hell up. Is anyone begging to talk to the people about these things. Asking for some air time on these things. Hell no. We are idiots that’s why.

John McCain’s about face on torture.

McCain Torture Endorsement Lost Amid Media Sex Scandal Frenzy   By Liliana Segura, AlterNet Posted on February 22, 2008, Printed on February 22, 2008 http://www.alternet.org/story/77505/ Upon being confronted with The New York Times’ “bombshell” report of his too-cozy relationship with a “lady lobbyist” during his last presidential campaign, GOP contender John McCain took a page from the Bush playbook and blamed the media. His spokesperson, Jill Hazelbacker, called it “a hit-and-run smear campaign.” McCain invoked his service to his country and issued a blunt denial: “Obviously I am very disappointed in The New York Times article,” he said. “It’s not true.” And in what might be her second public utterance since she piped up to say that she is very proud of her country, would-be First Lady Cindy McCain — who bears an eerie resemblance to the lobbyist in question — joined her husband at a press conference to say that she, too, was “very disappointed in The New York Times.” “Americans are sick and tired of this kind of gutter politics,” Hazelbacker declared in an official statement. Maybe so — but you can’t say the same for the media. Just when it looked like McCain was comfortably, boringly, settling into his role as GOP nominee, a sexy front-pager broke that would not only spice things up, it would give the press a chance to drop everything and indulge in a little journalistic naval-gazing. Hours after the Times posted its story Wednesday night, The Washington Post followed with its own version of a politician-meets-lobbyist tale told amid fundraising venues and inside private jets. AlterNet’s Joshua Holland provides the sordid summary: “The heart of the Times (and Washington Post) story is that staffers became concerned that McCain, the Patron Saint of Straight-Shooterdom, was overly cozy with a lobbying hottie — a lobbyist whose clients had business before a committee McCain chaired — and warned her off of the Senator’s campaign. That comes from a named source, John Weaver, who says he was personally present at a meeting with (Vicki) Iseman, and personally warned her off.” The blogosphere lit up overnight, and following McCain’s 9 a.m. press conference, every talking head on television was weighing in on the McCain “sex scandal” — a scandal that ultimately has precious little to do with sex, given that the Times fell short of proving anything actually happened between McCain and Iseman. In some ways, McCain is right: The media should be blamed — but not just for shoddy reporting of a rather sexless scandal. They should be castigated for ignoring a much more important and damning story about the so-called principled maverick — one that has actual implications for American democracy. Mere hours before The New York Times broke its story on Wednesday, McCain made a totally unrelated — and apparently un-newsworthy — statement to reporters, in which he called for President Bush to veto the Senate’s anti-torture bill. He talked in support of “additional techniques” for interrogation, sounding ever more in line with the White House’s official stance. McCain, the “war hero” who has been an outspoken opponent of torture, voted against the bill, which would restrict the CIA to some 19 interrogation techniques listed in the Army field manual. Now, having passed the Senate, the bill is headed for a veto at the hands of President Bush. For a man who would be president — and who is practically giddy at the prospect of being Commander in Chief — McCain’s push for a veto is ominous. His evolving position on torture should be deeply troubling — much moreso than the current scandal. Yet it has received a fraction of the media attention that has already been devoted to whatever he did or did not do with a blonde lobbyist eight years ago. Meanwhile, right-wing McCain supporters and critics alike are making so much noise chattering about family values and attacking the Times, McCain’s about-face on torture is likely to stay buried. In fact, “the Times story may have succeeded in accomplishing what politics itself could not,” observed The Atlantic‘s Marc Ambiner, “unifying the conservative base around McCain by way of their visceral disgust with The New York Times and its lib-ber-ral politics.” So how did this mess get started? According to an article published Thursday afternoon in The New Republic, word got out about the Times‘ months-long investigation of McCain, so the publishing giant may have rushed to press to keep from getting scooped by another publication. But that theory — ripped from the mouths of none other than McCain’s own advisers — is about as flimsy as the sex scandal itself. Between right-wing howling against the Times and nerdy journalism gossip, the McCain fracas has largely become a story about a story. “We’re going to war with The New York Times,” the McCain camp announced the night the article broke. Robert Bennet, McCain’s lawyer, complained to Wolf Blitzer that he had sat down with reporters and shown them “10 to 12 instances” where McCain had refused to do her bidding — but those examples had remained conspicuously absent from the piece. At least some in the media have acknowledged that, distilled to its base, there’s very little that’s news in this story — unless you actually bought into the myth that McCain is the straight-shooting, ethical politician he claims to be. Yet the coverage continues. “I think we’re going to have a feeding frenzy for a day, maybe a day and a half, then it will go away because it’s a nothing story,” one McCain adviser said. In contrast, no media feeding frenzy followed McCain’s vote against the anti-torture bill last week. It was forgotten faster than you could say “waterboarding.” Of course, this is a “sex scandal.” Torture, by comparison, is old news. © 2008 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/77505/