Well, since this guy’s job is to get John McCain elected at all costs, is it a stretch to wonder whether he’s actually hoping for one? It wouldn’t be the first time someone mused about that being a good idea.
On national security McCain wins. We saw how that might play out early in the campaign, when one good scare, one timely reminder of the chaos lurking in the world, probably saved McCain in New Hampshire, a state he had to win to save his candidacy - this according to McCain’s chief strategist, Charlie Black. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December was an “unfortunate event,” says Black. “But his knowledge and ability to talk about it reemphasized that this is the guy who’s ready to be Commander-in-Chief. And it helped us.” As would, Black concedes with startling candor after we raise the issue, another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. “Certainly it would be a big advantage to him,” says Black.
When it came out that Black lobbied for some of the worlds worst dictators, MoveOn put out this ad urging McCain to fire Black. I wonder if this is a fireable offense. I’m guessing not.
What’s even worse, just like Black exploits the tragic death of Benazir Bhutto for political gain, CNN’s Dana Bash is on the record saying that McCain echoed the same sentiment right after her death. Watch it here.
John Amato: Is Black hoping for an attack on US soil? He should be fired for saying this. Months ago he brought up the Bhutto assassination as an “unfortunate event.” Gee, what an awful way to phrase that tragedy. How about it was a horrific blow to Bhutto, her family and the country of Pakistan at a critical time in their history. Instead—it’s just an event, but a ” positive event” for McCain’s bid at the presidency. Let’s take a look at Black’s client list for a minute.
Charlie Black, McCain’s senior counsel and spokesman, began his lobbying career by representing numerous dictators and repressive regimes.
Black’s firm represented the governor of Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos. According to a 1985 report, the firm Black, Manafort & Stone earned $950,000 plus expenses for its work to provide “advice and assistance on matters relating to the media, public relations and public affairs interests.”1
Black’s firm lobbied on behalf of Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire, earning $1 million a year for his efforts.2
Black’s firm lobbied on behalf of Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.3
Black’s firm represented Nigerian dictator Ibrahim Babangida, earning at least $1 million for his efforts.4
Black’s firm has represented Equatorial Guinea, an oil-rich state “best known for the outlandish brutality of its rulers.”5
Black represented Angolan rebel and “classical terrorist” Jonas Savimbi, a job that earned him $600,000.6 “We have to call him Africa’s classical terrorist,” Makau Mutua, a professor of law and Africa specialist told the New York Times. “In the history of the continent, I think he’s unique because of the degree of suffering he caused without showing any remorse.”7
In recent years his client list has also included the Iraqi National Congress8, Friends of Blackwater9, and the China National Off-Shore Oil Corp.10
Since 2005, BKSH has received more than $700,000 in fees from foreign entities.11
I think lobbying for brutal dictators and regimes has rubbed off on Charlie Black a little too much.
Filed Under: Campaigns/Elections, John McCain
Tags: Charlie Black, Terrorism
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Sounds like a success story to me.
Lovely! We’re going to live in fear for the rest of our lives… oh, Frist!
this could change everything……..new zealand here i come
Could you imagine if someone from Barrack Hussein Obama’s campaign made this comment? FOXaganda and Rush Limpnuts would be all over it!
if anyone thinks mcfuckhead would be a shoe-in in the
event there is another attack on American soil, either
has or needs a lobotomy. mc-i-can’t-keep-things-straight-in-my-head
is no more qualified to run this country than bush/cheney were when
they stole two elections. several months in a pow camp
DOES NOT QUALIFY anyone as president, either with or without
a new national attack or threat.
this is just another fucking reichwingneocon WETDREAM.
“When you’re born, you get a ticket to the freak show. When you’re born in America, you get a front-row seat.” -George Carlin
McCain will say he doesn’t approve of the statement, Black will say he’s sorry and it was taken out of context…….. Michelle Obama will say she likes scarves and be accused of supporting terrorism.. we live in BIZZZZZZZZARRRRRRRO WORLD !
Yep, if the Republicans fail to protect us from another attack … that’s good for Republicans! Just as, if Republicans want to spy on us and cover their friend’s asses for breaking the law, they will be protected … by Democrats! Bizarro world is now our reality.
Just wondering, but other than saving that he has an advantage, what has McCain actual done on National Security? What has he been involved in with regards to foreign policy? What has he been involved with when it comes to Homeland Security and National Defense?
What has McCain done in his 20+ years in the Congress and Senate that has made America safer?
911, Katrina, military depletion, National Guard depletion, terrorist in Iraq, terrorist regrouping in Afghanistan all happened under a Republican regime yet some folks still actually believe the Republicans are better at keeping America safe.
Right Wing Kool Aid is more addictive than I thought!
dadams @ 5:
Qualifications and rationality would not apply to the elections of a recently post-terrorist event. Mccain would get a very large advantage, unless Obama and the DNC figured a good enough counterpoint that “8 years in the White House and another terrorist attack”. Even though that’s sophomoric as much as the Republican’s line would be “We couldn’t get FISA approved because of those libruls!!”. The Republicans I fear would win the “argument” by popular fear and it’d bring the polls much closer, if not in favor of, Mccain.
Black’s comments are just another indication that McCain (just like Bush) has the potential to become a dictator. He has no real leadership abilities to move the populace to him so he uses the specter of a outside threat, be it real or imaginary, to scare the population into submission. Hitler, Stalin, and many other dictators used this same method to gain power and later to control their people.
Funny you mentioned Bhutto, it can be argued that her assassination was a result of willful security failures on Mushy’s part. Kinda makes you wonder about the security failures the secret service has had with the dem candidates as of late.
Only in the Orwellian world of corporate politics and mass media propaganda would the second failure of the same Republican administration to protect the country from a mass terrorist attack be trumpeted as a political advantage for a Republican presidential successor running on the failed national security strategies of the lame duck incumbent .
It is NOT POSSIBLE to have the best interests of the United States at heart and still deal with these Merchants of Death. Black is a greedy, black-hearted, blood-drenched hypocrite. No doubt he drinks it like tea.
Yes - I know we’re one of them - that’s why I say “best interests” ~~
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I’m amazed so many don’t connect the dots on 9/11.
9/11…benefit to Bush and his corporate buddies…suppression of any challenge to same
So what Black is saying is “Stay tuned ….” - right?
*
From the McCain camp:
“Charlie deeply regrets his comments. They were inappropriate and he recognizes that the candidate we work for has devoted his entire adult life to protecting his country and placing its security before every other consideration.”
But, of course, he meant what he said.
I’d bet good money this loser is on the unemployment line within 24 hours.
The election of Benizir Bhutto would NOT have been in the best interests of the US. Keeping Musharref in place continues a long standing tradition of propping up anti democratic dictators. Democracy opens eyes and an informed electorate threatens the corporate elite. Bhutto would have worked for peace with Inda and Afghanistan. This is bad for the war profiteers.
Charlie Black nearly screwed the pooch. Yet the sheeple still refuse to believe that Bushco would sit idly by again to boost Grampy’s chances.
So Michelle Obama is taken out of context and the outrage ensues out of her “Proud of America” statement as being “anti-American” or some other crap. This guy, a top McCain adviser, mentions terrorists attacking would help McCain, and he gets a pass as well as McCain.
Where is that liberal media the right-wingers constantly talk about? I would love to watch that all the time, but all I’m seeing is people wanting to constantly pet John McCain on the head like he’s a little puppy that needs their protection.
Since this seems to be a Republican mantra, rather than one guy “misspeaking”, I hope Obama picks it up and runs with it… he should nail Repubs to the wall for this sort of crap.
for christ sake.
remember those smartass arabic college boys cracking jokes about bombing an airport, and some hick waitress in Florida overheard them, and she called DHS and they shut down a freeway?
know how its definitely impossible to get thru airport security if you make comparable jokes, possibly even illegal?
how the fuck can these old played out babyboomer fartknockers get away with talking this kind of trash? seriously! how is it legal? how do they stay off a no-fly list?
how can a high school boy with no resources get expelled for threatening to blow up a school, but these old farts with direct access to pentagon insiders can talk this kind of shit without serious secret service scrutiny?
McCain will probably be the next president. I think the only way to prevent that would be to follow the laws of the country which means that Bush and Cheney would be in jail by now. Congress is not doing its duty because it is led by the criminal Nancy Pelosi who is making a dynamic effort to protect Bush. Nancy Pelosi is evil !! Nancy Pelosi is helping John McCain become the next president of the United States. The democrats will never have control again. Nancy Pelosi is a traitor. Nancy Pelosi = Treason.
Read the previous thread.
Carol Shea-Porter is real good on what a good congress person she is. And she is.
But she does not answer the question that goes to the reason for having congress in the first place, which is why so many Americans get it right on Iraq and so many in congress get it wrong.
Congress is an 18th century idea. Good for its time, bypassed by technology.
Let’s have a direct citizen vote.
I’ll trust my fellow citizens (Harvard professors, midwestern farmers, rednecks, hippies, neocons, 24-year-olds, etc.) more than I trust congress.
however horrible to say …. its true….. a terrorist attack on the country WOULD help the republicans……
THATS WHY I SAY…… IF ANOTHER ONE HAPPENS BEFORE THE ELECTIONS IT WAS DONE BY THE REPUBLICANS…. TO KEEP THE WHITEHOUSE.!!!…
IF THEY ARENT ABOVE LYING US INTO A WAR WHERE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HAVE DIED……. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THEY WOULDNT FAKE ANOTHER TERRORIST ATTACK JUST TO KEEP POWER????……
IF YOU DO…. YOU ARE NAIVE………….
MY QUESTION…… “IF, as the republicans say, democrats are weak on terrorism and if our enemies (the terrorists) believe the democrats are weak on terrorism, or that obama may be sympathetic to their cause… do you really think that they would do anything between now and the election to HELP ELECT JOHN MCBUSH AND THE REPUBLICANS?………… DO YOU REALLY THINK TERRORISTS ARE THAT STUPID?……………
nothing is as it seems.
This snaggle-toothed bastard is about as slimy as repuke lobbyists get.
Another terror attack would benefit the current War Criminal in Cheif as it would give him a reason to declare martial law and cancel elections.
Ruthless People @ 4:
what…. you mean if he said… a terrorist attack would help the republicans??? .. .they would agree…. IT WOULD. thats how stupid the great unwashed masses, here in this country are, they are all fear stricken and right wingism bordering on fascism is their knee jerk response…. they are the new nazis…… WE ARE ONE TERRORIST ATTACK, REAL OR FAKE, AWAY FROM A COMPLETE DICTATORSHIP…. that has been the plan all along.
So Black is saying that if Al Qaeda from the surging terrorists in Afghanistan that Bush/McShame have taken their eye off of, if they attack the U.S. then the general public will like Bush/McSenility’s plan to attack Iran?
Its Karl with hair !?
Vietvet8666, spot on.
now on to my point…
Shut up slaves. Vote for who the elites put up for you to approve.
we spy on you
we monitor your emails, your banking, your credit - everything
we set up surveillance cameras everywhere
we torture you - pain compliance
we prohibit your free speech - free speech zones
we intimidate your token honorable Congressmen/Senators
we build concentration - alien-only camps (riiiight)
we condition your approval through education, media, and cultural devices
we illegally wage wars and convince you to fight for them - and die for them
we manufacture phony evidence
we crash the dollar and wipe out your savings
we rig the elections and set up the judiciary
we stage false flag attacks
we lie to you on nearly every major issue - and you still trust us.
YOU and YOUR CHILDREN are our slaves. You only live in a illusion of democracy. Like choosing McDonalds versus Burger King.
We just have a new system of slavery and you can’t recognize it. Or worse - you willful ignore it.
and if you do….
just what do you think you can do about it?
phone calls? emails? letter campaigns? million man marches? protests?
what a joke. impotent.
we - the powers that be have microwave pain compliance, we have sound-wave cannons, we have tasers, we have unmanned reconnaissance drones, we have dressed-in-black riotgear stormtroopers to bash your heads, we have water cannons, and we have mounted cavalry.
what you got??? SQUAT.
puny insects.
come on… do something. we dare you.
jwf @ 27:
That’s why McGranpa likes him.
I’m now so scared I just pissed my pants. Of course, I’m almost as old as Carlin. I’m expected to do it on a regular basis anyway.
McCain says take the United States down win the election.
McCain says let some Americans die win the election.
Truth B at 32
I’m 62. My goal is to use cash only, no cell phone. I’ll use the internet. But the fucks better read the Second Amendment before they come calling.
JimboSlice @ 9:
He stopped dropping naplam and phosphorous on other countries women and kids, that makes us safer from blowback.
He abandoned the POWs and MIAs by suppressing the reports, he made an Iraqi market place as safe as one in Idaho.
We wont bring up the reverse ace thing and the five US aircraft while in the US Navy, and the hotdog takeoff that went wrong.
wow… truth be told is right…. lets just kill ourselves…. nothing we can do about it…. we are just puny insects. (read prison planet much?)….i guess THEY picked obama….. THEY are in power…. its all a computer simulation…
oh wait… that was the matrix.
Vacuus Deus @ 28:
At first blush that is what I thought but after thinking about I am not so sure. If we get attacked again people will see that the war in Iraq is the fraud that it is. They will see that the Bush/McCain Administration has taken their eye off of Afghanistan/Pakastan and terrorists elsewhere or that they have not protected the U.S. of A. I think that maybe an attack on us might no be such a good thing for McGramps/Bush
Truth B Told @ 32:
We have the ability to not pay taxes, to lose our jobs, to buy foreign cars,
to watch our economy collapse and along with it the governments ability to pay its stormtroopers, alas they can be unemployed too.
How many 1337 stormtroopers will stand on the front line against the masses, when their masters dont pay them ?
Captain Obama’s Bitter Half Husein Kangaroo @ 33:
he has no sense of smell or morality…
Ruthless People @ 10:
yeah.. and its loaded with vitamin D…(delusion)
kevin @ 29:
And our only line of defense against the Republican Reich is a Democratic congress. Might as well man the boats.
How dumping TRILLIONS into and gutting the constitution for “homeland security” and *then* having another terr’rist attack helps McCain is truly beyond my logic circuits processing abilities.
Wouldn’t he be seen as the extension of the complete f*ckup who allowed both to happen?
Sheesh.
Having a republican admin fail to keep the country safe and allow another atack helps McFart? Boy, I guess I can’t for the life of me figure out how he would benefit.
kevin @ 38:
hello naive kevin…
no, they didn’t choose Obama… but THEY did stack the deck with the candidates THEY would be happy with.
and they denied media coverage to those that actually would act against the powers-that-be. And they can’t have that.
Tell me, why does Barack surround himself with the same elite establishment types that would have undoubtedly flocked around Hillary if she was annointed by the People?
Don’t you recognize a criminal syndicate when you see it? Do you think the powers that be would only play one party and not coopt the other? Oh…that is too Machiavellian?
Perhaps you need to relate to the common man then… a boxing fight… how does the mob guarantee the result? Not with just one fighter in on the fix…. they both have to be in on it to drop at the appointed round.
sorta like how Kerry dropped against his fellow Skull and Bones brother Bush?
why would the terrorists attack us? the last time they did the entire world came to our defense and their was a tremendous outpouring of sympathy to the american people. but the way our leadership handled the situation turned off everybody and the good will was gone. why would they attack us again and bring back the sympathy? their leadership is far smarter than ours. all they have to do is threaten us on