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Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media and the host of Declaring Independence, a one hour weekly political talk show on WPRR in Grand Rapids, Michigan.(static)
Ed Brayton also blogs at Positive Liberty and The Panda's Thumb
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Posted on: December 31, 2008 9:30 AM, by Ed Brayton
Remember during the campaign when John McCain kept declaring that he knew how to get Bin Laden and pledged to do that? Since he apparently refused to share that knowledge with the Bush administration, do you suppose he'll share his plan with Obama so we can capture him? Or perhaps admit that he was talking out his ass when he made that claim? Yeah, I didn't think so.
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Comments
If it's true that McCain knows how to get Osama Bin Laden but is refusing to tell, then all the lives lost in the hapless hunt still in progress is blood on his hands.
But he doesn't know. The quality of his statement is equivalent to everything else the Republicans spewed during the presidential campaign, pure bullshit. The man is a liar.
Posted by: Rodney | December 31, 2008 10:17 AM
If McCain knows how to get bin Laden but refuses to say how, then he isn't a war hero, he's a traitor who is harboring a terrorist.
Posted by: Ian | December 31, 2008 10:27 AM
send him to guantanamo
Posted by: GayAtheistSoldier | December 31, 2008 10:34 AM
Here's the secret plan: McCain will have a tracking device inserted up his ***, then he will put his military experience to use - by getting captured. The plan hinges on the likelihood of Al Qaeda capturing McCain and taking him to their leader, instead of just blowing him up.
Posted by: Herod the Freemason | December 31, 2008 11:11 AM
For all the talk of Obama being The One and a "celebrity," did anyone notice how much of McCain's message and how many of his proposed solutions amounted to: "Elect me and I'll get it done. I know how. Trust me, really I do." ?
Posted by: CJColucci | December 31, 2008 11:17 AM
I think the plan involved capturing Bin Laden secretly and holding him until President McCain personally went to Afghanistan for the "official capture" (with Big John leading the posse). Now they're going to have to keep Osama on ice until 2012.
Posted by: Romeo Vitelli | December 31, 2008 11:21 AM
Excellent observation CJColucci.
Posted by: Michael Heath | December 31, 2008 12:01 PM
McCain's Plan is so super-secret, that if he shared it with Obama, he'd have to kill him.
Posted by: Badger3k | December 31, 2008 12:21 PM
...how many of his proposed solutions amounted to: "Elect me and I'll get it done. I know how. Trust me, really I do."?
It was pretty much 100% of his solutions, wasn't it?
Posted by: Josh | December 31, 2008 12:22 PM
Funny, I never noticed before how much the McCain logo resembles the Olympus logo. I'm going to have to come up with an insane conspiracy theory to explain it.
Posted by: Abby Normal | December 31, 2008 12:47 PM
Abby Normal wrote:
Make sure your insane conspiracy theory includes Devil music.
Posted by: Norman Doering | December 31, 2008 1:17 PM
Hell, what would be the use of telling George Bush? That dunderhead would just screw it up, just as he's screwed up everything else. McCain is wise to wait for Obama to handle it, then at least there is a chance of it working out.
Posted by: Joel | December 31, 2008 2:38 PM
A few other possibilities:
(a) McCain does have an idea he thinks would help catch bin Laden, he told Bush but Bush wasn't interested.
(b) McCain does have an idea he thinks would help catch bin Laden, he told Obama, and Obama is either biding his time, or thinks it's a bad idea.
(c) McCain does have an idea he thinks would help catch bin Laden, but he's waiting for Obama's inauguration on the grounds Bush would screw it up. (Like Joel said.)
(d) McCain did have an idea he thought would help catch bin Laden, but he's since realized it was a dreadful idea, and is too embarrassed to talk about it.
Of course, the original suggestion - he was talking out of his ass - is far more likely than all of these combined.
Posted by: llewelly | December 31, 2008 3:37 PM
So, is McCain a traitor, a fraud, or an incompetent?
If he believes he has a means of catching Bin Laden, but refuses to share it with the appropriate authorities, then he is knowingly acting in a way that ensures Bin Laden is not caught, therefore he is giving aid and comfort to an enemy of the United States, which meets the Constitutional definition of treason.
If, on the other hand, he had such a plan, presented it to competent authorities, and was laughed out of the room, then he is simply incompetent at making anti-terrorism plans, and thus unqualified for the Presidency on that count.
Finally, if he never had any such plan, but claimed to have one for campaign purposes, then he raised millions of dollars under false pretenses, which sounds like an act of criminal fraud. Perhaps his donors would like to hear about that...
Posted by: phantomreader42 | December 31, 2008 3:55 PM
Ian, second comment, said:
May I edit slightly?
The similarities between politicians, preachers and peddlers has long engaged me. I once considered a sign to post at the end of my old rural driveway which would have read:
Didn't. Should'a. Maybe I will someday.
(Thanks, Ian. Way to start a train of thought!)
Posted by: Crudely Wrott | December 31, 2008 3:59 PM
In the weeks before the election I kept thinking to myself, "Why isn't some of the media making a big deal about this claim!" They just gave him a pass on it, but should have been more controversial than "spreading the wealth around".
Posted by: Sheldon | December 31, 2008 4:14 PM
Seriously Sheldon. My first guess at why the media ignores [topic here] is that there is no ad money in covering it, or that the controversy generated would somehow reduce ad revenue. At this point, I cannot imagine that slamming the defeated McCain campaign would be an advertising problem, so where is the outrage?
What's that? You say the mass media are not our friends? That they have no concern past making a buck these days? How can this be!?
And how is it that intoxicated people are allowed to post in polite company? So many mysteries.
Posted by: Chris A | December 31, 2008 6:05 PM
In the weeks before the election I kept thinking to myself, "Why isn't some of the media making a big deal about this claim!"
They probably assumed he was speaking figuratively, as in, he knows the sort of processes needed to be engaged that could eventually fulminate in bin Laden's capture, theoretically, thereby making it another facet of his "experience" claim. Add in the inherent bluster one can safely assume to be a part of any claim made during an election and you get a simple "he's talking out his ass" scenario. That's not news.
Posted by: schism | December 31, 2008 8:46 PM
he's a politician and it's a political campaign, they write talk ^&*( and lie.
give a %^&* about nothing some more please. sarc...
Posted by: zombie_bot | December 31, 2008 9:47 PM
Even Americans (quite possibly the most gullible people on earth,) didn't buy that one. The biggest insult isn't that McCain lied (hardly a revelation) but that he thinks his audience is stupid!
Posted by: Raymond Minton | December 31, 2008 9:47 PM
It's obvious why, it's that damn Liberal Media Bias™.
Posted by: tincture | December 31, 2008 10:55 PM
How's that: You like to get Bin Laden? Take a look into Bush's basement. Are there really any doubts about a false flag operation on 9/11? Please, wake up!!!
Posted by: Flug | January 19, 2009 8:07 AM
thk'n'sssaz
Posted by: netlog | January 24, 2009 12:52 PM
nice to see that Obama has win the race.
Posted by: xtcommerce | August 23, 2009 1:29 PM