Candidate Watch
One Up, One Down for John McCain
"In case you missed it, a few days ago, Senator Clinton tried to spend $1 million on the Woodstock cultural museum. I wasn't there. I am sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was tied up at the time."
--John McCain, Republican debate, Orlando, Florida, October 21, 2007
In the six weeks since this column was launched, we have committed at least two sins of omission. Alone among the leading presidential candidates, John McCain has somehow escaped our attention. We have yet to award our "prized Geppetto checkmark," recognizing statements that contain "the truth, the whole, truth, and nothing but the truth." We are rectifying both oversights today.
In order to qualify for the Geppetto checkmark, a statement must not only be 100 percent truthful, it must also be memorable. (OK, I just added that requirement, to prevent this column from becoming too cosy with the political class.) In past debates, Senator Lloyd Bensen's stinging dismissal of Dan Quayle in the 1988 vice-presidential debate--"I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine, Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy"--would qualify for both truthfullness and memorability. We invite readers to nominate other candidates.
With that high standard in mind, we award the first Geppetto checkmark of the 2008 presidential campaign to John McCain of Arizona, for his recent attack on Hillary Clinton. Speaking at the Republican debate in Orlando, Florida, McCain reminded the audience that Clinton had earmarked $1 million in the Senate for a cultural museum in Woodstock, in upstate New York, scene of the great hippy festival in August 1969. He then added the sardonic zinger, "I was tied up at the time."
The statement checks out. At the time of Woodstock, McCain was in a cell in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. He was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967, and not released until 1973.
Paul Begala, a senior White House official under President Clinton, described McCain's "I was tied up" remark as "the best line of 2007." "I love Hillary but you have to give him his due," Begala told CNN. "McCain is showing Republicans the best way to attack Hillary Clinton, with humor, dignity, and class, and some self-deprecation that also reminds us he is a war hero."
***
"A recent poll found that 55 percent of Americans believe the U.S. Constitution establishes a Christian nation. What do you think?"
"I would probably have to say yes, that the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation."
--John McCain interview with Beliefnet.com, September 2007.
"No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
--Article 6, U.S. constitution.
Just to make sure that the Geppetto award does not go to McCain's head, we must take the senator belatedly to task for his statement to a religious website that "the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation." It is true that the statement came in response to a question about a public opinion poll. Nevertheless, it displays either a remarkable ignorance of U.S. history or an unseemly determination to pander to an influential section of the electorate, according to constitutional scholars.
"The constitution is completely neutral on the subject of religion," said Charles Haynes, a senior scholar with the First Amendment Center, who has written extensively on religion and the constitution. He notes that there is no mention of God in the preamble to the constitution--a controversial point in the late 18th century, and article six expressly prohibits the selection of leaders on a religious basis. "Obviously a Christian nation would have to have Christian leaders."
Haynes notes that attempts were made to amend the constitution around the time of the Civil War to include references to God and to Christ, but they were deflected by Abraham Lincoln. The phrase "In God we Trust" was added to coins during the Civil War, and became a national motto during the Cold War, but was never sanctioned by the constitution. The first amendment stipulates that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
McCain was taken to task by non-Christian groups for his interpretation of the constitution. The National Jewish Democratic Council denounced the McCain statement as "repugnant." The Council for American-Islamic Relations said it went "against the traditions of American pluralism."
McCain later later attempted to revise and extend his remarks. He told supporters in New Hampshire that he had meant to say that the United States was founded on "the Judeo-Christian values" of "human dignity" and "human rights."
Too little, too late. We award the inventor of the Straight Talk Express three Pinocchios, to conform with the three Pinocchios we awarded his fellow Republican candidate Mike Huckabee for the claim that "most" of the Founding Fathers were clergymen.
Posted on October 31, 2007 at 8:45 AM ET
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Posted by: | October 31, 2007 11:14 AM
Was Jack Kennedy actually a friend of Lloyd Bentsen's? Bentsen first entered congress in 1970. Before that he was a Houston businessman, and a former judge. Does Bentsen appear in any major Kennedy biography?
It seems quite likely that Jack Kennedy was not, in fact, a friend of Bentsen's, or, at least, very much of a friend (although I will take him at his word that they were acquainted).
Has this ever been investigated?
Posted by: John | November 1, 2007 11:27 AM
Oh, I see that Bentsen was, in fact, in congress between 1948 and 1954, so he and Kennedy were in the House together. I'd still be interested to see some direct evidence that they were actually friends, rather than merely acquaintances.
Posted by: John | November 1, 2007 11:29 AM
There are several supreme court decisions stating that the United States is a Christian nation. See an article critical of this language in these decisions: http://candst.tripod.com/tnppage/arg7.htm
Although the language appears in dicta and is likely not central to the holding, for believers in a "living constitution," one could argue that the Supreme Court defines the contours of the Constitution and thus stablished the US as a Christian nation through those decisions. Kind of like how the Court found a right to privacy in Griswold. So take away a Pinocchio! :-)
Posted by: | November 1, 2007 12:34 PM
Did you honestly just factcheck whether McCain was at Woodstock and whether he went to Vietnam? I thought the purpose of this column was to check statements that someone might think were wrong. Readers could hardly be blamed if they concluded that you were looking for an excuse to take a swipe at Clinton and boost Saint McCain.
Posted by: Crust | November 1, 2007 04:12 PM
Woodstock is known largely for the preponderence of marijuana and LSD, neither of which can be accurately classed as "pharmaceutical."
"Fact Checker" ... ?
Posted by: Rico | November 1, 2007 10:27 PM
Crust--Ummm...military records showing that McCain was a POW in Vietnam at the time of Woodstock count as pretty solid evidence. One needn't fact check very far to prove that he was not at Woodstock.
Rico--Don't split hairs on words unless you're actually going to look up a real definition. Marijuana, arguably, does have medicinal purposes, and has even been approved for medicinal use in some states, making it a pharmaceutical. LSD, which, unlike marijuana, was created in a lab, has also been tested for various medicinal purposes, although it has never been approved for any medical use. If you want to limit "pharmaceutical" to only drugs used medicinally, fine, but this is a somewhat narrow definition. The Oxford English Dictionary defines one sense of "pharmaceutics" as "the practice or study of the manufacture, formulation, and dispensing of drugs," and I think Woodstock's marijuana and LSD adventures fully qualify under such a definition.
Posted by: blert | November 2, 2007 07:04 AM
Blert--No kidding. My point is no one disputes that McCain did not go to Woodstock. Hence no need for fact-checking. Hence my point that bringing this up comes across as gratuitous promotion of Saint McCain at the expense of Vile Clinton.
(Of course, Clinton -- then a Goldwater girl -- didn't go to Woodstock either, McCain's Geppetto-winning insinuation notwithstanding. It's just that this museum is in her state and she agreed to this earmark, as most any Senator would do in a similar situation. As both McCain and Dobbs surely know.)
Posted by: Crust | November 2, 2007 04:22 PM
Your right on McCains' checkmark.
I think the analysis of his remark on the constitution does not take into account the context of the remark. Clearly its a stretch, but may not be worthy of three Pinocchios.
In a way, the constitution did establish a christian nation-- It establishing a government system that ensured that the majority christian population would have "free excersize" of religion.
I think perhaps the most overlooked part of the constitution is the second half of the establishment clause which ensures no law prohibiting the free excersize of religion. What was the effect of this clause -- a nation not of one particular christian belief (as in england) but one on may christian beliefs. One could argue that this was not the intent, but its hard to argue that it was not the end result.
Posted by: Paul S. | November 2, 2007 05:23 PM
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Excellent! I loved the part where McCain said he understood Woodstock to have been a "pharmaceutical event"...just laughed my head off! It doesn't matter what side of politics you are on - that was a good one!