Last night, McCain held a "Town Hall" meeting that was broadcast by the McCain News Channel (FOXNews). Here's a bit from Fox itself:
I reported at the top of this hour that the campaign had told us at Fox News that the audience would be made up of Republicans, Democrats, and independents. We have now received a clarification from the campaign and I feel I should pass it along to you. The McCain campaign distributed tickets to supporters, Mayor Bloomberg, who of course is a registered Republican, and other independent groups.
(h/t Atrios)
UPDATE: According to Think Progress, at this same "Town Hall" Potemkin Village, McCain managed to lie about his record on Social Security privatization:
During his town hall event in New Hampshire yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) got into a verbal back and forth with a voter over his support for Social Security privatization. McCain told the man, “I’m not for, quote, privatizing Social Security. I never have been. I never will be.”
But McCain’s record begs to differ:
- “Without privatization, I don’t see how you can possibly, over time, make sure that young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits.” [C-Span Road to the White House, 11/18/2004]
- “As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it — along the lines that President Bush proposed.” [Wall Street Journal, 3/3/2008]
UPDATE II: It's like the guy who gets sloppy drunk, lies about it, then lies about lying about it. Just man up, dude, and accept the fact that you said what you said, and have either changed your mind (it's a human thing) or are now or were then lying your ass off. From Think Progress:
Yesterday, despite his clear record on the issue, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told a crowd in Nashua, NH that he has “never” been for the privatization of Social Security.
At another town hall in Pemberton, NJ today, McCain tried to push back against criticism of his position on the issue by telling the crowd, “I will not privatize Social Security and it’s not true when I’m accused of that.”
--snip--
The problem for McCain is that his current stance means he was either lying in March when he told the Wall Street Journal’s Bob Davis that he supported private accounts “along the lines that President Bush proposed” or he doesn’t understand the nature of the private accounts he campaigned for in 2005.
The author of the post gives McCain an out, as it were. He might not be lying. He might just be ignorant.
My money, to be honest, is on both.
