The cast of NBC Television's "The West Wing" with former Vice President Al Gore. Clockwise from Gore are Bradley Whitford, John Spencer, Richard Schiff, Allison Janney, Martin Sheen. (Photo: NBC handout.)
by Maeve Reston
JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- It turns out that hobnobbing with liberal blogger Arianna Huffington and the cast of NBC's "The West Wing" on the left coast can be a risky proposition for a Republican with White House ambitions.
In Jersey City Friday morning, John McCain emphatically denied a report by Huffington on her blog that he confessed, during a Beverly Hills dinner party in 2001, that he had not voted for George W. Bush after his bitter defeat in 2000. But "West Wing" cast members -- who said in published reports they supported a Democratic ticket -- back up Huffington's story.
"It's nonsense," McCain said this morning when a reporter asked about the matter in the Liberty Science Center. "I voted, campaigned for, worked as hard as I could for President Bush's election in 2000 and 2004. I voted for President Bush. I said so at the time." And McCain is proud of what he saw as his help in getting Bush elected. "I know we're already in a silly season--but my record stands very clearly of campaigning all over this nation on behalf of the candidacy of President Bush," he said. "I think that some people believe that contributed to the fact that he won that election, and also in the 2004 election."
On Monday, Huffington posted an entry on her website asserting that McCain confessed during the 2001 party that he had not voted for the President. On the Huffington Post website, she explained her long silence by saying ...
... she "felt it was time to for me to tell what I knew," because the press was giving McCain "a pass."
McCain's longtime aide Mark Salter, who said he spoke directly with McCain about his vote for Bush after the election, quickly dismissed the story as fiction, and said Huffington would "make anything up" to promote her cause of the moment or her new book.
But actors Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff, who played White House deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman and communications director Toby Ziegler on the show, told the New York Times -- at Huffington's prompting -- that they too heard McCain's confession at the dinner party at actress Candice Bergen's Beverly Hills home.
Whitford told the New York Times and the Washington Post that when a guest asked McCain at the dinner if he'd voted for Bush, McCain put his finger to his lips and mouthed "No way."
Asked about the detailed accounts offered by Huffington, Schiff and Whitford, McCain said he had "no clue" where the story came from.
"I know that I discussed my vote with my wife and family -- and discussed it and said so at the time," McCain said. "In all due respect, this is hardly worth our time. Allegedly this happened eight years ago. I know this is a silly season."
(Originally posted on the LA Times' Top of the Ticket blog.)
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Comments
Yes Senator McCain, keep telling us how enthusiastic you are for President Bush and his policies. Say it as often as you can between now and November.
Posted by: Michael | May 9, 2008 1:56 PM
Leave it to the Swamp to take the word of democrat activist actors.
Posted by: Jeff | May 9, 2008 2:00 PM
I can see why most of the Republican Paty doesn't trust Mr. Maverick/Straight-Talker aka McCain:
"John Kerry: McCain Approached Me About Joining Dem Ticket in 2004"
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by Jonathan Singer, Tue Apr 03, 2007 at 10:30:45 AM EST
Note: You can now read the rest of the interview with Senator Kerry here.
On Monday afternoon I had the chance to speak with Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic Party's nominee for President in 2004. During the interview, which covers a range of topics and which I will be posting later this afternoon, an item of particular interest jumped out at me: According to Sen. Kerry, it was John McCain's staff who approached his campaign about potentially filling the Vice President slot on the Democratic ticket in 2004. Take a listen to and a look at the interchange...
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http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/4/3/11936/97033
Posted by: John E | May 9, 2008 2:16 PM
Hey Jeff, why was McCain hanging out with a bunch of "democrat activist actors" and Ariana Huffington?
I
Posted by: Michael | May 9, 2008 2:27 PM
It's brilliant politics on Huffingtons part. He can either admit it, to cheers from the center and left, or he can deny it and ad a few more links to the chains tying him down to George Bush.
Mark my words, this is a preview of a lot of the general election campaign to come.
Step 1: Make a statement about McCain
Step 2: McCain must respond, and does
Step 3: He either angers some faction of the Bush base, or he ties himself to Bush in the eyes of the center and left.
Step 4: The swearing in of President Obama
Posted by: Fontapa | May 9, 2008 2:28 PM
Who cares what he said about President Bush!! He is a shorter version of our Incompetent-in-Chief! Vote for Senator McCain if you want someone , as your President, who was sited for " questionable conduct ", by the Senate Ethics Committee in 1991. Of course, why would that bother the Republicans, they voted for a candidate who was sited for being AWOL and had a DUI buried in Maine!! They voted for him twice!!! You are better off going with the Looney Left than with the Ridiculous Republicans!!!!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | May 9, 2008 2:30 PM
Today President Bush vowed to veto the $296 billion farm bill if congresss does not excise and end the disastrous corn-ethanol subsidy that very well could be the dumbest subsidy ever passed by congress (and that's saying something) yet we have to read about this in my posts because the All DNC Frank James swamp is too busy stargazing at Bradley Whitford.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aX7btAV99K.M&refer=home
Posted by: Jeff | May 9, 2008 4:03 PM
"RICK DON'T MESS WITH MY DADDY RE NZI RE NZI SPEAKS"
PROMISES WERE MADE, AND NOW PROMISES ARE BEING KEPT!
WE SQUEEZED FROM THE LEFT, HE SQUEEZED FROM THE RIGHT.
PROMISES WERE MADE, AND PROMISES ARE NOW BEING KEPT!
OUR "LAND SWAP LEGISLATION" FROM THE WEST TO THE NORTH INFLUENCED MO MONEY, AND MO MONEY. PROMISES WERE MADE, AND NOW PROMISES ARE BEING KEPT.
OF COURSE I DIDN'T VOTE FOR GEORGE BUSH! OF COURSE MY WIFE DIDN'T VOTE FOR GEORGE BUSH!
VICKIE DID, BUT NOT CINDY.
AND NOT ME.
RICK DID, BUT NOT ME! I PLAYED "BINGO" WITH THE CHOCTOW INDIANS, TOOK A 20,000 FLIGHT HOME AND NEVER TALKED TO ANYONE. PROMISES WERE MADE AND NOW PROMISES ARE BEING KEPT!
Posted by: Roger Morris | May 9, 2008 4:03 PM
Because McCain talks to and takes questions from ALL audiences (including unemployed steelworkers in Youngstown, Ohio), unlike Obama who doesn't even talk to reporters, only his rich, elitist limousine liberal friends at San Francisco fundraisers.
Huffington has less than zero credibility and only the Rank James swamp would run this worthless story.
Posted by: Jeff | May 9, 2008 4:18 PM
Jeff, McCain's back to being against ethanol subsidies? How many more times is he planning on flip flopping on that issue?
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/11/13/8393132/index.htm
Posted by: Luke | May 9, 2008 4:24 PM
McCain either voted for Bush after the latter engaged in the slimiest tactics imaginable to torpedo McCain's nomination (in which I have no respect for him at all), or he wrote-in for himself (which is understandable), but doesn't have the courage to admit it. What a funny game, politics. How to simultaneously appease the 28% dead-enders and court the Independents who voted for Bush and realize what a dreadful mistake they made?
Next thing you know, McCain will be claiming their was no connection between the sweet land deal he pushed through Congress for one of his key campaign contributors and the present "payback".
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/08/AR2008050803494.html
Posted by: dt | May 9, 2008 4:32 PM
Because McCain talks to and takes questions from ALL audiences (including unemployed steelworkers in Youngstown, Ohio), unlike Obama who doesn't even talk to reporters, only his rich, elitist limousine liberal friends at San Francisco fundraisers.
Huffington has less than zero credibility and only the Rank James swamp would run this worthless story.
Posted by: Jeff | May 9, 2008 4:18 PM
Jeff,
You're letting your rabid loyalty for the old man scramble your partisan brain. People aren't going to fall for the silly labels of pundits, "elitist limousine liberal friends", and it isn't true. I've personally witnessed Obama take questions from reporters, average Joe's and students in my home town.
And "Rank James" (pretty juvenile, even for you) isn't the only one who carried this story. Virtually every major news outlet in the country did. Furthermore, if you're going to dismiss the credibility of Huffington, cite some examples. I can show you a couple of hundred from the Bush administration, starting with WMD's. So, feel free to back up your assertions or admit that you're just a tool.
Posted by: dt | May 9, 2008 5:40 PM
Jeff are you really Bruce in disguise??? I could care less if John McCain CAN'T REMEMBER who he voted for. McCain is four more years of failed Bush policy. Believe it!
Obama 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67ANtTZpCmE
Posted by: Logic Prisoner | May 9, 2008 7:51 PM
Liberal media types are making the assumption with this story that if one doesn't vote for Bush, they are voting for Al Gore.
The Libertarian Party had full 50 state ballot access in 2000. The LP is quite popular in Arizona, has been for decades.
Just because the McCains may have not voted for Bush, doesn't necessarily mean they voted Gore.
Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul for instance, has famously bragged about voting for the Libertarian Party Presidential candidate in every election since 1976.
Voting Libertarian is almost like voting Republican. The LP is the essentially the minor party version of the GOP. (The LP's nominee this year is likely to be Republican Bob Barr.)
So, the McCains may be telling a bit of a fib here. But it's a great stretch to imply that they supported Gore.
And of course the liberal media is making that stretch implicitly.
Posted by: Eric Dondero | May 10, 2008 8:38 AM