John McCain took a question from me at today's townhall

Davefromqueens does a pretty good job summing up the event in a currently recc'd diary, but I just got back to Virginia and I think you'll enjoy my story as well.  

It's funny how much Dave's report runs parallel to the mental notes I made about the event; I was going to say something about the 3/4 full gymnasium (as opposed to 10s of thousands of people at Obama events); I was going to mention how much the pledge of allegiance felt like foolish nationalistic pomp (this comes from a Marine); I was going to mention the way certain people (like the African-American girl that asked the question about education) seemed to have had their seats strategically placed (in her case, front-row, center).

Flip for more - including my question and how I came to be called on.

One thing Dave did not mention was the music played on a loop.  The first song was Go Johnny Go -  a relic from 1950 something.  The next song - I'm not kidding - was Eye of the Tiger.  They had 3-4 other songs on the tape and it played over and over again for the full 2 hours we waited in our seats.

Call me crazy, but if I was spending nearly a billion dollars to run for President, I'd have a DJ and some kind of stage presence on staff to fire up the crowd before my arrival.  But...  I'm glad they don't and really hope they don't take my advice.

Anyway, I may fill in the story with more contextual detail tomorrow, but right now I'm tired as hell, so let me tell you what happened with me and John McCain.

I got there early and parked in the press area without knowing it.  By the time I walked around to the other side of the building, there were about 25 people milling about.  I arrived at the waiting area at around 7:50; the doors were scheduled to open at 9:00.  At around 8:20 one of the security guards came around and told us we were lining up outside the wrong door.  Until then, I had been sitting at an umbrella-table; when I saw people start to stand in line, I figured I should as well.  I ended up about 25-30th in line out of 6-900 people.

Finally, at 9:30 or so, they opened the doors and put us through metal detectors.  I had a portable video recorder/player on me and I was a little worried they'd meke me return it to the car, but they lt me take it in.  I was surprised because for some reason, it wouldn't turn on.  For all they knew, it could have been a piece of black plastic encapsulating a brick of C4.  Perhaps the Secret Service has other, less obvious, means of detecting explosives...  but if they do not...  well, I fear for the safety of our Presidential candidates.

When I got in, they asked those of us that first arrived to fill up the bleachers first.  I don't like republicans too much, so I ignored the request and settled into a chair in the front row near the corner of the stage.

Then I waited.  I'm glad I brought a book because I waited and waited and waited.  They trotted out the local candidates and did a few introductions, then they made us wait some more.

Finally, Lieberman, Keane and McCain took the stage; for some reason, Lyndsey Graham stayed off to the side.  They each took turns in their circle-jerk, then McCain started speaking.  He mentioned how much he liked townhalls because he really got to hear the people's voice, and then went on to speak for about 30 minutes.  In those thirty minutes, he must've told us how much he liked townhalls because he got to hear our concerns about 5 more times.  Of course, he;d then follow up with another lengthy monologue.

He finally turned to take questions.  Unlike Dave, I don't think any of them were plants.  The first two people called on were sitting right next to me.  They asked asinine questions about energy - questions that have been asked and answered 1000 times.  McCain announced that there would be no more questions from the energy corner and my heart sank.  That meant he wasn't coming back to my part of the room.  It didn't stop me from trying though.  McCain and I made constant eye-contact and I tried to look as plaintive as I could.  It didn't work - for the rest of the townhall - all 5-6 questions - he took questions from other parts of the room.

Remember Condi Rice filibustering the 9/11 Commission?  That was John McCain answering questions.  It became really apparent that he knows that by wandering along in his answers, answering questions not asked and dosing out liberal chunks of his stump speeches, he can avoid taking too many questions.  It's definitely the safe play.

So the townhall wound down, McCain thanked us all for coming and he never called on me.

So how did I get to ask him a question?

The same way I always pull it off.  I forced it.

Right after the speech, I knew McCain would work the rope line.  Since I was in the front row, it only took me about three steps to get there.

I spoke loudly:

"Senator McCain - I noticed you aren't wearing your flag lapel-pin.  May I give you mine?"

McCain:  "Yes, sir, you can"  (what else was he going to say? - he really wasn't wearing a flag pin)

now I had him front and center...

"Senator, I spent four years in the Marines"

McCain:  "Thank you for your service."

"Oh, no sir, thank you for yours.  I have a feeling this is as close as I will ever come to pinning a medal on you."  (said as I'm fastening the lapel pin)  "Senator - you know our motto is Semper Fidelis - always faithful?"

McCain:  "Oh yes, I do"

"Well have you always been faithful to Cindy McCain?"

Deer-in-the-mother-fucking-headlights.

McCain:  "Oh no...  that's not what I'm going to talk about."

"Have you been faithful to your wife?  You won't answer?  C'mon - how 'bout a little of that straight talk?"

(crowd beginning to get angry - hissing)

McCain:  "Young man, I will tell you that I have a son serving in Iraq in the Marines."

"Yes - I know.  I know a lot about you.  Have you cheated on Cindy McCain?  Why won't you answer?"

McCain turned away.

All of the aforementioned was caught on film and microphone by the networks.  As far as I know, it has not been released and probably won't be.  When I asked Senator Allen - after the macaca incident - if he ever used the word "nigger" and why he kept a Confederate Flag and noose in his office, the NBC camera guy caught the whole exchange.  It, to this day, has never aired in its entirety.  The only reason I know it exists is that the video (without the sound) was shown to provide context to the later incident in which Allen's goons threw me to the ground.

Perhaps one day we'll have a media that develops some sense of fair play.   They can spend weeks talking about Obama's lapels without mentioning John McCain's identically barren flaps.  They can follow Gary Hart around, but even after McCain has his campaign lambaste the New York Times for their story on McCains extra-special relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman, they won't ask the straight-talk candidate if he's been faithful to his wife.

Why is it important?

Because we've seen what happens when we've got a President that has difficulty learning lessons from experience.  McCain writes in his book how difficult the end of his first marriage was (he left his swim-suit model wife after she was disfigured in a car wreck and gained a few pounds).  He says he was selfish during that time of his life and accepts responsibility for screwing up.

Well...  If he's still screwing up, doesn't that say something about either his a) sincerity or b) ability to learn from past mistakes?

One last note.

I would not have asked the Cindy Mccain question without some inside knowledge.  There's a story coming.  I don't know how it is going to break or where, but McCain will not enjoy the benefit of an enthused evangelical base.  Wheels are turning.