CLIFF SCHECTER on Thom Hartmann Show now! The Real McCain

By GottaLaff

He's on Air America or stream here, too:

I'll liveblog it, but now you can hear him live.

Thom Hartmann interviews Cliff (they talked fast, so it's paraphrased, with some quotes, and shorthanded):

Thom: Who is the Real John McCain? The Real McCain tells you. Fascinating reading... McCain was singing under duress of torture, did more than Kerry did, who got Swiftboated for being a hero. And his positions on war! If they were his positions now, you'd say, "he's a pretty rational guy!" He's schizophrenic.

Cliff: When the Gulf war started, he was opposed to war, he was also opposed to Lebanon (Reagan years), he is a completely different man... People are finding this out from my book. His early career has been ignored, he's changed positions, flip-flopped on tax cuts (he's for Bush's tax cuts now), on abortion rights... We couldn't think of overturning Roe v. Wade, he used to say.

Thom: YouTubes of Obama years ago show him making an eloquent case for single payer health care (different from what he says now). To do that now would be political suicide. I think, I bet if he becomes president, we'd have a good shot at single payer health care. And people think McCain will turn back into that good guy we used to like.

Cliff: I worry about that. He's really someone who decides who he'll be based on political calculations. He approached Kerry about joining his ticket... He was much, much more right wing, only changed for 4-5 years, around 1998-2003, to serve himself... The truth is, his history tells us, with lobbyists, his far-right stand on social issues, that's who he is. He won't go back to being a moderate. He'll be a right-winger.

Thom: He's involved with lobbyists ....

Cliff: Super bundlers, 66 of them, who Bush calls Pioneers, plus staff, so there are 112 of them, lobbyists, who are involved in his campaign. Telecom lobbyists should worry you enough, but Charlie Black, his top adviser, lobbied for Somalia and Ferdinand Marcos... and others, Tom Loeffler.

The "reform" label covers his weaknesses. The relationship with Iseman, he's using her corporate jet... He pressures regulators... people should be very concerned about that.

Thom: The financial relationship with her, not the sexual one, is important.

Cliff: Yes, way more important... We get one line from a few cable channels.

Thom: Give me the elevator speech that I'd give to my friends...

Cliff: He'll be a simple continuation of the Bush years, with more lobbyists, temperamental...

Thom: Whatever people pay him the most is what he'll say. That, and he can't control his own temper...

Cliff: You said it better than I did.