Door Stephen C. Nam toe | Vandaag is Internet rife met speculatie over of John McCain de vragen Rick Warren gevraagde Barack Obama hoorde. McCain schijnt om goed voorspelbaar het beantwoorden van de vragen gedaan te hebben, of hij hen of niet kende. In feite zou iedereen denken de man een permanente pas had. Allen hij doet is zegt hoe onvolmaakt hij is, in dienst neemt in een gezichts zelf-denigration Chaplinsque, en allen is goed.

Zelfs schijnen de opiniepeilingen om met hem te zijn. Drie dagen bonden Gallup en een verhoging in Ohio vast.

Dit ondanks bewijsmateriaal dat de man een raaskallende neocon, de toelating is dat hij zal doen wat hij keus van de provincie van vrouwen en zijn fatuous begrip dat kan ontrukken wij een overheid op dampen kunnen leiden.

Maar wat de meeste stokken in mijn krop het duidelijke bewijs is dat de man dicht bij het zijn een gedwongen gokker is, als dusdanig verklaard door minstens sommige van onze heersende stromingsmedia, en niemand aan mijn kennis direct hem over het onderwerp heeft geconfronteerd.

McCain is een gedocumenteerde craps speler. Hij is gekend om craps op impuls 14 uren bij een rek te spelen.

Van het spel van craps, Anthony Holden Het ogenblik hield de auto bij het hotel van McCain in New Orleans van de binnenstad op, stelde hij bij zijn gebruikelijke snelle klem voor Harrah, over de straat op. McCain is an avid gambler. Wes Gullett, a close friend who worked for McCain for years, told me that they used to play craps in Las Vegas in fourteen-hour stints, standing at the tables from 10 a.m. to midnight. ‘Craps is addictive,’ McCain remarked, and he headed for the fifteen-dollar-minimum-bet tables.

Image of McCain at The Tables

Michael Scherer and Michael Weisskopf says:

“Over time he (McCain) gave up the drinking bouts, but he never quite kicked the periodic yen for dice. In the past decade, he has played on Mississippi riverboats, on Indian land, in Caribbean craps pits and along the length of the Las Vegas Strip. Back in 2005 he joined a group of journalists at a magazine-industry conference in Puerto Rico, offering betting strategy on request. ‘Enjoying craps opens up a window on a central thread constant in John’s life,’ says John Weaver, McCain’s former chief strategist, who followed him to many a casino. ‘Taking a chance, playing against the odds.’ Aides say McCain tends to play for a few thousand dollars at a time and avoids taking markers, or loans, from the casinos, which he has helped regulate in Congress. ‘He never, ever plays on the house,’ says Mark Salter, a McCain adviser. The goal, say several people familiar with his habit, is never financial. He loves the thrill of winning and the camaraderie at the table. 
“Only recently have McCain’s aides urged him to pull back from the pastime. In the heat of the G.O.P. primary fight last spring, he announced on a visit to the Vegas Strip that he was going to the casino floor. When his aides stopped him, fearing a public relations disaster, McCain suggested that they ask the casino to take a craps table to a private room, a high-roller privilege McCain had indulged in before. His aides, with alarm bells ringing, refused again, according to two accounts of the discussion.

“He clearly knows that this is on the borderline of what is acceptable for him to be doing,” says a Republican who has watched McCain play. ‘And he just sort of revels in it.’”

Another Image of McCain Playing Craps — In Las Vegas.

A survey of McCain’s gambling with many links.

Does McCain have a record of wins and losses? If so, should these be shared with the public? McCain has said craps is addictive. Is he craps addict? Has his gambling led to any questionable conflicts of interest?

I have found that mention of McCain’s gambling habit is a persuasive argument to people who are on the fence and wondering who to vote for. The association of gambling with the term neocon and observation of McCain’s growing synchronicity with Bush positions is generally enough to convince an inquirer. But these days the teflon mantel seems to be moving to McCain. And to my knowledge no one has raised these questions directly.

Yet.