West Wing Actors Back Huffington's Claim That McCain Didn't Vote For Bush; McCain Calls Her a Liar on O'Reilly

I don't particularly care if he voted for Bush or not. He's a thin-skinned prickish guy who holds grudges. We already knew that. It wouldn't surprise me, nor bother me all that much, if he didn't vote for Bush.

But a couple of actors from the West Wing (both of whom I hate based on their self-righteous characters) say they too heard John McCain answer the question as to whether he personally voted for Bush by saying "No way." In case you care, the actors are Bradley Whitford (snakey-looking younger WASP liberal) and Richard Schiff (bearded older Jewish liberal).

Both are supporting Democrats, though I don't think that's a huge knock on their credibility on this. I'd be interested to know how close a friendship each might have with Huffington, though.

"He was going on and on about how horribly unqualified and untested Bush was, how the campaign had attacked his family," said Whitford, a registered Democrat. "Someone said, 'If he's so terrible, why did you support him?'"

McCain replied that as a member of the GOP, Whitford added, he always intended to back the party's nominee. Then, the actor said, someone asked McCain whether he had cast a vote in favor of Bush.

"He put his finger up to his lips, shook his head and mouthed, 'No way,'" Whitford said.

I don't know. That seems to be sort of stagey. Possibly joking around. Perhaps he was spoofing the question -- thinking the answer should be pretty obvious -- by answering that way.

Here's McCain's denial:

He is right about campaigning for Bush, of course. And fairly enthusiastically (even if that enthusiasm was feigned).

Perhaps he was joking around when he said "No way" to Huffington and her Hollywood buddies. Or perhaps he was shining them up, playing The Maverick again.

Though it's very possible he's just lying. He campaigned for Bush as was required, but in the privacy of the voting booth, he voted against him.

This is a bigger issue than it ought to be simply because McCain fetishizes his own putative integrity and honesty.

posted by Ace at 12:35 PM

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