October 21, 2004: Headlines: COS - Fiji: Politics: Election2004 - Shays: Election2004 - McCain: Humor: Fairfield Weekly: Shays plays straight man to McCain's touring Daily Show routine. "When you're president, I want to be your vice president," Shays, looking at McCain, added humbly.

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Fiji: Special Report: Former Congressman Chris Shays: RPCV Congressman Chris Shays: Archived Stories: October 21, 2004: Headlines: COS - Fiji: Politics: Election2004 - Shays: Election2004 - McCain: Humor: Fairfield Weekly: Shays plays straight man to McCain's touring Daily Show routine. "When you're president, I want to be your vice president," Shays, looking at McCain, added humbly.

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-141-157-9-111.balt.east.verizon.net - 141.157.9.111) on Saturday, October 23, 2004 - 5:16 pm: Edit Post

Shays plays straight man to McCain's touring Daily Show routine. "When you're president, I want to be your vice president," Shays, looking at McCain, added humbly.

Shays plays straight man to McCain's touring Daily Show routine. When you're president, I want to be your vice president, Shays, looking at McCain, added humbly.

Shays plays straight man to McCain's touring Daily Show routine. "When you're president, I want to be your vice president," Shays, looking at McCain, added humbly.

Taking Their Act on the Road
Shays plays straight man to McCain's touring Daily Show routine.

Caption: Shays Thought Bubble: When you're president, I want to be your vice president. JOE MIKSCH PHOTO

by Joe Miksch - October 21, 2004

First off, Sen. John McCain is as funny in person as he is on Comedy Central's The Daily Show . And he can say pretty much whatever he wants. Such is the reward for being thoroughly crapped on by the Bush campaign in 2000 and sucking it up enough to campaign with the toad this time around.

Anyhow, plans are afoot to turn McCain's life story--grandfather and father Navy bigwigs, his five-plus years as a POW, his ascension in politics--into a movie. But who will play McCain?

"I want Tom Cruise," the Arizona Republican said Oct. 11 (wait for it, wait for it) at a town hall forum at Saugatuck Elementary School in Westport. "My kids want Danny DeVito." (Insert rimshot here). McCain appeared alongside U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, who is facing a fight for reelection against Westport First Selectwoman Diane Farrell.

McCain, in the event that he leaves politics, doubtless has a standing gig awaiting him at the Tempe Ha Has comedy club.

The forum, held smack dab in the middle of Farrell territory--about a quarter mile from her campaign headquarters, in fact--was less a campaign event (though there was some base-energizing going on and it came after a couple of fundraisers earlier in the day) than a chance for two men who depict themselves as mavericks within their party to field questions about war, peace, terrorism, the national economy, federal debt, campaign finance, etc. And bond.

Affairs particular to the fourth congressional district--transportation being the big one--were barely mentioned. Perhaps that wasn't the purpose of the event, having a senator from elsewhere on board certainly suggests so, and it was members of the audience of 700 asking questions. Shays didn't set the agenda. And McCain answered most of the questions.

That said, it is Farrell's contention that Shays has less concern for the district--ever drive on Interstate 95 in Fairfield County? It stinks--than for Big International Stuff. The Oct. 11 forum indicated that Farrell could be right about Shays or wrong about the Republicans in her prospective constituency who, though they may like to see I-95 flow as freely as a vegan's arteries, are more interested, at least when in the company of a star senator, in national security.

McCain thinks that's so, saying that for the first time since 1952 this presidential election is about war and national security, not domestic issues.

Shays did his best to keep up with McCain, who more or less stole the show, fielding almost every audience question before Shays. At one point, Shays stood stage right and appeared to be taking notes.

"You go first. No, you go first ... trust me, you go first," Shays said, deferring to McCain on a question about the importation of prescription drugs from abroad, third worlds included. "When you're president, I want to be your vice president," Shays, looking at McCain, added humbly.

But seriously, folks. Shays and McCain (or should we say McCain and Shays?) agree that the invasion of Iraq was the right thing to do, that Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is gaining legitimacy--indicated, Shays said, by the fact that on a recent trip to Iraq, the press asked Allawi questions, more or less ignoring Shays and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte--that the international community screwed up good in failing to help enforce sanctions against the Saddam Hussein regime and that the Saudis fund terrorism.

One particularly interesting observation on Iraq came when Shays, who served in the Peace Corps during the Vietnam War (his conscientious objector status kept him out of the military), said that it's vital for the United States to understand and respect Arab culture in order to facilitate democracy. For example, Shays said, "You embarrass an Iraqi in front of his wife, you might as well have put a dagger in his belly."

Understanding and respecting foreign cultures? Isn't that the kind of remark that got John Kerry in the soup when he used the word "sensitive" in the same sentence as "war on terror," causing Bush and Cheney to strip the remark of context and howl that Kerry is a bedwetting liberal who wants to hug terrorists into submission? Thought so.

Oh, both men think the campaign finance legislation they shepherded through the dark, lonesome valley of congressional tweaking has been defanged. They believe that the Federal Election Commission stinks, too.

McCain/Shays '08.

Use our contact form to write to Joe Miksch.
jmiksch@fairfieldweekly.com





When this story was posted in October 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:

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The Kerry campaign wants the RPCV vote. Read our interview with Dave Magnani, Massachusetts State Senator and Founder of "RPCVs for Kerry," and his answers to our questions about Kerry's plan to triple the size of the Peace Corps, should the next PC Director be an RPCV, and Safety and Security issues. Then read the "RPCVs for Kerry" statement of support and statements by Dr. Robert Pastor, Ambassador Parker Borg, and Paul Oostburg Sanz made at the "RPCVs for Kerry" Press Conference.

RPCV Carl Pope says the key to winning this election is not swaying undecided voters, but persuading those already willing to vote for your candidate to actually go to the polls.

Take our poll and tell us what you are doing to support your candidate.

Finally read our wrap-up of the eight RPCVs in Senate and House races around the country and where the candidates are in their races.

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Story Source: Fairfield Weekly

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Fiji; Politics; Election2004 - Shays; Election2004 - McCain; Humor

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