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The panel discussion from this week's Real Time with Bill Maher on the media's constant quest for false balance and pretending there are always two equally valid sides to every issue. This is something that any of us who monitor the cable news daily nonsense already know but it was nice to hear some of these things said aloud for once.

Too many of the talking heads on television are nothing but out of work political consultants. They want a left and right person to battle it out for ratings instead of bringing in people who are actually knowledgeable on a subject. They give cranks equal weight in a debate when they deserve to be dismissed rather than given air time, and they confuse balance for accuracy.

The media has done their best to dumb down the American electorate which unfortunately doesn't always need any help in that department, and as Bill points out, sadly they're doing a good job.

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Paul Rieckhoff of IAVA sits down with Rachel Maddow to discuss his group's 2008 report card on how members of Congress voted on Veterans issues. John McCain: D. Barack Obama: B.

RIECKHOFF: There were 53 original co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle [for the new GI Bill]. Eventually, right-wing folks like Senator Warner got involved with folks on the left like Senator Webb. Every major veteran services organization in the country supported it, more ¾ of the House. So, this was kind of a legislative locomotive. And one of the only blocks along the way consistently was Senator McCain.

So, it's not a partisan issue here. The G.I. bill had tremendous support. And he was just really behind this legislative issue. Now, he's made attempts to go back and say he was holding out for transferability. Transferability, being able to transfer your G.I. bill benefits to your family members. It was already in the law. It was at the discretion of the Department of Defense.

So, it's kind of a red herring there. But the reports are out there now. Everybody can check the vote. Go to VeteranReportCard.org, you can check their votes and everybody else who's up for reelection this year.

I know Senator Obama didn't serve in the military or endure years of torture thirty years ago, but isn't it time everyone acknowledge that John McCain simply doesn't own the veterans issue because of his history? His service is certainly admirable, but in order to claim that you support the troops, you actually have to, you know, support the troops -- not be one of the only "road blocks" standing in the way of the most important veterans bill of the past 40 years.

Full transcript below the fold:

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...or perhaps it could be called the McCain mantra. Just ask him what the difference is between Sunni and Shiite, and watch the blank stare and mental scrambling begin.

When I sat down to write my book on McCain, I spoke with many figures who one could fairly say know a bit about this arena. This list included three-decade Hill Staffer Winslow Wheeler (worked for Sens Pete Domenici and Nancy Kassebaum, among others), who fought for years to reform military spending, and Iraq War vet and Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Paul Rieckhoff.

Both are political independents, and Wheeler was a longtime Republican (forced out of his job by McCain, when he opposed him). Yet, what they had to say about McCain in my book, The Real McCain, should tell you all you need to know about the danger a McCain presidency presents.

Rieckhoff when talking about McCain's Iraq policy, had this to say:

It's half-assed, it's not going to work, he's being inconsistent in supporting it, and yet still seems to support it for political reasons.

Ouch. So not so much "straight-talk" from McCain on Iraq. We knew that. But hearing a nonpartisan military expert, and one who fights for veterans every day say this, well you can guess how truly bad Mr. McCain must be.

Wheeler's quote was even more foreboding:

It's frightening to think of a man with his temperament with all the things a president has at his fingertips--the IRS, CIA, FBI...

Wheeler is no conspiracy theorist. He now resides at the Center for Defense Information. Not exactly a countercultural outfit. As George H.W. Bush would say, message: Be afraid, be very afraid...

NOTE: Just a short pitch to pick up a copy of The Real McCain. Only $10! You'll make the birds sing, me smile and you'll help push the message out into the media about McCain, so people get to know The Real McCain. Already the response from progressives has been overwhelming, and has led to coverage at US News & World Report, Fox (who asked McCain questions directly from my book), Vanity Fair and Glamour, to name a few. But let's keep the momentum going, so when we finally choose a nominee, the battle will be already joined...