McCain To Bush: “Don’t Give Me That Sh*t And Take Your Hands Off Me!”

Of course, that was in 2000.

Bush tried to smooth things over-at a South Carolina debate in early February-the result was less than promising. During a commercial break, Bush grasped McCain’s hands and made a sugary plea for less acrimony in their campaign. When McCain pointed out that Bush’s allies were savaging him in direct-mail and phone campaigns, Bush played the innocent. “Don’t give me that shit,” McCain growled, pulling away. “And take your hands off me.”

Not that a two-faced Bush liked McCain, either.

“I love you, man,” Bush said to his rival, whose skin nearly wriggled off in discomfort. Soon Bush would be saying something quite different in private. “There’s a reason all those colleagues of his in the Senate support me and not him,” Bush told a friend in January. “They think he’s sanctimonious, and they’re right.”

Crooks and Liars has more, including the big “did he or didn’t he” question. McCain either did or did not vote for George W. Bush, and clarity is not forthcoming. According to West Wing actor Richard Schiff, this all came out at a Beverly Hills party shortly after the 2000 election at the home of Candice Bergen.

“Someone asked, ‘What do you think of Bush?’ ” Mr. Schiff recalled. “My recollection, and I have to qualify this, because I’m not 100 percent sure he used this word, but my recollection is that McCain said that Bush was dangerous and he didn’t trust him. Then this person said, ‘Why did you support him?’ And McCain said, ‘It was my obligation as a Republican to support the Republican candidate.’ And the person said, ‘Did you vote for him?’ And McCain said, ‘No.’ “

Bradley Whitford tells a similar tale.

“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.

Even though these stories contradict what McCain told Bill O’Reilly on Thursday, it confirms what Huffington relayed earlier in the week. McCain did have a slip of the tongue, however, when O’Reilly first asked if he voted for Bush, and the answer was “Of course not.” But then maybe he was telling the truth.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.