Added: Jul 6, 2008
From: AntiConformist911
Duration: 2:50
McCain is a high-stakes craps player who loves the pure, adrenalin-pumping, rush of the game. Obama is an exceedingly low-stakes poker player who sizes up his odds methodically and rarely loses money. It's a great insight into the two personalities. And there's an even better scoop a little further down. While I knew most of the details of Obama's poker-playing, I had no idea McCain was such a hard-core gambler:In the past decade, [McCain] 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." [emphasis added]. A few thousand dollars at a time?* Wow. That's more than borderline unseemly, I'd say--easily several hundred thousand dollars over a period of 5-10 years if McCain plays regularly. It's certainly a far cry from the $1-ante games Obama played in Springfield. At the end of the piece, a former Obama colleague, refering to Obama's contemplative gambling style, tells Time, "If he runs his presidency the way he plays poker, I'll sleep good at night." I think the converse is true of McCain--I'd sleep pretty poorly if he were to run his presidency the way he plays craps. (And I think the odds are high that he would. He certainly seems to run his campaign that way...)*Of course, if by "a few thousand dollars at a time" Scherer and Weisskopf mean "a few thousand dollars a roll," then we're potentially talking millions of dollars over a period of several years, not hundreds of thousands. We'd be in real pathological territory--nothing particularly borderline about it. http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_stump/archive/2008/07/06/john-mccain-s-gambling-problem.aspx
Channel: News
Tags: analysis barack cards casino commentary craps debt em gambler high hold john mccain news obama playing poker problem shooting shoots stakes texas
Rating: 4.52 (23 ratings) Views: 7532' favoriteCount='9 Comments: 25
SpitfireOFatj Says:
Aug 26, 2008 - McCain wasn't a "Fighter Pilot".He was a Bomber Pilot.He's the type that woke up, went out, dumped his load, went home. He never saw the results of his "job". He never saw the burned and mangled bodies. I have more respect for the grunts on the ground. Is it any wonder McCain is accused of being aloof? Above us? Not caring from his high position?
phendigity Says:
Sep 2, 2008 - McCain plays the Don't Pass line
bill1240 Says:
Sep 3, 2008 - there's also a big difference b/w poker/craps and the white houseand did i just hear someone say that obama is against working well with others because he enjoys poker..wat the fuck wat the fu u u uck...are you kidding me this is worse than allen iverson's "we talkin' bout practice" speech..can't a man just enjoy a god damn card game without it affecting his run for presidency..who was the d-bag that concocted this story because it's just one of the many jokes that insults U.S. intelligence
ChaosNinja00 Says:
Sep 21, 2008 - Not caring about the US? Just because he doesn't have some ridiculous socialist view that if we all work together everything will be fine, that means he doesn't care? McCain knows what he's talking about, he has more experience than Obama, and he knows that a centralized government-run health care system will not work. I think he cares MORE than Obama, because he is telling the American people what they NEED to hear, not what they WANT to.
SpitfireOFatj Says:
Sep 21, 2008 - McCain is pandering. His "position" changes from day to day. He refuses to run on his record because he's been consistently WRONG. He's a liar and a fraud and he's going to continue to claim Obama is guilty of all of his own offenses. He's also a war monger and an idiot.Deal with it.
The6ChickMagnet Says:
Sep 25, 2008 - what a crock of shit
ChaosNinja00 Says:
Sep 25, 2008 - If you're talking about McCain's position on issues, he's much less of a flip-flopper than Obama; and how on Earth is he a fraud, a liar, a war monger, or an idiot? McCain really hasn't done anything wrong, so you're just resorting to name-calling...intelligent. Not only that, but McCain hasn't insulted Obama's campaign very much at all...he sends out one ad targeting him and all of a sudden he's a terrible person. Get over yourself.
SpitfireOFatj Says:
Sep 25, 2008 - Who are you trying to convince? It certainly isn't anyone who follows reality. (as in non-Fox "News". McCain has lied and flip-flopped and he IS an idiot. He keeps pulling political stunts every time his poll numbers drop and none of these stunts put "country first" as his sycophants claim. And you claim he only put out ONE negative ad that isn't true? What world do you live in?Oh, and I refuse to get over myself. That would require a physical flip flop that would be murder on the sacroiliac.
s0nny80y Says:
Sep 28, 2008 - meh...McCain evidently has enough money to gamble without worry.
rose1la Says:
Sep 28, 2008 - High stakes gambling, another hint that McCain lacks a certain ability to control his impulses. He either never had judgement and temperament, or he lost it as a POW. And regarding those experiences I don't see how they made him either a hero or suited for the Presidency. He dropped bombs on villages, and after crashing planes, he got caught. How does that make you Presidential material?
ChaosNinja00 Says:
Sep 28, 2008 - ...Obama's sacroiliac must be killing him. What "political stunts" has McCain pulled? Please, enlighten me, I wouldn't want to obfuscate the ridiculous notions you hold of the campaigns with credible ideas.
klauspdv65 Says:
Sep 29, 2008 - What a bullshit. It is not about what game they play. It is about the ties of McCain to the gaming industry and the lobbying.
SpitfireOFatj Says:
Sep 29, 2008 - "ChaosNinja00: What "political stunts" has McCain pulled? Please, enlighten me"Do you only use the internet to look at porn?
dan10things Says:
Sep 30, 2008 - I totally play the darkside if John McCain was rollin' at the craps table. The sad part is McCain would be trying to roll the dice on Wall Street with our $700 billion if given the chance.
ChaosNinja00 Says:
Oct 5, 2008 - Wow, you seem like a really intelligent person.
SpitfireOFatj Says:
Oct 5, 2008 - "ChaosNinja00:Wow, you seem like a really intelligent person."That's no answer. The only way anyone with access to the Internet could not know that McCain has pulled political stunts is if they've been using said Internet to pull their pud.
ChaosNinja00 Says:
Oct 8, 2008 - Oh, and I suppose your comment to my question, "What political stunts has McCain pulled?" counts as an answer? You completely avoided the question and answered with another question. Pathetic.
SpitfireOFatj Says:
Oct 8, 2008 - "ChaosNinja00: Oh, and I suppose your comment to my question, "What political stunts has McCain pulled?" counts as an answer?"Yes. Does that confuse you?"ChaosNinja00: You completely avoided the question and answered with another question. Pathetic."You still didn't answer the question so I guess it embarrasses you that the internet has only been a source of porn for you up until now.
potatotruck Says:
Oct 9, 2008 - Craps is for people who are bad at math. I'm getting the sense John McCain is not the fiscal Republican we'd all hoped for.
ChaosNinja00 Says:
Oct 9, 2008 - It confuses me that you believe repeating something over and over will make it come true.
SpitfireOFatj Says:
Oct 9, 2008 - "ChaosNinja00:It confuses me that you believe repeating something over and over will make it come true."Of course it confuses you, that's why Karl Rove and Fox News uses that technique.You prolly believe Obama is a Terrorist.
ChaosNinja00 Says:
Oct 10, 2008 - Not really...and your argument makes no sense, why would Fox News use that technique if it confuses their viewers?
SpitfireOFatj Says:
Oct 10, 2008 - Because Fox "News" isn't News, it's propaganda. It's whole agenda is to confuse the viewer by distortion and outright lying. It's the official network of the GOP.
lezlitaz Says:
Oct 11, 2008 - you did not really ever think that did you?
jefeisdguard Says:
Aug 26, 2008 - Since 1991, McCain has not taken a penny increase, from his salary increase, as his job as a Senator. Donated the increases to charity.Royalties from his books been donated to charities, $1.8 million in all!When giving to charities Obama has given 1 to 6% from 2000 to present. But Obama still can't beat McCain's 25%! Lowest, he has given!McCain's wife owns the 7 houses Obama keeps referring to! Let's ask Obama about his own house & the sweet deal he got from Rezko?!!Think he'll talk?