Robert Stacy McCain

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Robert Stacy McCain speaks at a Young America's Foundation event on April 11, 2006 in Washington. The speech was later aired on C-SPAN's BookTV.
Robert Stacy McCain speaks at a Young America's Foundation event on April 11, 2006 in Washington. The speech was later aired on C-SPAN's BookTV.

Robert Stacy McCain (born 1959) is a former assistant national editor for The Washington Times and co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of DONKEY CONS: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party. He lives in Maryland with his wife, Lou Ann, and their six children.

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[edit] Early career

McCain was born in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated in 1983 from Jacksonville State University in Alabama. His journalism career began with the (now defunct) Cobb News-Chronicle in 1986. He then worked as a sports editor for the Marietta, Georgia-based Neighbor Newspapers, before joining the Calhoun (Ga.) Times as sports editor in September 1987. The Calhoun newspaper is a division of Rome, Georgia-based News Publishing Co., and in 1991, McCain joined the staff of the company's flagship daily newspaper, The Rome News-Tribune, working closely with special projects/editorial page editor Pierre Rene-Noth.

Frequently writing about such subjects as education and history, McCain was awarded a George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge for his 1995 series of columns about the National Standards for U.S. History. He joined the staff of The Washington Times in November 1997.

[edit] The Washington Times

In addition to his regular duties as an editor, McCain has also contributed numerous bylined news and feature articles to The Washington Times. He has frequently reported on controversial issues in the “culture war,” including stories related to sexuality, education and history. His writings about communism have included feature stories about Joseph McCarthy, The Black Book of Communism, and the obituary of former U.S. Communist Party leader Gus Hall. McCain’s reporting on controversies surrounding sexuality has included features about Alfred Kinsey, the Jesse Dirkhising murder case, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Judith Levine’s controversial 2002 book, Harmful to Minors.[1]

In 2003, McCain was named editor of the “Culture, Etc.” page of The Washington Times, which appears on Page A2 of the newspaper Monday through Friday. Over the years, McCain has interviewed many prominent authors and personalities, including John Stossel[2], David Horowitz[3], Peter Jennings[4], Wendy Shalit[5], Ronald Radosh[6], R. Emmett Tyrrell[7], Tammy Bruce[8], Andrew Breitbart[9], William J. Bennett[10], Phyllis Chesler[11], Ward Connerly[12], Michael Savage[13], Dinesh D’Souza[14], L. Brent Bozell III[15], David Frum[16], Ann Coulter[17], Michelle Malkin[18] and Cal Thomas[19]. When former President Ronald Reagan died in June 2004, McCain authored the memorial article that appeared as a special feature in The Washington Times.[20]

During 2006, McCain created a blog[21] to promote the book Donkey Cons, and subsequently brought his blogging abilities to work for The Washington Times, establishing the “Culture, Etc.” blog[22], and also contributing to the newspaper’s “Fishwrap”[23] and “Inside Politics”[24] blogs.

McCain has also contributed freelance articles, reviews and commentary pieces to a number of publications including The American Spectator[25], Reason[26], The American Conservative[27], Ripon Forum[28], and Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture[29], as well as such online forums as The Conservative Voice[30] and The American Thinker[31].

In January 2008, McCain announced he would resign from The Washington Times in order to concentrate on a book project.[32] He subsequently began blogging about the 2008 presidential race as "The Other McCain," frequently targeting Sen. John McCain, whom he called "Crazy Cousin John." [33]

[edit] Criticism

A 2002 New York Press column by Michelangelo Signorile drew attention to comments posted by McCain to various conservative websites. The column depicted McCain as a racist. McCain protested that there were errors in Signorile's column [34].

McCain has been criticized by the Southern Poverty Law Center. SPLC alleged he is "a member of the white supremacist hate group League of the South" and "has often inserted excerpts of material written by hate groups" into the Times. "In addition, McCain is the only national reporter to cover four conferences put on by American Renaissance. Until 2004, McCain had never mentioned its controversial nature." [35]

[edit] Sources