McCain, Mr. Right

Published on December 6, 2005 By stevendedalus In Politics

There’s little doubt that McCain can be a thorn in the side of his party and President, and for that reason becomes the darling of the Democrats. The likes of David Broder and Chris Matthews fall all over him as not only a hero but as a left of center diplomat. Other than respect for his war record, he is nothing of the sort. He is as much a political opportunist as H. Clinton, both of whom are boldly positioning themselves for a run in ‘08, and remarkably support the President’s stay the course in Iraq as do Kerry and Giuliani. McCain’s greatest fear is Chuck Hegel who doesn’t mince words — perhaps not to the degree of Murtha — when it comes to the war fraught with mistakes and has been forcefully doing so for over a year.

As for Democrats’ fawning over McCain, it is incomprehensible in light of his predominantly extreme right voting record on domestic issues. In spite of his own incisive criticism of handling the war — which doesn’t make him unique by any means — he still has nothing but kind words in public for his President’s decisions, along with his unkind words about Murtha in old age mellowing [suggesting senility] in war strategy. McCain cannot be trusted within the liberal matrix..

Comments (Page 1)

bakerstreet

on Dec 06, 2005

I agree. I can't beleive anyone can see it as much more than a long-term presidential election strategy. When you look at how he votes, look at what he says, and look at what he is willing to negotiate in Congress, he's NOBODY'S candidate.

He lost me, frankly, when he did all the "trying to bring Congress together" crap, which essentially waters down all legislation to the point that it is meaningless. He did it with campaign finance reform and about everything else he's "mediated".

The Jimmy Carters of the world are great when they are dealing with two parties meeting in good will and who aren't deranged. It doesn't work in Washington because everything is a pretense, a grandstanding statement covering real motives when they have motives at all.

McCain, in my opinion, does nothing but grease the wheels of Washington PR. The results are always a government that APPEARS to be working smoothly, and yet when we have to deal with the legislation we wonder where the hell the actual effectiveness is.

kingbee

on Dec 07, 2005

atta time when we have a president insisting 'we do not torture' while refusing to clarify what he considers torture, a vice-president aggressively working to render useless pending legislation barring our government from abusing prisoners in its custody, a secretary of state engaging in shabby moral ambiguities and an administration ethically compromised to the point of believing itself alone to be above the law, mccain is doing our country, all of us and his party a great service by his refusal to permit the executive branch to descend to--more accurately, to remain at--the level of a pinochet or hussein.

Dr Guy

on Dec 07, 2005

Uh, you missed your time frame. Clinton has been out of office for 5 years now.

kingbee

on Dec 07, 2005

Uh, you missed your time frame. Clinton has been out of office for 5 years now

since at least the end of wwii, governments which 'disappear' their enemies or torture their prisoners have been considered 'enemies of freedom'.

you're right in one respect. 5 years ago, the usa wasn't one of em.

bakerstreet

on Dec 07, 2005

'since at least the end of wwii, governments which 'disappear' their enemies or torture their prisoners have been considered 'enemies of freedom'."

Isn't it odd, considering how understanding the world was of our efforts to house them in Gitmo? Why ever would we ponder killing them, or stashing them away privately when we can put them in humane circumstances and still be treated like we are at the "level of a pinochet or hussein"...

When you insist on impossibility as a standard, you get something less than a standard, usually. It isn't realistic to believe that we are going to cart these people over from places like Afghanistan, give them a lawyer, and let them play the system year after year after year. Why would we pay to make them media celbrities, give them an international forum for their ethos, and then release them when the trial is enevitably flawed?

When people insist on it, all they are doing is punishing the administration for being as fair as they were. I've said it before. Don't like Gitmo? Want to punish the US government for doing things out in the open? Then expect more to die on their knees on the battlefield, and more to just "disappear".

singrdave

on Dec 07, 2005

Trying desperately to drag this thread back on-topic...

McCain is great. I have been a McCain supporter from the early days, having spent my formative voting years in Arizona. I truly like John, though he gets downright cranky at times. But that's part of his appeal...

I honestly don't know why his being one of the Keating Five didn't stick with him. It seriously shortened the career of his then-fellow Senator, Dennis DeConcini.

As for Democrats’ fawning over McCain, it is incomprehensible in light of his predominantly extreme right voting record on domestic issues.

Yes, I agree. I don't see why Dems have such high praise for John McCain. Except that when it comes right down to it, McCain's head is screwed on straight. I voted for McCain in the 2000 Republican Primary, and was disappointed when he lost... but happily and without hesitation threw my vote in with the Bush camp.

kingbee

on Dec 07, 2005

When you insist on impossibility as a standard, you get something less than a standard,

three things come to mind immediately.

1. i doubt you'd agree with pinochet's or hussien's claim disappearing and torture were the only effective ways in which to deal with enemies of their governments.

2. if the administration truly believed they were acting morally and ethically, why have they consistently gone to such lengths to keep the american public from learning what is being done in our name? even more to the point, if they truly felt they were in the right, why resort to such pitiful paltering and outlandish equivocation? aren't you insulted by claims that guantanamo, non-us airspace and unmapped secret prisons in eastern europe are like legal duty-free zones?

3. where does it stop? will cops be able to claim the same privilege? how about crossing guards?

stevendedalus

on Dec 07, 2005

one of the Keating Five didn't stick with him.

Yes, his POW credentials helped him weasel out of it.

Except that when it comes right down to it, McCain's head is screwed on straight.

I'll grant you that. Such as, though I was not for it, he seriously thought about running as Kerry's mate...until he started thinking about '08.

stevendedalus

on Dec 07, 2005

mccain is doing our country, all of us and his party a great service

That is true, and became law because of his personal knowledge of torture while a POW, but there were also 89 other senators who voted for it. But he doesn't exhibit the same outrage over the war itself. Either way he keeps his motivational eye on '08.

stevendedalus

on Dec 07, 2005

McCain, in my opinion, does nothing but grease the wheels of Washington PR.

And his book.

Uh, you missed your time frame.

I suppose the same could be attributed to you!

bakerstreet

on Dec 07, 2005

Kingbee:

1: there's a difference between combating an organized, violent effort to crush self-determination, and using torture and horror to PERPETUATE totalitarianism. In the US if people don't like what Bush is doing they can vote him out. Hussein used such tactics to prevent himself from losing power. We tolerate what we feel is a balance to the threats we suffer. Start beheading people and downplaying our value as human beings, and it is natural that you'll get the same.

2: Do you really think people don't assume such stuff goes on? Such is a mainstay for popular fiction and entertainment. A statement like that reminds me of the scene from Casablanca. "We're SHOCKED to find out government uses dirty tricks to get the job done..." As for making it more clandestine, what choice do we have? Do you really think the French or anyone else wouldn't do that? I think the average American is anything but shocked.

3. I consider it call and response. I don't think you'll see such things in the US, but I realize that is taking the "Padilla" bait. In the end I think it will come down to what the public can stomach, and frankly after seeing people beheading innocents with impunity and hearing how we are evil for trying to stop it, it shifts our idea of what evil is. Our tolerance is a product of the political backhandedness of those who are willint to tolerate terrorism if it harms the US. It is a response to nations who would prefer to see innocent people die and people like Hussein flourish as long as it improves their bottom line.

This isn't about the COnstitution, it is about Darwin, frankly. There's something gutteral, something deep-seated and dangerous when people feel that they have become "legitimate" targets simply because some nasty guy halfway around the world wants to make himself the Sultan of all Arabia.

kingbee

on Dec 08, 2005

Except that when it comes right down to it, McCain's head is screwed on straight

three times, i typed and then deleted what i wanted to use as the first two sentences of my first comment. here they are now:

i have no problem with genuine legitimate conservatives. which is why i, although i don't always agree with him, have never hadda problem with john mccain.

i finally decided to omit them not outta any concern about being seen as supportive of the man but rather outta concern about his being seen supported by me.

kingbee

on Dec 08, 2005

I think the average American is anything but shocked.

you're probably right. humans quickly develop a tolerance for shock. three years of horrid lil secrets coming to light, one after another, has very likely desensitized most of us. but that's always the way it happens aint it?

apparently i'm a lightweight. even tho i was very much aware of the initial dosing prior to 911 (backing outta the world court, backing out of the bio-toxic weapon convention, limiting access to records of former presidents so as to almost guarantee they won't be unsealed during the ex-prez' lifetime), i'm still shocked and dismayed.

seeing people beheading innocents with impunity and hearing how we are evil for trying to stop it, it shifts our idea of what evil is

apparently so. cuz the evil isn't in trying to stop it. it's in how you try to stop it.

if terrorists started engaging in on-air necrophilia followed by a festive sexually abused hostage barbeque, it wouldnt justify putting our prisoners in a huge microwave--even if we didn't eat them ourselves, but used the meat for pet food.

bakerstreet

on Dec 08, 2005

I'm just gonna do a blog on my perspective, kingbee. This could go on for days and they'd probably rather talk about McCain. Maybe you oughtta do one, too.

Dr Guy

on Dec 08, 2005

you're right in one respect. 5 years ago, the usa wasn't one of em.

Not one today as well. Unlike you, I dont assign the sign of Satan to Clinton, I just harp on his demonstrable short comings. You on the other hand assign the weight of fact to innuendo. That is your option, but it does not help your argument or make you right.

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