John McCain: "Maverick" to Minion

 

 

Alas poor John McCain.  I'm not being flip here... I really do feel sorry for him. It saddens me to think that a man of his (former) stature should be reduced to sucking up to the odious George W. Bush, and having to link his aspirations to a right wing zealot like Sarah Palin.

Say what you will about John McCain, but I honestly believe that he is a nice guy.  I have always liked nice guys, because I tend to think of myself as a nice guy, too.  Nice guys are good to have around… we tend to be good-natured, and usually have a desire to help people.  We can usually be depended on.  As I said, I believe that John McCain is a nice guy…  but that doesn't mean I want him to be my President.

Watching John McCain's speech during the Republican convention last month made me sad.  It also made me tired because it was a crashing bore... but let's not go there for a moment.  John McCain’s speech at the RNC convention made me feel something else besides sad and tired.  It made me angry.  It made me angry, not because of the “our side is best” rhetoric, because all politicians do that.  No, this one made me angry because it showed John McCain to be something that I never thought he was… and that’s a liar.   Yes, a liar.

I can’t trust John McCain anymore.  Once upon a time, before he ran for President in 2000, John McCain had a reputation for being at least somewhat bi-partisan.  He had the reputation of putting his country first (sound familiar?), which, of course, never made him the darling of the right wing kooks that now run the Republican party.

As you all know, in 2000, during the Republican primary races, the Right Wing Kooks in the Republican party did a dirty-tricks job on the McCain campaign, sabotaging him in order to get GW Bush nominated.  They were successful, and look what it got us.

Fast forward to 2008, and John McCain still wants to be President, and after 8 years of drinking the GW Bush Kool-Aid, John McCain has been re-born as a conservative darling (or at least someone that they can hold their collective noses and tolerate).  Instead of telling us how he will work with others in order to run the country best, he has had to mouth the words of the most conservative members of his party and make this election about "us & them".  Instead of talking of healing this nation's great divisions, he talks about taxes.  Instead of talking seriously about protecting our environment, he talks about drilling for oil in the arctic.  Instead of balancing out his ticket with someone who can help him lead the nation, he selects  a right wing zealot.  Instead of talking about how to end the war that he and George Bush blundered us into, he talks about having been a prisoner of war.

John McCain and today’s Republican party are unfit to govern.

John McCain, with his willingness to toe the Bush/Cheney/Palin line, has gone from “Maverick” to Minion.  It’s sad to see in a man who has worked so hard for so long abandon his principles in what will likely be a failed grasp at power.

To tell you the truth, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, having lived & worked in Washington as long as I have.  Maybe, after all these years, I'm still too much of a nice guy.  The thing is, being a nice guy makes me neither gullible nor stupid, which are things I would have to be if I were to swallow the GOP line.

Honestly friends... someone tell me how the party of  "fiscal responsibility" expects the American public to actually believe that we can fight, and pay for, two wars while simultaneously cutting taxes?  Is there a magic, Willy Wonka-like, bag of endless money somewhere?

How can McCain/Palin be agents of change when it is their party that has grown the size and scope of the Federal government greater than any three of the last Democratic Presidents?

I have blogged before about my issues with Senator McCain, and last Friday's debate speech not only gave support to my feelings, but amplified them as well.  You see, I don't doubt John McCain's sincerity one bit... what I doubt is his integrity.

At the beginning of his speech, McCain said:

"I'm grateful to the President for leading us in those dark days following the worst attack on American soil in our history, and keeping us safe from another attack many thought was inevitable..."

What?  This just goes to show that John McCain is either really stupid, or just an ass kisser.  Embracing the author of our country's woes is no way to win people over, John!  As I am certain that any security professional can tell you, you can't quantify the effects of most security efforts based on things that don't happen.

Tell me another one, John... where was Dubya's leadership during the Katrina catastrophe?, over 1600 Americans lost their lives there.  Remember?

Then McCain says:

"I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else’s."

So... you didn't love America until you got shot down and captured?  You didn't love America for having made both your father and grandfather high ranking Naval officers?  You didn't love America when you were given an education on the taxpayer's dime?  You didn't love your country while the American taxpayer paid you to learn how to fly?, You didn't love America when you crashed all of those airplanes (again on the taxpayer's dime), and the navy actually let you continue to fly?  You didn't love America when it made desegregation the law of the land (this happened when you weren't much older than 30, John)? 

Senator McCain, not only are you seriously effed up, but, you, sir are unfit to serve as a local dog catcher, never mind serve in the office of President.