Country First? Never Mind
Given the catastrophes of conservative rule -- captured here in a video provided to Republican convention delegates by the Campaign for America's Future -- John McCain has pitched himself as the "lone maverick," the one who puts country first. "This election is not about issues," says Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."
Of course, the selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate belies the claim of a maverick who puts country over politics. The choice of Palin can only be seen as a political stroke, designed to inspire the right-wing evangelical base of the party that had been notably skeptical about McCain. Given her zealous and extreme fundamentalist positions, she won't win many Hillary votes -- that was always a ruse -- but she will galvanize the evangelical right for McCain. It is clear that the man who hectors constantly that the war against terror is the "transcendent challenge of the 21st Century" just made a choice that placed his political needs over what he considers the central national mission.
But, this isn't an aberration. McCain has flip flopped on many positions -- supporting Bush's tax breaks after opposing them, catering to the right on immigration after resisting them, embracing Jerry Falwell after condemning him -- in pursuit of his party's nomination.
For an old Washington hand, none of this is surprising. McCain has been in Washington for over a quarter century of compromises and dealing. The question always for career politicians is what is left of their character? Are there any core beliefs that are not for trade or for sale?
What is left for John McCain? The formative experience of McCain's life -- as he reminds us regularly -- was the time he spent as a POW, surviving terrible torture. That experience no doubt led McCain to lead the effort to enforce the Geneva Conventions' ban on torture on the Bush administration in the wake of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and the CIA's rendition operations. In pushing to make the military's code of conduct the law of the land, McCain not only stood for the best of America's tradition but also was expressing the core of his own personal experience.
He had the votes to defeat the president on the Military Commission Act in 2006. And then he gave it away. Faced with the reality that enacting a ban on torture would cost him politically in the Republican Party, McCain surrendered. He signed on to a "compromise" bill that left the President to determine, in his sole discretion, which interrogation methods did or did not comply with the Geneva Conventions' provisions. He empowered the president to define what constituted torture. He simply surrendered on this core issue. For the best treatment, check out Glenn Greenwald here.
Now in Washington, politicians are constantly faced with the need to compromise. You give up something to make some progress. You vote for bad bills in order to placate powerful local interests. You decide which battles you can fight, and duck the others. That makes any politician vulnerable for criticism, but is part of the business.
But every leader must have a set of principles that can't be compromised -- otherwise everything is transactional, everything for sale. When McCain is willing to sign away the principle derived from what is the defining moment of his life, then the question is what core of character remains?
We've seen this before in powerful leaders. Colin Powell, for example, was formed by his experience as a young officer in the Vietnam War. He -- and others -- vowed that never again would they allow US troops to be led into war without adequate preparation, a clear mission, an exit strategy. It became known as the Powell doctrine. As Secretary of State, Powell faced many issues where he was rolled or ignored by the neo-cons around Dick Cheney who were driving the policy. He chose to stay and fight for another day. But on Iraq, he had to know that the mission was false, the force inadequate, the plans for exit unclear. And he had the power to stop the war if he had chosen to go public and resign. Instead he chose to stay at the table, to fight the future battles. In doing so, however, he gave away the central core belief of his career. After that, anything is negotiable.
That's where we are with McCain. The pursuit of the presidency is a powerful thing. The Republican Party, so captured by the far right, a difficult terrain to traverse. To win the nomination, he was prepared to give away even his core. Politics came not just before country but before core conscience.
So when Davis says the election isn't about "issues," or presumably the conservative record of failure, but about character, he is peddling McCain's message, but exposing his tragic weakness.
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Uhm... did anyone ever ask him exactly which country he was referring to?
Thank you Robert Borosage for making the distinction between run of the mill Washington compromise and selling out one's core values. We had to take a collective deep breath on learning that our favorite congressmen often trade tit for tat with their opponents. But after a short period of apnea, we're back to our normal selves.
Readers might like to refer to What It Takes, the great book by Richard Ben Cramer. What Cramer suggest about George H.W. Bush is that it was precisely that he was willing to do ANYTHING to get elected that got him elected. And THAT was (and is) in fact a PREREQUISITE for election. As in Nixon humiliating himself again and again on tv, Kennedy (allegedly) allowing his father and Daley's political machine to pack Illinois ballot boxes, the Bush family steamrolling Florida, etc. etc. Or, to put it another way, what the electorate DOESN'T want is core principles, except as something you're willing to sell out to become President.
Yours sincerely,
The Playdo Institute
Handel Glassberg, President
Sincerely,
The Playdo Institute
Handel Glassberg, President
John McCain's reputation has been as a man of honor and integrity. But no man of honor and integrity would stand by while Bristol Palin was stuck sitting on the campaign bus, supposedly "babysitting" baby Trig. It's now obvious she was kept out of the public eye as much as possible to hide her pregnancy. Go back and watch video of the announcement rally and focus in on Bristol - obviously struggling to use the baby and a blanket to hide her tummy.
While everyone else is riding high and feeding on their great political moment, a young woman is suffering through the worst moments of her life. That is just sick, sick, sick!
John and Cindy McCain and the Palins are consumed by ambition and have lost all sense of honor and integrity (if they ever had it). The McCain/Palin tickets deserves to suffer the worst defeat in US history.
As Obama has said the Reps are great at running elections but they are poor at running the country. McCain has sold out on every issue that he once stood for. He has gone over to the dark side. If you want to see McCain's stance on Senior Citizen Issues see AARP magazine this month. McCain refused to answer a single question. Even Norm Coleman answered the questions, McCain none. He chose the Gov nominee soley on the hope of attracking Hilary voters and he could say the Democrats didn't put Hillary on the ticket but we put a women to the ticket. Women should feel insulted that the McCain campaign and Karl Rove believe they are that stupid.
I am insulted and I'm not stupid. I believe McCain's pick of a totally inexperienced gov from Alaska shows his arrogance and says to the American people 1) I'll do anything to get elected, 2) I don't put my country first when it comes to getting there, and 3) I don't really need a VP but I had to pick someone so I went with a gimmick to get elected. As a woman, I'm insulted with his pick not because she's a woman, but because she lacks so little experience for the job he's handing her. But as an American, I'm insulted because he put such little thought into such a major decision. He's throwing caution to the wind. But then isn't that exactly what pilots especially mavericks do?
The Repubs are sooo good at this campaign malarky. They act as though they have a lockstep on virtue. They expound over and over again they put their country before ANYTHING. Yes, anything except winning an election. They are capable when it comes to winning elections; governing - not so much.
"America First" was a movement around the start of WWII that was largely led by Nazi sympathisers - including Charles Lindberg and other anti-Semites
Really brilliant idea in selecting a slogan that reminds you of that legacy - now, you're guaranteed the bigot vote! (also, not selecting Lieberman was helpful as well)
"Now our opponents tell you not to worry about their tax increases.
They tell you they are not going to tax your family.
No, they're just going to tax "businesses"! So unless you buy something from a "business", like groceries or clothes or gasoline ... or unless you get a paycheck from a big or a small "business", don't worry ... it's not going to affect you.
They say they are not going to take any water out of your side of the bucket, just the "other" side of the bucket! That's their idea of tax reform."
This is as much a lie today as it was last night. Obama proposes to lower taxes on businesses. Only the ultra rich will be asked to shoulder a greater burden...pathetic truth is you guys know that and don't care about truth.
The republicans are against tax increases. May I submit that, due to this failed economy (not higher taxes), I pay higher prices at the grocery store, higher gasoline and utility bills and have lost substantial values on stock market investments. These are the TAXES handed to us by the republicans and they will continue to escalate if the republicans are reelected.
""This election is not about issues," says Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager.":
NOT ABOUT ISSUES? The issues I'd vote for are: universal health insurance and women's choice. It's easy to say election is not about issues when you flipflop on issues but TO VOTERS ISSUES MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THEIR LIFE. When 47 millions don't have health insurance because it is out of their reach, when teen pregnancies are on the rise and we don't want to teach them of prevention,..., THOSE ISSUES ARE WHAT VOTERS LOOK FOR TO VOTE.
McCain was a member of the infamous "Keating Five" in the worst banking scandal in US history, the Savings and Loan debacle. Now in the midst of another devastating bank crisis he's running for President. When are the Dems going to remind Americans of his past history? The fact that he received a rare rebuke for "poor judgement" from the Senate Ethics Committee?
McCain is not the only one who has not put America FIRST. In fact, most in America supported the unnecessary war of choice for Israel in Iraq. Iraq had no substantive connections to al Queda, and no WMD. It was all a BIG NEOCON LIE. Putting America FIRST means not killing Americans and speeding TRILLIONS for nothing. But, the BIG LIE is all that most Americans like and need.
McCain is vulnerable to his poor judgement, his quick shoot from the hip decisions.
But he also has no substance. Go to his website, under issues. There is NOTHING there.
Dems need to hit him hard on lack of substance.
The GOP has only two things to sell. McCain as POW, and fear on Obama.
Dems have to focus on lack of a McCain plan, lack of a McCain vision, and Poor Judgement.
As opposed to selling "hope" and "change" . . . .
If you are looking for substance . . . don't look at politicians, they are all frauds.
Exactly! Obama and his supporters has to focus on Issues, issues, issues.
Even Rove said McCain's pick was NOT about GOVERNING, but about the CAMPAIGN! Is this the kind of pandering we want in a President OR the kind of man we want in the White House with a HOUSEWIFE and 2 year governor of one of the least populous states in the Union? I don't believe so! BTW, it's probably the first time in his life Karl Rove has told the truth! Wake up America and realize what McBush is trying to pull on us.
When a man, or woman, compromises one's core defining value, the essence of who one is, his/her humanity is lost. John McCain must be in emotional despair, or will be soon. This is what the right wing religious nutjobs and neocons have done to a once-honorable man.
It's time for Republicans of reason to put Country first, and support the Obama/Biden ticket. Join many thousands of other GOP members that call themselves Obamacans.
I just wrote two new sites, if you'd like to take a look.
http://www.gop4obama.org
http://www.palinbycomparison.net
Thanks for your review.
Obama / Biden 2008
Someone please tell the headline writer that "Nevermind" is not all one word. It's "Never mind", as in "Don't pay attention" or "Forget I said that".
It's like I said yesterday- it's good that more people are able to express themselves because of the Internet, but they need to learn how to spell and use expressions correctly.
Please.
Well language police, of course correct spelling and punctuation is more important than the fact that neocons are trying to destroy our country and that republicans, not Islamic fundamentalists, are the true terrorists trying to destroy our country. Of course, this is only a small matter compared to the grave injustice of misspelling...
If he wasn’t to be allowed Lieberman, surely he could better have chosen his mother.
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