McCain the Lapdog and His Lapdog Staff

[filkertom]

You might've heard about John McCain giving a commencement address at the New School graduation (held at Madison Square Garden), and how (having his speech in advance on the Internet, as he was delivering the same speech to three different commencements) a young woman named Jean Rohe delivered a pre-buttal to it.

Well, she ended up on the Huffington Post... and, in the comments, there's McCain's former and possibly still current Chief of Staff, Mark Salter, trying to lay a smackdown on this young woman. Read the details here -- it's rather disgusting.

And sign me up for this. McCain has done some very good things in the past, and shown bravery on many levels; but, the past several years, and especially the past two, he has shown himself to be a spineless political animal, every bit as calculating and reprehensible as Joe Biden and Bill Frist, who also seem to think they have a chance to become President.

Is there anybody you'd vote for, at this point? I'd go Gore/Feingold or Gore/Clark, but beyond that it looks pretty bleak.

Comments

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

Gore is no leader. He's a good thinker and would do well at the State Department or such, but I just couldn't support him for president.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I actually think he's got the potential to be quite the leader. But it's taken awhile to get there. If he hadn't pandered on the oil prices in 2000, if he hadn't picked Joementum as a running mate, and if he hadn't listened to his fuckup advisors, the same ones who are screwing up the DNC/DLC today... he'd still have had to deal with a press corps that misrepresented him for two years, and continue to do so every chance they get (http://dailyhowler.com/dh052206.shtml).

[nuveena.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

Clark would be good. I don't know either. But as much as McCain has been disgusting me lately, I'd still sleep better if he were president rather than Frist. Or, God Forbid, Jeb Bush.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

Well, of course McCain is a political animal. He's a Senator, what else can you expect? The problem is that his actions are equally consistent with a man of principle who is doing his best to get a sane government elected and a man who has no principles at all and just desires power.

The GOP does not currently operate without the support of it's more wingnut members. It is a shame, but the truth. McCain has frequently been at odds with the wingnuts. If he wants to keep at least a chance of getting the Republican nomination, he can't be so at odds with them. Thus the mending of bridges.

The question is this - is McCain rolling over and actually giving up on his prior ideals, or is he seeming to do so for political expediency? If elected, will he be the man he was, or the man he now seems to be?

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

it is very unlikely any of you will ever posses the one small fraction of the character of John McCain."

That may well be the best compliment we've ever received from a Republican.

I pray for my character to be as different from John McCain's as possible. I pray instead for grace, class, compassion, integrity and to have companions who aren't a raging embarrassment.

[markbernstein.livejournal.com]

Right now, Feingold is the one who most impresses me, and if he runs (assuming, as I do, that Gore won't), I'll likely vote for him in the primary. (Concerns about electability? Fuck it. That road took us to Kerry.) Clark, Bayh, and Warner are all people I need to learn more about. Clinton would make me hold my nose, but I'd still vote for her over anyone the Republicans are likely to nominate.

That said, I have to say that, while I'm not happy with some of McCain's recent actions, and think Salter was juvenile and unprofessional, I still don't get the sleazebag vibe off of McCain that I've *always* gotten off of Dubya. I would vote against McCain primarily because I disagree with him on so many issues, not because I think his character is significantly worse than that of other candidates. (Lack of character is, IMO, the defining characteristic of both Bushes.)

But 2008 is too far away for anything but speculation. This year, the more important thing is to give Democrats control of at least the House, and hopefully the Senate.

[neonnurse.livejournal.com]

New Mexico's governor Richardson looks pretty good, though I'd like to know more about him before I commit. :)

[crwilley.livejournal.com]

Ditto, although I gather he's got no interest in running at this point. Maybe we can talk him into SecState?

[suburbfabulous.livejournal.com]

I'm 36 this year, have never been arrested, never did coke, and I like children (but not in a Michael Jackson way.)
Just sayin'...

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

After yesterday's event, Mr. McCain told reporters he felt "fine" about his reception. "I feel sorry for people living in a dull world where they can't listen to the views of others," he said.

Despite the fact that we've had these "views" shoved down our throats one a daily basis for the past five years?

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

I was a big Joe Biden fan for a long time, but haven't had the time lately to follow him. What's he been up to that's put him in the same box as Bill Frist?

John McCain...I was wary of him the first time he ran, but I ended up with a fair amoutn of admiration for the man, and I could concede that I MIGHT be persuaded to vote for him. Now, there's just no way.

But as I've said in the past, I loves me some Russ Feingold.

Anybody I'd vote for at this point? Paul Wellstone. *sighs*

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Go back over every committee hearing he's been involved with, every Sunday morning bobblehead show. Basically, he talks tough, then folds like a map. "Oh, this is really damn important to the people of this country, blah blah blah, oh, grab my ankles and smile? Sure." Condi. Alberto. Alito. You name it. He wants to look like he's doing something without actually losing his spot in line. Fuck him.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

Damn. I liked him, too. I'll have to go info hunting.

[ororo.livejournal.com]

The more I research Feingold, the more I like him. Not sure who I'd pair with him, though. Maria Cantwell has a voting record I mostly agree with, though I don't know that she's interested in the Oval Office.

I agree with the comment above about electability.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

What the hell? Is there someone we liberals would rather have in the Republican slot? Who has a chance of getting the nomination?

I will vote for whoever runs in the Democratic slot at this point, unless it's Joe Lieberman. Who I'd like? Obama, but I think that may need to wait a couple of years.

At this point, all I really want is an election where, if we lose, I don't have to spend four years asking, "Is he evil or is he stupid?"

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Feingold is my personal choice at the moment, as Tom Harkin's day has sadly come and gone, and Paul Wellstone is no longer with us :~(

The only "Democrat" (and that, as far as I'm concerned is only a technicality anymore) for whom I would not immediately vote over any Republican currently shortlisted is Lieberman, who may as well just switch parties and be done with it. The only Repubs that could make me look up that direction and even give a whiff of notice to are those who have no chance whatsoever of getting the nod: Olympia Snowe, Lincoln Chafee, Chris Shays, maybe Bill Weld or Christie Whitman (who appears to be in atonement mode for serving in The Creature's Cabinet). These few have at least maintained cordial relations with reality.

I want a candidate, basically, who swears to the following:

• The internationalization of the reconstruction of Iraq, to mean that UN peacekeepers are brought in and US soldiers are brought out, and that reconstruction contracts are let to companies that can actually do the job. An official apology to the UN might further be in order.
  
• The repeal of the top-bracket tax cuts and a return to fiscal sanity, and an end to corporate welfare.
  
• A full, impartial and thorough investigation of the various claims of voting fraud in both the 2000 and 2004 elections, an investigation of Diebold's activities in Ohio in 2004 (and other years, if evidence develops), and a commitment to receipted balloting systems, where there is a verifiable paper trail alongside the electronic tallies.
  
• The shutting down of the Office of Faith Based Services.
  
• An investigation into whether war crimes were committed by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, et al., and whether such should be referred to The Hague.
  
• A full investigation into oil company price gouging and war profiteering, not a fig leaf for them.

That's not asking so much, is it?

Have you read the speech?

[theturbonerd.livejournal.com]

I absolutely believe Salter was completely out of line with his response to Jeane Rohe. I expect that sort of crude attack by USENET trolls, not the chief of staff of a U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate. I hope McCain reads him the riot-act over this incident.

That said, I think Jean Rohe's speech was not about McCain's address so much as it was an opportunity to vent frustration with the war by publicly confronting a powerful political figure in a captive situation. Her words:

"And that's when the idea for a preemptive strike began to brew in my little stressed-out brain. What if I tore McCain's speech apart before he even opened his mouth? After reading his speech a couple of times I picked out a few particularly loathsome sections--and believe it or not, none of these actually came from the extensive section where he defends his position on the war in Iraq--and I began planning an attack against him using his own words."

If you read her speech though, she didn't really attack him with his own words. She attacked him with what *she read into his words*:

"Senator McCain will also tell us about his cocky self-assuredness in his youth, which prevented him from hearing the ideas of others. In so doing, he will imply that those of us who are young are too naïve to have valid opinions and open ears."

I read his speech. I recommend anyone else caught up in this controversy read it too. Then you tell me if her implication was correct:

http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=NewsCenter.ViewPressRelease&Content_id=1735

In my opinion, McCain's speech was a sincere statement of his views and beliefs and wasn't inflamatory. Even the "I was young and stupid once" section wasn't patronizing. It looks like a slightly self-deprecating appraisal of himself.

For the record, I have been absolutely against the war since before it began. Before I read McCain's address I was gearing up to start blasting him over this event and his betrayal of his own principles.

However if he believes what he said in his speech, then I stand with him:

"We have our disagreements, we Americans. We contend regularly and enthusiastically over many questions: over the size and purposes of our government; over the social responsibilities we accept in accord with the dictates of our conscience and our faithfulness to the God we pray to; over our role in the world and how to defend our security interests and values in places where they are threatened. These are important questions; worth arguing about. We should contend over them with one another. It is more than appropriate, it is necessary that even in times of crisis, especially in times of crisis, we fight among ourselves for the things we believe in. It is not just our right, but our civic and moral obligation.

Our country doesn’t depend on the heroism of every citizen. But all of us should be worthy of the sacrifices made on our behalf. We have to love our freedom, not just for the private opportunities it provides, but for the goodness it makes possible. We have to love it as much, even if not as heroically, as the brave Americans who defend us at the risk and often the cost of their lives. We must love it enough to argue about it, and to serve it, in whatever way our abilities permit and our conscience requires, whether it calls us to arms or to altruism or to politics."

I don't care if he's a Republican, a Democrat, or a Tribble, I agree.

T.

Re: Have you read the speech?

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

I'd add that if McCain really is the man of integrity that Salter says he is, and if he really believes those two paragraphs, he'd sack Salter right now and issue an apology pronto.

Re: Have you read the speech?

[theturbonerd.livejournal.com]

Amen to that.