Archive for February, 2008

I have watched with sometimes stunned fascination the regressive course taken by the now all-but-guaranteed Republican nominee for President, Sen. John McCain. In 2000, there was a very good chance I would’ve voted for the man. Alas, due to Bush and Rove’s machine of perpetual hate a misery — at one time calling McCain’s adopted Bangladeshi daughter his “black love child” — McCain was washed out of the race and I voted Gore instead. But that’s about where the confusion started for me on this quagmire of a man named McCain.

I don’t think I could forgive that type of thing. Given the opportunity, I would’ve made sure that any public comment about Bush or Rove from that point on would’ve been along the lines of talking about their lack of military service while I was a prisoner in Vietnam, or to even go as far as to spread vicious rumors of the two men’s gay love affair and raging cases of herpes. Not so with McCain. He has since been photographed shaking hands with Bush and even hugging him. It boggles my mind. I think my daughter would hate me for that kind of shit, but then I’m not a politician; Lord knows what other crap he’s pulled that was a monumental failure of parenting.

Since then I’ve seen him jump back and forth over the Iraq War. Some days he’s behind it, other days he’s opposed to it. That seems to be tailored to his audience though. He knows how to play the game and a good orator knows how to win over an audience. I’ve seen him a few times on The Daily Show and Jon Stewart seems to genuinely like the man, so I’ve always given him the benefit of a small doubt. On the other hand, Jon also liked Coldpay’s X&Y which was a complete pile of shit of an album.

As it came time for candidates to start throwing their hats in the ring, John McCain seemed to be completely wedded to the Bush doctrine. That made absolutely no sense to me at all. McCain had been a perennial thorn in the side of the Bush Administration on nearly everything. He was especially vocal in his opposition to the use of torture by the CIA or US military.

“I want to tell you. Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney all think it is O.K.,” Mr. McCain told the diners in Boone. “They have one thing in common. They don’t understand the military and the culture of this nation. If they did, they could never condone such behavior.”

That was reassuring. For although McCain was able to speak at Liberty University next to Jerry Falwell, the very man he referred to as an “agent of intolerance” in his 2000 campaign, in this election season, at least he still was able to hold on to the principles that he, himself, knew all too well were sacrosanct. In the face of his party’s base who inexorably believes that the Jack Bauer-proven ways of torturing a prisoner is the only way to stop the nuclear bomb that will go off in 24 hours, John McCain stood his ground, remembering what it was like to be a prisoner of war and be tortured by a barbaric captor, and told those people….oh wait…there’s some recent news here.

The Senate voted 51 to 45 on Wednesday afternoon to ban waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods used by the Central Intelligence Agency against high-level terrorism suspects.

Senate Republicans generally opposed the bill, but several of them also did not want to cast a vote that could be construed as supporting torture, and so were relying on President Bush to make good on a threat to veto legislation limiting C.I.A. interrogation techniques.

*snip*

Mr. McCain, a former prisoner of war, has consistently voiced opposition to waterboarding and other methods that critics say is a form torture. But the Republicans, confident of a White House veto, did not mount the challenge. Mr. McCain voted “no” on Wednesday afternoon.

He voted “no”. When the chips are down, The White House is on the line and he needed the support of his party’s base, he knowingly and willfully sacrificed what appeared to be his deepest held principles. He has absolutely no place in the Oval Office. What a total loser.

With the political world collectively holding its breath until the results come in tomorrow (that is, of course, with the obvious exception of the never-ending phone calls from political camps), and in light of the fact that I haven’t written about anything politics-related in quite a while, I figured now is as good a time as any to spout off a bit.

Before anything else I should probably acknowledge that John Edwards threw in the towel. It sucks but I’m used to supporting the underdog and not having it work out. But I do think this was a calculated move. John wasn’t polling well and Obama was. The people who supported John, by and large, also would support Obama. They’re very similar men with entirely similar messages. I think that when John saw that he wasn’t going to win in South Carolina, he spoke with Obama’s people and bowed out with some kind of understanding. I don’t like speculating, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see Obama/Edwards in 2008 in a few months. It’s a great pairing.

With regards to Hillary Clinton, I’m with The Great Ivins in the “Not. Backing. Hillary.” camp.

Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone This is not a Dick Morris election. Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her. Her failure to speak out on Terri Schiavo, not to mention that gross pandering on flag-burning, are just contemptible little dodges.

It can’t be put any more clear than that. I can picture her wringing her hands in anticipation of what horrible things she’ll be able to get away with just in Bush’s newly-precedented signing statements. She honestly scares me just as much as Bush — in some ways more.

Now when you look over at the Republican side, it seems as though the media is selling John McCain. I find that very interesting since before South Carolina no one had any idea who was leading the Republican pack. Hell, for a time they actually thought that nutball Huckabee was in the lead. To think that the media has any grip on what the American people want in a candidate is an exercise in delusions of grandeur. They’re so very cute the way they try so hard, but the fact is they don’t know any more than you do and that’s why polling companies make such obscene amounts of money. But if McCain is their choice, heaven help that man in the debates because — lack of experience be damned — if Obama gets him one an one McCain’s going to get owned. He’s played both sides too much over the past couple of years and that kind of takes away from his “Man of Integrity” look. But at least he’s not cramming the Bible down everyone’s collective throat and I figure that’s a plus.

I guess what frightens me more than anything is the prospect of a Clinton vs. McCain general election. I can honestly say that I’d have problems at the voting booth. I really don’t think either one of them should be President. I think both of them represent the old school of political thinking on a ship that is actively sinking. It makes no sense to me at all to put the people who are guilty, by association, of getting us into the problems we’re having in the first place. Both of them seem to have no clear Iraq policy as they have a really difficult time answering those questions with anything resembling concrete answers. As it stands, I think both of them are on board to start bombing Iran.

It’s like voting between the choices of Tweedledumb and Tweedledee — neither one is appealing and they really don’t seem to be different from one another in many respects.

As much as I didn’t like either team, I (sort of) watched the game last night. Best decision I’ve made in a while.

Congrats to the Giants. Their defense was amazing. Eli looked like a genius in those last two drives. Randy Moss was a complete non-factor in the biggest game of his life. Carl probably had a heart attack.