The Lame McCain

This first item comes from Isaac Fitzgerald, which you can read here.

Senator Jim Webb, a Democrat from Virginia and an ex-Marine, was successful in getting his new G.I. Bill, which provides additional education benefits to those who serve in the U.S. military, passed by a margin of 75-22.

When he asked his colleague, John McCain, to support the bill, McCain said no. McCain went on to attack the bill as "dangerous" because it would entice people to leave the military at a time when we desperately need them.

My impression at the time was that McCain was an elitist officer who just didn't give a damn about the troops in the trenches no matter his "heroic" status and his service record and his claims of support.

Now, in a blinding moment of hypocrisy, McCain, at a town hall event, said:

"I'm happy to tell you that we probably agreed to an increase in educational benefits for our veterans that not only gives them an increase in their educational benefits, but if they stay in for a certain amount of time than (sic) they can transfer those educational benefits to their spouses and or (sic) children. That's a very important aspect I think of incentivizing (sic) people of staying (sic) in the military."


The second item derives from Booman and the Booman Tribune and you can read it all here.

In an interview with the Orange County Register, McCain was asked when he last pumped his own gasoline and how much the gas cost.

"Oh, I don't remember," he said. "Now there's Secret Service protection. But I've done it for many, many years. I don't recall and frankly, I don't see how it matters."

Booman responds: "I thought John McCain was pushing a summer gas tax holiday. I guess someone just told him to propose that without informing him that gasoline is edging towards $5 a gallon."

Martin Wisckol from the Orange County Register then asked McCain, "...What will make you different from George W. Bush."

McCain said, "My vision for America."

Wisckol suggested that he be specific.

McCain responded: "Climate change. Spending. The torture of prisoners. There are numerous other issues that we've been in disagreement on in the past. Spending is one of the fundamental one. (sic) Torture of prisoners. Addressing climate change effectively. Just to name a few."


Good god! Climate change? What has McCain proposed in response to the alarming and immediate threat posed by global warming? Spending? McCain flip-flopped to support making Bush's tax cuts for the super-rich permanent. Torture? Please. McCain voted to allow Bush to continue to waterboard whoever the hell he felt like waterboarding!

Or, as Booman said: "John McCain is going around glibbly accusing the President of the United States and the leader of his own party of torturing prisoners. And the story that everyone focuses on is the price of gas. Modern America, ladies and gentleman, where the discourse isn't just debased, it's immoral."