John McCain's campaign for president proved that, if at some time in the past he was a man of honor, he is no longer so.This sorry saga is still unfolding.
McCain has been in Georgia to push for the re-election of Saxy Chambliss to the United States Senate. In 2002, the incumbent Senator from Georgia was Vietnam veteran, Max Cleland. Max had the misfortune to lose three limbs in that war. Chambliss' campaign that year painted Cleland as being too cowardly to deal with a world threatened by terrorism. A now famous Chambliss ad pictured the face of Osama bin Laden merging with the face of Cleland.
The best thing one could say about the ad was that it was despicable!
John McCain, at the time, said this: "Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to a picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield -- it's worse than disgraceful, it's reprehensible."
BuzzFlash reminds us that if anyone was a coward, it was Chambliss, who "received five student deferments and one medical deferment ... entirely avoiding service. Yet he can often be seen stumping in military gear and on bases around his home state."
Chambliss also "voted repeatedly against the new GI Bill as well as funding for necessary armor and equipment for our troops and other measures meant to help out our men and women fighting overseas. In fact, Chambliss voted against our troops at least 23 times in his short tenure in the Senate. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America rated Chambliss as a D- in 2006."
This year Chambliss was challenged by Democrat Jim Martin. Because he did not receive 50 percent of the vote as required by Georgia law, a run-off must be staged, said run-off to be held on December 2.
Jim Martin spent two years in Vietnam. "He's been campaigning with vets that actually support our troops, such as Jim Webb."
John McCain, however, has thrown his support behind Chambliss. About 1500 people showed up to hear him urge Georgia voters to also support Chambliss, claiming that the Democrats will increase taxes and cut defense spending. He was also to appear at a Chambliss fundraiser.
We can only conclude the following:
* McCain's "maverick" stance and his touted bipartisanship are bullshit; it's all politics, all the time. McCain believes its better to have a reprehensible Republican than a decent Democrat in the U.S. Senate.
* McCain is trying to revive his image among the Repugnican rank and file after running such a miserable campaign.
* John McCain is not a man of honor. He is just another typical Repugnican hypocrite who puts party above the country. Or as we said before about his campaign slogan: "Country First, my ass!"
10 comments:
I heartily agree with the view that McCain has lost a great deal of stature by backing draft dodgers that should be ashamed of their treatment of Cleland, a genuine hero and one that gave so much to his nation. Why do we not hear from the super patriots that never served and have so little interest, that they manage to vote against veteran’s needs on a consistent basis? Veterans have been short changed for decades! I personally have been in the VA system, as a disabled vet, since 1946 and marvel at how hard the VA workers try to manage with sporadic decreases in funding, personnel and reversals of long standing policies.
Either we keep the promises made or make it clear that service is a duty and no favors will be given. I could accept either philosophy, but we have had a hypercritical mouthing of gratitude and false hopes. Once disabled, the veteran suffers forever to some degree or another. At least we should recognize the facts and stop the pious mouthing of platitudes that do not help those in need. Our youth are not asked to enlist, when needed so desperately in Afghanistan, where American lives are lost due to an urgent need of more troops to protect those already serving more than two rotations. Don’t we care? If not, then we should retreat until we are able to fight properly, if needed. A war not worth fighting is a travesty for those at risk.
Bob Poris
It starts off with the myth of a 'war hero'---ignoring a past of being a rambler, in everyway, a damn near academic washout, social gadabout and an airforce pilot who liked to do daredevil stunts and totalled out four or more airplanes doing his thing.
The best things he had going for him was his influencial family ties and getting shot down in Nam. The latter allowed him to sit out
5 years of war and got him a 'hero pin'. What about thousands of pilots flying thousands of dangerous sorties and remain basically unknown? Not bad.
So the myth got off to a start and the pomp of going against the 'Pug party by vocal opposition got the lead and which was not countered by his 90% vote along party lines. Instead he 'mavericked' into this myth role and championed it even as he hugged up to george.
It was all bullcrap, now fully exposed by that campaign, what else could be expected if anyone knew of his college day stunts.
Anon.
You are SO right! One thing, though, he was a Navy pilot, to the everlasting shame of the Navy. Any "normal" pilot would have been tossed the first time when he went into Corpus Christi Bay. Hell, if his daddy and granddaddy weren't admirals, he would have never graduated from the Naval Academy!
Thanks for writing!
Jacob
As a member of the Submarine Service during WW2. I can assure you that someone with a history similar to McCain’s at Annapolis, would not have passed the original qualifying test. He certainly would never have made it thru Sub school. A single mistake can take an entire crew down forever. Mistakes are lost usually, forever. The more one makes excuses for him, the more dishonor to those that did not come back or also survived. He survived a horrible ordeal. Give him the credit due, but he was not unique and he had a record after he was home.
Bob Poris
What is even more dishonorable is that the democratic leadership does not fight when we are counting on them. For example, fight for this seat in Georgia. Jim Martin has more than a chance to win this seat but he is not getting the support he needs. Who is going to Georgia to campaign for him? Who says anything of the thousands of Georgians, nearly all of them democrats who have been disenfranchised in this election?
I would like to point out an error in this article, that though Chambliss isn't supportive of veterans, and though it isn't in keeping with his character, he did actually vote for the new GI Bill. The dems are often justifiably accused of being wimpy but deserve praise for their tendency to not use false information. Its one of many self imposed handicaps of the democratic party which I can live with.
What I can not accept is that our trust is betrayed again. We want the errors of FISA and the Patriot Act corrected. We want the end of renditions and secret prisons and the end of spying on innocent US. Citizens. We want the prosecution of those who have corrupted the justice department. We want an end to our occupation of Iraq. We want national health care and not some scam for the insurance companies. We want an end to lobbyists writing our legislation. But it seems that after winning this landslide election the dems are on the defense!? they don't want to say anything about the travesty of voter suppression in the US. They don't even feel strong enough to remove Lieberman from his chair position. I sense they are backing down on everything. The lack of support for Martin is one indication that the party is slacking off. I hope I am wrong.
The republicans have left us in a terrible almost disastrous situation. We can not afford to run away from confrontations with the party who left us with this mess. The democrats have to work this time, for the people who elected them. Stability in the Mideast, economic recovery, health care or monetary reform, restoration of civil rights, whatever, none of these problems can be dealt with if the dems limit themselves. That is not “working across the aisle”.
I didn't put in hundreds of hours of my life this year to elect democrats so that they can enable republicans. I worked very hard. I thought things would be different this time. But once again after winning an election it seems the dems have already decided how they are going to capitulate. If they are going to cave in to the republican party as they have these last two years you can forget about having the same massive voter turnout in 2010 or 2012. As for myself, if this is how the party is going to behave I certainly will never work for them again.
Everybody is commenting on how devastated the republican party is but it is the democratic party which is truly in peril. In four years there won't be a democratic party at all if they are going to allow this phony left-right BS. cripple them. Most of the elections are over but this election in Georgia is not over. After the elections the real battle begins and we can use all the seats we can get. And you just know the republicans are not that patriotic in practice and are going to be an impediment at every turn. Rightly or not the dems are going to get the blame for everything these next four years. They're already getting blamed for the economic situation. This is not the time to compromise. It would be a disgrace to just hand them this senate seat without a fight.
Phil,
Thank you for putting into words what I and many others are fretting about.
Sorry about my error re: Chambliss voting for the GI Bill. I really do try to get things right.
I'm not giving up yet, however. It's still early and Obama is not in the White House...
Thanks much for writing and for your erudite comments.
Jacob
What a well thought out comment for a change! I appreciate the sentiments but Bush and the current situation will
prevail until January. At that time, the democrats will know what the numbers are. I hope they will investigate the wrongdoing and punish those that subverted our system so badly. It must be made clear that abuses will not be tolerated. The fabric of our democratic state has been stretched and must be repaired. We must go back to laws that are meaningful. The imperial Presidency can lead to terrible abuses. We must work for compromise and cooperation or we will not survive as a democratic state! Obama cannot perform miracles by himself. We will still
have influence peddlers, lobbyists, corruption, etc. We have an uniformed electorate, rife with prejudices, ignorance, bias, stupidity etc. We still have single issue voters that can be roused periodically to excesses. That is a price we pay for democracy and hope it is worth it. The victory of Obama gives me encouragement that we have at least gotten past color as a determining factor. We have to get past other labels and try to concentrate on important issues first, not personality or likeability. We need a loyal, intelligent opposition party willing to work for sensible compromise for the greater good of all. We need intelligent redistricting based on some logical population numbers and borders for districts. We nee better methods of voting so all votes do count.
Bob Poris
McCain is nothing more than a common garden slug - one can always see where he/it has been. Just follow the slime. What you saw in this campaign is the real McCain. A boorish lout of limited intelligence whose life achievements even with a generous stretch fail to reach the levels of mediocrity. Not as prep school student, not as an affirmative action appointment to the Naval Academy, where had his father not been an admiral we would not lasted a semester. As a pilot - even less than mediocre. I suspect that every time he got near an aircraft someone would alert the crash crew!
He has been nothing but a wretched miserable failure as a spoiled teenager, as a naval cadet, as a pilot as a member of the U.S. Navy, as a husband, as a father as a congress person,as a senator as a presidential candidate, as a human being. His campaigning for Chambliss should come as no surprise anyone who has taken the time to look a little further into his life instead accepting the media created hero.
The only area where he has some success was feigning of contrition after each of his multiple failings of morals, honor, decency honesty and yes even patriotism. The nimiety of his failings are only exceeded by paucity of even scintilla any redeeming praise worthy trait. His whole life has been a shame.
I suspect that this McCain's failings might be genetic, when I consider that is was this John McCain's Admiral dad who squelched any comprehensive investigation into the Israeli attack on the U.S.S. Liberty in 1967 which killed 34 American Navy personnel and injured to 174 more.
And concerning Chambliss's support of the recent G.I. Bill, I am reminded of Winston Churchill's response was when told by an aide at the beginning of world War II that David Niven had just joined the army as an enlisted man.
"That was honorable, but he'd have been a son of bitch if he hadn't."
Chambliss more than likely supported the bill only because the shame, disrepute and ill-will it would have provoked so close to the election. Chambliss gets no star on the top of his paper for that ploy.
I suggest that Chambliss begin atoning for his disgusting, depraved attack on Max Cleland in 2002 by spending the next 6 years cleaning bed pans at Walter Reed Military Hospital .... with a tooth brush.
Skeptical Cynic -
What can I say? I've written a lot about McCain and I agree with you 100%. Your summary was succinct and right to the point.
Thanks for writing!
Jacob
I don't think he ever was a man of honour, even if he at times disguised this fact with great success.
Post a Comment