Just a Quick Thought on Sen. McCain

I wanted Sen. McCain to be the Republican nominee for president in 2000, and if I were eligible, I would have voted for him. I really wanted him to be the Republican President up for re-election in 2004. Now, while I am happy he is the Republican nominee, it is because he is the best of a poor field, at least from my political perspective.

Lately, John McCain has attempted to align himself with the far right. Whether it was receiving an honorary degree from Jerry Falwell's Liberty University (rants about Liberty and the late Falwell most certainly are coming) or becoming a supporter of the Bush tax cuts, the very ones he was morally opposed too six years ago, McCain has kissed the butt of the people who have tried to bring him down. He is not the conservative choice for president, and it does makes sense that they criticize him.

But in 2000, the Bush machine swiftboated McCain before swiftboating was cool. Surrogates for the Bush Campaign used "push polling" in South Carolina to destroy McCain's record as a POW. They planted stories that claimed that McCain's time as a POW left him mentally unstable. They claimed he committed treason to become freed. They claimed he fathered an illegitimate black child. In reality, he had been in Congress for almost 20 years (if he were unstable, I imagine it would have came up), he spent over 5 years as a POW refusing preferential treatment offered to him based on his father's status in the American military, and his "black child" is a Bangladeshi from an orphanage run by Mother Teresa that McCain and his wife decided to adopt.

I disagree with McCain on several issues, particularly on national security issues. But, I have loads more respect for him for his service, than I can ever have for most right-wing pundits and operatives. To further annoy right-winged war supporters, he actually had a son who served in Iraq. The Bush twins were unable to comment, they were on their honeymoon/hungover.

Rabbit