John Sidney McCain – The Most Dangerous Man in America.

grantcart

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Sat Jun-07-08 04:22 PM
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John Sidney McCain – The Most Dangerous Man in America.

Edited on Sat Jun-07-08 04:32 PM by grantcart

John Sidney McCain – The Most Dangerous Man in America.

This is not hyperbole.

No person represents a clearer and greater danger to the vital interests of the American People than Senator McCain.

There are things that I used to like about Senator John McCain.

His refusal to accept an early discharge out of a Vietnamese Prison Camp while his life, like his body in the rope torture they applied to him, hung in the balance is one. His initial break with the radical religious elements of his party were commendable. When he advocated the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of Vietnam he made it possible to for us to do so without making it a partisan affair.

Senator McCain is a political schizophrenic.

The problem is not that there is not a good side to Senator McCain it is that he has so many sides.

He is against tax cuts – he is for them.
He is against the border fence and he is for it.
He believes in diplomacy and he is against it.
He is against torture and he is willing to accommodate it.

He has more political personalities than Sybil. We just cannot be sure which of these personas is going to be in sworn in. We cannot gamble on which of the many John McCain’s that he has shown to us will actually show up in the Crises Room.

Electing John McCain President of the United States would be as responsible as putting Sybil in charge of a large kindergarten, and then giving her keys to a well stock medicine cabinet. And then moving the cabinet to the middle of the room. And finally taking all of the other objects in the room away.

Political Courage that is not consistent is not Courageous.

Senator McCain’s political heresy is in fact not to be commended for its courage. Its to be understood in the larger context of understanding Senator McCain for who he really is – the ‘Wannabe Maverick’, the ‘Only One Who Stands Up for What is Right and Everybody Else is Wrong until I Need to Get Those People Behind Me.’

His acts of being a maverick were not indicative of his basic political philosophy but were indicative of a reckless desire to be held aloft by embracing the fashion he perceived would make him right and his colleagues wrong.

He renounces hateful far right preachers one year in an act of courage one year and embraces them the next in an act of contrition. The same people that spread rumors that his dark skinned daughter (an adopted orphan from Bangladesh) was a love child from an illicit love affair are now his best friends. Goldwater was a Maverick and he never sold out his unpopular views for anything, even embracing wider civil rights for gays. What position has McCain taken AND HELD that is considered unpopular in his party?

The Refusal to Understand the Reality of Iraq

The most dangerous threat that McCain presents to the country is that horrible strategic decisions can be ameliorated by improving tactics. The fact that he criticized Rumsfield and advocated a better handling of the war does not mean that he grasps the larger strategic debacle.

McCain’s urging that we not lose the war in Iraq is further evidence of a skewed perspective.

The War in Iraq, Senator McCain was won when we defeated the armed forces of the Iraqi dictatorship.

We are now fighting the Occupation of Iraq. It is a fight that by definition we cannot win. We can only assist the Iraqis in exorcising their own demons. The sooner that the government of Iraq can represent itself as the authentic representative of the Iraqi people the sooner they will make the accommodations necessary to solve their civil war. Senator McCain does not understand this basic strategic truth.

Senator McCain’s Stubbornness is a lit fuse.

1) Isolated not a Maverick
Unfortunately the fact that McCain was right on the tactical issues of Bush’s mishandling of the war has only increased his ego centric personality that he is the only one that can see what has to be done. It is the dark side of his faux Maverick title. If he were to accede to power he would be even more isolated than Bush, as Bush never had the luxury to be able to look back and see where he stood up to prevailing opinion and was correct.

2) Impatient with a Temper.
As he is likely only going to be a single term President, should he win, his volatile temper would only make it more difficult to use diplomacy and work for long term goals.

3) Simple solutions
He is not a person who appreciates nuance and subtlety. His comfort zone is to make a quick diagnosis and advance an immediate response. Unlike Gen. Powell he thinks fighting a war can be done by dropping a bomb.

Should Senator McCain win in November then everyone should expect that he will be quick to use expanded military operations in Iran and elsewhere. In McCain's simplistic universe long term military occupation in Iraq is no different than that of Japan where the defeat included a complete acknoweldgement that their world view was wrong. The occupation of Iraq has given the reactionary powers of its society increased motivation to prove its world view is not only correct but must be defended at all costs.

All efforts must be redoubled to ensure that this danger does not win in November. A close election is not acceptable. It must be put away decisively early on and the battle engaged with vigilance until victory is in hand.