More McCain

Well, with Romney towing the line now (And, say...What do you think? With the fate of America's future on the line if Democrats win the White House...Do you think he wants McCain to win? Or lose, so he can run in 4 years? Hmm, tough choice.) time to look some more at that hero and defender of democracy, that straight talker, John McCain.

Maverick? Moderate? Independent? Harumph!

Old habits die hard. The media has had a tough time coming to grips with the reality of John McCain 2008 — The Maverick is dead. Chris Matthews is probably the worst offender, but the media narrative that McCain is the darling of Independents has run its course and needs to be put to bed. Arianna Huffington writes the Dear John letter:

I hate to be the one to break up a love affair, especially with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, but I can no longer stand idly by and watch the media and independent voters continue to throw themselves at the feet of John McCain.

The John McCain they fell in love with in 2000 — the straight-shooting, let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may maverick - is no more. He’s been replaced by a born-again Bushite willing to say or do anything to win the affection of his newfound object of desire, the radical right.

So, please, stop pretending that McCain is still the dashing rebel that made knees buckle back in the day — and stop referring to him, as the New York Times did this weekend, as “moderate” and a “centrist.” Read on…

McCain stands against torture, except when he doesn't.

The Senate voted today to ban the CIA from using torture on suspected terrorists and the most famous POW in the Senate voted against the bill. The Maverick is now most assuredly dead and the betrayal is complete. The blogosphere was all over this issue, and thankfully the measure passed, but for McCain, it was a show of pure cowardice. In other words, the Senator who himself was tortured for years and has previously spoken out against it, voted to allow the use of torture on others to save his political hide and pander to a party base that despises him. Shame on you, Senator. Is this the sort of weakness you want from your Commander in Chief?

Tell me again how this no jobs, more wars, pro-torture, pro-Bush tax cuts, anti-choice, pro-surge Republican is going to draw Independents and Democrats to his side this fall? As a side note, would it surprise you that alleged Democratic caucus members Senators Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman also voted for torture today?

McCain knows all.

Speaking to reporters in Richmond, VA last night, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) attacked “anyone” who points out that he is “fine” with keeping U.S. troops in Iraq for 100 or more years. “Anyone who worries about how long we’re in Iraq does not understand the military and does not understand war,” said McCain.

He then added that it is “really almost insulting to one’s intelligence” to question “how long we’re in Iraq” because he believes the current “strategy” is “succeeding.”

...

Just once, I’d like to hear McCain get confronted by this notion of the “surge succeeding”. Are we to consider the deaths of 75 people and the 83 people reported injured on Sunday alone successful? How about the threat to disband Iraqi Parliament–ostensibly the justification for the surge, to allow the government to establish itself by curtailing violence? Where’s the success, McCain?

Not to put too fine a point on it, but there’s a lot here insulting our intelligence, but it isn’t from questioning how long we should be in Iraq.

Good to know he understands war and the military for us poor dumb citizens. Isn't he so brave, strong and manly? RETCH!

And, really, let us see Blitzer or Matthews actually ask him, "How do you judge this Surge a success, especially as generally a surge recedes quickly after and not meander on...that' a flood!

We flooded troops into Iraq to try to put out the fires of insurgency. We have temporarily staved some of it off, but it remains and it ripe to grow to the old heights. How are things going to be getting better...But Old Man McCain understands these things better than use peons...


More war and rhetoric?

Why is the neocon crowd so excited about the Arizona senator? Max Boot, an unpaid foreign policy advisor to the McCain campaign, explains.

It is hard to see how Bush could reverse this decline in America’s “fear factor” during the remaining year of his presidency. That will be the job of the next president. And who would be the most up to the task?

To answer that question, ask yourself which presidential candidate an Ahmadinejad, Assad or Kim would fear the most. I submit it is not Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or Mike Huckabee. In my (admittedly biased) opinion, the leading candidate to scare the snot out of our enemies is a certain former aviator who has been noted for his pugnacity and his unwavering support of the American war effort in Iraq.

Kevin makes quick work of Boot’s painful perspective.

There you have it. If you think the most important aspect of a president is the ability to “scare the snot out of our enemies,” then McCain’s your guy.

Now, you might think that after seven years of trying exactly this, with only the current collapse in our fortunes to show for it, the neocon establishment might at least pause for a moment to wonder if there’s more to foreign policy than scaring the snot out of our enemies. But no. The real problem, apparently, is simply that the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld administration wasn’t good enough at it. Not bellicose enough. Not unilateral enough. Not warlike enough. What America needs is someone even more bloodthirsty than the crew that got us into this mess. Time to double down, folks.

This, in a nutshell, is what McCain is offering by way of a foreign policy.

More scares and ratcheting up...maybe he'll give up another rendition of Bomb Iran, maybe he'll just order more RENDITIONS.