Honest to God!
For as much as we try to consign John McCain to the ash heap of second place finishers next to the 1982 Cincinnati Bengals, the 1932 Chicago Cubs and Michael Dukakis, he continues to stumble and obfuscate his way onto the front pages. Trying to give this guy the benefit of the doubt is like trying to appreciate the films of Micky Rourke...why put yourself through it?
This week's performance was especially egregious. The Senior senator from Bullshitastan managed a double play. Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose says "You can't ride two horses with one behind" but you'd never know it to watch John McCain. As they say in the circus, they'll never let you be the ringmaster if you keep acting the clown.
Let's start with the Armed Forces and it's "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gay troops. This obscene bit of discrimination has been responsible for the cashiering of more than 13,000 serving Americans since Bill Clinton's lack of spine made it law in 1993. Since then, our Army, Navy and Marines have lost the services of many dedicated, well trained volunteers for no other reason than being outed as gay or lesbian.
During his aborted campaign for President (where the don't ask, don't tell policy was rigorously applied regarding the galactic incompetence of Sarah Palin) McCain stated repeatedly that "The day that the military leadership comes to me and says, 'Senator, we ought to change the policy' then I think we should seriously consider changing it." Apparently McCain was confident that the Winter Olympics would be awarded to hell before any high-ranking officer would publicly condone gay soldiers. Well look out for snowboarding devils Senator. In an extraordinary act of courage, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mike Mullen and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testified this week before the Senate Armed Services Committee and told the Senator exactly that.
Clearly the two highest ranking members of the Armed Forces, one civilian and a Republican appointee and one military (from McCain's own Navy, no less) wasn't enough. Perhaps a visit from George Patton would help? McCain was unmoved. Big surprise! Face it. McCain served in the Navy of the 1960's. They were barely tolerant of blacks. The idea of openly gay sailors puts McCain in mind of the drag scene in South Pacific. When he thinks gay he thinks of a ship full of limp-wristed marys prancing from stem to stern. It's OK to harbor prejudices. Everyone does. It is not OK to parade your biases to the world and it is not OK to offend serving Americans with your particular brand of bigotry.
Senator McCain's second bit of duplicity occured on the vote on the Conrad-Gregg Commission. Non-policy wonks may be unfamiliar with this brief, doomed attempt at bipartisan governance. Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) proposed a plan to curb America's budget crisis. The bill was called the Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action Act. Can these guys turn a phrase or what?
Briefly, the task force would be composed of 18 members, 10 Dems and 8 from the GOP. They would submit recommendations for fiscal restraint which would be voted on in Congress. The details are labyrinthine but reflect a genuine effort at broad-based fiscal reform. The bill initially had 35 co-sponsors from both parties. Here's where the fun began.
A letter was sent to the President urging him to sign the bill should it ever get that far. The letter was signed by the likes of Cornyn of Texas, Chambliss of Georgia, Feinstein of California and even Lieberman of Connecticutt (Let's show it to Joey. He hates everything.). President Obama, anxious to achieve bipartisan anything, came out in favor of the Commission. Naturally, Presidential support for any initiative triggers automatic rejection in the Republican caucus. Leading the charge for rejection was everyone's favorite grand dad; John McCain.
McCain's opposition, which reversed his support a few weeks ago, was nifty. He voted against the bill because, he said, it might lead to higher taxes. Forgetting for a moment that the Commission must achieve a 14 out of 18 plurality to recommend any action and that Congress can pass the proposals only with super majorities, this bill was designed and blessed by both parties...including the Senior Senator from Arizona.
McCain's opposition can only lead to two conclusions: 1) Stripping away all of the "why can't we all work together" rubbish, McCain is, at his core, a vengeful, intractable ideologue who will never support any proposal endorsed by the guy who kicked his white ass in November 2008; 2) Alzheimer's. Either he is terrified of losing his precious perch in the Senate to a Tea-bagger in a primary or he's just losing it. Either way it's time to show John McCain the door... in case he forgot where it was.
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