A few random thoughts about John McCain:
1. I'm glad he's no longer a US senator. That doesn't mean I'm glad he died of brain cancer. Those are two different things.
2. To my knowledge, the only admirable thing ever attributed to McCain is the often-cited claim that when he was a POW he had an opportunity to go free, but refused out of solidarity to his fellow POWs. If true, that's a mark of moral heroism.
Mind you, I've never seen any evidence to back up that claim. Why would his captors offer to release him? What would they get in exchange? As the son of a top admiral, he was a quite a bargaining chip. If such an offer was actually made, I can't imagine it was free of strings. So I'm skeptical about whether the US gov't ever agreed to that deal. But I could be mistaken.
3. The fact that he was a vet doesn't automatically make him wise or good. The military has its share of scoundrels, viz. Wesley Clark, the Walter Reed scandals.
4. I regard McCain is a traitor to the conservative cause. A repeat offender. He took pleasure in sticking it in the eye of conservatives.
I don't know what made him tick. I'm guessing he thought friendship was more important than ideology.
Well done. I sensed it bubbling up in you. Glad you took the top off the kettle.
ReplyDeleteSteve, regarding “that deal” in #2, what you’re saying is that rather than “moral heroism” there might not have been a deal acceptable to the US govt. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteRegarding 4, I’m not sure why he allowed for CIA interrogation exceptions to torture given his absolutest stance. It’s my understanding he voted against a bill for exception, which passed. Then he supported Bush’s veto of it.
Jay Cost has a different angle:
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/JayCostTWS/status/1033064992260677632
It's true that many Senators are partisan hacks. But that's not the standard of comparison. There's no virtue in being iconoclastic for iconoclasm's sake. It's good to buck the system and break ranks if you have a superior idea, a superior alternative. But with McCain, it just seems to be reactionary and prideful.
DeleteBut let's split the difference: I'll campaign for Matthew Schultz!
I heard somewhere (I think on the Ben Shapiro show yesterday) that he was offered release as a propaganda strategy to show the U.S. cares more about the children of high level officers than normal soldiers. No idea if that's true or not, I guess I never really thought about the historical pedigree of the claim since it seems so universally accepted.
ReplyDeleteHe took pleasure in sticking it in the eye of conservatives.
ReplyDeleteOr, maybe he wasn't a blind ideologue and actually voted his conscience, even if it meant not towing the Republican party line. Just a thought.
Ideologue and partisan are not synonyms.
DeleteI don't elect politicians to vote their conscience but to serve the interests of their constituency. There's nothing inherently praiseworthy about voting one's conscience, since a conscientious vote can be stupid.
As Max Boot noted in his most recent Washington Post column, "McCain sided with Republicans on 87 percent of party-line votes during his career. Ronald Reagan said: 'The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally — not a 20 percent traitor.'" And Republicans most recently elected a RINO who has changed parties and positions (including on hot-button issues like abortion) more times than even he can probably count. But that's okay, apparently,
DeleteThey elected Trump because Hillary was the alternative. Elections are about comparative choices between candidates.
DeleteRobert A. J. Gagnon
DeleteJudicial Watch previously reported on the 2013 meeting. Senator McCain then issued a statement decrying “false reports claiming that his office was somehow involved in IRS targeting of conservative groups.” The IRS previously blacked out the notes of the meeting but Judicial Watch found the notes among subsequent documents released by the agency.'
https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-obtains-irs-documents-revealing-mccains-subcommittee-staff-director-urged-irs-to-engage-in-financially-ruinous-targeting/
Per Wikipedia:
'During Barack Obama's presidency, McCain was one of five Republicans most likely to vote in line with President Obama's position on legislation; he voted with Obama's position more than half the time in 2013....
'McCain voted against a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement. On July 28, 2017, McCain voted against the Senate bill to repeal the ACA....
'For lower courts, he stated he would appoint a mix of moderates and conservatives. While McCain is opposed to abortion, he stated that he would not use abortion as the litmus test....
'On February 28, 2000, during his presidential primary campaign, McCain sharply criticized leaders of the religious right as "agents of intolerance" allied to his rival, Governor George W. Bush, and denounced what he said were the tactics of "division and slander."
'... McCain did support the use of embryos in stem-cell research. In 2012, speaking about abortion, Senator McCain said that the Republican Party should "leave the issue alone" and that he respected pro-life and pro-choice views.... In 1999, McCain said of Roe v. Wade, "I'd love to see a point where it is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary. But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations."
'...McCain had a mixed record on LGBT rights, although his positions on LGBT rights were much more liberal than most of his other Republican counterparts. McCain had said that he opposed same-sex marriage or civil unions, but "McCain, who also oppose[d] an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex unions, said people should be encouraged to enter into legal agreements, particularly for insurance and other areas where decisions need to be made." ...McCain was endorsed by Log Cabin Republicans, a Republican PAC supportive of same-sex marriage and gay rights....
'In 1996 McCain voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would have prohibited discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation.... On November 7, 2013, he did vote in favor of ENDA.... In 2004, McCain voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment, arguing that each state should be able to choose whether to recognize same-sex marriage....
Delete'In July 2008, McCain told The New York Times that "I think that we've proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no I don't believe in gay adoption." Two days later, McCain's Director of Communications said "McCain could have been clearer in the interview in stating that his position on gay adoption is that it is a state issue, just as he made it clear in the interview that marriage is a state issue." McCain also clarified that he does not support a federal ban on adoption by gay parents....
'McCain's positions on LGBT rights had considerably moderated in his later years.... In 2014, McCain opposed Arizona SB 1062, a proposed bill which would have amended the state's version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act to allow people of faith in the state to decline services which violate their religious convictions.... In April 2016, McCain supported the nomination of openly gay Eric Fanning for Secretary of the Army and he supported LGBT protections in defense bills. In July 2017, after President Donald Trump released a statement on Twitter announcing that the ban on military service by transgender individuals would be reinstated, McCain released a statement criticizing Trump's statement as "unclear" and "yet another example of why major policy announcements should not be made via Twitter," adding that "there is no reason to force service members who are able to fight, train, and deploy to leave the military—regardless of their gender identity." McCain also co-sponsored a "bill in support of transgender people serving in the military...."'