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gettinjiggywithit
jiggy


Registered: 07/20/04
Posts: 7,469
Loc: Heart of Laughter
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Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain
#7946285 - 01/28/08 05:11 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Interesting article to learn a bit more about this poor excuse for a candidate.
Johann Hari: Don't be fooled by the myth of John McCain Thursday, 24 January 2008
A lazy, hazy myth has arisen out of the mists of New Hampshire and South Carolina. Across the pan-Atlantic press, the grizzled 71-year-old Vietnam vet, John McCain, is being billed as the Republican liberals can live with. He is "a bipartisan progressive"", "a principled hard liberal", "a decent man" – in the words of liberal newspapers. His fragile new frontrunner status as we go into Super Tuesday is being seen as something to cautiously welcome, a kick to the rotten Republican establishment.
But the truth is that McCain is the candidate we should most fear. Not only is he to the right of Bush on a whole range of subjects, he is also the Republican candidate most likely to dispense with Hillary or Barack.
McCain is third-generation navy royalty, raised from a young age to be a senior figure in the Armed Forces, like his father and grandfather before him. He was sent to one of the most elite boarding schools in America, then to a naval academy where he ranked 894th out of 899 students in ability. He used nepotism to get ahead: when he was rejected by the National War College, he used his father's contacts with the Secretary of the Navy to make them reconsider. He then swiftly married the heiress to a multi-million dollar fortune.
Right up to his twenties, he remained a strikingly violent man, "ready to fight at the drop of a hat", according to his biographer Robert Timberg. This rage seems to be at the core of his personality: describing his own childhood, McCain has written: "At the smallest provocation I would go off into a mad frenzy, and then suddenly crash to the floor unconscious. When I got angry I held my breath until I blacked out."
But he claims he was transformed by his experiences in Vietnam – a war he still defends as "noble" and "winnable", if only it had been fought harder. (More than three million Vietnamese died; how much harder could it be?) His plane was shot down on a bombing raid over Hanoi, and he was captured and tortured for five years. To this day, he cannot lift his arms high enough to comb his own hair.
On his release, he used his wife's fortune to run to as a Republican senator. He was a standard-issue Reaganite corporate Republican – until the Keating Five corruption scandal consumed him. In 1987, it was revealed that McCain, along with four other senators, had taken huge campaign donations from a fraudster called Charles Keating. In return they pressured government regulators not to look too hard into Keating's affairs, allowing him to commit even more fraud. McCain later admitted: "I did it for no other reason than I valued [Keating's] support."
McCain took the only course that could possibly preserve his reputation: he turned the scandal into a debate about the political system, rather than his own personal corruption. He said it showed how "we need to drive the special interests out of Washington", and became a high-profile campaigner for campaign finance reform. But privately, his behaviour hasn't changed much. For example, in 2000 he lobbied federal regulators hard on behalf of a major campaign contributor, Paxson Communications, in an act the regulators spluttered was "highly unusual". He has never won an election without outspending his opponent.
But McCain has distinguished himself most as an über-hawk on foreign policy. To give a brief smorgasbord of his views: at a recent rally, he sang "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran," to the tune of the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann". He says North Korea should be threatened with "extinction".
McCain has mostly opposed using US power for humanitarian goals, jeering at proposals to intervene in Rwanda or Bosnia – but he is very keen to use it for great power imperialism. He learnt this philosophy from his father and his granddad Slew, who fought in the Philippine wars at the turn of the 20th century, where he was part of a mission to crush the local resistance to the US invasion. They did it by forcing the entire population from their homes at gunpoint into "protection zones", and gunning down anybody over the age of ten who was found outside them. Today, McCain dreamily describes this as "an exotic adventure" which his grandfather "generally enjoyed".
Then McCain's father, John, led the US invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965, at a time when there was a conflict on the Caribbean island. On one side, there were forces loyal to Juan Bosch, the democratically elected left-wing President who was committed to land redistribution and helping the poor. On the other side, there were forces who had overthrown the elected government and looked nostalgically to the playboy tyranny of Rafael Trujillo. John McCain Snr intervened to ensure the supporters of the democratic government were crushed, bragging that it taught the natives "how to behave themselves". He saw this as part of a wider mission, where the US would take over Britain's role as a "world empire".
These beliefs drive McCain today. He brags he would be happy for US troops to remain in Iraq for 100 years, and declares: "I'm not at all embarrassed of my friendship with Henry Kissinger; I'm proud of it." His most thorough biographer – and recent supporter – Matt Welch concludes: "McCain's programme for fighting foreign wars would be the most openly militaristic and interventionist platform in the White House since Teddy Roosevelt... [it] is considerably more hawkish than anything George Bush has ever practised." With him as president, we could expect much more aggressive destabilisation of Venezuela and Bolivia – and more.
So why do so many nice liberals have a weak spot for McCain? Well, to his credit, he doesn't hate immigrants: he proposed a programme to legalise the 12 million undocumented workers in the US. He sincerely opposes torture, as a survivor of it himself. He has apologised for denying global warming and now advocates a cap on greenhouse gas emissions – but only if China and India can also be locked into the system. He is somewhat uncomfortable with the religious right (while supporting a ban on abortion and gay marriage). It is a sign of how far to the right the Republican Party has drifted that these are considered signs of liberalism, rather than basic humanity.
Yet these sprinklings of sanity – onto a very extreme programme – are enough for a superficial, glib press to present McCain as "bipartisan" and "centrist". Will this be enough to put white hair into the White House? At the moment, he has considerably higher positive ratings than Hillary Clinton, and beats her in some match-up polls. If we don't start warning that the Real McCain is not the Real McCoy, we might sleepwalk into four more years of Republicanism.
j.hari@independent.co.uk
-------------------- Ahuwale ka nane huna.
Edited by gettinjiggywithit (01/28/08 05:26 PM)
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im_on_a_boat
Stranger

Registered: 04/06/06
Posts: 3,950
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link's dead
plus, dont piss on poor ol' mccain.
just promote ron paul instead 
he dont need negative campaigning.
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zorbman
blarrr



Registered: 06/04/04
Posts: 5,952
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: im_on_a_boat]
#7946372 - 01/28/08 05:26 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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This kind of hit piece it what I hate about politics- it actually makes me less likely to support Paul and more likely to support McCain.
-------------------- “The crisis takes a much longer time coming than you think, and then it happens much faster than you would have thought.” -- Rudiger Dornbusch
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gettinjiggywithit
jiggy


Registered: 07/20/04
Posts: 7,469
Loc: Heart of Laughter
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: zorbman]
#7946380 - 01/28/08 05:27 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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I copied and pasted the article in my first post.
There are people here who like McCain. I have no idea why.
-------------------- Ahuwale ka nane huna.
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im_on_a_boat
Stranger

Registered: 04/06/06
Posts: 3,950
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: zorbman]
#7946408 - 01/28/08 05:33 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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did you just call me a 'hack piece'?
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zorbman
blarrr



Registered: 06/04/04
Posts: 5,952
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: im_on_a_boat]
#7946415 - 01/28/08 05:34 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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huh??
-------------------- “The crisis takes a much longer time coming than you think, and then it happens much faster than you would have thought.” -- Rudiger Dornbusch
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lonestar2004
Live to party,work to affordit.


Registered: 10/03/04
Posts: 8,978
Loc: South Texas
Last seen: 12 years, 9 months
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: zorbman]
#7946488 - 01/28/08 05:49 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Quote:
zorbman said: This kind of hit piece it what I hate about politics- it actually makes me less likely to support Paul and more likely to support McCain.
At least its not the New York Times!
(Hit Piece on all Republican Candidates)
"We have strong disagreements with all the Republicans running for president. The leading candidates have no plan for getting American troops out of Iraq. They are too wedded to discredited economic theories and unwilling even now to break with the legacy of President Bush. We disagree with them strongly on what makes a good Supreme Court justice.
Still, there is a choice to be made, and it is an easy one. Senator John McCain of Arizona is the only Republican who promises to end the George Bush style of governing from and on behalf of a small, angry fringe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/opinion/25fri2.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=&st=nyt&oref=slogin
there isn't a Republican they do not hate.
-------------------- America's debt problem is a "sign of leadership failure" We have "reckless fiscal policies" America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better Barack Obama
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gettinjiggywithit
jiggy


Registered: 07/20/04
Posts: 7,469
Loc: Heart of Laughter
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: zorbman]
#7946566 - 01/28/08 06:03 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Quote:
zorbman said: This kind of hit piece it what I hate about politics- it actually makes me less likely to support Paul and more likely to support McCain.
It's your vote. Do what you want with it.
-------------------- Ahuwale ka nane huna.
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zappaisgod
horrid asshole


Registered: 02/11/04
Posts: 81,741
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: lonestar2004]
#7946961 - 01/28/08 07:13 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Any endorsement of a Republican by the NY Times is a de facto hit piece.
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Coaster
Baʿal



Registered: 05/22/06
Posts: 33,501
Loc: Deep in the Valley
Last seen: 12 years, 3 months
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: zorbman]
#7948300 - 01/28/08 10:54 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Quote:
zorbman said: This kind of hit piece it what I hate about politics- it actually makes me less likely to support Paul and more likely to support McCain.
are u talking about how candidates dig up dirt on each other if they didn't do that then people would vote for sorry ass liars, racists, n shit without knowing it
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Syle
Kenai Sigh


Registered: 10/16/05
Posts: 6,678
Loc: WA
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: Coaster]
#7949701 - 01/29/08 09:28 AM (16 years, 3 days ago) |
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i've said it before, does anyone out there really respect the NY times anyways?! it's fucking crap. leftist propaganda crap.
-------------------- https://kenaisigh.bandcamp.com/ <- Just completed the 2021 RPM challenge for February - An EP in one month (5 songs or 20 minutes). Check it out!
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WhiskeyClone
Not here


Registered: 06/25/01
Posts: 16,509
Loc: Longitudinal Center of Canada ...
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: zorbman]
#7949721 - 01/29/08 09:36 AM (16 years, 3 days ago) |
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Quote:
zorbman said: This kind of hit piece it what I hate about politics- it actually makes me less likely to support Paul and more likely to support McCain.
Maybe I read the article too fast... where did it mention Ron Paul?
-------------------- Welcome evermore to gods and men is the self-helping man. For him all doors are flung wide: him all tongues greet, all honors crown, all eyes follow with desire. Our love goes out to him and embraces him, because he did not need it. ~ R.W. Emerson, "Self-Reliance"
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Annapurna1
liberal pussy


Registered: 05/21/02
Posts: 5,646
Loc: innsmouth..MA
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its not any big secret that the only difference between giuliani..mccain..and romney is respectively the hard sell vs the soft sell vs the hair sell...but of course their all selling the same lemon...
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"anchor blocks counteract the process of pontiprobation..while omalean globes regulize the pressure"...
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 2 months, 20 days
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: zappaisgod]
#7950371 - 01/29/08 01:06 PM (16 years, 3 days ago) |
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> but of course their (sic) all selling the same lemon...
You left out Billary, Edwards, and Obama. Same coin...
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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gluke bastid
Stinky Bum



Registered: 12/20/00
Posts: 3,322
Loc: Charm City
Last seen: 5 years, 3 months
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: Syle]
#7950412 - 01/29/08 01:22 PM (16 years, 3 days ago) |
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Quote:
Syle said: i've said it before, does anyone out there really respect the NY times anyways?! it's fucking crap. leftist propaganda crap.
I don't know that I respect the NY times but I read it. Between it and the Washington Post I feel like most important national and world news are covered. I agree wholeheartedly that it is leftist. Political bias doesn't mean that a given paper doesn't provide useful headlines.
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Society in every form is a blessing, but government at its best is but a necessary evil - Thomas Paine
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Annapurna1
liberal pussy


Registered: 05/21/02
Posts: 5,646
Loc: innsmouth..MA
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: Seuss]
#7952530 - 01/29/08 08:17 PM (16 years, 3 days ago) |
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Quote:
Seuss said: > but of course their (sic) all selling the same lemon...
You left out Billary, Edwards, and Obama. Same coin...
billary quite possibly...edwards definitely not...obama remains nebuloidal...
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"anchor blocks counteract the process of pontiprobation..while omalean globes regulize the pressure"...
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Luddite
I watch Fox News


Registered: 03/23/06
Posts: 2,946
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: Annapurna1]
#7956136 - 01/30/08 03:33 PM (16 years, 2 days ago) |
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I support presidential candidates that the juvenile delinquents fear.
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rizingfire
Mycoticus psychoticus




Registered: 09/10/07
Posts: 875
Loc: North-east USm'f'nA
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: Luddite]
#7959382 - 01/31/08 08:11 AM (16 years, 1 day ago) |
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McCain has been through a lot and is a better manb than the democrats. It is ironic that the poster's avatar is of the only candidate still running who doesn't even have a chance at winning. McCain isn't my 1st choice but he is most qualified of all the candidates and if nominated he will get my vote. I will vote for whoever is nominated by the rep, though I prefer Romney and Huckabee over McCain but McCain over all three democrats Obama, Hillary or Paul (even if he says hes a republican he is the farthest thing)
I can't wait for super tuesday just to get all this crap out of the way. The games haven't even started yet.
-------------------- aka NHMI
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Syle
Kenai Sigh


Registered: 10/16/05
Posts: 6,678
Loc: WA
Last seen: 10 months, 26 days
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Re: Don't be fooled by the Myth of McCain [Re: rizingfire]
#7959420 - 01/31/08 08:30 AM (16 years, 1 day ago) |
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Quote:
rizingfire said: McCain has been through a lot and is a better manb than the democrats. It is ironic that the poster's avatar is of the only candidate still running who doesn't even have a chance at winning. McCain isn't my 1st choice but he is most qualified of all the candidates and if nominated he will get my vote. I will vote for whoever is nominated by the rep, though I prefer Romney and Huckabee over McCain but McCain over all three democrats Obama, Hillary or Paul (even if he says hes a republican he is the farthest thing)
I can't wait for super tuesday just to get all this crap out of the way. The games haven't even started yet.
yes, Paul is far from a modern republican, but he is the most conservative one on the stage. you think McCain is a true republican/conservative?
-------------------- https://kenaisigh.bandcamp.com/ <- Just completed the 2021 RPM challenge for February - An EP in one month (5 songs or 20 minutes). Check it out!
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