I remember a person on NPR giving a report of McCain turning down an endorsement from Bush.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be a fictional "what if" the speaker dreamed up.
" I think he is overall an honest person..."
Perhaps, he once met that description. But the Keating scandal (he barely stayed out of jail on that one), his close ties to MIC lobbyists - including his retention of documents arising out of and relating to the Abramoff scandal. http://preview.tinyurl.com/322unb
This willingness to keep the scope of the Abramoff scandal under wraps since 2002 also gnaws away at the "straight shooter" rep. More to the point, he is toeing the party line since the 2000 hatchet job.
His infidelity (assuming it is true) is trivial - but, the access that the Telecom lobbyist had to McCain demonstrates that he learned nothing from the Keating debacle - except to hide his tracks.
His voting record is rated 0 on the environment and 0 on children - a pittance out of the budget he freely supports for military projects and wars.
He supports retroactive immunity for the Bush administration's toadies in the telecom industry.
He supports, and promotes, the preemptive war policy that has been the center of the Bush/Neo-Con power grab that has left the US as the biggest thug on the planet and, rightly, lowered our nation's standing in almost every international forum.
He isn't a maverick - he just cultivates that image.
I don't disagree that he served his nation with distinction in Viet Nam and I abhor the "swift boating" attacks that have surfaced of late.
An examination of his education reveals that his father was instrumental in his acceptance into the naval academy. His grades were mediocre and his actions as a womanizer in the Tail-hook vein are well documented - and, acknowledged as true by McCain, himself.
Yes, his actions as a POW are the stuff of a true hero - but he is also a son of privilege who would not be where he is today without many acts by individuals with powerful influence over his acceptance into the "ole boys network.
His last position in the Navy was to serve as Liaison Officer to Congress. If that isn't laying the foundation for a run for office, nothing is.
McCain is beholden to the military and military contractors, banking and telecom lobbyists and now he is pandering to the religious right as he repudiates his own campaign finance laws.
I'd have to say that McCain peaked as an honorable man in 1974 and the scope of his mendacity has been closely guarded with only a few outbreaks that reveal his true loyalties. Frankly, McCain is simply a better man than Bush - more personal courage - but his education was arranged at taxpayer's expense; he dumped wife #1 for money in wife #2; his ascendancy to the congress followed his retirement from the military by only a year (1981-82) - a very, very short time for any candidate to establish himself in a state where he hadn't a presence in for decades. That's machine politics.
Then we have to consider that he is 71 years old today and will be 72 when inaugurated - making him the oldest president in our his
Then we have to consider that he is 71 years old today and will be 72 when inaugurated - making him the oldest president in our history. He certainly would not be a two-term president and that makes him a president without the ameliorating effect that running for a second term would have on his policies.
All in all, he appears to be a man who would expand the worst of Bush's policies and further degrade this nation, internally and internationally. A dangerous man by any measure.
Oh, I guess I didn't make myself clear. I would never vote for McCain but compared to most every other Republican candidate out there and in recent history I seem to like him more as a personality.
Out of the Republicans, I like Nixon best.
He's dead.
Moreover, they buried him 12' down.
Why?
Because, deep down - he's a really nice guy.
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The Huckster might prove to be a less harmful executive - I doubt that he would find the time between spirituals to screw with the nation.
Who knows, he might just say - "we'll place ourselves in god's hands," and then depart the Whitehouse - leaving it empty for 4 years.
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Dr. Paul would be an interesting little twerp - all of the objectivists with their Ayn Rand fetish would spend the 4 years arguing that nobody needs to meet - the market will take care of everything. Hands off the nation and the rugged individualists will prevail....but Dr. Paul will never open the blinds at the Whitehouse for the full 4 years.
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Then, there is that remote possibility that Cheney will declare himself President in response to an emergency (and to protect us, national security prevents him from telling us exactly what the emergency is).
Then he unilaterally suspends the election (right after the last media buy). Brings in Blackwater to keep the peace and then we never have to worry about election cycles again. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
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