"Calm Down" - The Canonization of St. McCain

Well, it looks like the last two days are only the beginning of what we are to expect this general election campaign season. The guard dogs are all out and in attack mode on anyone who dare speak the truth of St. McCain.

The ridiculousness of it all began on Sunday with Gen. Wesley Clark's appearance on Face The Nation and continued on Monday night with Senator Jim Webb's appearance on Countdown and his opinion that St. McCain "calm down" his military rhetoric and not conflate it with political experience.

Well you'd think they took a bat and beat St. McCain about that bulbous head of his. The McCainstream Media has gone ballistic with Clark and now the McCain campaign has accused the Obama campaign of not being able to control his surrogates due to Webb's comments.

As Paul Waldman writes:

"...what happened with Gen. Clark reveals the McCain Rules, as he and the press would have us understand them. Here's how things are supposed to work: It's fine for the McCain campaign to run ads touting his time as a POW, create web videos touting his time as a POW, have him mention his time as a POW in speeches, and have him bring it up in debates (remember "I was tied up at the time"?). In other words, it's fine to have John McCain's entire presidential run be presented through the filter of his POW experience. Should, however, someone even ask the question of whether the fact that McCain was a POW really qualifies him to be president, that would be a deeply offensive affront to all that is right and good, and must not be tolerated. Talk about having it both ways."

Here's how disjointed this all is. Emphasize your military record for political gain, not the part where you graduated 894th out of a class of 899 at the Naval Academy and your father and grandfather were both Admirals, just the part about being shot down over North Vietnam and a prisoner of war for five years.

But if say, oh I don't know, a valedictorian at West Point who is a Rhodes Scholar and former Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO should wonder what being shot down has anything to do with running for president, or if say a former Secretary of the Navy would ask that you tone down trying to equate military experience to political qualifications, then criticize those who would dare to speak ill of such a war hero and make sure you pound the falsehood that they're belittling your war record as a POW.

Don't worry about the McCainstream Media, they'll gladly shill for you and fail to mention that both these commenters repeatedly praised McCain for his sacrifice and bravery. And when you have weasels like Lindsey Graham repeating the same talking points, you know it's just a bunch of bullshit.

“I do think Gen Clark has made a huge mistake here,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham. “No matter how he sugar coats it, he is attacking John McCain’s military service. … Yesterday, [the Obama campaign said it’s inappropriate. Today they’re pretty quiet when he reiterates that attack.”

Once again I ask, "What attack?" I'm still waiting for someone to name one thing that Clark said that was incorrect or disingenuous. The way they've got his back covered, the last thing the watchdogs in the press should be doing is worrying about St. McCain.


UPDATE (7/2/08 3:55pm): Read DDay - Off Stride

An ABC reporter gave John McCain the opportunity to discuss Wes Clark's comment - the ACTUAL remarks - and McCain went apeshit.

Obama On Patriotism

By the way, in case you missed it on the McCainstream Media due to phony outrage over Gen. Clark's comments, Barack Obama gave a pretty good speech today on patriotism.





Also, I'm a little bit disappointed in Obama's "rejection" of Clark's comments. Although we all know it was necessary for political purposes, can anyone explain to me what Clark said that was so wrong? He praised McCain's service and sacrifice while questioning what it had to do with his qualifications to be Commander-in-Chief.

And speaking of "Commander-in-Chief", how noble of him to take credit for the new G.I. Bill as well as thanking McCain when both of them were opposed to the bill from the outset and McCain didn't even bother to vote on it. What a putz.

Senate Passes New GI Bill

Final vote 75-22, which means it has a veto proof majority.

Here are the 22 Republican shitheads who voted "Nay" to which I ask, "Why do you hate the troops?"

Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bennett (R-UT)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lugar (R-IN)
McConnell (R-KY)
Sessions (R-AL)
Voinovich (R-OH)

Oh, and our Vietnam War hero, Maverick McCain? He didn't vote. He was too busy campaigning in California to make it back to Washington. I guess it wasn't that important to him. It doesn't matter anyway. If he had the balls to actually cast a vote, the list of "Nays" would have been 23 Republican shitheads.

The Arizona senator has never said that he does not support the bill because it is “too generous.” He has stated concerns that offering education benefits as early as the Webb bill allows would discourage people from re-enlisting.
...And despite McCain’s opposition to the Webb legislation, retiring Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia told FOX News: “This GI bill, one way or another, will be the law of the land.”

From the LA Times:

McCain, a former prisoner of war, said he supported an alternative that would not encourage troops to leave the service "after they have completed one enlistment."

But his position pits him against some of the Senate's other veterans, including Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and John W. Warner (R-Va.), both former Navy secretaries.

After the vote, Warner said, "I don't know of any day that I'll cherish or remember more than this one" in his 30 years in the Senate.

Clinton also spoke out for the GI benefits. "We often hear wonderful rhetoric in this chamber in support of our troops and our veterans. But the real test isn't the speeches we deliver, but whether or not we deliver on the speeches."

Asked about the GOP support, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who opposed the domestic spending portions, said, "I would say that's why we're not a majority anymore."

I mean, fuck, even Joe "The McCain Shadow" LIEberman voted Yea.