McCain for President?

My fellow Conservative and all American Patriots, the time is rapidly approaching when collectively we decide who will take over and hopefully cleans up the mess made by Bush II and his radical administration. Bush II’s heir-designate is John McCain. John, I can call him John since he claims to be ‘my friend,’ peddles that he is a maverick, an iconoclast, and a change agent with independent judgment. A cursory examination of biography doesn’t reveal a change agent or maverick but a fairly privileged person and prosaic politician.
Major Life Accomplishments

John’s major life accomplishments, briefly sketched, as they are few, are:
- Son and grandson of US Navy admirals,
- Educated solely at government expense,
- Always had government health care except for his Hanoi years,
- US Navy pilot shot down after approximately 20 hours of combat,
- POW for five and a half years,
- Navy lobbyist and a John Tower and Phil Gramm disciple and drinking buddy,
- Retired as Captain in 1981,
- Divorced his first wife, 1980
- Married very rich second within four months of divorce,
- With the help of new rich wife’s money and connections elected to the House of Representatives in 1982 and the Senate in 1986 from Arizona having never lived there prior to campaign,
- Obtained Republican nomination for President of United States 2008 after loosing it in 2000 by supplicating to the radical wrong wing of the GOP.

This is hardly a maverick’s biography or presidential one.

Real World Experience

Let’s look little closer at John’s military experience as it is the cornerstone of his foreign policy approach and political career. He is a creature of the military and the government. He is not their finest work. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy near the bottom of his class. He went on to serve as a naval aviator, but was shot down after only 20 hours of combat flying. His time as a POW was honorably served according to John, although he has asked the Viet Namese government not to release the records. His lineage may have had some influence on his medal array. John spent the last years of his service lobbying for the navy and partying with Gramm and Towers. He attained the rank of Captain (ret) after his 22 years of naval service but not admiral despite being the son and grandson of admirals. He never had executive experience or strategic commands in the Navy. John’s commands were always operational or ‘just following orders given by someone else’ commands.

John remained in government and at the public trough after the military. He served in the House of Representatives for two terms and as a Senator since 1986. The government has been his employer since his academy days. His ties to Arizona prior to his election to the House were tenuous. They consisted of his rich wife Cindy Lou and her family’s political connections. They have been enough to buy a legislative career in government. His over a quarter century as a career politician has been notable for a lack of accomplishment other than staying in office. The four things that come to mind most readily are his 90% plus voting record with the radical Bush II regime, Keating 5, McCain-Feingold, and a short-lived effort to obtain more rational immigration policies. He’s now trying to disown all four accomplishments. John has flipped to the wrong and completely dark side. So much for John’s straight talking maverick image.

John self-claimed and self-promoting foreign policy experience primarily consists of his time in Viet Nam at the Hanoi Hilton. He has not had responsibility to develop or manage any significant foreign policy legislation nor engage in any diplomacy. He has little international knowledge as exemplifies by not knowing the difference between a Sunni and Shite (and probably Iran and Iraq unless Joe Lieberman whispers it in his ear). His approach to global disagreements is simplistic and militaristic (bomb, bomb Iran). John can’t keep allies and enemies straight in his mind. John, is Spain with troops in Afghanistan and a member of NATO an ally? Why won’t you talk with them? His judgment on the ‘surge’ (a troop increase in the Green Zone) largely comes from a peaceful market walk surrounded by American solders with a helicopter shield overhead. These protections are not generally available to an Iraqi civilian dodging fire from Blackwater mercenaries or militants.

Recapitulating John’s Qualifications

After a lifetime spent at the governmental trough, John now champions private enterprise, tight federal budgets, corporate deregulation, and rugged individualism. He flaunts his experience without any noteworthy managerial or executive experience. Age does not equal experience other than the experience of surviving to old age. His significant legislative accomplishment, other than being one of the Keating 5, is limited to McCain-Feingold[1]. This is also his primary ‘maverick’ qualification. Like being a ‘legend in his own mind,’ he a maverick with his mouth rather than his votes. Remind me other than McCain-Feingold when he successfully took on the Republican leadership.

John’s economic experience is Keating 5 and marrying a rich wife. A success rate of .500 wouldn’t be bad in baseball but hardly qualifies him as a change agent or to be President. His direct foreign policy experience consists of Viet Nam, surviving as a POW, and tourism at taxpayers’ expense. Again, not presidential.

We won’t talk about his cynical selection of Sarah Palin as his VP. Sarah deserves more space than we have here. Suffice to say, it is an insult to all True Conservative American Patriots. We will save his embrace of the radical wrong, especially the Christian wrong’s agenda, after his 2000 failed presidential nomination bid for a later blog. He now talks the Christian wrong’s talk but hasn’t personally walked their walk.[2]
John is not the brightest bulb in the Senate. He is a rather dim and perhaps a nearly burnt out bulb. He had the bad fortune to be a POW and the ability to parlay it into a successful political career with the help of rich and well-connected wife. These are his significant accomplishments and he works it, being a POW not the rich wife, into every public address, lest we forget it. It does not qualify John for the Presidency. Give him a medal for it– the greatful nation gave him many medals. Give him PTS therapy and a pension. Again, this was done. But don’t reward him with the presidency. He can’t handle it. He appears to need more therapy now. His presidency will be four more years of radical Bush II policies. Unlike John at the Hanoi Hilton, we can’t survive four more years of radical Bush II NeoFascist policies.[3]
[1] Don’t bring up the lobbying hearings on Jack Abamoff as a public good. Abramoff was eliminated as a competitor to McCain’s lobbyist cronies. See his campaign staff makeup. .
[2] For a preview of his approach to the walk and probable approach to the Christian wrong’s “values,” see Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
[3] A forthcoming blog will establish that the contemporary radical Republican Party is NeoFascist in its ideology and policies.