It's Always Been "McCain First,"Country Be Damned

"It’s that utter power vacuum that gave McCain the opening to pull his potentially catastrophic display of economic “leadership” last week. He may be the first presidential candidate in our history to risk wrecking the country even before being voted into the Oval Office."

Frank Rich, McCain’s Suspension Bridge to Nowhere, NYTimes, September 28, 2008

As Frank Rich has so cogently written in this morning's NYTimes, John McCain will do or say absolutely ANYTHING to become president of these United States. Allow me to count the ways in which this "maverick" candidate has sold his soul for a ticket to the White House and explain why all his twisting in the wind, flip-flopping to a greater degree than any other candidate in modern history, and resorting to sheer gimmickry has or at least should have lost any support for his candidacy that he may once have legitimately had.

It has always been "McCain First," as a story by a fellow POW in Hanoi pointed out, McCain was not the only soldier to be offered an early release. It was a common offer and one that all men imprisoned by the North Vietnamese rejected. Although that does not mean that all POWs were released. See McCain and the POW Cover-Up (originally appeared in The Nation). It seems that one of the hallmarks of McCain's hero status and a huge rationale for his qualifications for president are built on a sham.

This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to the scams, deceit and outright lies McShame has told on his path to the White House. Back in the 2000 presidential campaign McCain called Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson "agents of intolerance." On April 2, 2006 John McCain said on Meet the Press very clearly that he no longer believed that Jerry Falwell was an agent on intolerance. Had Falwell changed? Or did McCain decide that he needed the support of the right-wing religious fundamentalist nutjobs to win the presidency? If this were an isolated incident, I might be willing to give McCain the benefit of the doubt, but it was rather the first in a long line of political about-faces that were transparently done to get McCain elected.

As the time to cast our votes draws nearer, the flip-flops have a stronger smell of desperation, and the gimmicks seem to be getting even more incredible and obvious. From the selection of the highly unqualified Sarah Palin for his vice-presidential choice to his latest theatrical move to "suspend his campaign," it has become clear to me that the only element John McCain has ever put first is himself.

As for the role of the Main Stream Media (the group that McCain used to refer to as "his base"), they seem to be slowly coming around to the realization that the "Straight Talk Express" has been delivering anything but straight talk for some time now. And as nobody likes to be played as a fool (even the press corps), they have finally started pointing out some inconsistencies in McSame's policies. McCain, who has not voted since April 8, has now missed five-and-a-half months of roll calls in the Senate, during which 115 votes have been held. According to a database created by washingtonpost.com, McCain has missed more than 64 percent of his votes in the 110th Congress, more than any other senator. (Washington Post, 09/27/08). Is it any wonder that McCain is having trouble running a presidential campaign and keeping up on the crisis du jour at the Capital? That's all the proof I need to vote for Obama in November. Obama can walk and chew gum at the same time - a challenge that eludes Grampy McSame.



Here's a link to the full text of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 Read it and weep :(

Read David Sirota's Top 5 Reasons to Vote Against Wall Street's $700 Billion Bailout

For a much more palatable solution, read: Trickle-Up: What a Progressive Bailout Would Look Like