mccain's Integrity
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jose-uno
Sep 11, 2008, 10:57:17 PM9/11/08
to NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL FORUM 1
McCain's Integrity
Wednesday 10 September 2008
»
by: Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic
Senator John McCain at a campaign rally in Virginia. (Photo: Reuters)
Editor's Note: Historically a John McCain supporter, conservative
journalist and blogger Andrew Sullivan takes on the issue of John
McCain's integrity as he strives to win the presidency. - vh/TO
For me, this surreal moment - like the entire surrealism of the
past ten days - is not really about Sarah Palin or Barack Obama or
pigs or fish or lipstick. It's about John McCain. The one thing I
always thought I knew about him is that he is a decent and honest
person. When he knows, as every sane person must, that Obama did not
in any conceivable sense mean that Sarah Palin is a pig, what did he
do? Did he come out and say so and end this charade? Or did he
acquiesce in and thereby enable the mindless Rovianism that is now the
core feature of his campaign?
So far, he has let us all down. My guess is he will continue to do
so. And that decision, for my part, ends whatever respect I once had
for him. On core moral issues, where this man knew what the right
thing was, and had to pick between good and evil, he chose evil. When
he knew that George W. Bush's war in Iraq was a fiasco and
catastrophe, and before Donald Rumsfeld quit, McCain endorsed George
W. Bush against his fellow Vietnam vet, John Kerry in 2004. By that
decision, McCain lost any credibility that he can ever put country
first. He put party first and his own career first ahead of what he
knew was best for the country.
And when the Senate and House voted overwhelmingly to condemn and
end the torture regime of Bush and Cheney in 2006, McCain again had a
clear choice between good and evil, and chose evil.
He capitulated and enshrined torture as the policy of the United
States, by allowing the CIA to use techniques as bad as and worse than
the torture inflicted on him in Vietnam. He gave the war criminals in
the White House retroactive immunity against the prosecution they so
richly deserve. The enormity of this moral betrayal, this betrayal of
his country's honor, has yet to sink in. But for my part, it now makes
much more sense. He is not the man I thought he was.
And when he had the chance to engage in a real and substantive
debate against the most talented politician of the next generation in
a fall campaign where vital issues are at stake, what did McCain do?
He began his general campaign with a series of grotesque, trivial and
absurd MTV-style attacks on Obama's virtues and implied disgusting
things about his opponent's patriotism.
And then, because he could see he was going to lose, ten days ago,
he threw caution to the wind and with no vetting whatsoever, picked a
woman who, by her decision to endure her own eight-month pregnancy of
a Down Syndrome child in public, that he was going to reignite the
culture war as a last stand against Obama. That's all that is
happening right now: a massive bump in the enthusiasm of the
Christianist base. This is pure Rove.
Yes, McCain made a decision that revealed many appalling things
about him. In the end, his final concern is not national security. No
one who cares about national security would pick as vice-president
someone who knows nothing about it as his replacement. No one who
cares about this country's safety would gamble the security of the
world on a total unknown because she polled well with the Christianist
base. No person who truly believed that the surge was integral to this
country's national security would pick as his veep candidate a woman
who, so far as we can tell anything, opposed it at the time.
McCain has demonstrated in the last two months that he does not
have the character to be president of the United States. And that is
why it is more important than ever to ensure that Barack Obama is the
next president. The alternative is now unthinkable. And McCain - no
one else - has proved it.
Wednesday 10 September 2008
»
by: Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic
Senator John McCain at a campaign rally in Virginia. (Photo: Reuters)
Editor's Note: Historically a John McCain supporter, conservative
journalist and blogger Andrew Sullivan takes on the issue of John
McCain's integrity as he strives to win the presidency. - vh/TO
For me, this surreal moment - like the entire surrealism of the
past ten days - is not really about Sarah Palin or Barack Obama or
pigs or fish or lipstick. It's about John McCain. The one thing I
always thought I knew about him is that he is a decent and honest
person. When he knows, as every sane person must, that Obama did not
in any conceivable sense mean that Sarah Palin is a pig, what did he
do? Did he come out and say so and end this charade? Or did he
acquiesce in and thereby enable the mindless Rovianism that is now the
core feature of his campaign?
So far, he has let us all down. My guess is he will continue to do
so. And that decision, for my part, ends whatever respect I once had
for him. On core moral issues, where this man knew what the right
thing was, and had to pick between good and evil, he chose evil. When
he knew that George W. Bush's war in Iraq was a fiasco and
catastrophe, and before Donald Rumsfeld quit, McCain endorsed George
W. Bush against his fellow Vietnam vet, John Kerry in 2004. By that
decision, McCain lost any credibility that he can ever put country
first. He put party first and his own career first ahead of what he
knew was best for the country.
And when the Senate and House voted overwhelmingly to condemn and
end the torture regime of Bush and Cheney in 2006, McCain again had a
clear choice between good and evil, and chose evil.
He capitulated and enshrined torture as the policy of the United
States, by allowing the CIA to use techniques as bad as and worse than
the torture inflicted on him in Vietnam. He gave the war criminals in
the White House retroactive immunity against the prosecution they so
richly deserve. The enormity of this moral betrayal, this betrayal of
his country's honor, has yet to sink in. But for my part, it now makes
much more sense. He is not the man I thought he was.
And when he had the chance to engage in a real and substantive
debate against the most talented politician of the next generation in
a fall campaign where vital issues are at stake, what did McCain do?
He began his general campaign with a series of grotesque, trivial and
absurd MTV-style attacks on Obama's virtues and implied disgusting
things about his opponent's patriotism.
And then, because he could see he was going to lose, ten days ago,
he threw caution to the wind and with no vetting whatsoever, picked a
woman who, by her decision to endure her own eight-month pregnancy of
a Down Syndrome child in public, that he was going to reignite the
culture war as a last stand against Obama. That's all that is
happening right now: a massive bump in the enthusiasm of the
Christianist base. This is pure Rove.
Yes, McCain made a decision that revealed many appalling things
about him. In the end, his final concern is not national security. No
one who cares about national security would pick as vice-president
someone who knows nothing about it as his replacement. No one who
cares about this country's safety would gamble the security of the
world on a total unknown because she polled well with the Christianist
base. No person who truly believed that the surge was integral to this
country's national security would pick as his veep candidate a woman
who, so far as we can tell anything, opposed it at the time.
McCain has demonstrated in the last two months that he does not
have the character to be president of the United States. And that is
why it is more important than ever to ensure that Barack Obama is the
next president. The alternative is now unthinkable. And McCain - no
one else - has proved it.
LESLIE DOYLE
Sep 12, 2008, 12:07:49 PM9/12/08
to NEW-YORK-TIMES-E...@googlegroups.com
And when the Senate and House voted overwhelmingly to condemn and
end the torture regime of Bush and Cheney in 2006, McCain again had a
clear choice between good and evil, and chose evil.
....this man knew what the right
end the torture regime of Bush and Cheney in 2006, McCain again had a
clear choice between good and evil, and chose evil.
thing was, and had to pick between good and evil, he chose evil. When
he knew that George W. Bush's war in Iraq was a fiasco and
catastrophe, and before Donald Rumsfeld quit, McCain endorsed George
W. Bush against his fellow Vietnam vet, John Kerry in 2004. By that
decision, McCain lost any credibility that he can ever put country
first. He put party first and his own career first ahead of what he
knew was best for the country.
he knew that George W. Bush's war in Iraq was a fiasco and
catastrophe, and before Donald Rumsfeld quit, McCain endorsed George
W. Bush against his fellow Vietnam vet, John Kerry in 2004. By that
decision, McCain lost any credibility that he can ever put country
first. He put party first and his own career first ahead of what he
knew was best for the country.
McCain has demonstrated in the last two months that he does not
have the character to be president of the United States. And that is
why it is more important than ever to ensure that Barack Obama is the
next president. The alternative is now unthinkable. And McCain - no
one else - has proved it.
have the character to be president of the United States. And that is
why it is more important than ever to ensure that Barack Obama is the
next president. The alternative is now unthinkable. And McCain - no
one else - has proved it.
LESLIE DOYLE
Sep 12, 2008, 12:08:28 PM9/12/08
to NEW-YORK-TIMES-E...@googlegroups.com
cheech
Sep 14, 2008, 10:56:00 PM9/14/08
to NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL FORUM 1
Jose, there you go again, spreading lies about John McCain. Just
because he is pulling ahead of Obama "The Messiah", you have to start
spreading lies about him.
When are you lefties going to admit it, you have picked the wrong
candidates? Hillary would have been a better VP than Biden and an even
better pick for president than Obama.
because he is pulling ahead of Obama "The Messiah", you have to start
spreading lies about him.
When are you lefties going to admit it, you have picked the wrong
candidates? Hillary would have been a better VP than Biden and an even
better pick for president than Obama.
LESLIE DOYLE
Sep 15, 2008, 12:02:52 PM9/15/08
to NEW-YORK-TIMES-E...@googlegroups.com
"Jose, there you go again, spreading lies about John McCain. Just
because he is pulling ahead of Obama "The Messiah", you have to start
spreading lies about him.
"When are you lefties going to admit it, you have picked the wrong
candidates? Hillary would have been a better VP than Biden and an even
better pick for president than Obama."
Jim, what is so obviouly wrong about Obama, yes, he is a snot,
because he is pulling ahead of Obama "The Messiah", you have to start
spreading lies about him.
"When are you lefties going to admit it, you have picked the wrong
candidates? Hillary would have been a better VP than Biden and an even
better pick for president than Obama."
especially when he said, ".....ordinary Americans.....". I've never
meant a perfect person, yet.
Pietro Sommavilla
Sep 15, 2008, 3:15:16 PM9/15/08
to NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL FORUM 1
On 15 Sep, 17:02, "LESLIE DOYLE" <lesju...@gmail.com> wrote:
"Hillary would have been a better VP than Biden and an even better
pick for president than Obama."
Sadly, someone implied that Hillary is hiding something in her
"Hillary would have been a better VP than Biden and an even better
pick for president than Obama."
closet...
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/images/skeletons-in-closet.png
LESLIE DOYLE
Sep 15, 2008, 8:05:07 PM9/15/08
to NEW-YORK-TIMES-E...@googlegroups.com
Hillary is too radical for my tastes.
jose-uno
Oct 5, 2008, 9:44:29 AM10/5/08
to NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL FORUM 1
Not hardly creech, have you seen the latest polls?
I was for Hillary all the way, I'll support and vote for Obama tho.
> > one else - has proved it.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
I was for Hillary all the way, I'll support and vote for Obama tho.
>
> - Show quoted text -
cheech
Oct 5, 2008, 4:53:11 PM10/5/08
to NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL FORUM 1
Jose, I've decided to vote for Ralph Nader. If we are going socialist
I want one who understands what is happening in the US.
> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
I want one who understands what is happening in the US.
LESLIE DOYLE
Oct 5, 2008, 6:14:37 PM10/5/08
to NEW-YORK-TIMES-E...@googlegroups.com
Jose,
You need to come to this forum, you'll love it!!!!
http://groups.google.com/group/abc_politics_forum?hl=en
You need to come to this forum, you'll love it!!!!
http://groups.google.com/group/abc_politics_forum?hl=en
jose-uno
Oct 6, 2008, 10:46:19 AM10/6/08
to NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL FORUM 1
You're not giving up on pinocchio are you? Bill has fell head over
heels in love with her. He may start stalking her.
I like Nader, my problem with him is that he stayed in the 2000
Florida race and allowed the bushcheney gang of criminals to almost
destroy this country. If Gore had been elected we would never have
been in this mess.
Stock market is down 550 points and falling.
heels in love with her. He may start stalking her.
I like Nader, my problem with him is that he stayed in the 2000
Florida race and allowed the bushcheney gang of criminals to almost
destroy this country. If Gore had been elected we would never have
been in this mess.
Stock market is down 550 points and falling.
jose-uno
Oct 6, 2008, 10:52:45 AM10/6/08
to NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL FORUM 1
I'm already a member over there, haven't had time to look lately. I
work 15 hours a day.
> >> - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
work 15 hours a day.
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