McCain Deraingment Syndrome

I'm coming out right now to condemn the character assassinations on John McCain. Normally I am an ardent supporter of Amy Goodman and Democracy now. On one of last weeks broadcasts she had a guest that started off talking about McCain's military record, and alluding to the idea that he was responsible for one of the worst aircraft carrier disasters since WW II during the Vietnam War. Righties chatter about things he did or didn't do while in a North Vietnamese Prison Camp, where he was horribly tortured. I know that the Clinton and Obama campaigns will also engage in this kind of innuendo, which is simply reprehensible. More than that, it is perverse, and if those who believe so greatly in the morale of our troops believe in their minds they won't wonder how their records in war might be used against them...Talk about not supporting the troops.

Those on the extreme right also complain about McCain's sinful habit of reaching out to the Left, and of working with those across the isle to get things done. I expect, no I demand that my Democratic representatives also look for opportunities to build bridges. Best I can figure the world can be seperated between two types of folks, those who just want to argue, and those of us who actually want to get crap done. If Obama is the Candidate and becomes President, he damn well better work with Republicans to get things done. We all want the shiny race car of our dreams, but if it don't run because we excluded the mechanic that builds the engine under that shiny hood, then plant flowers in the windows. I'd rather have the car that looks a little like my dreams and a little like yours, and runs!

There are other reasons not to support McCain, without resorting to the so-called Swift-boating of his reputation. There is the Savings and Loan scandal that McCain cut a deal with prosecutors to avoid criminal prosecution. Even more fundamental was McCain's willingness to support Bush for President after Bush and Rove used McCain's adopted Bangladeshi daughter to claim that he had fathered an illegitimate black child. For me, that would be a deal breaker. You can take shots at me all day, but touch my family and I would follow you into hell for eternity. McCain allowed political hacks to attack his innocent daughter and didn't fight back. Instead, he grinned like a fool and threw his full support behind the attackers. That, I think is fundamental.