Attention, GOP: John McCain is the problem
In critiquing Glenn Beck’s CPAC speech taking the Republican Party to task for failing to own up to its Big Government lapses, Bill Bennett cites various Republicans who have admitted the party’s culpability. But see if you can spot the glaring problem with his defense of the GOP:
From Jim DeMint to Tom Coburn to Mike Pence to Paul Ryan, any number of Republicans have admitted the excesses of the party and done constructive and serious work to correct them and find and promote solutions. Even John McCain has said again and again that “the Republican party lost its way.”
If you didn’t gag when you read this sentence, you are not paying attention:
“Even John McCain has said again and again that ‘the Republican party lost its way.’”
“Even John McCain?” The Republican party “lost its way” on core limited government principles because of McCain’s radical progressive agenda. Question for Mr. Bennett: Can you please provide the exact citation and context of the so-called admission you attribute to McCain?
Because to this day, McCain refuses to admit his own individual responsibility for supporting the pre-socialization of the economy started under George W. Bush and continued under Obama. And fellow Republicans continue to whitewash McCain’s fiscal irresponsibility record.
McCain has never admitted he was wrong about his support of:
*The $700 billion all-purpose, earmark-stuffed TARP bailout;
*The $25 billion auto bailout;
*The $300 billion mortgage entitlement bailout; and
*The first $85 billion AIG bailout.
His latest McLame-est excuse for supporting TARP? He was “misled.” Via the Arizona Republic:
Under growing pressure from conservatives and “tea party” activists, Sen. John McCain of Arizona is having to defend his record of supporting the government’s massive bailout of the financial system.
In response to criticism from opponents seeking to defeat him in the Aug. 24 Republican primary, the four-term senator says he was misled by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. McCain said the pair assured him that the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program would focus on what was seen as the cause of the financial crisis, the housing meltdown.
“Obviously, that didn’t happen,” McCain said in a meeting Thursday with The Republic’s Editorial Board, recounting his decision-making during the critical initial days of the fiscal crisis. “They decided to stabilize the Wall Street institutions, bail out (insurance giant) AIG, bail out Chrysler, bail out General Motors. . . . What they figured was that if they stabilized Wall Street – I guess it was trickle-down economics – that therefore Main Street would be fine.”
Nearly 15 months later, commercial lenders still are in shaky condition and the commercial real-estate industry is in trouble, he said. On Friday, President Barack Obama announced $1.5 billion in funding for new measures to help Arizona and four other states hit hard by the tanked housing market and by joblessness.
But McCain stopped short of calling the TARP a mistake.
“Something had to be done because the world’s financial system was on the verge of collapse,” he said. “Any economist, liberal or conservative, would agree with that. The action they took, I don’t agree with.”
All the warning signs and red flags about Henry Paulson’s incompetence and untrustworthiness were there before McCain joined the Chicken Little crowd. (See September 22, 2008, “Why Henry Paulson must be contained.”) Stalwart fiscal conservatives like GOP Rep. Mike Pence saw through the smokescreen and kept their heads. McCain’s trying to have it both ways — refusing to admit he was wrong, blaming crapweasel Paulson for duping him, and creating the illusion that he’ll be competent enough to resist the next inevitable bailout temptation when White House, Treasury, and Fed officials hit the panic button.
He blew it on TARP.
Blew it on the auto bailout.
Blew it on the mortgage entitlement bailout.
Blew it on the AIG bailout.
Blew it on amnesty.
Blew it on campaign finance.
Blew it on global warming.
In short: McCain blows.
I’ve already warned about McCain Regression Syndrome. The GOP hasn’t even begun to cure itself.
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Categories: GOP,John McCain,Subprime crisis
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Blew it on the auto bailout.
Blew it on the mortgage entitlement bailout.
Blew it on the AIG bailout.
…and Sarah’s campaigning for him!
Blew it on amnesty.
…and Sarah’s campaigning for him!
Blew it on campaign finance.
…and Sarah’s campaigning for him!
Blew it on global warming.
…and Sarah’s campaigning for him!
In short: McCain blows.
…and Sarah’s campaigning for him!
McCain left his courage and fortitude in Hanoi.
…and I cannot stand his fat ass, bimbo daughter.
Hayworth! Hayworth! Hayworth!
Agreed, how can she be a conservative and support McShame’s position on those issues. I lost all respect and support for her as she campaigns for him.
It is my recommendation to Michelle that she toss both of your single points of contact off this site for your comments.
I am no fan of McCain’s conduct in the Senate and I hope after his term is up he is out of his seat.
But neither of you have the right to even question, much less denigrate Captain John McCain, USN. His courage, sacrifice and devotion to duty is beyond repute.
The word hero too often isused lightly. Captain McCain is a hero in the truest sense of the word. He kept The Code and most improtantly he kept the faith under horrific circumstances for 5 1/2 years.
I will not put up with your comments on his service.
No conservative can support abandoning the rule of law (aka amnesty for illegals). Amnesty will be the death of the Republic. It speaks volumes of those throwing in with King Weasel.
BTW, Benedict Arnold was a true hero at Saratoga. He still betrayed his country later. No one says we should overlook his treason because of his previous heroic service. Why should McAmnesty be different?
McCain’s position on immigration is wrong. However, if you are going to call his position “treason” why should I not consider you an enemy equal to any on the Left who would ignore the laws of the United States and set up his own standards?
Tyranny on the right is still tyranny.
If you cannot cope with another adult having a position you disagree with without calling his a traitor don’t delude yourself with referring to yourself as a PATRIOT. You’re not.
I submit to all of you who use the term “traitor” for any American with whom you have a differing position where is the line one must cross to be a “traitor?”
You “patriots” might want to read Marc Levin’s monologues and comments today on his show. About half of them were directed at you. He was spot on.
Frankly I doubt you will as you are too full of yourselves at the moment to see what’s coming.
There is nothing you can do in military service — no matter how heroic or honorable — that buys you immunity for decades into the future for whatever acts of dishonor and treachery that you choose to commit.
Many of us regard some of McCain’s policy positions — such as amnesty — as near treason, but honest people may disagree as to whether any policy position can rise to that level.
What is unarguable, IMO, is that McCain built his career — at least the last decade or more — on repeatedly selling out his own side. We are not talking policy here…we are talking treachery and dishonesty. There are always points to be scored by an ostensibly conservative politician reaching across the aisle. McCain courted the media which is part of the Left-wing undermining of this country…courted them always by being that “conservative” who was more “moderate” and “reasonable” than his party compatriots. In other words, he buoyed his own political position by throwing his teammates under the bus. He did it over and over again, and the media lapped it up.
And if anyone wants to overlook that record, there is the matter of his talking to Kerry about accepting the veep spot. And, of course, his wish to have the very liberal (except where the interests of Israel are concerned) Joe Lieberman as his own veep candidate. Sure, he gave us Palin in a moment of political desperation, but it certainly was not his wish. He always tried to get ahead by pandering to the Left. The Dems put up candidates from their Left wing and John McCain tried to get ahead by starting at the center and then meeting them half way.
For that record, I say that your Capt. John McCain, USN Ret., is SCUM.
Didn’t McCain threaten to join the DNC on more than one occasion, when he didn’t like how things in the GOP were going? Is that what a moderate, clear-thinking person responds to anything–by heading to the FAR LEFT? John McCain personifies EVERYTHING that is wrong with American politics, not just the Republican Party. Everything about the man is 180 degrees out of phase with the United States as it was founded to be–a nation established to protect the freedoms and liberty of its citizens.
Nobody opposes John McCain’s positions more than I do, but flyover is correct. Mccain’s service mandates respect for the man.
Disagree with his positions, as loudly as you like – but criticizing the man makes you look like an imbecile.
“great man, doing a terrible job” is fine.
And as for how long his honorarium lasts, try “forever.”
I dislike the man, but I respect him. He might show some streaks of tyranny, but traitor? Don’t be stupid.
The men fighting today would cringe if they had access to these screeds against mccain’s service.
I am a proud veteran who served on active duty from Feb 66 to Mar 69, although Uncle Sam, in his inexplicable wisdom, never deemed my services (AIT Infantry and Signal Corps OCS) to be required in Viet Nam. Still, I am proud of my own military experience and, much more so, respect the service of those who gave so much, as McCain did.
Nonetheless, McCain has done irreparable harm to his country by his traitorous behavior as a “Republican” senator.
To me, it is sad that so many military folks — as above — can not see beyond their own experience. No, honorable — even heroic — military service does not earn anyone a lifetime of respect regardless of their later behavior.
McCain deserves contempt for his treacherous behavior of recent decades, continually selling out his compatriots in pursuit of his own blind, maverick ambition.
I spit on him.
Maybe I can be more clear…
Notwithstanding his military service, McCain has for years operated as a mole subverting the cause of conservatism and of the GOP to advance his own, personal ambition. He has declined to defend his country and, in fact, has joined with those who would tear it down. He has appeared not to care where the parade was going as long as he could be at the head of it. ~He~ has spit on ~us~, on conservatives and patriotic Americans over and over again.
So I spit on him.
(He’s not the first military hero to go bad.)
BTW…I spit on “military hero” Colin Powell, as well, another treacherous RINO with a chest full of ribbons.
As far as traitors go you can include the likes of Charles Rangel, Tom Harkin, John Kerry and the late Jack Murtha.
Good point, crapweasel…I was thinking about those guys, too.
And how about this…the recently deceased Howard Zinn, who was as evil as evil can get as an enemy of America, was a 2nd Lt/bombardier who served in WWII combat in Europe.
Patriots can and do go bad.
Wonderboy Lee Harvey Oswald now that was a real all around loser.
Speaking of spit, how about this POTUS spitting on the wounded Americans, from a mosque, on 9/17:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlFUewQ3SKU
Not to mention ‘foreign workers support our economy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd1AZNUxWW4
More like ‘Saudis are our friends…’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoRHLrXmqbc&feature=related
…. as demonstrated on 9/11.
Americans lapped up 9/11 POTUS’s spit. Thank you, GOP.
Oh.. finally, Republicans chose John “Hernandez” McCain over patriot Tom Tancredo, R-CO. Thanks again!
Which makes your failure to differentiate between McCain’s military and non-military service even more inexecusable.
If you think McCain has not measured up since he left Active Duty that’s your first Amendment Right. It’s a target rich environment.
There is no purpose to be served in denigrating his service. To do so does not diminish McCain; it diminishes you.
A great man once believed to that we were a shining city on the hill. That is what we should be promoting on this site. If we are not doing that and spending our time in the gutter, we fail to differentiate why we are any different than the KosKids and MoveOn.org.
Again, I encourage ou to go out and read Marc Levin’s comments.
Some of the comments about John McCain are so far over the top that one wonders how they can get published. The use of the word “traitor” and “treason” in reference to John McCain and references to McCain fathering a daughter who is not bright are beyond the pale. Those of us who lost loved ones in VietNam understand full well what John McCain has been through in his life. Try surviving for five and a half years in a dungeon with a broken arm that didn’t get treated, to suffer physical beatings while being chained and try living in isolation and darkness for five and half years. As I mentioned before, I lost a beloved uncle (my mom’s brother) over the skies of North VietNam when I was ten years old. I know the support and love that our family received from the airmen he served with. These guys are true heros, men of action and deeds, not mere words. Whatever criticisms of John McCain are made should be based on the votes he cast in the Senate. I have had plenty to say about his 2001 vote against tax cuts. That is fair enough. But personal attacks on former POWs and airmen who flew the dangerous missions should be off limits. Ask the men who were in N.VietNam prisons about Captain John McCain. That is really all you need to know. I have reverence for the sacrifice that these men made. I wish everyone else did too.
Let me be clear:
McCain’s service to our country prior to his political career, I give him an A+ and all the honor he deserves.
McCain’s service to our country while serving in the U.S. Senate, as a supposed Republican of the conservative side of politics, I give him at best a D+ and wonder why he chose the GOP. The only thing that keeps him from scoring an F is his commitment to winning wars.
My mom’s brother was on the ground, from a land mine, and I was 7.
Here’s a thought or two with which I agree.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/02/glenn_beck_vs_c_edmund_wright.html
There is a strong, wrong tendency to tar everyone currently in office with the same brush. That has to stop.
And then they vote for the no Jobs Bill.
Beck you are right.
This is why I can’t support Palin. Anyone that feels compelled to endorse a candidate that is clearly part of the problem, has serious judgment issues. It’s another payback at the expense of sound government and it stinks. Principle takes a back-seat on the Palin bus and that won’t do.
She made a huge miscalculation thinking that her “keeping a promise” would be viewed as a positive. Certainly, it’s honorable to keep your word, but that’s not the question. Since when does her need to payback McCain for selecting her, take preeminence over our need to fix Washington?
It shows selfishness and naivete on her part to think it’s acceptable to put a man like McCain back in power. I suppose she’ll need to re-evaluate other important issues based on some personal obligation we’ve yet to hear?
Did Murtha’s service demand respect??????
McCain deserves no respect for his positions contrary to conservative positions.
On February 22nd, 2010 at 9:12 pm, Ignatius Reilly said:
Your comment is not only offensive but also dead wrong.
This platform is that of a conservative, not a socialist.
Who was it that quit the race and “released” his delegates to McCain?
Oh, that’s right, the same guy who
just endorsed McCain’s Senate re-election campaign.
On February 22nd, 2010 at 10:25 pm, jangar said:
A good friend of mine is a Marine who has been very active in the POW-MIA effort ever since he came back from serving in Vietnam. He says that their intelligence indicates that during several months when McCain was supposedly in “solitary confinement”, he was not in Vietnam at all, but rather in Eastern Europe.
I have no proof of that from him to share with you, so treat it as hearsay. But if you even consider that it could be true, that could explain a lot.
Is it that big of a stretch to believe that a U.S. Senator could be acting in the interests of a Communist government?
Do you remember
Senator Edward Kennedy’s offer to help the Soviet Union defeat Reagan’s efforts to build up the nuclear deterrent in Europe?
Kennedy’s offer to help the Soviets was unearthed by a Times of London reporter in the 1990s after the KGB files were opened.
I have to wonder if the KGB files also contained records on McCain…
On February 22nd, 2010 at 11:55 pm, Virginia Patriot said:
Excellent comment.
No amount of military heroism can counterbalance betrayal of our country and/or Constitution. And there are many men who acted with more heroism than McCain did on the deck of the USS Forrestal.
On February 23rd, 2010 at 12:53 am, Ignatius Reilly said:
When McCain was floating trial balloons about picking a pro-choice VP, Huckabee’s delegates threatened to walk out of the Republican National Convention. McCain didn’t want that to happen, so he picked a VP that would be acceptable to Huckabee’s delegates.
If you liked having Sarah Palin on the ticket, thank Mike Huckabee and his delegates.
Flyoverman, and others…
I think that you would have a hard time finding a conservative on this site or anywhere else that would not honor John McCain’s military service in the proper context.
People use words like “traitorous” in respect to McCain, because his ~political~ behavior has that quality. Like Arlen Specter and a few others, he seems perpetually opportunistic. He stands up as a proud Republican at rallies and conventions and when it suits him, but then, when the opportunity is right, he seeks to gain advantage by distancing himself from other Republicans. I am not trying to abuse him just now but to fairly characterize his style of politics. Someone once remarked that he is the type of personality that seeks enemies first among his friends. There is a fine line between being a maverick and independent and being disloyal. Is there any line at all?
Some see a lack of ideological purity as a virtue and, I suppose, are attracted to the McCain style. But most people who care deeply about politics are ideologically committed, which is not to say that each us does not put his own spin on ideology. But, for the most part, we know our own as liberals know their own. It is troubling to have someone in your midst who declares himself of a higher moral and intellectual order than us partisans. From a partisan perspective, it looks like double-dealing; it looks treacherous; it looks snake-like. And so we say these angry, harsh things about McCain. We’re not talking about his military service; we’re talking about his politics.
Then someone comes along and gets his back up because this is such offensive language when viewed in the context of the man’s military service. And the effort is made to place him — uniquely among political figures — beyond harsh criticism.
But McCain is what Marshall McLuhan might have called a “hot personality in hot media.” He is contentious, pugnacious, haughty, and confrontational. He pushes people’s buttons. And we respond. And then we are told to back off because he is a war hero. Some of us have perhaps a little too much of that McCain feistiness in our own characters and, instead of backing off as we are told, we double down. I like to use those hot-button words to emphasize that I absolutely will not back away from using words like “traitor” to describe McCain. Politics seems like a war to me. McCain wears my side’s colors, but he is not a reliable warrior for my side. Such words come naturally to mind.
I think that those who have been close to the military in one way or another — perhaps have lost family members — sometimes bring a whole world of emotion that belongs to warfare and sacrifice and the most profound service to the nation into the necessary but ugly business of politics. These thing, IMO, need to stay separate.
McCain gets in my face and undercuts efforts efforts to save the nation in political wars. He makes me very angry. I will not place him beyond the savage comebacks that he seems to invite. I will not alter my language that seems to fit his current actions because of what he did those many years ago. I will not respond well to the suggestion that I should back off while he runs over things that I hold dear. But no conservative has the agenda to denigrate his noble service…until it is used as a shield. When McCain is called a traitor and such, I wish people would think of politics and not some beloved relative who lost his life in warfare.
I wish Steele would come out and say something like “John McCain does not speak for the Republicans. Sen. McCain is one voice in the great chorus.” Or some such barbrastreisand.
The MSM want to use this loser, with the stink of a loser on him, as the face of the Republicans. That is why he gets so many TV invitations. Every time McCain sucks the oxygen out of a TV studio, some other good conservative Republicans are sitting at home eating English muffins.
McCain must be repudiated.
I have never denigrated McCain’s service in the military, just as I have never denigrated Benedict Arnold’s. Arnold was largely responsible for the very important victory at Saratoga and he paid for that with the loss of the normal use of his leg.
Neither earns a lifetime pass on future actions. I referred to Arnold’s treason, which most people acknowledge was treason, but did not say that about McCain. Advocating surrendering our national sovereignty and abandoning the rule of law with amnesty comes close, though.
I’d swear, this is the guy Michelle told us we had to vote for in 2008. Glad I did not listen. Great post, all true, but I could not pimp my vote to him.
The Constitution and the Rule of Law are too important to vote for this fraud.
Principles over Parties, that’s my mantra.
McCain has claimed to be a “Reagan conservative.” While Reagan Reached across the aisle brought Democrats to our side, McCain crosses the aisle and caucuses with the democrats.
One day he is a conservative. The next day he is a maverick independent. Then he is a moderate voice of reason. A couple of weeks ago, he even claimed to have the support of the Tea Party.
While most politicians have an amazing ability to talk out of both side of their mouths, McCain is a chameleon. He is the David Bowie of the Senate reinventing himself at every election cycle. The fact is John McCain has only one core value-get re-elected, and he does that well.
McCain is hardly a traitor to his country, but he is certainly a traitor to the conservative movement. I was proud to vote for him when he ran for the house in 1982, and I could not bring myself to vote for him in 2008.
Please Arizona, retire this RINO in November.
Fire the Olefart!
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Good job on this article, Michelle. I respect John McCain’s military service record, and his support of anti-abortion and no earmark stuff.
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But he did support SHAMNESTY and has been far too willing to “reach across the aisle” and to cut deals that do not help our our country’s future.
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Maybe he took too many “hits to the cabesa” when he was a prisoner in the Hanoi Hilton. Or maybe he has been in Washington, D.C. for too long.
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Vote for a real conservative “junkyard dog” type in the Arizona primary election. No more “let’s cut a deal” stuff. J.D. Hayworth would be my choice if I lived in Az.
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John Bibb
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