Is McCain a Traitor?

"A Vietnam vet detractor says, "He received the nation's third highest award, the Silver Star, for treason. He provided aid and comfort to the enemy!"

The rest of his valor awards issued automatically every year while he was a POW read much like the Silver Star. More boilerplate often repeating the exact same words. An example: "By his heroic endeavors, exceptional skill, and devotion to duty, he reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Naval Service and the United States Armed Forces."

"Yet McCain's conduct while a POW negates these glowing comments. The facts are that he signed a confession and declared himself a "black criminal who performed deeds of an air pirate." This statement and other interviews he gave to the Communist press press were used as propaganda to fan the flames of the antiwar movement."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2929570#2929608

McCain's Sister Souljah Moment

On Tuesday, McCain was forced to apologize for comments made by conservative talk radio host Bill Cunningham at a campaign event in Cincinnati. Cunningham referred to the Democratic presidential hopeful as Barack Hussein Obama and said the Illinois senator as "a hack, a Chicago-style" politician.

This incident is reminiscent of Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, in which he rebuked political activist and hip-hop musician Sister Souljah. She was quoted in The Washington Post as saying "If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?".

Clinton and McCain are both making the same play for the vital center by rebuking the extremes of their party. The talk show nuts who won't endorse McCain will turn out to be a net gain for the senator, who again reinforced his long-standing reputation for both principle and ethics. With the ascendency of both of Obama and McCain, by now it must have dawned on the likes of Anne Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and Cunningham that their influence on the direction of national elections is nil. Those who listen to or read these rants may be less ditto heads than folks that like to slow down for a car wreck.

In the same week that Cunningham babbled his babble, the erudite William F. Buckley, Jr. died. It's a rare week when I don't read his journal The National Review. He exemplified the best in conservatism, with his broad friendships, relentless curiosity and rationality, engaging wit, and Christian spirit. It's ironic and perhaps fitting that we may be seeing the death of the conservative movement as well this year. In a perverse kind of Gresham's law, bad conservatives are not only driving out good conservatives from the marketplace of ideas. They are also turning those conservatives into liberals.

The Iseman Cometh

Squeals of outrage greeted the news of possible trafficking between the presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain and a shadowy, Stepfordesque lobbyist Vicki Iseman. It says much for our current state of journalism that whether or not it is true or relevant is beside the point for many people. It's truth is beside the point because of the long history of Republican politicans have have bedded and lied their way to power. It's relevancy is beside the point because these kind of scandals are old news and have so eroded the credability of politicans generally that it is impossible to take their denials seriously.

Only today, the FBI announced a 35 count indictment against Republican Congressman Rick Renzi, the co-chair of the McCain Arizona presidential campaign. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire. And so it's hard to take McCain's protestations of innocence seriously under the circumstances. That said, as a tactical and as an ethical matter, while this is a legitimate news investiation, Democratic candidates should ignore this and stick to expounding on policy differences. Going to the dark side is always tempting, but it only distracts from what drives voter loyalty, which is confidence in their candidate's character.




Influence Peddler

McCain and the Queen of Diamonds

Now that McCain is effectively the Republican nominee, the question now is how to defeat him. At first blush, he seems like a fat, aging target. McCain knows nothing about the economy, flip flops on immigration, wishes we had invested another 50,000 American lives to save Viet Nam, and wants American troops in Iraq to the year 2108. That a member of the Keating Five is the pilot of the Straight Talking Express testifies to our Alice in Wonderland that is GOP politics. But it would be a mistake to underestimate him and the foxy ruthlessness of the Republican smear machine. And so perhaps the best antidote to that is to attack him not at his weakest but at his strength, most particulary, his so-called heroism as a POW.

One way to do that is to frame McCain as fiction come to life, the Machurian Candidate. In the 1962 film, the Soviets brainwash the son of a prominant political family into becoming an unwilling assasin for the Communtist Party. During the Korean War, the Russians kidnap an American infantry patrol and take them to Manchuria, where they implant false memories and to provide a subconscious trigger in their minds-- the Queen of Diamonds playing card. The movie, with Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury, is a gripping portrayal of the dark nexus between psychological and politics.





Is McCain the Manchurian Candidate? Perhaps we can use John Kerry's swiftboat to flush out some long-overdue answers. In the same spirit that allowed neocons, many of whom never served a day under fire, to tarnish Kerry's medals and service, a review of McCain's heroism might now be in order.

The following article was published in 1992 by a POW/MIA activist.

http://www.usvetdsp.com/manchuan.htm

It's All Over But the Shouting

for the GOP. McCain will be the eventual Republican presidential nominee in my opinion.

September

Patience has run out and I feel a change in direction happening within the chambers of Congress. While we don't have the votes right now to change the president's policy, I believe that come September we will have the votes from both Democrats and Republicans to change policy and direction. In September, General Petraeus will report back on the progress of the surge, and Congress will take up both the $460 billion base defense appropriations bill and the $141 billion Iraq supplemental.

The surge is not producing the results that were promised. And, based on my discussions with Iraqi Government officials, I don't believe they have the motivation to bring about the political and economic benchmarks agreed to. This is why September will be key.

Murtha: September is the Key

Several Republicans have said that they will give the buildup until the end of the summer to work, but McCain said he is more patient.

"I have tried to discourage my Republican colleagues from saying that September is some kind of seminal moment," said McCain. "I am aware the American people are frustrated. I share that frustration. I don't think the American people are aware of the consequences of failure."

McCain: September is Not the Key