McCain Throws Tantrum, Then Fakes Integrity Again
McCain throws a hissy-fit on his bus when a reporter has the temerity to ask him a pertinent question:
McCain bristled at the comments on "Face the Nation" last weekend by an Obama supporter, retired general Wesley Clark, who belittled the relevance of McCain’s wartime experience as a qualification for the Presidency."I think it’s up to Sen. Obama now not only to repudiate him but to cut him loose," McCain said.
McCain became visibly angry when I asked him to explain how his Vietnam experience prepared him for the Presidency.
"Please," he said, recoiling back in his seat in distaste at the very question.
McCain allies Sen. Lindsey Graham stepped in to rescue him. Graham expressed admiration for McCain’s stance on the treatment of detainees in US custody.
"That to me is a classic example of how his military experience helped him shape public policy in a way no other senator could have done,’’ Graham said.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, also traveling on the trip, expressed admiration for McCain’s wartime service as well.
McCain then collected himself and apologized for his initial reaction.
"I kind of reacted the way I did because I have a reluctance to talk about my experiences," he said, noting that he has huge admiration for the "heroes" who served with him in the POW camp and said the experience taught him to love the U.S. because he missed it so much.
"I am always reluctant to talk about these things," McCain said.
Um, yeah. The service he wrote his memoirs about, that he bases his campaign ads on, that he constantly makes opportunistic jokes about, and that he talks about all the time. That’s the thing he’s so “reluctant” to talk about.
Look at his campaign logo: see the military star? Even the Optima font is reminiscent of military style–it’s the font used on the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, for example. McCain’s campaign is based upon his military service, and upon playing it up, all the way up to the hilt. This latest round of tantrums about Clark is simply the latest salvo in this long-running military campaign.
And, oh yeah, didn’t he vote for torture, in yet another of his long list of flip-flops policy “evolutions”?
Lieberman was a democrat, then became independent, and now endorses McCain. If McCain had him as his VP running mate, would that help pull in swing voters? It might drive the republican base crazy, since if McCain comes down with some malady, then the person in charge would be somewhat liberal. Perhaps McCain likes Lieberman on his bus since he may think it would help him w/ the jewish vote. Perhaps they have known each other for a long time and are good friends. It is interesting to see them working together.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Lieberman#2008_Presidential_Election
Lieberman is nothing but the new Zell Miller, a conservative Democrat who had one too many spats with his party, and as a result became a petulant turncoat, openly betraying all of the people who had supported him and gotten him elected. Lieberman added a twist by playing the system in the last election, losing the Democratic primary, but then running as an “independent” who depended upon Republican voter support, but also upon enough Democrats who foolishly thought he still represented him to win against Ned Lamont, the popular Democrat who beat Lieberman in the primaries. To retain any relevance, Lieberman still caucused with the Democrats to help them retain their Senate majority–but he knows that in 2008, the Dems will gain a majority in the Senate without him, at which time they can get rid of him. Since he showed his true colors as being Republican in all but name, they have little use for him, or he for them.
The most galling thing to me is how Lieberman is knifing Obama in the back: in Lieberman’s last campaign he asked Obama for support–and got it. How does he repay Obama? By being McCain’s strongest supporter. The two had a deal, and Lieberman betrayed Obama, like he betrayed his party and he betrayed the people of Connecticut.
I work with a woman who is Jewish and very serious in her support and participation in the Jewish faith and community, especially about Jewish issues in politics. Once excited about Lieberman becoming vice president, she now cannot bear to hear his name, believing him to have betrayed so much she believes in.
For a variety of reasons, I have little respect for Lieberman. He’ll likely have his Zell Miller moment a the Republican national convention, and then–hopefully–fade from the scene like Miller did.