President Bush’s Stinking Endorsement
Got tomato juice? I know somebody who could use some. So if you’ve got any extra, please mail it to P.O. Box 16118, Arlington, VA 22215, Attention: Sen. John McCain.
Why tomato juice? Well, it works when a skunk gets your dog, so maybe McCain can eliminate that George Bush stink he got from standing too close during the “endorsement” the other day.
McCain has fortitude. I’ll give him that. It’s impressive enough that the rank smell of hypocrisy didn’t make him gag, but the superiority-laced words of the president didn’t get him heaving either. Bush condescended: “John showed incredible courage and strength of character and perseverance in order to get to this moment.”
I’ll say he did.
A military man trained to kill - with no compunction when it comes to taking life and destroying property for what he feels is a just cause - stood there and didn’t so much as flinch when the guy who had abused his family’s reputation and employed ad hominem attacks on him in the 2000 primary tossed that patronizing statement his way.
Let’s look at the counterfeit nature of Bush’s words: “John showed incredible courage and strength of character and perseverance in order to get to this moment.”
McCain should have turned to him and said, “Why, you little draft dodger, you think I need you to call me courageous? What do you know of courage? You ridiculed my record. Your minions slandered me to make you look better. Why, you didn’t even have the stones to do it yourself. You had others fight your battles, just like in Vietnam.”
Picture that in your mind’s eye. Oh, what a beautiful moment that would have been.
Gee, let’s take the fantasy a little further.
McCain then pulls out the can of V8 that he brought for lunch and starts dousing himself with it, hoping that it will mitigate the stench of the endorsement he had to endure to get the neocon support that still clings to America’s worst president.
Then fantasy McCain goes on rebuking him. “What makes you think you have the right to assess my strength of character? While I languished in a POW camp, you hid from a tour in Vietnam by enlisting first in the Texas National Guard and then pretending to serve in the Alabama National Guard - a safe haven for you but, according to Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers’ office, a source of 727 troops you sent to Iraq in 2005 alone!”
Imaginary McCain continues, “When the media issued one of their extremely rare challenges to you about whether you even showed up to work in Alabama, you produced dental records that proved what? That the brave George Bush heroically got his teeth cleaned?”
Now our dream McCain gets extremely animated and with V8 running into his eyes and over his lips, the man who faced torture further vilifies the president that sanctions torture, “They used dental records to identify the bodies of my fellow soldiers and you used them to prove your hiding space! You will never assess my character!”
At this point, intrepid White House reporter Helen Thomas faints with delight and is caught before she falls by the AP photographer standing behind her.
McCain finishes up, “As for perseverance, you have no idea what perseverance is. A morally bankrupt man who just vetoed the bill to halt waterboarding, who manufactures fear in a manner proportional to the way great leaders inspire courage, can’t fathom what an honest American hero like me has had to endure.
“Forget 5 1/2 years of captivity - I’m referring to my newly perceived need to suck up to the right-wing establishment in order to win this election.”
But alas, we need look no farther than Eliot Spitzer to learn that after a while fantasies just don’t cut it anymore, and no price is too high to get a little satisfaction.
What I wouldn’t give for Sen. McCain to prove to us what he must already know. No payoff - not even the presidency - is worth it for such a brave man to lower himself by getting in bed with just anybody.
The world doesn’t have enough tomato juice.
Pat LaMarche of Yarmouth, Maine is the author of “Left Out In America: The State of Homelessness in the United States.”
© 2008 The Bangor Daily News
Sure, why not vote for “Imaginary McCain”?
The U.S. has had an imaginary “president” for the last 7+ years.
I’m sorry but it’s painful to read your fantasy. It’s like a boy who has paralyzed legs and as he sleeps he dreams of running through grassy fields once again with his faithful dog. Fantasies are empty food for starving people and there are a million of them we could indulge in concerning our current “leaders”. It’s just too sad how these people betray themselves and betray us constantly.
McCain has been a neocon lapdog ever since the 2000 South Carolina primary where Rove, Bush & Co. slandered him, he took it lying down, and lost the nomination.
Ever since then, McCain keeps repeating his charade of starting out opposing various Bush policies, but falling in line a short time later.
Remember “it’s the economy, stupid?” Well, with McCain and Bush, the big “it” is that McCain amounts to the third and maybe fourth terms of the policies of Bush. Except for McCain’s negative opinion of waterboarding, there isn’t an ounce of difference between them—except that Laura was Bush’s one marriage and McCain has had two.
agree with daniel david…
no John W. McHagee administration, please.
Sorry, tomato juice won’t cut it.
This is a fundamentally stupid article, based on the entirely mistaken premise that McCain is somehow a “better man” than Bush. McCain is “courageous” only in a very limited sense — which does not extend to the political realm. More significant than questions of personal courage, he’s a pathologically ambitious bootlicker. He has no real principles, merely the appearance of principles. He’ll do all the ass-kissing that he thinks might possibly help him climb to the top job. He also has a delusional world view, based almost exclusively on US militarism.
The article makes accurate criticisms of Bush, yet is constantly wrong in the larger picture. This is very similar to the stupidity of Democrats, who make accurate criticisms of Bush, while wrongly imagining that the Democrats are “better” than Bush. Just as McCain has fawned on his knees before Bush, so have the Democrats.
McCain has a negative “opinion” of waterboarding, but he voted to preserve it. So they are exactly the same except for maybe 15 IQ points. Enough to be able to voice an entire thought without his mind wandering.
How much “courage” does it take to grovel for an endorsement from a piece of crap like Bush. Or Hagee. Mccain is every bit as “morally bankrupt” as Bush.
RICH M: I would like to add to what you wrote, as I fully agree. This article salutes the type of individual who uses force first. The profound failure of morality and imagination is evident in the cause that McCain now champions, as in “pro” torture. How anyone could have been so close to Hades and come back to alter his original position (against it) to insure a hell for others is beyond any excuse. Like so many politicians, he entirely lacks a moral compass, is a natural sociopath and instead of recognizing the GRACE that kept him alive, he is bent on a policy of destruction for others. It’s all personal ego, what it takes to get the big money/powers to endorse him; and as other articles on CD have boldly evidenced, those powers are mostly about oil or weapons, the very things KILLING humanity and the living systems it depends upon.
SHAME on this nation that so many would stand behind an unapologetic killer. Recall the quote, “The enlightened warrior most understands the benefits of peace.” Fallon is probably in that camp, and we see where it got him given the soul-less individuals in charge. FATE will not be kind to these persons who are willing to sacrifice so much for so little. What a pox on all our houses!
McCain wants to be a general more than President.
We need a President more than a general.
The author says: But alas, we need look no farther than Eliot Spitzer to learn that after a while fantasies just don’t cut it anymore, and no price is too high to get a little satisfaction.
True but this only applies when you are a Democrat.
Senator Craig is caught blatantly soliciting gay sex in a toilet. Several people have come forward telling of past encounters. So it’s revealed that he is a pervert and a liar, what happens? Nothing because he is a Republican.
How about Senator Vitter? His number was found on the DC Madam’s call list. He admitted soliciting prostitution. What does he do? He throws out the Jesus card “Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling”. What a load of crap. But nothing happens to him because he is a Republican.
So what happens if a Democrat like Mr. Spitzer makes a mistake? Republicans scream and cry for him to resign or they will impeach him. Quote: New York Assembly Republican leader James Tedisco said: “We believe it is an illegal activity he has been involved with. We’re going to give him 24 to 48 hours to do the right thing, and the right thing is to resign because he has been compromised. If that’s not the case we’re going to ask the speaker to start impeachment proceedings.” (They will do it too because Republicans can actually DO something)
So now he has resigned. Why? He is a Democrat and Democrats always LOSE. They don’t stick together and don’t have ANY sort of back to stand up to the Republicans. Democrats can’t Impeach, can’t subpoena, can’t stop a filibuster, and can’t block a veto. They can’t do ANYTHING. Why even have them in the chairs?
McCain is likely to win this election simply because of the self-destructing, weak-kneed Democrats.
Whatever happened to that Black child that bush said McCain fathered a few years ago?
And some people have the nerve to say Hillary will do anything to win.McCain is a coward for letting Bush trash his family then turn around and kiss his ass. I sure don’t want McCain answering the phone at 3am with W telling him what to do.What a bunch of sleazy people.
Umm Clyde… hello?… are you in there?… anyone home?… It doesn’t take nerve to state the obvious- that Hillary Clinton will do anything to get elected… hello?… are you paying any attention at all to the campaign?…. ohh well.
I started to call McCain a weasel, but that is manifestly unfair to weasels. Suffice it to say that McCain is willing to shed his last principle in order to become president.
Okay, so a guy wants to be President so bad he’ll kiss any ass. Fine. The big question is: why?
It’s not like this is prime time to take control of the rapidly sinking American ship. And it’s not like he’s got an actual plan to repair the massive damage our ship has suffered. He’s old, he’s unstable, he’s confused…
Let’s face it - he was “chosen” by the twisted, anti-American neocultists because he proved he’d make the best puppet out of a candidate field of morons and lunatics (Ron Paul excepted, of course.)
The smart move is this: attack McCrazy from every angle - his love of all lobbyists, the Keating Five, his bizarre flip-flops - and wait for him to explode, which he will. Or continue to treat him with unwarranted respect and deference and watch the McRove machine steal ‘08 while crushing the Iranian ants.
McCain should draft Hillary as his Vice President, Maybe we can get rid of both in one stroke of the key.
I’ll bet I could have been trained to fly a plane to drop bombs from over a mile high on some poor Vietnamese. Being shot down was either bad luck or bad performance. How does that equate to courage? Gimme Ghandi or MLK jr.! They stood unarmed in the face of incredible force while McCain killed indiscriminately from miles away. How could someone fantasize about someone like McCain and why do some consider him a “hero”?
With his acceptance of torture now, does that mean what was done to him by the Viet Cong was necessary and admirable? If I used McCain’s logic, I could only say YES!
I see McCain on TV and all I see is a tired old man. Maybe he’s got alzheimer’s like Reagan did. He can’t seem to remember that Bush is the same guy that gave him a royal reaming in the 2000 election campaign.
Hey, a Bush endorsement might just be the kiss of death.
RichM/Siouxrose- good point, mccain and bush are cut from the same cloth, there are few differences b/w them.
TheLorax March 12th, 2008 2:19 pm -
i agree w/ your comments about the hypocrisy of repubs who claim moral high ground while their own politicians seem to avoid longterm scrutiny or punishment for socially unacceptable behavior.
—————————————————————–
about the recent scandals….
notice 2 major dem gov’s (NY/IL) are going down. isn’t that a bit odd? a dem sen from IL runs for pres, the gov goes down - a dem sen from NY runs for pres, the gov goes down. i realize IL and NY are 2 very dem states but they’ve also both had repub governers recently (ryan and pataki). the recent scandals will mobilize the republican/moral values voters in the general. mccain’s indiscretions (being too friendly w/ lobbyist) will be diminished in the general election, when placed in the context of these recent dem governor scandals (they pay $4000 for prostitutes and take handfuls of money for political favors).
of course, the clintons (history of sex scandals & cozy relationship w/ lobbyists) are much more likely to be cast as villains in this republican morality play. i can see rove’s mind spinning all types of commercials, parodying bills tryst w/ lewinsky and hillary’s pandering to special interest lobbyists playing out here (and yes if you run as a team you assume the others baggage).
obama isn’t perfect - but the damage incurred from faded sex scandals and longterm relationships w/ washington lobbyist is minimal compared to hill/bill, that’s even factoring rezko into the equation. obama has made ethics reform/transparency of money in politics a central component in his campaign. he’ll have no problem distinguishing himself from mccain, as he’ll have no problem distancing himself from mccain on the occupation of iraq. clinton can say neither, in addition to her ‘baggage’.
obama should begin stocking his pantry w/ a lot of cans of tomato juice in the coming months….
….peace…..
possibly, we will not have to face a president mccain because a president Obama will be in the white house…possibly…
This article is a great parallel to the one by Robert Scheer on Eliot Spitzer and his antagonists.
McCain, like Obama and Hillary and others has “Presidential fever”. He wants the office so badly he’ll do anything to get it. That includes self-induced selective amnesia. He did that to himself before the 2004 elections so he could stomach campaigning for Bush in that election, which was of course a pre-requisite for getting this endorsement.
The interesting thing about this discussion is that it assumes McCain had some moral reasons for any of his past decisions, thus its now a ’sell-out’ to change them. An example is the myth that he ‘opposed torture’ because of his Vietnam experience.
Its far more likely he’s always been a scheming politician and that his earlier decisions were also due to pure political calculation. The only thing different now is some variables in the political equation have changed leading to a new calculated position. The new variable is his need to get the neo-con, crazy right-winger support as they are the 20% of the population that agrees with his support for the wars.
My guess is McCain is already toast. He’s tied himself to a very unpopular war in a very public way. Its gotten him the Rethug nomination, but its going to be a boat anchor around his neck in the general election. Its going to be one of those deals where you hear Rethug political operatives and the pundits talking about how the McCain campaign “can’t get any traction”. Just like other candidates in the past who’ve made themselves very unpopular with the American electorate and then pretend that they can just con everyone in the next election. Al Gore 2000 comes to mind.
Being shot down was mostly bad luck.
Its a game between electronic systems. The Russian sam system the North Vietnamese used versus the electronics on the plane McCain was flying. One set of electronics trying to lock on to a target, another set of electronics trying to prevent it. The ’skill’ of the pilot doesn’t have much to do with it. That’s very WWI Red Baron type of thinking that doesn’t apply much to modern aerial warfare.
“They can’t do ANYTHING. Why even have them in the chairs?”
That’s the point I keep making out here. People need to learn that the Democrats are not the opposition to the Republicans. If you want an opposition, putting the Democrats in the chairs is a waste. Because they won’t oppose.
Now, I don’t think its cowardice or lack of smarts or anything like that. Its that the Dems are financed by the same class of wealthy Americans and they are doing exactly the job they are paid to do.
McCain is sitting on a time bomb. He’s tied himself so tightly to the Iraq war, boasting that the surge is working brilliantly, and to Bush’s failed economic, healthcare, environmental and foreign policies, that as the election nears an explosion of public revulsion will finish him off.
Bu$h the inferior gives financial support because it is known that anyone associated with him has no ethical problem with bribes. Bu$h the inferior’s endorsement also indicates you will bribe for a tiny percent of the take.
This is a really bad article, because once again we’re put in the position of comparing political candidates based on character, without taking into consideration their ideas. Why in the hell can’t we have an article about a candidate’s ideas?
I read an article in Newsweek not too long ago that was about how the Right hates McCain because his ideas deviate too much from theirs. I read the whole darned thing and nowhere did it say anything about how his ideas deviated from the Right’s. All it said was that they did.
I know McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and I know Bush has never been in combat. I also know McCain is a politician who wants to get elected. Tell me something I don’t know.
COMarc “Dems are financed by the same class of wealthy Americans and they are doing exactly the job they are paid to do.”
Two paths from here: wallow in cynicsm or find the non-money candidate and support them. Independents, Greens, or Prog Dems - there are races to watch this year. If there is energy to mobilize voters, then maybe we can get them to pay just enough attention to build that “bottom up” democracy we all have heard of to replace the Corporate Top Down structure we live under.
There are candidates out there - just keep looking and working. But this year is critical - we have to turn this dark tide before the last remnants of democracy are gone. I do believe there is hope - listen to the people finally talking about restoring the Constitution. Maybe, just maybe this is the one time that the people will lead and the leaders will follow.
Takes real courage to fly 10 miles over a third world country and drop bombs; not like the cowards that strap explosives on their body and walk into the enemy’s stronghold knowing they will never walk out to see their family again all in an attempt to get rid of an occupier intent on stealing their natural resources and believe me my heart and prayers are with every American boy or girl caught up in Bushes folly and l do not believe our brave young people deserve this fate.
There’s nothing like the kiss of death coming from our Top Banana.
Google: Chiquita Bush or United Fruit Bush
MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S.-based Chiquita Brands International Inc has been hit with a lawsuit in federal court in Miami over the killings of five U.S. missionaries by Marxist-led rebels in Colombia in the 1990s.
The Repugs impeached Clinton for less than many of them were doing in spite of the improvements he had made since Bush One.
Then they manipulated the election that Gore had won by half a million votes. Next they made a traitor and flip flopping liar out of Kerry and manipulated another election their way.
Why does anyone think Obama will be able to handle these experts at slime and trickery and deliver all he has promised while uniting everyone in the process? Even if he manages to get elected by some miracle, he will have an impossible job to straighten out this fouled up country, and do not think the Repugs are going to pretend they are Dems and just get along to be nice.
Hey Newday and COmark: What leading presidential candidate has raised a significant amount of money from a million people and is for the first time in a long time riding a mobilized electorate, and has a very good chance to beating the corporate fat cat democratic candidate? Who is interrupting a smooth ride to the nomination of the centrist wing of the party. Are you really looking for a change?
Is there any war that John McCain thinks can’t be won, with enough money, deaths, and time. He wants to occupy Iraq for as many generations as he deems necessary, but he never defines what victory looks like. Anyone you uses no surrender as his mantra has any idea of who peace is made. One thing sure, John McCain will never explain what victory looks like. No one will ask him that question directly this fall.
Hilary is intent on being just as big of a warmonger. She wants to prove she is just as tough and stupid as John McCain. Do we really need another Commander and Chief poser for president.
But there is a candidate running this year, that doesn’t believe war and the military offers the only solutions to problems in this troubled world. That is not the kind of intuition that informs him.
Hillary and John McCain use fear, because they have not a clue of what is really wrong with American foreign policy. And both are beholden to the military industrial complex, and the myriad other corporate complexes that own Washington.
If Obama gets the nomination, he owes nothing like what Hillary and John owe to those who have bankrolled their campaigns. If he get elected, he can do much in a short time to undo the damage done by George Bush. The rest of the world is ready for President Obama. The legions who hate George Bush will love Barak Obama.
Yes, there is a candidate who is very different than any we have seen ever in our history. But go ahead, vote for Nader. Can’t raise money, has zero charisma and still refuses to admit that there is a big difference between Al Gore and George Bush.
“…Hey, a Bush endorsement might just be the kiss of death.”
Just ask the former Prime Ministers of Australia, Italy, Spain etc. McCain would have to have the brownest nose in US contempary politics…stuck right up Bu$h’s ass for 7 years…
The legions who hate George Bush will love Barak Obama.
Sorry, but you are wrong. I have voted Democrat all of my life and am liberal. But, if we nominate Obama, for many of us, it could be 4 more years of disliking the president and I am very deeply disappointed in that prospect. I dreamt about a president that I could like and it is NOT Obama. As the campaign goes on, I see no humility, friendliness and warmth in the man, only arrogant, distance and haughtiness. On the otherhand I don’t like John McCain’s policies, but he is an authentic human being with all of his imperfections. I predict that if it is Obama, Democrats will lose the election. I have heard a number of Democrats say: John McCain is a good man; I can vote for him. I bet in time that people will see him as likeable, just as they saw Bush as likeable whereas they will be put off by Obama’s haughtiness.
John McBush and the Flip-Flop Express.
I used to admire McCain…now I think he is a pathetic suck-up who sold his soul for the GOP presidential nomination…which is just slightly more prestigious than nominee for President of NAMBLA
McCain a hero? I think not, and never has been. He’s a vicious coward who chose the safest billet in the Viet Nam era, a white enclave, raining down death, dismemberment, and flaming destruction on innocent civilians during the carpet-bombing of Hanoi, a war criminal by his own admission, and fully cognizant of the horrific efects of the napalm he dropped due to an accident aboard the carrier he flew from in which many were burned alive or terribly injured.
He’s been anti-woman from his entry into politics, and has consistently supported a complete ban on abortions. access to contraceptives, sex education for young people, and almost any other humane respect for human dignity you can name. He’s even fudging on torture these days, to cater to his ultra-right masters.
Big man. Murders civilians, picks on women and children, and brown-noses almost anyone with a few bucks to offer.
What a mensch… And what a great upholder of the Bush legacy.
It will take years to clean up the mess made by Bush and the neocons. I don’t think McCain could possibly live long enough to do it (because of his advanced age)Obama has community activism in his experience. He worked with and for real people. I don’t see him as arrogant or distant at all. It would take him years to clean the mess too. People will become impatient.
McCain a brave man? Who to this day is proud that he bombed the shit out of a country we were trying to colonize in defiance of American citizens and the world; who still believes that “the wrong people won that war”; who never hesitates to wear his wounds on his sleeve for his own smarmy gain, nor hesitates to put “our brave young people in uniform” out in front of his every lie? The only “brave” thing about McCain IS his barefaced willingness to play maverick while delivering his country down the same dark hole as BushCo, for the sake of “interests” only he and the loony right believe in based on goings-on behind closed doors….
If I were a Republican Bush wouldn’t be any valuable endorsement. But, I quit voting for them 20 years ago when they let religion take over their party. Hopefully American’s will wise up before the election and see how much like Bush McCain really is. There isn’t enough difference to bother with. But, I wouldn’t make any long range bets on it. To many people will let their prejudices get in the way of their countries welfare.
The problem with this article: McCain has been Bush’s poodle and he’s a nutty, gutless opportunist who happens to be a war criminal AND an idiot. He’s the perfect stooge to take over for Bush.
What type of man would choose to stay in captivity, to stay with his troops? There is indeed a thin red line between being a hero and being insane. Which is it?
I was really saddened for John McCain when accepted and scarmbled to get to the White House for this bizarre endorsement from a person who can barely read and write beyond the 6th grade. He wouldn’t dare call us and congratulate us for our work in planetary science, after spending substantial resources with the fraudulent NASA and the House Science Committee to shut us down. I’d say, “what the hell are you calling me for you idiot”? And then just hang up. I’d put the whole thing on you tube.
http://www.bccmeteorites.com/misconduct-planetary.html
SRD
Justice: McCain wins and during the festivals, he turns to Bush and socks him right in his lying face, then calls in the guards to arrest Bush and Chencey and Rice, ends the war in Iraq, and cleans up Katrina, abolishes , the tax shelter for corporate, and ends tax cuts for the wealthy, establishes health care for all,curbs outsourcing, again legalizes Roe and Wade, offers an increase to seniors for Social Services, applies college grants for all, and gives increase spending for education, social services, and bars the like of Rush Limbaugh to hog the air waves, and repeals torture and redition. Now I am fantasizing.
After nearly 8 years of stench, it is indeed satisfying to read your article. Hopefully the world will not forget the fetid legacy of that little weasel from Texas and his dour band of vicious marauders. Both America and the world have endured what no one should have to endure. Though I detest McCain’s foreign policy, he does have many characteristics of sanity, decency and strength of character, all of which are conspicuously absent in this present prick. Thank you LaMarche for your clarity!