02.09.2017 09:21 AM

The Unpresident’s new low

…and it isn’t even noon yet. 


14 Comments

  1. Luke says:

    Not a new low. He was trashing McCain way back during the primaries.

    • Miles Lunn says:

      And McCain whether you agree with his politics or not, proudly served his country and is loyal to its constitution unlike Trump who is a chickenhawk and also wants to run the country like a dictator. McCain is at least one of the few decent Republicans left.

  2. daveconstable says:

    No doubt about it: the senator has cobble together along lasting political career with the “I’m-a-war-hero-and-you’re-not” repetition that works so well, especially in a nation that fauns on its military.

  3. Kelly says:

    This illustrates one of the biggest problems with Trump. Because he is such a dangerous fascist, every time he says something critical of people like McCain it makes them seem less crazy and dangerous than they are. The facts are that McCain was shot down captured and tortured and nobody can deny that was a horrible thing. I would never wish it on anyone and McCain is right to fight against torture. That’s good. But he’s not a war hero. The Vietnam war was a crime. He’s one of the most hawkish people in Congress and he has to take some of the blame for the current chaos in the middle east for pushing so hard to invade Iraq in 2003. He really hasn’t seen an imperial war he doesn’t like. Waterboarding is torture, but so is getting half your skin burned off by napalm.

    Just because someone is an enemy of an enemy doesn’t make him our friend. The world is dull grey and getting more dangerous by the minute.

    • daveconstable says:

      I understand that this morning Senators McCain and Graham have introduced a bill in the senate to obstruct any Trump regime steps toward better relations with Russia.

      • Lance says:

        Great, because the complete opposite would be so much better.

        • Kelly says:

          If you represent states with lots and lots of defence contractors, you want bad relations with Russia. It’s all large chunks of the American economy has left.

      • Kelly says:

        People like McCain (And Clinton) blew one of the great opportunities of history. As the Soviet Union was unwinding the Americans could have acted in good faith and lived up to their promises of not expanding NATO and treating Russia with respect. Instead they kicked Russia while it was down, treated it as a supplicant and aided the boozing inept Yeltsin run the country into the ground. Putin came along with the goal of regaining respect for Russia. Trump is a crude ignoramus. McCain is living in the past and the arms dealers are laughing at us all. Stephen Cohen prof emeritus at Princeton has written some good stuff about this. Worth checking him out.

  4. Charlie says:

    GOP went from a party that revered military service as the utmost expression of American patriotism to a party that with a leader that shit talks veterans, treats the intelligence community with animosity, degrades the experience and knowledge of the armed forces, describes the US as “not so innocent killers” and treats Vladimir Putin like a heartthrob.

    This is the state of the Republican party today. This is the face of modern day conservatism in America.

    They might as well slap a hammer and sickle on their party emblem and call it a day.

    • daveconstable says:

      Hammer a sickle are flag of the communist party in Russia. That part is the opposition in the Duma, and it received about 10% of the vote.
      United Russia, the party of the Duma majority, and of the president in Russia, is a very conservative party.

      • Charlie says:

        Should have googled that one up before posting my comment; thanks for the info, though.

        What I was getting at was that the Republican party should consider itself an emissary of the Russian government.

  5. Ted H says:

    Senator McCain during the Bush years was always the Democrat’s favourite Republican. He is a bit of a maverick but he never really delivered for the Dem’s who thought that he just might go against his party on issues important to them, he seldom did. Then, when he introduced Sarah Palin as his running mate probably because Hillary Clinton had considerable support, in other words, get a woman candidate to secure some of the women’s vote, he was completely irresponsible. By allowing Palin a pulpit for her ignorance, he actually helped open the door a bit wider for Trump to eventually get through. He is hawkish and as a commentator above noted, well regarded in a nation that fawns on its military.

    That being said, he seems to be a reasonably honourable man and certainly respects the traditions of the US Presidency, the Senate and responsible governance in general. If he can provide a bulwark against some of Trump’s excesses, then good for him. Maybe he will redeem himself and be a more valuable defender of democracy than he actually has been up until now. I wish him all the best.

    • bluegreenblogger says:

      I recall Foreign Affairs published back to back Essays by McCain, and Obama some months before their election. I was gobsmacked by McCains ‘vision’ for the future. McCains foreign policy was to build on the ‘success’ of conquering Iraq. He called for actively promoting democracy with new invasions (of unspecified targets) He called for the creation of a new branch for the armed forces, a formally constituted occupation force,tasked with converting conquered lands into ‘democracies’, so that the Amry could stick to conquering. This is the valuable defender of democracy you speak of. I haven’t forgotten that, or his choice of running mate. The world dodged a bullet there.

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