We are long overdue for some real analyses of Kerry’s strengths and weaknesses. So far, he is just being caricatured by the Republicans as a slimy opportunist and by the Democrats as an overqualified stiff. (Is it 2000 again?)
I am thinking that the way to interpret that is that he has the personality of Gore with the political savvy of Clinton, which isn’t a bad combo.The country might be ready for a little sober, programmatic seriousness after our little foray into rightwing fantasy. But, the Republicans aren’t going to just sit back and allow him to clean up the mess they’ve made; they are going to do everything they can to destroy him. For that you need good instincts, good timing and the ability to play rough and bounce back.
And, the Democrats definitely need somebody with some healthy self-confidence. If he wins, he’s going to need it.
If you ever wanted to see an article that perfectly captures the fact that Democrats have internalized all the right wing propaganda of the last 20 years, you only have to look at this one By EJ Dionne.
The party’s 20-year-old fights are — well, 20 years old. Enough already:
For two decades, the Democratic party has been riven by sharp ideological arguments. Those debates were in some respects necessary and important. But it’s obvious that many of those conflicts are irrelevant to our moment, and say far more about the past than the future. The road to nowhere is paved with rote disputes between center and left. Here are 10 tired and useless arguments that progressives ought to stop having, and 10 new ones that they should start making.
I wasn’t aware that we were in a deep ideological struggle. I thought we mostly argued about tactics and strategy. But, lay it on me.
1)Big Government Versus Small Government.
What is the point of this argument? Progressives and Democrats clearly favor a rather large government when it comes to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education spending, environmental rights, worker rights, civil rights, and consumer protection. There is nothing here that requires apologies. Progressives don’t have to defend themselves against charges that they favor the government takeover of private business because they are proposing no such thing. And they have always defended individual liberty against government incursions. The big versus small government argument miscasts what’s at stake. There is nothing wrong with favoring a strong and active government that operates within limits. You might even say that this is the American way.
No kidding. But, since when are Democrats arguing among ourselves about this? This frame is a bullshit tactic of the Right designed to make Democrats look like tax and spenders, regulators and gun appropriators. To the extent that we even engage in this discussion it’s in response to the Right, not each other. Tell it to Grover, it’s his rap.
2)Pro-Business Versus Anti-Business.
Since when have Democrats or liberals been anti-business? Didn’t business flourish in the Clinton years — and in the Kennedy and Johnson years? Democrats want business to prosper, and their actual policies when they held office have favored growth, prosperity, and entrepreneurship. They also want businesses not to cheat. Supporting capitalism means opposing fraud, guaranteeing investors honest information, opposing monopoly and oligopoly, and resisting measures that throw government’s power on the side of the most powerful economic actors. Believing in the strength of the capitalist system means countering the idea that regulation destroys business.
Uh, yeah. But, which Democrats disagree with this? Are there really a bunch of them holding forth about their “anti-business” beliefs? I haven’t kept up with the latest Internationale, but I don’t imagine that there are many Democrats attending these days.
Tell this one to George W. Bush.
3. Populist Versus Mainstream.
Some Democrats think Al Gore went off the rails when he went “populist.” What did Gore do? He attacked big oil companies, polluters, HMOs, and big insurance companies. Does anybody think he lost voters by doing this? Gore went up in the polls after his Democratic national convention speech that made these points. On many issues, the “mainstream” is populist. That’s why John Edwards’ warnings about “two Americas,” one for the rich and one for the rest, struck such a chord during the 2004 primaries.
Dionne is right about this. But, it is a tactical not an ideological argument.
I would love to see the Democrats stop arguing about tactics and strategy, but this being politics and all, I think it may actually be part of the process. Why, even the lockstep GOP Borg do it sometimes.
4. New Middle Class Versus Old Working Class.
Democrats are supposed to face a choice between rallying working-class voters or appealing to voters in the new middle class. But they won’t win elections unless they get votes from both constituencies. Gore did very well in the new middle class. He fell short among working-class voters, especially in rural areas and the South. George W. Bush appeals to rich business people and lower-middle-class Christian conservatives. Can’t Democrats also walk and chew gum at the same time? Democrats need to hold the gains they have made in the professional classes on the issues of social tolerance. They also need to be more respectful toward religious people and more explicit about supporting economic policies that would create opportunities for voters with modest incomes who now vote Republican on cultural issues.
More tactical argument. But, in his explanation he pulls out the right wing (widely internalized) trope that Democrats are hostile to religion, which is not true. They are hostile to the religious Right because the religious Right is wielding its alleged superior morality like a club for partisan political gain. We have a right to fight that on those terms.
But, our political tradition is actually much more religious than the GOP’s and our politicians are just as religious as theirs are. The problem is that our northern politicians do not speak “Evangelical” very naturally, which is, again, a tactical not an ideological problem.
As for being more explicit about promoting economic policies that would create opportunities among cultural conservatives — well, what a good idea. How about being for national health care and school loans and child tax credits and job treaining programs and the minimum wage and…oh that’s right. They already are. The cultural conservative don’t listen because they have been persuaded that Democrats want to storm into their houses and confiscate their gun and their bible. You can try to argue that they’ll get health care, but they just don’t hear you.
Just once I’d like for somebody to come up with a REAL solution to that little problem. Droning on about our “Children and Adult learning and healthcare program initiative for college students and seniors” isn’t going to do it.
5. Globalist Versus Protectionist.
Democrats are told that they either have to defend the new global economy or fall back on protectionism. It’s a no-win choice. The global economy is not going to go away — and it does create injustices. It also poses challenges to regulations in areas such as labor standards and the environment. Isn’t the real issue whether it’s possible to create a global New Deal under which the new economy is accepted as inevitable but under rules that make the playing field fair and protect the vulnerable? And don’t the sharp decline in manufacturing jobs over the past few years and the flight of both manufacturing and professional jobs overseas suggest a need for new thinking about the impact of free trade and globalization?
Yes. Which is why it isn’t an “old tired” argument at all. The world is changing. Dionne doesn’t even begin to address the actual issue other than to suggest that both sides might have a point. But it has to be hashed out. It’s important and it isn’t a result of some sort of political gamesmanship or posturing. There isn’t an easy solution.
6. Deficits Versus Balanced Budgets.
This is a real choice. The Bush administration decided to throw balanced budgets overboard. Why is it so hard for Democrats — and liberals and moderates — to argue both that the Bush approach is dangerous fiscal policy for the long term and that it threatens government’s ability to solve problems in the short term? Where is the money to establish universal health insurance, to help state governments balance their budgets, or to stop tuition increases at public universities? And where will the money come from to pay for the retirement of the baby boomers?
Gosh EJ, I don’t know. But, that doesn’t sound like something we are arguing about. The last time the Democrats were in power we had a multi trillion dollar surplus.
He asks, “why is it so hard for Democrats to argue both that the Bush approach is dangerous fiscal policy for the long term and that it threatens government’s ability to solve problems in the short term?”
It isn’t, and they are. They all are. It’s a huge issue. But, this is an argument that hinges on tax policy as Dionne well knows. And tax policy is a much stickier wicket for the Democrats because the Republicans have managed to convince a large number of Americans that we want to tax them to pay for cadillacs for terrorists and illegal aliens to get free health care. That was the whole point of the “balanced budget” Dem policy of the 90’s, to prove — again — that we could be trusted. It might have even worked if Dionne and his ilk didn’t help Rove with his talking points by continuing to state, despite all evidence to the contrary, that Democrats can’t seem to decide if deficit spending is our official policy or whether we prefer an economy that’s healthy and thriving. That is the GOP frame, not ours.
(There is, of course, an ongoing economic argument about deficits and balanced budgets but, unlike the Republicans, the Democrats haven’t relegated science to the garbage disposal so they consider whether the country is better served, one way or the other, by certain fiscal policies at certain times. Let’s hope actual Democratic policy makers never stop discussing economics in those terms because otherwise there will be nobody left in the country who doesn’t view economics as their personal political playground.)
7. Strong on Defense Versus Weak on Defense.
Who, these days, is for a weak defense? The challenge to the Bush administration is whether its unilateral approach protects the United States and strengthens our standing in the world. It’s tough, not weak, to insist that Americans will be better protected in a world that does not hate the only remaining superpower. It’s tough, not weak, to defend a progressive internationalism that tries to create a more democratic world that will be less hostile to the United States. It’s tough, not weak, to think through military commitments in advance and to tell the truth about the costs of these enterprises
.
I know. I just wish the Democratic Party would decide once and for all if it cares more about America or Osama bin laden. Personally, I wish we could persuade all these Democrats not to run on the “weak on Defense” platform of total surrender to our enemies. I don’t think it’s a winner.
Maybe at the convention we can get them to change their minds.
8. Interest-Group Dependent Versus Independent.
Why does no one talk about Republican special-interest groups — the wealthy, big business, and Christian conservatives? Here again, Democrats are hopelessly defensive. There is nothing wrong with defending your own, especially when your side is supposed to stand up for the poor, the marginalized, and the minorities. And why are progressives so prone to battles among their own supporters based on race, gender, ethnicity, and interest? Solidarity, a word the left has long prized, is now the characteristic of a conservative movement in which gun owners, abortion opponents, and corporate executives manage to sit down together at the table of political brotherhood. Why should progressives be less than the sum of their parts?
Exactly. We are hopelessly defensive about this and we shouldn’t be because there is nothing wrong with defending your own. And we wouldn’t have to be so defensive if our damned racial, ethnic, gender and interest groups would just shut up.
Rush undoubtedly has some advice on how we might accomplish that, seeing as how he’s been pushing this idea for 15 years.
9. Traditional Versus Permissive.
Who, pray tell, is really “permissive”? Most social liberals have kids, worry about porn on television and the Web, and aspire to a world in which children are raised in strong families. They also aspire to a tolerant world that honors religious liberty and opposes discrimination on the grounds of marital status or sexual preference. Most Americans combine a reverence for tradition with a respect for tolerance. Indeed, by all measures the United States is a more tolerant and open country than it was 10 or 20 or 30 years ago.
I like to define this argument in more simple terms, “good” vs “evil.”
At this point, Dionne seems genuinely confused. Does he really think that the Democratic Party is in the grips of this argument? That’s the GOP vs Dem frame, not our own. (If it is, then we truly have internalized their central charge against us.) His argument seems to recognise this, so I don’t know what he really means.
There is a genuine tension between “civil liberties” and “religious morality” (which has been going on for over 200 years and is not confined to the Democratic party) but I don’t think that it will be solved by having Joe Lieberman and Larry Flynt make nice-nice.
Anyway, with the Republicans embracing the “tradition” argument with such phony fervor, while their big money owners make such huge profits on “permissiveness,” my inclination is for the Democrats to kick back and wait for them to have their own little political Armageddon. That’s an “ideological” smackdown worth watching.
10. Clinton Is the Solution Versus Clinton Is the Problem.
The Clinton obsession is dangerous to Democrats and to the country. Bill Clinton presided over a booming economy and governed effectively. At the same time, he got himself inveigled in a scandal (and made dubious last-minute pardons) that turned off millions of Americans who were not at all opposed to his politics. Why is it so difficult both to embrace the positive parts of Clinton’s record and to criticize his foolishness? If Al Gore had figured out how to do that, he’d be president. Most Americans find this distinction an easy one to make.
I hear that this is some sort of parlor game in Washington but I don’t think there is a Clinton obsession among Democrats out here in the rest of America. I think he’s about as relevant as a Seinfeld re-run. Which is why any more criticism by elected officials of his “foolishness,” particularly in light of the, you know, economic and international unravelling that has come since, is simple self flaggelation.
There is one group of Americans, however, who share this desire to keep Bill Clinton at the top of the political agenda. Republicans.
So there you have it. The “10 tired and useless arguments that progressives ought to stop having.” I’m sure that the Mighty Wurlitzer is pleased as punch to see us finally admitting that they’ve been right about us all along.
We are not a perfect party, by any means. We have been very slow to recognise that the modern GOP is a “take no prisoners” (perhaps I should say, “torture prisoners for fun”) kind of party. And, we have consistently underestimated the power of the Republican Noise machine on the political subconscious of ordinary Americans, even ourselves.
But no Democrats are actually arguing that we should be the party of permissive, anti-business, deficit-loving, protectionist, weak on defense, interest group dependent Clinton apologists.
The words sure do sound familiar, though, don’t they?
I have been remiss for not putting out a special plea to keep our blogospheric treasure, the Mighty Atrios, on line and ongoing.
He’s my blogfather. I was a poster on his blog from early on and one whom he gently badgered for months into starting one of my own. I’m not the only one. The blogosphere is littered with Atrios’s blogbastards.
He has the best nose for news in the blog business, bar none. I once wrote that he is the Beatles of blogging, riding the zeitgeist, leading us all in the right direction.
This election is the most important in my lifetime, perhaps since 1932. Blogs have a role to play and Atrios is the heart and soul of left blogosphere. We need him.
Here’s what I hated more than anything after 9/11 — the fact that everybody seemed to lose their frigging minds and turned into complete, blithering idiots. There’s not a lot of grace under pressure in the old US of A, I’m afraid.
Do you remember the old Kipling poem, If?
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
[…]
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run –
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!
Remember that? Well, let’s just say that the American body politic has a lot to learn about maturity. I’m reminded of this whenever I read something depressing and stupid that people said right after the attacks that has now come back to bite us.
In following this ongoing blogosphere discussion of Jonathan Alter’s somewhat relative criticism of Bush, I came across a column of his from November 2001. Honestly, I’m wondering why people were so upset at Ann Coulter’s call to “invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity,” when “liberal” guys like Alter were blithely writing amoral crap like this:
In this autumn of anger, even a liberal can find his thoughts turning to … torture. OK, not cattle prods or rubber hoses, at least not here in the United States, but something to jump-start the stalled investigation of the greatest crime in American history. Right now, four key hijacking suspects aren’t talking at all.
COULDN’T WE AT LEAST subject them to psychological torture, like tapes of dying rabbits or high-decibel rap? (The military has done that in Panama and elsewhere.) How about truth serum, administered with a mandatory IV? Or deportation to Saudi Arabia, land of beheadings? (As the frustrated FBI has been threatening.) Some people still argue that we needn’t rethink any of our old assumptions about law enforcement, but they’re hopelessly “Sept. 10”—living in a country that no longer exists.
[…]
Actually, the world hasn’t changed as much as we have. The Israelis have been wrestling for years with the morality of torture. Until 1999 an interrogation technique called “shaking” was legal. It entailed holding a smelly bag over a suspect’s head in a dark room, then applying scary psychological torment. (To avoid lessening the potential impact on terrorists, I won’t specify exactly what kind.) Even now, Israeli law leaves a little room for “moderate physical pressure” in what are called “ticking time bomb” cases, where extracting information is essential to saving hundreds of lives. The decision of when to apply it is left in the hands of law-enforcement officials.
[…]
Short of physical torture, there’s always sodium pentothal (“truth serum”). The FBI is eager to try it, and deserves the chance. Unfortunately, truth serum, first used on spies in World War II, makes suspects gabby but not necessarily truthful. The same goes for even the harshest torture. When the subject breaks, he often lies. Prisoners “have only one objective—to end the pain,” says retired Col. Kenneth Allard, who was trained in interrogation. “It’s a huge limitation.”
Some torture clearly works. Jordan broke the most notorious terrorist of the 1980s, Abu Nidal, by threatening his family. Philippine police reportedly helped crack the 1993 World Trade Center bombings (plus a plot to crash 11 U.S. airliners and kill the pope) by convincing a suspect that they were about to turn him over to the Israelis. Then there’s painful Islamic justice, which has the added benefit of greater acceptance among Muslims.
We can’t legalize physical torture; it’s contrary to American values. But even as we continue to speak out against human-rights abuses around the world, we need to keep an open mind about certain measures to fight terrorism, like court-sanctioned psychological interrogation. And we’ll have to think about transferring some suspects to our less squeamish allies, even if that’s hypocritical. Nobody said this was going to be pretty.
It’s contrary to American values? How fucking touching after that precious little whine about “can’t we at least play loud music in their ears or threaten their families?” Is forced sodomy with a glow stick contrary to American values if it doesn’t actually, you know, take place here in the United States? Hey, nobody said this was going to be pretty.
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
A pundit be not, you’re much too wise
The four men who Alter contemplated sending to “the land of beheadings,” by the way, were all innocent.
Update: A commenter informs me of this piece by Mark Ames, which makes this point and more.
COLLINS: In retrospect, do you believe that you erred in not coming forward, not just to the president and the Congress — you’ve made very clear today that you regret not doing that — but to the world community? Would it have made a difference if it had been the Pentagon itself that had disclosed the full extent of this abuse, whatever you knew, and what actions you were going to take?
RUMSFELD: I think in my statement I responded in full to your question. The — I would characterize what was done in the Central Command by way of swift, corrective action as being just that — swift, corrective action.
And second, the — I don’t know quite how to respond to your question. The Department of Defense announced that their abuse was being charged, there were criminal investigations under way. No one had seen the photographs.
They were part of a criminal investigation. And they were in that Central Command — I say no one in the Pentagon had seen them. And they were part of that investigative process.
It is the photographs that gives one the vivid realization of what actually took place. Words don’t do it. The words that there were abuses, that it was cruel, that it was inhumane — all of which is true — that it was blatant, you read that and it’s one thing. You see the photographs and you get a sense of it and you cannot help but be outraged.
He’s a lying bastard. Here are the words and they convey extremely well what kind of sick, sadistic shit was going on in that prison. One after another they tell the same disgusting story over and over again.
He knew very well was going on. At best, he didn’t give a damn. At worst, he ordered it.
Yeah, right. Nobody knows nothing. Rummy says the press should talk to “the Iraqis,” because he has no idea what’s going on with his erstwhile good friend Chalabi.
There’s no need to reiterate everything that’s wrong with that crook Ahmad, but it should be remembered that Cheney himself approved Rummy’s plan to airlift Chalabi into the country a year ago, after Bush had explictly promised Tony Blair that it would not happen. As ye sow and all that crap…
It’s sad that Rummy’s lost touch with the fortunes of his former friend because he was once one of his strongest supporters. Those were the days.
I’ve read the various theories about what is really going on with this, and I have no opinion other than that the official explanation seems fairly believable to me. Not that Chalabi has a history of bank fraud or anything like that, but it doesn’t seem unreasonable to think that he might have been taking just a little taste for himself after all the years of dining on bad hors d’ouvres in Georgetown salons for the good of the cause:
For several months, U.S. officials have been investigating people affiliated with the INC for possible ties to a scheme to defraud the Iraqi government during the transition to a new currency that took place from Oct. 15 last year to Jan. 15, according to a U.S. occupation authority official familiar with the case. The official said the raids were partly related to that investigation.
At the center of the inquiry is Nouri, whom Chalabi picked as the top anti-corruption official in the new Iraqi Finance Ministry. Chalabi heads the Governing Council’s finance committee, and has major influence in its staffing and operation.
When auditors early this year began counting the old Iraqi dinars brought in and the new Iraqi dinars given out in return, they discovered a shortfall of more than $22 million. Nouri, a German national, was arrested in April and faces 17 charges including extortion, fraud, embezzlement, theft of government property and abuse of authority. He is being held in a maximum security facility, according to three sources close to the investigation.
In recent weeks, several other Finance Ministry officials have been arrested as part of the investigation. A U.S. official familiar with the case said, “We are cracking down on corruption regardless of names involved.”
I won’t be surprised if there is more to it. Why, there might even be more embezzlement involved:
BLITZER: They found hundreds of thousands of dollars in U.S. $100 bills. They found other money. How much money do you suspect is still available to finance this insurgency?
CHALABI: There are hundreds of millions of dollars still unaccounted for from Saddam’s loot that he took from the Central Bank of Iraq. He looted the Central Bank. I have the records. He took $920 million in U.S. dollars, cash $100 bills, and he took $90 million euro from — that’s about $100 million now from the Central Bank of Iraq on the 19th of March. He sent a letter signed by him ordering the Central Bank government to give the money to his son from the account of the presidency.
This may be the largest cash withdrawal in history. He took all of this money, put it — it was already packed in crates of $4 million each, and it took three trucks to load the money in, and he took it. Most of that money is unaccounted for.
Senior U.S. officials told 60 Minutes Correspondent Lesley Stahl that they have evidence Chalabi has been passing highly-classified U.S. intelligence to Iran.
The evidence shows that Chalabi personally gave Iranian intelligence officers information so sensitive that if revealed it could, quote, “get Americans killed.” The evidence is said to be “rock solid.”
Sources have told Stahl a high-level investigation is underway into who in the U.S. government gave Chalabi such sensitive information in the first place.
There is only one degree of separation between Chalabi and the deputy secretary of defense.
“I believe that the president’s leadership and the actions taken in Iraq demonstrate an incompetence in terms of knowledge, judgment and experience,” the California Democrat told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference.
Oh, oh… I think I’m going to faint. This is such… it’s such… oh, I have to sit down…
Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, said the comments “represent a grotesque political attack. They’re simply outrageous and the American people will reject that type of blame America first. … American troops are bravely fighting the terrorist enemy and it is the terrorists who are responsible for the violence, not the president.”
Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie issued the following statement today in response to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s statement that ‘Bush is an incompetent leader,’ that the President has ‘no judgment, no experience and no knowledge’ and that he has the deaths of thousands of soldiers ‘on his shoulders.’
“To angry Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy, terrorists and militia aren’t responsible for the deaths of U.S. soldiers, their commander-in-chief is. And our servicemen and women, in putting torture chambers ‘under U.S. management,’ are no different than a regime that systematically tortured, raped and killed its own people. The San Francisco/Boston Democrats led by John Kerry have now adopted Blame America First as their official policy. “
Oh my heavens … Blame America First! Does anyone have any burning feathers? I think I’m going blind…
Have mercy. Stop these San Francisco liberals from saying that our brave leader is incompetent. It’s unbearable to listen to!
This administration cannot be trusted to govern if it cannot be counted on to think and, having thought, to have second thoughts… Being steadfast in defense of carefully considered convictions is a virtue. Being blankly incapable of distinguishing cherished hopes from disappointing facts, or of reassessing comforting doctrines in face of contrary evidence, is a crippling political vice.
Dear God. Make them stop!
President Bush’s mantra of “stay the course” rings increasingly hollow in the face of abrupt policy reversals that reek of desperation. First the U.S. kept Baathists out of government; now it is inviting them back in. First it dissolved the Iraqi army; now it is re-creating it. First it sidelined the United Nations; now it is counting on the U.N. to form a new government.
Jeeves, my laudenum, poste haste. These Democrats are so evil, so cruel. I can listen no more…
I think it’s a total nightmare and disaster, and I’m ashamed that I went against my own instincts in supporting it. It’s something I’ll never do again. Never. I got convinced by a friend of mine who’s smarter than I am, and I shouldn’t have done that. No. I want things to work out, but I’m enraged by it, actually.
I knew there was something about Professor Cole that was shallow and partisan. Perhaps if he spent more time deconstructing the meaning of Ahmad Chalabis hair or skreeching hysterically over Paul Wolfowitz’s eyebrows, I might be persuaded to take him seriously.
I’m not a McCain worshipper. He’s way too right wing for me and I wouldn’t vote for him (unless it was between him and any other Republican.) But like many people, I can’t help liking the guy and it’s mostly because he seems to be completely unafraid of the GOP bullyboys. But then, he’s been tortured at the hands of tough guys that make the likes of Lil’ Tommy “isn’t that French?” DeLay look like a 6 week old kitten by comparison.
So, it was especially stomach churning to see “Doughboy” Denny Hastert and his posse of Beavis, Butthead, Dilbert and Elmer Fudd laughing and snorting as he lectured McCain about the sacrifices of the men and women at Walter Reed.
As other House GOP members stood behind him laughing, Hastert, R-Illinois, then expressed doubt that McCain was indeed a Republican.
The exchange started when a reporter asked: “Can I combine a two issues, Iraq and taxes? I heard a speech from John McCain the other day…”
Hastert: “Who?”
Reporter: “John McCain.”
Hastert: “Where’s he from?”
Reporter: “He’s a Republican from Arizona.”
Hastert: “A Republican?”
Amid nervous laughter, the reporter continued with his question: “Anyway, his observation was never before when we’ve been at war have we been worrying about cutting taxes and his question was, ‘Where’s the sacrifice?’ ”
Hastert: “If you want to see the sacrifice, John McCain ought to visit our young men and women at Walter Reed and Bethesda. There’s the sacrifice in this country. We’re trying to make sure they have the ability to fight this war, that they have the wherewithal to be able to do it. And, at the same time, we have to react to keep this country strong.”
Hastert, I believe, once sacrificed the two for one special at IHOP in favor of the RazzleDazzle Waffle Slam so he knows what he’s talking about.
During Vietnam though, like his owner Dick Cheney, Denny had other priorities. After getting his Masters in Gym in 1967, it was not for the Denster to join either the service or the unwashed war protestors. Denny, a fervent supporter of the war, believed that the best way for him to serve was in the vital national security role of drivers ed teacher. The nation honors his sacrifice.
That is your final answer?” one of his interrogators, nicknamed the “Cat,” asked McCain on July 3, 1968 — not coincidentally the very day McCain’s father, John Sidney “Jack” McCain Jr., was named commander of U.S. naval forces in the Pacific.
“That is my final answer,” McCain said.
“They taught you too well,” said an irate Cat. “They taught you too well.”
Added another interrogator, the “Rabbit”: “Now, McCain, it will be very bad for you.”
And it was. One of his captors, the one they called “Slopehead,” told McCain, “You’re a black criminal. You must confess your crimes.”
McCain demurred. “Fuck you,” he said.
“Why do you treat your guards so disrespectfully?” Slopehead asked. “Because they treat me like an animal,” McCain replied.
“When I said that,” McCain wrote in U.S. News, “the guards, who were all in the room — about 10 of them — really laid into me. They bounced me from pillar to post, kicking and laughing and scratching. After a few hours of that, ropes were put on me and I sat that night bound with ropes … For the next four days, I was beaten every two or three hours by different guards. My left arm was broken again and my ribs were cracked.”
On the third night, as McCain would later write in “Faith of My Fathers,” he was beaten so badly he almost committed suicide before “confessing” his war crimes:
I lay in my own blood and waste, so tired and hurt that I could not move. The Prick [another captor] came in with two other guards, lifted me to my feet, and gave me the worst beating I had yet experienced … Despairing of any relief from pain and further torture, and fearing the close reproach of my moment of dishonor, I tried to take my life. I doubt I really intended to kill myself. But I couldn’t fight anymore, and I remember deciding that the last thing I could do to make them believe I was still resisting, that I wouldn’t break, was to attempt suicide.
McCain took off his shirt. He turned over the waste bucket and stepped on it. He looped his shirt through a shutter. But before he could act, the Prick ran in and beat him up.
One day later, McCain signed a confession admitting to war crimes. He would remain a POW for almost five more years, until March 15, 1973. His injuries are still with him; he cannot raise his arms above his shoulders; he still has a slight limp.
If visiting Walter Reed doesn’t sufficiently remind him of sacrifice maybe he could just try to comb his hair.
I make no excuses for McCain’s racist nicknames, but I do cut him some slack for the hatred. It’s probably what kept him alive. However, it must also be noted that unlike his immature GOP brethren, he was man enough to put the past behind him and he and John Kerry went on to engineer the rapprochement with Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Denny and the boys, still angry and nursing their wounds from 4th grade dodge ball, are today using young Americans as board pieces in their little game of “I am too a real man!” and it’s destroying this country.