Stay Classy, John McCain
On a day in which most people tried to put politics aside and honor those who have given their lives in service to this country, the always "civil" and "respectful" John McCain had this to say:
And how much nerve does it take to accuse your opponent of having no "knowledge" or "judgment" about Iraq when you yourself 1) have frequently displayed your own ignorance about basic facts in Iraq (like the difference between the Sunni and Shia), and 2) were one of the most vocal advocates of invading Iraq, a decision that a sizable majority of Americans now believe was a colossal mistake.
By far the most galling aspect of McCain's statement, however, is the fact that it betrays a complete lack of humility and self-reflection. Over 4000 Americans, people who had their whole lives ahead of them, people whom others loved and depended on, have lost their lives as a result of the decision to invade Iraq, a decision which John McCain full-throatedly supported. I understand that John McCain and many others still believe that this war was just and necessary. But at least have the decency to appreciate that many Americans who are just as patriotic as you believe that this war was a disastrous blunder. And try understand, if for only moment, how your comments look through their eyes.
McCain has already made it abundantly clear that he does not intend to treat his opponent with even a modicum of respect. But on today of all days, I at least expected him to have some respect for the solemnity of the occasion. I guess my expectations were misplaced. Stay classy, John McCain.
Obama, McCain said, "really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time."That's an incredibly crass and classless thing to say on Memorial Day. First, and most obviously, to accuse someone who has a honest difference of opinion with you on war policy of being in favor of "surrender" is Coulter-esque at best and totally unbecoming of someone vying for the title of Commander in Chief. That's especially true when you consider that well over half of the country agrees with Obama's position. And who exactly does McCain think we'd be surrendering to? The Shiite-led government that we installed? The Sunni tribes of Anbar with whom we've been working and supply arms? The few remaining remnants of Al Qaeda in Iraq?
And how much nerve does it take to accuse your opponent of having no "knowledge" or "judgment" about Iraq when you yourself 1) have frequently displayed your own ignorance about basic facts in Iraq (like the difference between the Sunni and Shia), and 2) were one of the most vocal advocates of invading Iraq, a decision that a sizable majority of Americans now believe was a colossal mistake.
By far the most galling aspect of McCain's statement, however, is the fact that it betrays a complete lack of humility and self-reflection. Over 4000 Americans, people who had their whole lives ahead of them, people whom others loved and depended on, have lost their lives as a result of the decision to invade Iraq, a decision which John McCain full-throatedly supported. I understand that John McCain and many others still believe that this war was just and necessary. But at least have the decency to appreciate that many Americans who are just as patriotic as you believe that this war was a disastrous blunder. And try understand, if for only moment, how your comments look through their eyes.
McCain has already made it abundantly clear that he does not intend to treat his opponent with even a modicum of respect. But on today of all days, I at least expected him to have some respect for the solemnity of the occasion. I guess my expectations were misplaced. Stay classy, John McCain.
posted by A.L. at 9:37 PM
11 Comments:
Hmm. Suppose the Democratic nominee were Jim Webb and the Republican nominee were Mitt Romney. Would you criticize Webb if he attacked Romney for having never served in the military, having no understanding or judgment about military or foreign affairs, and being indifferent to the burden being placed on our military in Iraq? If the answer is no (and you know it is), whats your beef?
OK you intellectually-superior "anonymous" liberal... do you know the difference between Sunni and Shia? Don't bother scrambling to Wikipedia to get the answer - since you are so quick to reserve judgment of others, I will take the same liberty and assume (correctly, no doubt) that you are just as clueless as most people who try to be all cutsie-pie with their big mean liberal blogs.
Signed - an anonymous moderate.
MLS,
False equivalence. In this case, the evidence is that it's McCain who is indifferent to the welfare of the common soldier, and who has shown, over the last several years, a lack of understanding of military and foreign affairs, yet he's attacking Obama.
Be sure and let us know when a Democrat exhibits this level of blind, hubris-driven hypocrisy.
c2h50h-You illustrate my point. AL is purporting to criticize McCain for being “uncivil” and “disrespectful,” whereas in reality his objection is just that McCain (a) disagrees with Obama on Iraq and (b) has the temerity to do so vigorously.
As for Democrats who demonstrate “blind, hubris-driven hypocrisy,” I dunno, but I seem to recall you and many others on this blog casting some serious aspersions on the character of one Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, both rumored to be Democrats, as well as many of her supporters.
MLS,
No, I'm not illustrating your point -- you're confusing me with A.L.
His point was that McCain showed a lack of class in criticizing Obama on Memorial Day and displaying a lack of respect for his opponent.
My point was that your argument invoked a false equivalence.
We criticized the Clintons for their hubris and blindness, didn't we? Not that that has anything to do with this situation.
Please don't even try to criticize John McCain when he talks about war, veterans, POWS, service people, making a sacrifice or anything related to serving America overseas. The guy has earned his stripes.
He can say whatever he wants about anyone.He earned that right in the Hanoi Hilton. He earned that right when hanging upside-down from the arms, which both had compound fractures. All for America....He says he didn't love America before he was deprived of her company.
Least of all.....don't even try criticizing him if you're a liberal. You'll never earn the right.
Reaganite
www.hangright.org
MLS,
His point was that McCain showed a lack of class in criticizing Obama on Memorial Day and displaying a lack of respect for his opponent.
A.L.'s criticism is not solely about the timing of McCain's remarks, but about the content of the remarks as well. You're playing a reductionist game whereby you eliminate that content in favor of a bland retelling of events "McCain criticized Obama on Memorial Day.. displaying a lack of respect". So I believe your notion is that criticism between camps is fair game... I tend to agree with that. But McCain didn't offer up generic criticism, he lied about Obama in regard to experience (Obama has visited Iraq), Knowledge (Obama's knowledge of Iraq and the war is very much in evidence), judgement (Obama is capable of rendering a judgment based on his knowledge and experience), and finally the surrender trope. Obama, nor any other democrat in the national spotlight, to my knowledge, has advocated for a policy of surrender.
All of this adds up (for you) to a disingenuous argument.
Peace.
McCain seems to flip flop a bit on his war experiences using them to prop up his purely political stands when it serves his ends. Yet a right-winger drops by to tell us that because of those truly awful experiences in Vietnam thirty years McCain cannot be criticized in any way what so ever.Let's just skip the election and crown King McCain now. Oops wait a minute despite the orders from the right-wing commandant of comments everyone has permission to question anything regarding McC since McBush has already been a huge hypocrite about using his war record while campaigning, McCain - ”Let’s worry about the war that’s going on in Iraq. Probably some American is dying today in Iraq. I’d like us to focus our attention on the war at hand and how we can win it, rather than revisiting the one that was over 30 years ago.”
And tell the king of right-wing shock jocks Rush LImbaugh to lay off McCain too, McCain “can surround himself with the Schwarzkopf and the generals and so forth and the POW stuff, which we all admire and respect,” but that “you owe it to the electorate to start talking honestly and openly about your complete public record rather than cherry-picking what you want to say to different audiences in different places.”
People are more concerned about the sniping than they are the issues any more. This is my 9 presidential election I'll be voting on. The public gets dumber and dumber every year.
The parties and people are further now more than anytime I can recall, even the 60's. No longer can we agree on common issues. EVERYTHING is a point of contention and disagreement.
We need a new party. The CCB party.
The Constitution-Capitalism-Bill of Rights party.
All we have to do is stick with that and the rest will work itself out.
I have yet to see someone smart enough to go mucking around with this, yet they do, much to our detriment.
Good luck.
Hey.. I just wanted to add my opinion of Obama's position on the Iraq war .. Obama "really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time.". Nuff said.
Dear anonymous Obama hater,
You say that Obama has no experience or knowledge of issues in Iraq. You also discredit his judgment, if I can ask, what credentials do you have to talk so lowly of such a well educated man and why should your opinion of the Iraqi situation be taken any more seriously than Obama's when you (I'm assuming) haven't visited and seen first hand the situation in Iraq nor have you been involved in the leadership aspect of it as Obama has as a senator?
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