While our lefty brethren and sisteren (brethren, mostly) have pushing moronic memes about McCain's houses and his disgusting oldness, one of McCain's biggest sins has gone incredibly under-reported: his single-handed ushering in of legalized torture:
He was the shiny pink lipgloss on the pig called the Military Commissions Act, and it was actually the lowest, most dishonorable betrayal of principle I've ever seen a politician make. To give him credit for being against torture when he sold his reputation as a POW to the Bush administration to help them legalize it is just mind-boggling.
Even some of the sharpest observers in the leftysphere have praised McCain on this issue, when he deserves our highest condemnation for it. (To Glenn's credit, he eventually saw through the bullshit).
But it just goes to show what happens when we accept easy, prepackaged memes, like virtually every Democrat does about McCain's unimpeachable heroism, and like Obama did when he uttered — about our troops — this phrase that fills me with dread when imagining him as Commander in Chief: "Their sacrifices are never wasted."
Truthiness rots everything, especially, when it comes in the form of unquestioning acceptance of the glibbest prevailing memes. We have big brains. It's good to use 'em.
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Thanks
I needed that.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Yeah, I remember that but Digby forgets...
... that it took a lot of arm twisting to get McCain to sign off on it. A LOT of arm twisting.
Yeah, it was disgusting. A lot of what the Bush administration has forced their party members to do has been disgusting.
And I predict that we will see similar arm twisting of Hillary Clinton if Obama wins. The party will go down a completely different path and drag her along for the ride. It will make her indentured servitude during the general look like a vacation.
I don't blame Digby for trying but this is hardly going to sway me. I remember McCain's resistance very well.
Come together at The Confluence
Come together at The Confluence
McCain became a false hero against torture
He claimed ownership of the issue and sold out our country's integrity. What part of that isn't true, and what part of that isn't disgusting?
The arm-twisting metaphor is rather loaded, under the circumstances, so I think I'll leave that part alone.
Except...
on this issue I've seen "easy, prepackaged memes" going both ways. Is there any actual reporting (as opposed to either side's agitprop) out there?
I know it's unlikely the answer is 'yes', but thought that you might have a link if it exists.
I have had a hard time taking Digby seriously since she bought the no Obama = racist tugboat and the ivy-education = manifestly superior ocean liner of crap.
You don’t know me, son. So let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you’ll be awake, you’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed.
-Malcolm Reynolds, “Serenity”
And the "let's vote for a symbol"
justification for voting for Barack.
I think that was in response to Obama's FISA vote.
"If we have to have a dictator, who better than Obama"
- progressive blog commentator
The MCA
was one of the darkest days in this country's recent history and there have been a lot of dark days and, yes, McCain deserves a special place for his role in it (as do every member of Congress who voted for it). It's why I can't believe so many have turned to truthiness to fight McCain (he said you have to make $5 million a year to be rich!) when the truth is damning, incredibly so.
The MCA
probably tops the list of awful things McCain has done (although there's a long list at this point). Made more awful because he betrayed everything he previously had claimed to care about with its passage.
McCain is awful. He's a fraud, a liar, and wrong about everything.
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt
Only one reason?
I was arguing against the liberal--"progressive", I mean "progressive"--fondness of McCain years ago, back when he was everyone's favorite GOPer. I resent that I find McCain the lesser of two evils this election, really really resent that.
Who Sponsored The MCA?
I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I didn't follow the MCA
. Doing some quick research I'm aware of some of the amendments proposed to the bill to actually stop torture, but have no idea where it originated.
BTW, John McCain's statement on the passage of the bill is rich guys, so rich is makes your stomach ache:
Gee, what obviously count the NYT be objecting to? But, of course, there is no time to go into detail.
Yes, rich.
But, we've always been at war with Eastasia...