The Murmur of Crow: McCain's McMove to the McRight

Posted by Brandon Crow on 04.05.2006

John McCain just lost my vote.

Before I get started on John McCain's move to the far right, I wanted to see if there's anyone out there who also would like to make a move...to the right...or the left. 411 Politics' editor, Jason Easley recently posted a "help wanted" sign in his Tuesday edition of The Political Universe. I'd like to second his motion. As well, I'd like to help him spread the news that our politics zone is looking for a few good writers.

Having written for this zone for a year now, I'd like to state that for anyone interested in joining us, we are first and foremost, looking for people who can write. You've got to have a voice and a style of your own. We don't necessarily care if you love Bush or hate Bush, wish Clinton were still Pres., or wish he were dead...okay, we may care about that one--but only for your own safety! But, the fact remains, we don't care if you're liberal or conservative. What we are looking for are creative people who are not afraid to share their political views.

Being an English professor by trade, I have to emphasize the point that should you desire to join us, you must have command of your writing, down to the most fundamental aspects-- spelling and grammar. If you write like some of my students, which means if you write like you are texting drunken buddies via cell phone, then there's no need to apply. If you don't know what a comma, a period or an apostrophe is, then there's no need to apply. Equally, if you are too much in love with the comma, the period, the semi colon or the apostrophe and throw them in whenever the mood strikes you, there is no need to apply!

To steal a line from Jason, "remember, spell check is your friend, so please use it before you send in your sample."

Columns here are at least 1,000 words long, and writers must be able to contribute columns on a weekly basis. The subject of your e-mail should be "Sample Column." Jason puts serious time and effort into
reading these samples so please allow three to four days for him to get back to you. His email address is [e-mail].

Let the sample columns fly...fly like the Crow!

Now, on to the column for the week.
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Last week, Arizona Senator John McCain lost my vote.

On the April 2, 2006 edition of NBC's "Meet the Press," host Tim Russert asked McCain if he still stood by his words in 2000 that Jerry Falwell, and others like him (read Pat Robertson) were "agents of intolerance" and an "evil influence" in American politics.

McCain, the self-proclaimed "straight-talker" instead became the new "double-talker" in American politics. In 2000, McCain had used harsh, but in my opinion, true wording to define the hate-mongering and insane Jerry Falwell. But now, he has pulled back from those days and declares that he "spoke in haste" in 2000.

Instead of sticking to his word and conviction, McCain, in his blind ambition to capture the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, has not only softened his language on Falwell, but he has actually agreed to "be the commencement speaker in May at Liberty University, the Lynchburg, Va., institution that Falwell founded in 1971 (ABC News)."

In case nobody's noticed, McCain is now in full Kiss-Falwell's-Ass mode. John McCain, the astute, independent-minded straight talker just prostituted himself to a man (and I use that term very loosely) utterly unworthy of any attention, let alone esteem.

I certainly hope the Democrats are taking notes because John McCain is now officially a flip-flopper. Shoot, if he was going to whore himself out and become a flip-flopper, he might as well have just agreed to be John Kerry's VP candidate. At least he'd be VP right now.

Instead, he chose to strike out along the lonely and losing path of being a flip-flopper all by himself. Can we start the presses printing the next book, "John McCain: Unfit for Command?" Start issuing those lovely campaign buttons, folks!

Karen Finney, the Democratic National Committee's communications director said, "here he goes, pandering to the right wing. [In fact] it looks like there are real questions about where he truly stands on this issue, in fact, it's getting hard to tell where he truly stands on a number of critical issues."

Actually, it's not hard to tell where McCain stands. He stands firmly on whatever position he believes will get him the nomination.

McCain, though he travels the nation nowadays reassuring us that he has gotten over his defeat at the hands of George Bush and KKKarl Rove through their ruthless and inexcusable tactics, simply has not gotten over it. In fact, these latest moves towards the appeasement of the extreme right demonstrate that he is still deeply scarred.

The man may not be heaving portions of self pity upon himself any longer, but he most certainly has not gotten over the fact that, in 2000, he lost the nomination to a fifth-grade drop-out monkey boy.

And why did the outstanding, moderate senator lose to the blithering idiot that was and still is George W. Bush? Firstly, because Bush and Co. played really dirty, well beyond politically dirty. They spread vicious rumors that McCain had illegally fathered a "colored child" all through the south (or Bush states). Secondly, McCain feels that the south was much more religiously right leaning than he anticipated, and therefore, they swung for the "Jesus Freak" that was and still is George W. Bush.

With Bush a self-made lame duck just one year into his second term, McCain is already eyeing the big prize in 2008. But he's got some troubles. He lost the conservative, religious vote back in 2000, when that segment of the population was still a bit out of power and still a bit tolerant. Today, after five years of being catered to by their anointed champion, George "Jesus Christ" Bush, McCain is even less likely to garner their support.

Unless, that is, he started to piss away his independence and his convictions by openly courting that unsavory portion of the Republican party. McCain knows he has to compete with the likes of George Allen (Virginia Senator) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, both of whom are perhaps to the right of Bush…

The Arizona Senator, or the "newest member of the Bush Kiss My Ass Club" is recalculating his chances and has decided that he must move himself to the right in order to win over those voters in the primaries.

I hope he knows what he's doing because by doing this, he is now totally alienating that segment of the American population which really liked his straight talk and independence. I know I did. I've always maintained that if McCain had won the nomination in 2000, I may have seriously voted for him instead of Al Gore.

But with his Tarzan-like swing to the right, there is no way I will be considering John McCain, win the primary or not. He is either really changing his mind, which on conviction and principle, makes his new ideals unacceptable to me, or he is simply paying lip service so that he can get into office and then do what he wants after he is elected. This tactic is also unacceptable to me because it is exactly the shit act that George Bush and KKKarl Rove pulled.

Remember Bush's words: "If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us. If we're a humble nation, but strong, they'll welcome us…And that's why we've got to be humble."

Yeah. Real humble. Humility was never part of his plan. But he knew he had to mouth those words so the country would believe the façade.

Unequivocally, McCain stated in 2000, "neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right."

I wonder if McCain has "made peace" with Farrakhan and Sharpton as well…

Personally, I admired the man McCain used to be. I cannot tell you how disappointed, hurt even, I am by his piss-poor shenanigans. The man HAD integrity, HAD forthrightness. He spoke with candor and he spoke with honor.

Now, he's just another soulless schmuck willing to shill out his inner core for the RIGHT bidder.

Don't believe me? Take a look at how much John McCain has sold his soul in order to appear like George Bush's Legacy Candidate…

From the US Newswire:

WHAT MCCAIN STANDS FOR: THEN AND NOW

Abortion

THEN: McCain Opposed Overturning Roe: It Would Force Women To Seek Illegal Abortions. (San Francisco Chronicle, 8/20/99)
NOW: McCain Wouldn't Be Bothered By Supreme Court Ban On Abortion, Would Sign South Dakota's Abortion Ban. (CBS News, 1/25/06; ABC News, 3/29/06; ABC News, 2/26/06; NationalJournal.com, 2/28/06)

Evil

THEN: McCain Called Falwell "Evil Influence" on GOP. (Kansas City Star, 5/28/05)
NOW: McCain Met With Falwell To Lay Groundwork for 2008 Run And Agreed To Speak At Falwell's Liberty University. (US News and World Report, 11/14/05; Lynchburg News & Advance, 3/28/06)

Tax Cuts

THEN: McCain Opposed Bush Tax Cuts. (Baltimore Sun, 5/27/01; Statement, 3/18/03)
NOW: McCain Voted For Bush Tax Cuts. (New York Times, 2/21/06)

Gay Marriage

THEN: McCain Opposed Federal Gay Marriage Ban. (Los Angeles Times, 1/25/05 3/8
NOW: McCain Said He's Willing To Support A Federal Marriage Amendment. 1/8Meet the Press, 4/2/06)

Standing Up to Racism

THEN: McCain Condemned Bush For Failing to Denounce Racist Beliefs At Bob Jones University. (Fox, 2/24/00)
NOW: McCain Endorsed George Wallace Jr., Keynote Speaker at White Supremacist Group Gathering. (AP, 11/17/05; 6/6/05)

Creationism / Intelligent Design

THEN: McCain: Local Schools Should Decide on Teaching Creationism. (Times Union, 8/28/99)
NOW: McCain: "Young People Have the Right to Be Told" About Intelligent Design, Refused To Exclude It From Science Classes. (Courier Journal, 12/20/05; Arizona Daily Star, 8/28/05; NPR, 11/7/05)

Campaign Finance

THEN: McCain Was A Champion For Campaign Finance Reform. (New York Times, 10/22/01)
NOW: McCain Laying the Groundwork To Opt Out Of Campaign Finance System For '08 Campaign. (National Journal, 12/17/05; Hotline On Call, 12/16/05)

When I saw John McCain come on the presidential scene back in 2000, I was excited for him, for us, for American politics. Since he lost the nomination due to dubious actions, I've felt for the man.

In these past five years, I had always viewed John McCain as the next Republican nominee, and perhaps, the next President of the United States.

But no more. McCain has become what he always claimed to be wrong with politics and politicians- a self-interested shell of a husk of skin all too willing to sell out for glorification.

Crow out.