In the wake of seeing people fawn over that fact that Sen. John McCain dusted off a ten-year-old idea, I thought I'd list some reasons I'd never, ever ever vote for the guy...
John McCain doesn't believe in anything but winning.
Details can be found here. Personally, knowing that McCain, who was tortured, had reversed his stance on waterboarding in order to grab George W. Bush's base would be enough to dismiss him as a viable candidate for our highest office.
John McCain's obsession with Iran mirrors George W. Bush's obsession with Iraq.
Cindy Sheehan once read a quote from George W. Bush in regards to his father's administration. In it, he said that his father's venture into Kuwait gave him a powerful amount of political capital, and it was squandered. He went on to say that if he ever got the chance to invade Iraq, he would waste the potential political capital that came with it.
It's been clear between stories like this, reports of post-9-11/pre-Iraq invasion planning, and the 2004 elections that Iraq was a means to an end for Bush. Whether it was because he really believe Saddam Hussein was the most evil person on earth, or that he wanted to use the conflict to secure himself politically, or that Saddam tried to wack his father and he wanted revenge is still somewhat debatable. What isn't is that Bush was clearly obsessed.Obsessed to the point where any mention of 9/11 was connected to Iraq.
Well now that the war in Iraq is a distant memory, and the occupation of Iraq a miserable failure, John McCain needs a new foreign policy target. Just as Bush blamed Iraq for 9/11, McCain (and others) seemed obsessed with blaming all-things-bad-in-Iraq on Iranian influence. He tries to chalk it up as "gaffes," but time and time and time again, he has "linked" Osama bin Laden' al-Qaeda to Iran. Even if I were to believe that he's simply making (constant) slip-ups even after having time to address the issue, it's still pretty clear that he's at the forefront of the "bomb Iran" movement. How do I know this? Because he said so.
John McCain's lying by giving the impression that he's "corruption free."
Even before the lobbyist thing, there was the Keating Five. Long Story = Short: Ronald Reagan's deregulation movement allowed Savings and Loan companies to go buck wild with risky investments. When the government tried to do it's job (also known as "regulate") Reagan went apeshit and did his darnest to block it. Without proper regulation, a Savings and Loan association run by Mr. Keating went under. But instead of taking responsibility, Keating blamed the agency that Reagan tried to kneecap. Congressional investigations revealed that five senators were...well, bribed to help Keating by aiding in the afore-mentioned kneecapping. One of those Senators was John McCain.
Granted McCain stopped using Keating's money after things got hot, but when you consider that this story involves taking bribes for political favors, turning one part of government against another and ruining the lives of countless working Americans so that a few CEOs can make millions, I just don't see a balance here. But then again, I can't understand why Alan Greenspan, who had to be aware of this, endorsed McCain.
I believe that John McCain has a few screws loose.
While old age may be an important factor, there are other hints that McCain may not be the most stable of choices. For instance, his perception of reality. From pre-war to post-war to the current occupation, John McCain has been 100% Grade-A wrong on Iraq. He endorsed the scam-artist-formerly-known-as Ahmed Chalabi, jumped on the "greeted as liberators" bandwagon, embraced Bush as a war hero, and claimed that Baghdad was safer then neighborhoods in the United States (I wonder if he repeated that one while he was begging for primary votes).
Then there's that "temper" thing. As former rival and current buddy Mitt Romney pointed out, it's "McCain's way." But don't get me wrong. McCain is equal-opportunity...he goes off on Democrats and Republicans alike.
So if you add up these little points (flip-flopping on issues, obsession with a country in the Middle East, mimimizing his role in scandals, being out of touch with the country) you come to my biggest reason:
A John McCain Administration would just be a continuation of the Bush Administration.
President McCain would not bring our troops out of Iraq, let alone redeploy or change course in any significant way. President McCain would not adequately address the recession caused in part by the Bush tax cuts and the occupation of Iraq. President McCain would press to attack Iran, using the Bush Doctrine as a precedent. President McCain will let every scandal committed by the Bush Administration go uninvestigated. President McCain will play lip service (if that) to domestic issues.
In short, I won't vote for John McCain for the some of the same reasons you won't. I just think that we need to remind ourselves every once and awhile.