Hello, everyone. This is my first diary here on DailyKos, although I've been a reader for quite some time.
Today I would like to write about a line that Democrats, including Senator Obama, have been using for a long time now:
"I honor John McCain's service, but..."
Sure, these Democrats have good intentions. But they are only fueling the fire of a great problem that our party faces in this election. We cannot win this election by honoring John McCain's service. It only makes him look better than he deserves.
McCain's military service has allowed him to have his way even before he ran for President. He was able to build the famous "straight-talking maverick" image, and all those wise enough to question him were shown a flag and silenced. It was this image that allowed him to escape, more or less unscathed, from the Keating Five scandal and continue his rise, ultimately, toward two presidential races. And here we are, in 2008, progressive Democrats trying to deal with the maverick who won't go away.
We know that 60% of Americans are now opposed to the war in Iraq. However, a much smaller number is opposed to John McCain. Why is that? What does this man offer that causes so many of us to forget about our opposition to a needless war?
The answer is simple. What Senator McCain is capitalizing on one of our greatest weaknesses: The belief that veteran are more capable of handling a war than any other citizen, and should therefore be elected to national office as much as possible. Such a belief certainly sounds good on paper, but it fails to take into account one very important thing. We forget that veterans are people too, and that they are as flawed as any other individual on Earth. And above all else, they are quite capable of being wrong.
McCain is certainly wrong about a lot of things. He was wrong on the economy, on health care, on torture (remember, he refused to ban it). He was wrong to advertise his support from the military, while simultaneously opposing a revamped GI Bill. But most of all, John McCain has always been wrong when it came to Iraq. His stubborn refusal to end this unjustified war is a bad thing. But he makes it even worse, by using his service to legitimize his illegitimate position.
He claims to have extensive national security experience. He claims to "know how to win wars". Our incompetent media accepts this, solely because of his time in Hanoi. Many Americans accept this for that same reason.
You may be wondering by now if I have a problem with veterans. i have no such problem. I simply dislike men like McCain, who take advantage of their status and use it to mislead the nation.
And so, I can say proudly:
I will not honor John McCain
And I will never honor any man who lies to the American people while waving a flag.
This is what straight talk really looks like, folks.