This morning on NBC's
Meet the Press, Russert got McCain to go on record against a free press in Iraq. McCain said,
"If that's the only way you get stories in, then I'm not terribly offend by it, Tim." This may be the craziest thing I've ever heard McCain say, and the list seems to growing at a faster pace these days.
I used to like John McCain, but he's off his rocker now. He wants to be President so bad that he's losing his common sense appeal in his effort to impress the right wing nuts who decide the Republican primary. Apparently, he recently called Murtha "too emotional" and said Kerry lacked enough "strength" to offer solutions to Iraq. It seems as if McCain thinks he's the only war hero in America, and other veterans are pansies. McCain is trying to court the war-hungry Bush right-wingers, and it's an ugly thing to watch.
While I'm glad that McCain takes the ever-so courageous stand to call Bush out on torture, I can't believe that Mr. Torture Crusader doesn't support a
free press in Iraq. If our mission is to build a democracy in Iraq, then a free press is fundamental. That's common sense, and I used to think that McCain had some. If McCain believes torture sends the wrong message and doesn't help us win the hearts and minds of Iraqi citizens, then why does he think the Iraqis will appreciate America trying to bring Armstrong Williams to Iraq? Even Armstrong Williams thinks the Iraqi paid media revelations are
"unpleasant". We knew that the Bush administration hates the free press, but wasn't Mr. Straight Talk Express McCain supposed to believe in the free and honest press? After all, Media Matters caught McCain recently
bragging about the importance of the free press in a Nov. 10th speech,
"Despite bombs, daily attacks, and untold threats against the democratic process, Iraq has held free elections, with open campaigns and a truly free press."
Later in today's Meet the Press interview, McCain insisted that we're making progress in Iraq. That's an interesting definition of "progress" considering that former Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi was nearly whacked this morning. You remember Allawi, right? He's the former CIA puppet who now says that American torture is worse now than Saddam torture. But Mr. torture crusader McCain somehow believes this is "progress"?
Finally on the home front, McCain said on Meet the Press that our economic future is bleak and that the upcoming generations will not have better standards of living than their parents. If McCain considers Iraq "progress", then no wonder that he sees no problem with future generations of Americans suffering in their retirement years. McCain said, "American working men and women today are not going to have the same benefits that retired Americans have today, period."
Well, why is the future less bright, John? Is it because your Republican Party raided the middle class Social Security lockbox in order to fund corporate welfare and tax give-aways to the richest Americans, and then nick-named this the "Ownership Society"? Is it because the Republicans are trying to balance the budget on the backs of working families? Is it because we've gone from record surpluses to record deficits with Republican leadership? This USA Today story has this quote from a regular American taxpayer getting screwed by the Republicans, "My only chance at retirement now is winning the lottery." And now Bush is trying to say the economy is peachy? Gimmee a break. This headline says it all, Bush sees sunny economy; Greenspan warns of clouds
Honestly, I held out hope that McCain presidential campaign might move to the left and unify America by embracing the Teddy Roosevelt maverick model. But it seems that McCain's bought the Bush bullshit hook, line and sinker. McCain told Russert that he would run for president if, "Whether I think my qualifications and capabilities match the priorities of the United States and its--and the voters."
Folks, he's running. And if he can survive the Republican primary, he's going to be tough to beat because the media won't call McCain out for being a hypocrite.