Shouldn't conservatives back the hotheaded "Queen of Hearts" John McCain?
Or do they have thoughts of their own?
Why Conservatives Fear McCain
Having watched John McCain physically accost a foreign government official, Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran confessed his fear of a McCain presidency, saying this year, "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."
Watching McCain lose his composure during the current financial crisis, conservative intellectual George Will wrote, "It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency."
George Will commented, "Channeling his inner Queen of Hearts, John McCain furiously, and apparently without even looking around at facts, said Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, should be decapitated."
George Will analyzed McCain in this way: "For McCain, politics is always operatic, pitting people who agree with him against those who are "corrupt" or "betray the public’s trust," two categories that seem to be exhaustive — there are no other people."
Conservative Bob Barr feels that McCain plays too freely with America’s bombs. And after hearing of McCain’s gleeful "bomb, bomb, bomb" song, Barr said, "Senator McCain apparently thinks it's a joke when talking about military action against Iran."
Many conservative Americans have expressed fear at the thought of a McCain presidency. Why?
Is it because McCain has a terrible temper?
He physically attacks people who oppose him, from fellow politicians and bureaucrats, to ladies in wheelchairs, according to several witnesses.
He cursed out a lady testifying on the Senate floor for no good reason.
He called his wife a "cunt" in public.
He called Chelsea Clinton "ugly" when she was just a teenager.
He uses racial slurs, saying things like, "I hate the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live." And then he accuses George Bush of being a racist.
He kicks journalists off the Straight Talk Express for not reporting what he wants them to, and shuts journalists out of Sarah Palin events.
But aren’t these all traits of conservative Republicans? Yes, it is for many, but not all. Some conservatives fear McCain will make rash, stupid decisions that imperil Americans both physically and economically.
Some conservatives warn that McCain makes impulsive decisions and then stands by them like a stubborn mule.
Speaking of McCain, retired Colonel and former top aide to Colin Powell, Larry Wilkerson, stated, "No dissent, no opinion to the contrary, however reasonable, will be entertained." This state department official said, "Hardheaded is another way to say it. Arrogant is another way to say it. Hubristic is another way to say it. Too proud for his own good is another way to say it. It's a quality about him that disturbs me."
And what about the warmongering advisers around McCain? "There are some who've moved into his camp who scare me," Wilkerson says. "Scare me."
But don’t conservatives love war?
While many are easily convinced that sending our young men and women off to kill and to die for some national security purpose, most, in their right state of mind, abhor war.
And John McCain seems attracted to war like a moth to a light bulb.
In 1999-2000, McCain repeated during his campaign that as president, he would immediately start three new wars in three different nations: Iraq, Libya, and North Korea.
Negotiations with these nations will not work, was McCain’s implicit argument. And yet . . . negotiations with these nations and even Iran have been making progress. And no Americans have been blown up in the process.
No more wars have been started. Amazingly, even the left is thankful that Bush – who invaded Iraq on a set of lies – was elected over McCain.
John McCain supported Nixon in expanding war into Cambodia and Laos, killing millions of more civilians, and doing whatever it took to look like he was trying to win the war. But even Nixon wanted to stop the war at some point. McCain longed for its continuation and complained that more bombing, more bombing, more bombing, killing millions more children, men, and women, would have worked and was the right thing to do.
Some conservatives disagree with that.
McCain supported to the bloody end the death squads in Central America. He sent his own money to the contra guerillas in Honduras and Nicaragua so that they could torture, rape and kill with a solid budget.
Prominent Republican Dr. Ron Paul was personally pressured to endorse John McCain. But Ron Paul refused to endorse McCain. Perhaps it is because Ron Paul is a medical doctor, and he believes in the sanctity of human life.
Even the conservative Wall Street Journal, which tends to care more for money than for human beings, warned that McCain had become "untethered" in the recent financial crisis.
So far, John McCain has been held back by his ambition to become president. When he becomes president, he will no longer be held back . . . by anything. He’s even warned us that he only needs to consult with Congressional leaders before attacking a foreign people. As McCain once said of people in Iran, "Maybe that’s a way of killing them."
Conservatives aren’t exactly jumping for joy.
Irwin Tang is the author of Gook: John McCain's Racism and Why It Matters.