John McCain conveniently left out a few details last night when he discussed his association with convicted Watergate conspirator and NAZI sympathizer G. Gordon Liddy on David Letterman. According to a report by Steve Chapman at the Chicago Tribune earlier this year, hereMcCain was the honoree at a fundraiser at Liddy’s home in 1998 and over the years, Liddy has made at least four political contributions of $1,000 or more to McCain. As late as last year, according to Chapman, McCain appeared on Liddy’s radio show. According to Chapman:
Liddy greeted him as "an old friend," and McCain sounded like one. "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family," he gushed. "It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great."
Follow me over the jump to see some of Liddy's "principles and philosohpies"
In an article published in The Independent in the UK in November, 2004. The link is here
The Independent asked Liddy about his writings in Will, an Americanized salute to Hitler and the principles of Nazism. Here are a few of the exchanges:
The Fuhrer was G Gordon Liddy's first political hero. Liddy was a sickly, asthmatic child when he grew up in Hoboken, New Jersey, in the 1930s. The town was full of ethnic Germans who idolized Hitler. Liddy was made to salute the Stars and Stripes Nazi-style by the nuns at his school; even now, he admits, "at assemblies where the national anthem is played, I must suppress the urge to snap out my right arm." His beloved German nanny taught him that Hitler had - through sheer will-power - "dragged Germany from weakness to strength." This gave Liddy hope "for the first time in my life" that he too could overcome weakness. When he listened to Hitler on the radio, it "made me feel a strength inside I had never known before," he explains. "Hitler's sheer animal confidence and power of will [entranced me]. He sent an electric current through my body." He describes seeing the Nazis' doomed technological marvel the Hindenberg flying over New Jersey as an almost religious experience. "Ecstatic, I drank in its colossal power and felt myself grow. Fear evaporated and in its place came a sense of personal might and power."
snip
Liddy admits that, after reading the writings of the notorious anti-Semite Charles Lindbergh, Liddy decided to pick his wife on eugenic grounds. He held out for "a tall, fair, powerfully built Teuton." Isn't that behavior at the very least in the shadow of Hitler? "Of course not. Genetics is accepted by everyone." But a Teuton? My dictionary defines it as "descended from an ancient Germanic tribe. Often synonymous with Aryan." He waves his hand and says, "That's how we spoke then. This is political correctness."
Think this is bad? There's more:
Liddy writes, "If any one component of man ought to be exercised, cultivated and strengthened above all others, it is the will; and that must have one objective - to win." He used to take his kids to see Leni Riefenstahl’s Nazi propaganda movie 'The Triumph of the Will.' When he was a kid himself, he went to insane ends to test his will-power. He stood in front of approaching trains, telling himself he would not die because "I am a machine too." During lightning storms, in order to demonstrate to himself to power of his will, he would climb onto tall trees and yell, "Kill me! Kill me!" He even trained himself to kill animals in anticipation of becoming a brutal soldier. He describes beheading chickens with glee: "I killed and killed and killed, and finally I could kill efficiently and without emotion or thought. I was satisfied; when it came my turn to go to war, I would be ready. I could kill as I could run - like a machine."
This is what he thinks went wrong in Vietnam:
He says that the US has shown insufficient Will (the way he says it, the word should always be capitalized) in its foreign policy too. While the Nixon administration was spraying tones of napalm and poison over Vietnam, he complained the policy was "too soft." He says now, "I wanted to bomb the Red River dykes. It would have drowned half the country and starved the other half. There would have been no way the Viet Cong could have operated if we had the will-power to do that."
His advice to his radio listeners before the Okalhoma City Bombing?
Liddy urges his listeners to show similar 'strength' in their own lives. He was condemned even by most of the American right in 1994 when he advised his listeners to deal with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (a strange, obsessive focus of hate on the American right) with "head shots, head shots... Kill the sons of bitches... Shoot twice to the belly and if the does not work, shoot to the groin area. Arm yourself. Get instructed in how to shoot straight. And don't register [your weapons] either." His caller replied, "And I'm aiming between their eyes." Liddy replied, "There you go. That way their flak jackets won't protect them."
Even as late as 2004, he did not recant that advice:
"All I was doing is stating the US law," he says. "I never counseled anybody to shoot a BATF agent or anybody else who did not need shooting." His fans hear his clauses. For example, J.J. Johnson, the head of the far-right Georgia Republic Militia, welcomed Liddy's comments, disagreeing only about the head-shots. "With the right kind of ammunition, it doesn't matter where you hit 'em." After the Oklahoma bombing, many Hate Radio hosts toned down their statements. Liddy stepped them up: he declared that he used a cardboard cut-out of Hillary Clinton for target practice.
In 2004 he was especially angry at environmentalists. He told The Independent Reporter:
"Environmentalism is a form of pagan fundamentalism. These green wackos are fanatics like al-Quaida. Just like them," he quivers. "Osama believes there are 72 virgins waiting for him. The environmentalist believes human beings cause global warming. They both want to wreak havoc because of their mad beliefs. What's the difference?" I am lying on a hotel bed in New York City listening to Liddy's radio show and trying to figure out how I can possibly interview this man in half an hour. "Why should we listen to these fulminating feminists, proselytizing poofters, the environmentally ill, these multilateralist UN one-world government worshippers and other politically correct castrati?" he is demanding. "Why?"
Last night on Letterman, John McCain claimed that G. Gordon Liddy paid his debt to society and so his association with Liddy is perfectly alright. Yet, Liddy has never recanted the claims made in his book or the claims made in the article in The Independent. That John McCain would claim that G. Gordon Liddy’s principles and philosophies "make this nation great", is truly frightening. Does McCain truly believe in these things and if so, don’t we need to know about it?
My father fought in WII as did my Father-in-Law. These brave men did not risk their lives so that the likes of G. Gordon Liddy and John McCain could embrace the philosophies and principles of Nazism. Make no mistake: John McCain knows exactly what G. Gordon Liddy’s principles and philosophies are. So do Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and the rest of the Republican hierarchy. John McCain has had ample opportunity to distance himself from G. Gordon Liddy and his principles and philosophies and yet he continues to maintain that his association with Liddy is just fine. Sarah Palin suggests that Barack Obama doesn’t see America, "the way we see America" to which I add, "Thank God".