Why is John McCain opposed to my godchildren?

Via BarbinMD:

I'm running for president of the United States, because I want to help with family values. And I think that family values are important, when we have two parent -- families that are of parents that are the traditional family.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But there are several hundred thousand children in the country who don't have a home. And if a gay couple wants to adopt them, what's wrong with that?

MCCAIN: I am for the values that two parent families, the traditional family represents.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So, you're against gay adoption.

MCCAIN: I am for the values and principles that two parent families represent.

It certainly sounds like John McCain is not only opposed to gay couples adopting, but also single adults adopting.

My ex-wife and I remained very good friends after we divorced. After she inherited money from an aunt, she asked me for advice on how to invest it. At the time I told her there was a lot of interesting work going on with genetic research and she should invest it in a biotech company leading that research. At the time, if I recall correctly, the stock was trading for about $7 a share.

Instead, she used the money to cover the legal costs to adopt two children, a brother and sister, both with different, special needs, through an international adoption agency. Like McCain, her state was opposed to single people adopting.

She later adopted a third child.

She and the three children as well as her mother live together in a pretty unorthodox life. Her two sons play soccer, she worries about their grades. They have two dogs, a garden and a nice house with a front porch that is always filled with children from the neighborhood unless they're on the neighbor's porch across the street.

Considering the number of households with one-parent in this country, I was surprised by McCain's statement.

To maintain his "traditional" two-parent families, is he going to advocate against divorce? Will divorce be illegal from the divorced John McCain?

Or will single-parents not be allowed to adopt children? Perhaps if one parent dies, the children should have to live with another family so that they have two parents under  a McCain administration.

Of course, he doesn't believe any of those things. He's just pandering to a shrinking segment of the religious right, a desperate ploy by a desperate candidate to appease religious radicals.

What other kind of appeasement of religious radicals could we expect under a President McCain?

There are many families in America that do not fall under a "traditional family" definition. That doesn't mean those are not good families as the rightwingers would love to pass judgment.

People form all sorts of variations of families. Many of us have formed family here on this board.

But don't tell John McCain. It might blow his mind.

•  Tip

  When the stock hit $210, I remember calling her and saying how much her investment would have been worth. She said, "That's ok, I invested in Russian futures."

  by Carnacki on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:35:33 AM PDT

  •  She sounds like an amazing woman, Carnaki

    how did you let her get away?

    On a serious note, McCain's statement is nothing but a pander to the religious right as you said.  This places McCain in a no-win situation:  "do I shore up the base or alienate independents"?

    P.S. McCain doesn't know what he believes on a myriad of issues, or at least Senator "I love to write about courage" has none.

    by pamelabrown on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:45:55 AM PDT

    •  pamelabrown

      I decline to answer on the grounds she frequently lurks. ;^)

      by Carnacki on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:54:03 AM PDT

•  The same reason he's for or against anything

  Because the people he was speaking to at the time expected him to be.

  Don't worry. I'm sure he'll be speaking before an audience of moderates somewhere and will be in favor of civil unions and adoption for GLBTs.

  John McCain's positions are like water. They take the shape of their container.

  by droogie6655321 on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:40:43 AM PDT

•  John McCain is a flip flopping fool

  The problem with John McCain isn't that he's old.  The problem with John McCain is that he is stuck in the politics of the past, a past from which America has moved on.

  by deaniac83 on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:40:49 AM PDT

•  Carnacki

  Ordinarily I'd agree to would be appropriate to be surprised by McCain's statements, but he's in full pander mode now.

  by Lahdee on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:43:10 AM PDT

•  Because...

  ...they aren't all of the following: white, wealthy, male, Christian-of-a-certain-variety, heterosexual, born in the USA to parents who were born in the USA to grandparents who were born in the USA, Republican, and frothing at the mouth for more war?

  by wiscmass on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:43:52 AM PDT

•  The McCain plan...(extrapolated):

  Abortion is made illegal.

  All women who have children out of wedlock will be forced to give their babies over to a national orphanage to eventually be adopted by "good" Republican families.

  by David Kroning on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:44:11 AM PDT

  •  McCain/Dickens '08

    Building smokestacks out of children... for the future!

    by droogie6655321 on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:45:34 AM PDT

    •  Now that's a diary droogie

      by David Kroning on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:46:18 AM PDT

      •  Already burned mine

        You're welcome to it.

        by droogie6655321 on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:47:29 AM PDT

        •  I'm too lazy to diary...

          by David Kroning on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:48:14 AM PDT

          •  Hmm

            I woke up this morning with writing ants in my proverbial pants.

            by droogie6655321 on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:48:46 AM PDT

            •  Ok...you can have my diary...

              I'll give you full credit.

              That is just too funny a concept to waste on my dark sensibilities.

              by David Kroning on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:50:56 AM PDT

              •  I agree

                To arms, my comrade. Write, damn you!

                by droogie6655321 on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:51:43 AM PDT

    •  Fagan = McCain?

      by pamelabrown on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:58:37 AM PDT

  •  Didn't Newt Gingrich propose

    something similar back in '94? The Republicans have a fetish for the Victorian era, complete with work houses, grim and deadly orphanages, and working class women reduced to prostitution out of economic necessity.

    by beltane on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:47:18 AM PDT

    •  Yup

      If it were up to them, we'd all be lining up for porridge asking politely for some more.

      by droogie6655321 on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:48:06 AM PDT

  •  Or to be indoctrinated by Blackwater

    into good little soldiers for the 'Homeland'

    by trinityfly on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:51:38 AM PDT

    •  They already do that....

      by David Kroning on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:52:05 AM PDT

      •  Trying to think of the movie

        where the children were raised to be agents of the State...

        Then of course there was the reality of the children who were born and raised like in puppy mills for the Nazi's...

        It is so difficult to wrap a mind around the reality that the right wing sees in their strange little heads.

        by trinityfly on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:57:48 AM PDT

•  It's such a crazy argument.

  In many cultures, a family isn't complete without the inclusion of multiple more distant relatives. It's not as if two parents and only two parents is the universal standard.

  Now, I do think it's great to have a two-parent household. My kids would definitely be extraordinarily hurt by the absence of my husband or myself in their lives. But, as you say, what if just one of us died? Should my kids go live with their appointed guardians or something?

  It's not as if "traditional" two-parent families don't face their own set of challenges. I imagine they are much more similar to those faced by gay couples than are those of single parent families.  

  by Magenta on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:46:13 AM PDT

  •  Magenta

    It's like Republican politicians - and Bush would do this too, remember his bringing up Dred Scott at a debate - never think their words matter to anyone else because in their minds they're speaking in code to a specific, religious right audience, but they think the rest of us are tuning it out.

    by Carnacki on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:57:48 AM PDT

•  Murphy Brown

  I remember Dan Quayle criticizing Murphy Brown, as played by Candace Bergen, as setting a bad example of parenting by not being a traditional family.  The writers of the show did a two=part episode called "You Say Potatoe, I Say Potato" in which in the 2nd part, they brought onto stage all kinds of untraditional families, and then ended with a seen of a dump truck unloading potatoes outside the White House if memory serves.  Of course, the title refers to Quayle's famous misspelling incident

  The episodes aired in September of 1992, and given how popular the show was, I wonder what if any impact it may have had on the election.   You can read about the episodes here

  by teacherken on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:49:40 AM PDT

•  When it Gets Right Down to it

  John McCain is an evil old man, who wants to continue the policies of an evil middle aged man.

  by Greg in TN on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:50:21 AM PDT

•  Because he's...

  InSane?

  

  by Timroff on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:51:46 AM PDT

•  Your ex sounds like

  someone I'd like to talk with, Carnacki, and for as quiet as I am that should speak volumes.

  McShame seems to exhibit what I, regretfully yet truthfully, refer to as the "standard republican mindset" . . . which pretty much boils down to "we don't have enough truthful and fact-based information to form a complete thought on this issue, yet we're compelled to voice our uneducated opinions anyway."

  There's a lot to be said for standing silent, especially when one has little to no idea wtf one is talking about.

  by Dreaming of Better Days on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:57:19 AM PDT

  •  Dreaming of Better Days

    Hey, I can't have all my women ;^) getting together and talking...

    It's bad enough when she and my wife spend more time talking and send me off to play with the kids.

    by Carnacki on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:59:19 AM PDT

    •  Your fine,

      Carnacki.  And, I suspect when the ladies in your life gather and your name comes up, trust me, only good things can be said.  You're lovely and your amazing heart shines.  That's something you just can't hide or muzzle, even if you wanted to.  ;0)

      by Dreaming of Better Days on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 11:02:10 AM PDT

•  And last I checked,

  a gay couple is a two-parent family, too.

  He's an idiot.  He doesn't know what he believes and doesn't have time to check before he answers a question.  Look for the box on his back during the debates.  He can't survive without Lieberman whispering answers through an earpiece.

  by fezzik on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 11:23:02 AM PDT

  •  Yes. I also thought Stephanopolous was pretty

    stupid on this one too.  McCain made this "two parent" nonsense to argue against gay marriage, but never made the distinction of one of each gender - a week or so ago.  It made no sense then, and makes no sense now.  Disapointed that George didn't ask the follow up.

    by leawood on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 11:44:11 AM PDT

•  Maybe he shouldn't have gotten divorced

  I hate moralizing a-holes like McDole that are such huge hypocrites. It's not like he committed adultery or anything.

  by Dirk McQuigley on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 11:32:40 AM PDT

•  OMG YES!

  I wonder this all the time!  When someone begins foaming at the mouth about single mothers being TEH DEVIL I want to ask, "So, if a woman is widowed, or a man's wife dies, should their children be taken away by the state and placed with a married couple of alcoholic chainsmokers?"

  I know two raving christian loonies who are single adoptive moms and I want to ask them, "Don't you know that your party's leadership thinks you should not exist and that you should not have been allowed to adopt?"

  I wish more people would focus on just what you are saying.

  by fotyc on Tue Jul 29, 2008 at 06:32:10 AM PDT