A Two-fer

Elect me and I'll be the first rich old white guy to beat one of them dark-skinned people.

Don't elect me and I'll be the first rich old white guy to NOT beat one of them dark-skinned people.

And that, my friends, is the real Straight Talk.

Labels: bush lite, george w. mccain, john mc bush, john mccain, oval office, rich old white guy, straight talk

I can guarantee you that I won't get a &%$#Job from any White House intern... or from Larry Craig or Mark Foley or Ted Haggard or any army queers who did or didn't tell.

Let's face it: or anyone else....

That, my friends, is the real straight talk.

Labels: blow job, bush lite, don't tell, dont ask, george w. mccain, john mc bush, john mccain, larry craig, mark foley, oral, oval office, queer, straight talk, ted haggard, white house intern

If one reads a newspaper or news magazine, or if one pays attention to the broadcast media, or wastes time on the internet....

Everyone with an opinion [ and just as with certain body orifices - everyone seems to have one ] seems to think that John McBush - George W. McCain - is a maverick. In January and February of 2008 alone, McCain was called a "maverick" more than 1,300 times in newspapers and on television. [ Source: Free Ride, by David Brock http://www.amazon.com/Free-Ride-John-McCain-Media/dp/0307279405 ]

Maverick \Mav"er*ick\, n. In the southwestern part of the united States, a bullock or heifer that has not been branded, and is unclaimed or wild. In other words, he is not beholden to anyone but himself. He doesn't follow the party line, yada, yada, yada.

That's bullock puckey.. or heifer pies. You choose.

At this point I should mention that I have always admired the former John McCain - the one who still had a soul. In 2000 I voted for him in the primaries. I admire anyone who has honorably performed military service. In McCain's case, he was also a POW - one who was tortured because of his service to the USA. That makes him a big, big man. But along the way he kept his military/POW stature, but traded his soul for the votes of the least among us.

In his 20 years in the Senate, Bush Lite has voted with his party more than 80% of the time in 17 of 20 those years. Compared to most of the lockstep Republicans - who religiously follow orders 99.9999% of the time - G.W. McCain is somewhat out of the ordinary. But "branded, unclaimed, or wild"? Hardly. His brands and wild ways pale in comparison to the defiance of Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Lincoln Chaffee, Arlen Spector... If we were going to hand out awards for being political mavericks of the Republican persuation, those people (and others) would be in line way ahead of McBush.

He has taken some famously contrary stands:

• He opposed the use of torture - for any reason
• He railed against Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy - BECAUSE they favored the richest few
• He co-authored [ with 'liberal' Democrat Russ Feingold ] the law for campaign finance reform
• He was an advocate for Mother Earth and her global warming problem.
• He supported regulations on the marketing of tobacco.

What a risk! The public already overwhelmingly supported those. Before getting too excited about his untamed style, consider how many times he has changed his mind on issues after he decided to take another shot at being President:

• Torture? Now torture is OK.
  
  
• A statehouse displaying a Confederate flag? He used to call it a symbol of bigotry and repression. Now it represents a state's heritage. [ Um, John... that 'heritage' is one of bigotry and repression ]
  
  
• Religious hatred?According to McBush, back then Jerry Falwell was an "agent of intolerance." Jerry Falwell - and those religious wingnuts like him - became "inspirational." [ Yes, I know that Jerry Falwell is dead. Before he died, McCain publicly physically and orally embraced Falwell. ] Now he welcomes the endorsements of the most radical and intolerant "in the name of Christ" wackos. His 'spritual advisor' proclaims that the USA was founded, in part, to destroy Islam. [ Never mind that the Western world had ignored those backwards "moos-lums" since the end of the Crusades - May 18, 1291 ]
  
  
• Tax cuts for the wealthiest 5% of Americans? Then, bad. Now, why, those are good for the economy. He again struggles with history. ALL of our prosperous periods BEGAN with tax increases. I'm not saying that tax hikes are a good thing, but tax cuts for the wealthy have never improved the economy. Did I say NEVER!? Yes, NEVER!!
  
  
• Campaign reform? He favored it for several years. The law that manages our reformed campaign financing - there's a reason why it's called "McCain-Feingold". Guess what the reason is. Fast forward to now: when his 2007-2008 campaign was struggling to raise money, he favored public funding of campaigns. However, his fund-raising is no longer stuck in neutral, and he wants to weasel his way around the CONTRACT that he signed to use taxpayer money to run for office and to ignore HIS rules about how that system works. That's a triple-whammy: he turned his back on campaign reform, personal accountability, and respect for the laws of the land. Maybe Bush Redux thinks that's what mavericks do.
  
  
• Ethanol made from Iowa corn? "Ethanol does nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase our energy independence, nothing to improve our air quality." That was then. But, in time for the 2008 Iowa Caucuses, "I do not support subsidies, but I support ethanol and I think it is a vital alternative energy source, not only because of our dependence on foreign oil but because of its greenhouse reduction effects"
  
  
• Women's health: McCain once said, "In the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade." Now he says simply "I'm Pro-Life". He has therefore aligned himself with 'Pro-life', of course, is a code word for 'No abortion, no matter what the circumstances. No death with dignity (preventing the terminally ill from chosing when, where, and how to die). No pregnancy prevention such as sex education.' In many cases the 'pro-lifers' tack on 'No contraception.' and 'No to ANY expression of natural human sexuality except "man gets pleasure/woman gets pregnant"'.

Those qualify as pandering in my book. A real maverick stands on principle. A maverick's positions don't shift with political expediency. G.W. McCain's (in)famous "Straight Talk Express" isn't going so straight anymore.

Labels: bush lite, campaign finance reform, confederate flag, expediency, falwell, free ride, george w. mccain, heritage, maverick, mcbush, mccain-feingold, pandering, racism, torture, wingnut