John McCain: Political Chameleon

[The Donkey]

We all know John McCain as the straight-talkin’ “Maverick” senator from the State of Arizona. We all love him because he cuts through the partisan spin and tells it like it is, regardless of the consequences. We all watched with delight (and a bit of admiration) as he campaigned for the presidency in 2000, riding a bus known as the Straight Talk Express. He was even on his way to circumventing the George W. Bush juggernaut, winning primary contests in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Michigan, Arizona Vermont, and Massachusetts.


Grrrrr! McCain Angry!!! McCain Smash!!!!


He made his final stand in South Carolina that year, but was defeated by dirty Bush campaign tactics, driven largely by Karl Rove. Prior to running for president, John and his wife had adopted a young daughter who happened to be from Bangladesh. Rove and his boys sent automatic calls to many South Carolinians (who are famously tolerant of racial issues) asking if they knew that McCain had an illegitimate black baby. Needless to say, South Carolina went to Bush, who then went on to win a hotly disputed general election.

One of the criticisms that McCain opponents put out about him during that campaign was that he had anger control issues. Who could trust a man in the most powerful position in the world if he was prone to fits of uncontrollable rage? Never mind that there really wasn’t any proof to the allegation. However, after South Carolina, McCain refused to cave in to the stereotype, and withdrew from the race with dignity.

If there ever was a reason to justify an episode of anger, I would think that your opponents implying you sired an illegitimate black baby would do the trick. McCain’s lack of response is a very compelling signal into the mindset of the man.

Sure, he gets angry, but he is a complete political opportunist to the core of his being. To engage in a public tirade would mean that he could never successfully mount another presidential campaign. Since the day he withdrew, his entire life has been focused upon positioning himself for another run.

As such, he’s done a masterful job of continuing to market himself as a principled moderate, while simultaneously courting the very forces that unceremoniously sent him packing in 2000.

Senator McCain makes a point of going on as many of the “talking head” shows that he can, saying things about how we need to protect the environment, or that there were miscalculations in the buildup, execution, and occupation of the Iraq War. Moderates and liberals eat up his prose faster than that Japanese guy at the hot dog eating contests. He also tempers his comments during each appearance by standing firmly behind the president and his policies.

Because he comes off as a generally likeable guy, people from all political stripes seem to cherry-pick the comments they agree with, while dismissing everything else as merely political posturing. Unfortunately, because everything he states is rooted with the deep motivation of making him more acceptable to everyone, it’s impossible to correctly separate the truth from the empty rhetoric.

For example, McCain went on a few talk shows in 2004 and denounced the slanderous “swift boat” commercials being aired against his friend and colleague John Kerry. But he really did nothing to stop them. When the general election entered its final month and the outcome was uncertain, he endeared himself to the right wing by tirelessly campaigning for George Bush, going so far as to openly hug him for photo-ops.

Consistently having to do something that belies your ideals is something that every politician has to endure with regularity. The fact that John McCain engages in this behavior does not (in and of itself) justify demonizing him. All politicians have to sell a portion of their souls in order to shore up and expand their potential voting base. Openly embracing people who attacked a child of yours might be too steep a price for most of us to pay, but McCain has decided to let it go in his effort to woo enough extreme right-wingers to support him in 2008 to capture his party's nomination.

Such behavior can be understood, even if one were to disagree with it. Pandering is all a matter of degree and circumstance. However, Senator McCain crossed the line this week when he publicly condoned the use of some forms of torture for prisoners with suspected terrorist ties.

In order to understand the depth of this hypocrisy, it should be noted that while serving in the Navy during the Vietnam War, McCain was held prisoner by the Vietcong in the famous “Hanoi Hilton” for over five years. During that time he was subjected to torture at the hands of his captors. To this day he still needs frequent treatments for melanoma that show up on his skin due to prolonged exposure to the sun while incarcerated. He also has limited use of one of his arms due to the conditions of his capture and detainment.

One would think that Senator McCain would be the most vocal critic of the Bush administration’s policy of torturing “enemy combatants”. Up until recently this would have been a correct assumption. He even sponsored a bill that passed the Senate 90-9 that strictly prohibited such a practice. He also made the rounds on talk shows stating that the use of torture does not result in the discovery of credible information, as the victim will usually say anything just to cease the cruelty.

However, a recent interview given by the senator illustrated somewhat of a flip-flop in his position. Apparently, he now believes that some torture works in certain situations, which (not surprisingly) echoes what the Bush administration has been saying all along. Interesting timing, to say the least.

The Senator now states that he would be supportive of any interrogation methods to prisoners that did not “shock the conscience”. He didn’t clarify whose conscience needed to be shocked in order to constitute torture – the victim, the interrogator or the public. Also, since “shock the conscience isn’t a legal descriptor, there’s no standard as to what constitutes torture.

Conveniently, the White House has jumped on this phrase to let the public think that they and McCain are in total agreement. In a recent interview for TV’s Nightline, Vice President Cheney wasted no time illustrating the arbitrary nature of McCain’s standard: "You can get into a debate about what shocks the conscience and what is cruel and inhuman, and to some extent, I suppose, that's in the eye of the beholder. . . But I believe, and we think it's important to remember, that we are in a war against a group of individuals and terrorist organizations that did, in fact, slaughter 3,000 innocent Americans on 9/11, that it's important for us to be able to have effective interrogation of these people when we capture them."

Using this soft definition, the administration can still arrest anyone, label them an “insurgent” or “terrorist suspect”, hold them without charge indefinitely, and torture them at will - so long as no one admits to having their conscience shocked. How very convenient!

So congratulations John McCain. Your actions over the past five years have certainly given you the inside track to the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2008. I just hope that all of this selling out doesn’t shock your conscience – because you’ve certainly shocked mine.

[roguevalley]

1. John McCain, conscienceless opportunistic cypher

[blm]

2. Excellent piece. KandR

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