John Nichols: John McCain's Reprehensible Campaign Swing

[marmar]

from The Nation:



John McCain's Reprehensible Campaign Swing
posted by John Nichols on 11/13/2008 @ 2:03pm


In case anyone was wondering whether John McCain has found that lost claim check for the conscience he put on hold when he started getting serious about making a 2008 presidential run, the answer from Georgia Thursday was a resounding "no."

Six years ago, McCain bluntly decried the manner in which Saxby Chambliss got himself elected to the Senate. Despite the fact that Chambliss was a fellow Republican, McCain objected to the tenor of the 2002 campaign that the Georgian had run against Democratic Senator Max Cleland.

Like McCain, Cleland was a Vietnam War veteran who had suffered as a result of his willingness to serve his country in a time of conflict. Where McCain spent five years in as a prisoner of war, Cleland lost three limbs in Vietnam.

Yet, Chambliss mounted a campaign in 2002 that questioned Cleland's patriotism and willingness to defend the United States.

Remarkably, even though Cleland had voted to authorize President George Bush to attack Iraq – an initiative Republicans were falsely linking with the "war on terrorism" – the Georgia challenger ran television advertisements that juxtaposed the incumbent's image with those of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

McCain cried foul. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/state_of_change/383461/john_mccain_s_reprehensible_campaign_swing?rel=hpbox