by Kenneth J. Theisen, February 6, 2008
In the most recent Republican debate Mitt Romney and John McCain argued over who would be most like Ronald Reagan if they were elected president. There is a very scary thought. In order to get elected and please those who rule this country, two of the leading candidates aspire to be like one of the most reactionary presidents of the last century. John McCain describes himself as a “foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution.”
A great sense of “humor”
In many ways McCain and Reagan are alike. They both have the same
sense of humor. Once with a live microphone before him, Reagan “joked”
about bombing the Soviet Union. I know I got a great chuckle out of
the thought of a nuclear holocaust. McCain also joked about bombing
Iran when he changed the words of the Beach Boy’s song, to “bomb, bomb
Iran,” also in front of an open microphone.
(http://youtube.com/watch?v=o-zoPgv_nYg) I have always found starting a
war with the potential to kill millions exceedingly humorous.
Fantasy worlds
Both Reagan and McCain often seem to have lived in fantasy worlds.
Reagan dreamed of “Star Wars” weapons and started the waste of billions
of dollars on producing them. The waste continues today. Reagan also
believed that trees were a major source of pollution. Last year McCain
on a trip to Baghdad showed that he was also prone to belief in
fantasy. He tried to convince us that the escalation of the war was
making the Iraqi people safer by visiting a Baghdad market. The only
problem was that he had to visit the market in the company of armored
vehicles and attack helicopters overhead.
A thousand year occupation?
McCain is often described as a straight shooter who will tell the
public the truth. We need to take him at his word on some things. One
of the reasons for his strength on the right is his support for the
Iraq war. He has called for the escalation of the war for quite
sometime and he is a major backer of the so-called surge. He has once
again “joked” that he would keep troops in Iraq for 100 or maybe 1000
years. If he is elected we can be sure that the war there will
expand. With that expansion and the “bomb, bomb Iran” outlook we can
look forward to millions of more deaths.
War hero or war criminal?
McCain also gets a lot of points with the right-wing because he is an
alleged “war hero.” The son and grandson of prominent admirals, McCain
was shot down over Vietnam in 1967. According to Newsweek he was
engaged in bombing women making light bulbs in a factory at the time.
He was held as a POW until his release in 1973. During that war,
three million tons of explosives were dropped on the Vietnamese
people. Eighteen million gallons of poisonous chemicals were dumped as
well. To this day the Vietnamese people are paying the price with
their health. Were the men like McCain heroes because of their
“bravery” or war criminals because of the devastation the U.S. rained
on that country for decades?
Straight talking racist?
And what have we learned about McCain from his so-called straight
talk? For one thing we know he is a racist. In his 2000 campaign,
aboard his bus, “The Straight Talk Express” he stated to reporters, “I
hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live.” McCain claimed to
be only referring to his prison guards, but the use of the racial
epithet was not a mere slip of the tongue.
Keating Five Scandal or how to loot the public treasury and get McCain’s assistance
McCain also received kudos from some because he has worked for
“campaign reform.” But more than two decades ago he was at the center
of a Senate scandal. In 1987, McCain attended meetings to put pressure
on federal banking regulators who were involved in an investigation
into the Lincoln Savings and Loan owned by Arizona developer Charles
Keating. Federal auditors were investigating Keating’s shady banking
practices. Keating successfully sought assistance from a number of
U.S. senators, including McCain. Intimidated federal regulators did
not seize Lincoln Savings and Loan until two years later. The Lincoln
fiasco cost taxpayers $2.6 billion and 17,000 Lincoln investors lost
nearly $200 million.
McCain claimed his involvement in this affair was merely a Senator
helping a constituent with federal authorities. But Keating had raised
money for McCain’s congressional campaigns in 1982 and 1984, and for
McCain’s 1986 Senate election. By the time of the 1987 intervention,
McCain had received $112,000 from Keating, his relatives, and his
employees. McCain also took trips on Keating’s dime. He and his family
made at least 9 trips at Keating’s expense. Three of these were to
Keating’s Bahamas retreat. McCain, in violation of House rules, did not
disclose the trips until 1989 after the scandal broke. McCain’s wife
and his father-in-law had also invested $359,000 in a Keating-owned
strip shopping mall.
Perhaps I am a bit cynical, but McCain’s later involvement in campaign
reform appears to be an attempt to “clean up his act” for running for
president in order to make people forget the earlier problems. But if
you believe that McCain was just helping out a constituent and you have
any problems with the federal government, just call John and see how
much help he will be to you.
In McCain’s present bid for the top office, he has also engaged in some
interesting fundraising. In November 2007 he secured a $3 million line
of credit from Fidelity Bank and Trust at an 8.5% interest rate. The
debt was secured by McCain’s ability to raise campaign money. If he
should lose the nomination, the bank loan is still safe. McCain is
allowed to transfer the debt to his Senate campaign committee. McCain
sits on two Senate committees which are considered cash cows to
committee members. They are the Armed Services Committee and the
Commerce Committee. There are plenty of well-heeled lobbyists that
have business before those committees who will be eager top help the
Senator retire his debt. Such are the ways of Washington and the
reasons why only those well-connected really ever have a chance at
getting elected to the higher offices in the Capitol.
More of Bush agenda
These are just a few of the things people should know about straight
shooter McCain. It is hard to imagine any presidency worse that that of
the Bush regime. But if McCain is elected we will certainly see a
continuation of many of the policies of the current regime and maybe
with some additional atrocities thrown in. This may include war with
Iran, if the Bush regime does not have the opportunity to start it
during its reign.