John McCain has been yammering about troop increases for as long as I’ve had the displeasure of seeing him in front of t.v. cameras. While the vast majority of U.S.-born Americans are opposed to the escalation of violence being prepared for the Cradle of Humanity, St. McCain issues the following edict that seals the wax on the death sentences of who-knows-how-many human beings – edicts that will bear his signature alongside George Bush’s blood-soaked name.
McCain also took a shot at Democrats who say the United States must bring some troops home within four to six months.
“I believe these individuals … have a responsibility to tell us what they believe are the consequences of withdrawal in Iraq,” he said. “If we walk away from Iraq, we’ll be back, possibly in the context of a wider war in the world’s most volatile region.”
“The world’s most volatile region” – no word from the Senator if he has an iota of a clue that we are the biggest reason for the instability in the Middle East.
The United States’ insistence on Imperialism has directly lead to the hostility our country receives from human beings who only want to be left alone to their own accord.
The militarism that currently has a firm grasp on this country is so appalling to me that I can barely contain the anger that boils when I hear pandering lawmakers and their lobbyist enablers bitch and moan about minimum wage increases, or lower drug prices, or taking away bailouts from the obscenely rich oil companies, or the accountability of doing nothing as a U.S. city drowns.
Effed up priorities, if you ask me.
It is a problem that runs much deeper than whether or not a U.S. citizen is required to goose-step in support of our troops. The Military/Industrial Complex President Eisenhower warned against has indeed risen to power and most people either don’t realize it, or don’t care about the implications. If any modern lawmaker dare make comments like this, the propaganda organs in the media and the bully pulpit team in the Executive Branch would crush them without remorse.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Why? Because they are all on the payroll in some form or another. They may lose a few political battles here and there, but in the end, they will go home to millions upon millions of dollars drenched in the blood of human sacrifice.
That is where we have come.
That is why we must march and support those who continue to do so everyday.
Crossposted from my humble blog
Chris Bowers is organizing a John McCain googlebomb. Details here.
Testing bomb.
consider it stolen.
John McCain: The truth!
Feel free and hope Chris’ plan works.
these were the only types of bombs in the world… thx for joining the effort, ask, and MANY THANKS for being at the AmericaSaysNo protest yesterday. paz
Thanks Man,
Found out today that I have been violating my organization’s staff rules by doing such activities. Well, well.
I have a great deal of respect for your moral integrity Ask
He was for it….before he was against it…don’t ya know:
He thinks Keane (Ret) is a more reliable source and more expert than the guys in the field? Maybe the prospect of becoming president in 08 has impaired his faculties more seriously than I thought.
Google Bomb John McCain
is dangerous because he comes off as being credible. Only he’s not – he’s a pandering politician like the rest of them. Infatuated with the military machine, he is insistent upon using its power to destroy. You would think he would be reluctant to increase the number of cannon fodder in Iraq, considering his son Jimmy’s recent graduation, but no – he will push for the strongarmed policies of this government to continue until all of the middle east is remade in our imperialistic image.
Not to worry. In ’08, McCain will be tarred by this war – setting himself to take over from his lying buddy.
It’s a Set up for failure
Andrew Sullivan commenting on a buried ‘graph found in a John Burns’ article in NYT:
” If this is the case, this president is lying to us once again. It’s one lie too far. If all of this is a ruse to depose Maliki and attack Iran, the constitutional consequences of a runaway, duplicitous president are profound.
And the ‘graph that generated this comment:
hope you’re right, idredit. Unless there is a huge change in the way the media reports on McCain’s antics, I’m worried about the majority of folks who only get their news from the few soundbites each night after a long day of work. I know alot of family members and friends here in AZ that vote Democratic but already say they’ll vote for him if he runs. I’m doing my best to wake them up, but it’s difficult without any backup from the SCLM.
Totally agree ManEe.
Well, except I would have used a 4 letter word in the title where you used a 5 🙂
yeah, i certainly thought it, but have learned that the aggregators won’t pick up my posts if there is profanity in the title. Gotta luv the game-playing.
cloud the not particularly incisive mind of McCain. He just wants to fight it again anywhere he can to prove if enough troops and firepower and probably nukes were deployed we would have won. However, he is plain wrong, and this approach will do little to assuage whatever haunts him.
McCain would do better to drop all presidential ambitions and leave politics completely and take up meditation for the sake of his own bitter and twisted mind and stability.
He feels he deserved it in 2000 and will just do anything to get there.
You know… In a way, the right wingers are right. IF the United States had committed to becoming a murderous military state, a-la Sparta, it would have “won” Vietnam… at a price…
surprised he’s going to run in 2008, frankly. Although he hasn’t officially announced, all signs point to ‘yes’. I’m hoping the backlash is vicious from his pandering to the neocons on this, but it has been absent from the newscasts aside from the reliable Olbermann.
It may be controversial to mention here a statement from a Democrat who is being portrayed in some circles as a conservative militarist , but I’ll do so anyway. Sen. Webb (VA-D), took down McCain yesterday (along with Defense Secretary Gates) at the Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing on Iraq yesterday. This is a rough transcription from CSPAN, the italics are mine:
There’s more, but it was a long hearing. The entire session is in CSPAN’s video archives.
I’m not much on military experience as a qualification for political office – and certainly not for the Presidency. However, it was refreshing to hear someone with military cred to equal McCain’s call out the lies that the military is solidly behind Bush’s idiot policies and that this latest proposal, if not done, will bring about terrible failure. Furthermore, Webb’s sharp attack bears witness to McCain’s willingness to sell any failed bill of goods in his last bid for the “gold ring” of the Presidency that he has wanted so long.
I think the McCain doctrine is now to adopt whatever view he thinks will garner the greatest support in 2008. Of course, he is badly mis-reading the winds blowing in that direction, as well as those in Iran.
I have a problem with the center-stage that the military enjoys in the priority line-up of this country, I’m glad to see a more rounded debate among their ranks. I quoted General Eisenhower in the diary because his warning was an informed one as someone who knew the nature of the beast. Sen. Webb’s smackdown of McCain this week appears to be in the same vein.
While I’m a student of non-violence, I’ve said here many times that I can respect and understand why there is still a need for some type of military structure – it’s inevitable given the world’s tenuous balance of peaceful existence – but I’d rather see diplomatic efforts used as the first move instead of the current mess we find ourselves in (which I think we can all agree on).
Thanks for the comment, Kidspeak!