In March of 2001, We Wrote This Editorial Defending John McCain Against the Unconscionable Bush/Karl Rove Slander Machine. But, Now We Know, McCain is Just Another GOP Hypocrite, Embracing the Man Who Defamed Him, His Vietnam Record and His Family.
Bush Character Assassination Squad Has McCain in Its Crosshairs, Again
A
BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
From the BuzzFlash Editorial Archives:
Originally Posted in March of 2001
You don't have to be a John McCain fan to sympathize with the guy as he once again gets mugged by the Bush character assassination squad. Last year, they slandered his character in the South Carolina primary in order to put a stake in the heart of his surging bid for the GOP presidential nomination, and now they are using surrogates to malign him once again.
McCain isn't a progressive by any stretch of the imagination on most issues. His political positions generally range from right to hard right.
But on his trademark issue, that of campaign finance reform, it would be hard to find fault with him. Sure, Buzzflash will argue, his bill could be stronger. But no one else could have carried the concept this far along with such determination and pluck. And he's broken away from right wing Republican dogma on reforming managed care and on at least some modest gun control efforts.
Because McCain doesn't walk lockstep with Trent Lott and Bush (and because he poses a long-shot threat of challenging Bush in the 2004 primaries or running as an independent), the Karl "Darth Vader" Rove propaganda machine is trying to cut McCain off at the knees.
And how are they attacking McCain? Why by claiming that he wasn't really a war hero after all.
Just read this commentary from a Rove journalist mouthpiece:
"The word is that he (McCain) wouldn't have made the grade as a naval aviator had not his father and grandfather been flag officers, but that's beside the point.
McCain was awarded a Silver Star, a Legion of Merit for Valor, a Distinguished Flying Cross, three Bronze Stars, two Commendation medals, two Purple Hearts and a dozen service awards. Unfortunately the narratives for the awards only speak of his having undergone extreme mental and physical cruelties at the hands of his captors, and were described as "boilerplate" and "part of an SOP medal package given to repatriated (Vietnam-era) POWs" by Naval officers Hack interviewed. The medals were basically given out for being there, not for heroism.
The problem here is not that McCain didn't have terrible things done to him for a long time -- he did. The problem is that neither he -- nor anybody else who was in prison camp -- had a choice about whether they were endangered. But medals for heroism are supposed to be given out for actual heroic action, taken willfully and at great personal risk. They shouldn't be awarded simply because someone survived an involuntary ordeal. And didn't survive it as well as many others. McCain was quoted as saying "O.K, I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital" four days after his capture and later signed a confession declaring himself a war criminal. And although McCain refused an early release, the word is that he was ordered to do so by his U.S. POW commander.
It was unquestionably a long, painful nightmare for McCain to log all that time in a North Vietnamese prison and, for that, he deserves genuine sympathy -- the kind of sympathy you reserve for someone who survived a five year battle with cancer. And the experience may (or may not) have made him a better person. But based on the facts, he's not a war hero. And it speaks poorly of him to let his handlers promote him to the public in that way." [WorldNetDaily.com]
For the Bush court jesters to attack McCain's war record is akin to Rush Limbaugh calling Michael Jordan fat and clumsy. After all, Bush evaded service in Vietnam and was basically missing during his last year of National Guard Service.
Furthermore, awhile back we printed [furnished by http://www.rackjite.com/chawks.htm (now availalbe here)] the following list of GOP stalwarts who avoided service in Vietnam:
Richard Armey - Sought college deferment, too smart to die.
Bill Bennett - Sought graduate school deferment, too smart to die.
Pat Buchanan - Sought deferment for bad knee.
George W. Bush Daddy got him in the National Guard
Dick Cheney - Sought graduate school deferment, too smart to die.
Tom DeLay - - Sought college deferment, too smart to die.
Newt Gingrich - Sought graduate school deferment, too smart to die.
Phil Gramm - Sought marriage deferment, too loved to die.
Jack Kemp - Sought medical deferment while in the NFL.
Rush Limbaugh - Sought deferment for ingrown hair follicle on his ass.
Trent Lott - Sought deferment, didn't want to muss his hair.
P.J. O'Rourke - Sought deferment, too stoned.
Dan Quayle - Family got him into the Reserves.
Pat Robertson - Father pulled him out of Korea as soon as the shooting began.
Kenneth Starr Sought deferment for psoriasis.
John Wayne - Sought deferment to further acting career.
Vin Weber - Sought deferment for asthma.
George Will - Sought deferment, too much of a wussy.
Add to this list Attorney General Ashcroft, who got out of Vietnam by claiming that he was vitally needed to teach law. Then there's Michigan GOP Governor John Engler, who was too fat for service in Vietnam, according to a BuzzFlash reader. Actually, the list is too long to print without distracting from today's commentary.
The hypocrisy of maligning McCain's indisputable war record isn't new for the Busheviks. Karl Rove, with Dubya's blessing, has been attacking McCain's character for a long time. It may seem brazenly hypocritical, but that is the defining trademark of the Bush administration.
Read this excerpt from an article in the Dallas Morning News (December 2, 1999), entitled "Rivals again fault Bush over rumors":
"In recent weeks, the Bush campaign has been accused of - and has denied - spreading rumors that Mr. McCain may be unstable as a result of being tortured while a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. Several Senate Republicans, among them party leaders who favor Mr. Bush for president, have been identified in published reports as being responsible for privately pushing the allegations. Also, James B. Stockdale, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam who ran as Ross Perot's running mate in 1992, said he got a call from a friend close to the Bush campaign soliciting comments on Mr. McCain's 'weakness.'"
This dusted-off article evidences the same deplorable pattern we've seen over and over again. Apparently, with the full knowledge of Bush, Karl Rove plays gutter politics to the extreme. Meanwhile, Rove has Karen Hughes and Ari Fleischer position Bush as running a positive campaign and presidency.
When will the press and the Democrats say what needs to be said? Bush was a Vietnam evader who was basically missing in non-action for his last year of National Guard service: McCain is a war hero who is being slandered by the low life-likes of Karl Rove.
And where are the right wing hordes who fulminated at the mouth in a psychotic frenzy over Clinton's decision not to serve in Vietnam? Why aren't they standing up to defend McCain's honor?
Who will stand up -- in the world of journalism or politics -- to denounce the Bush sleazebag propaganda machine?
Who will say what needs to be said: "Have you no mercy, have you no shame?"
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL