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Hello. Come on in. The daddy writes about current events, literature, music and, once in a while, drops something on you from back in the day to make you pause and ponder, stop and stare, and begin to wonder. Who knows? You may start to pace the floor, shake your head from side to side, then fall down on bended knees in a praying position and cry, "Lawd, have mercy! What is this world coming to?" Check yourself! But this blog is NOT about the daddy. It's about you: your boos, your fam, your hood, your country...our hopes and dreams of a better tomorrow. So let's make a pact: the daddy will put it on the track if you'll chase it down and hit him back. Together, we can definitely take it to another level. Shall we?"

Sunday, September 14, 2008

McCain's Integrity and Andrew Sullivan

"If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem."
--Abraham Lincoln
"To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
--William Shakespeare

Today, the daddy is feeling a recent post (September 10, 2008) by Andrew Sullivan. As many of you know, Sullivan writes on a blog called "The Daily Dish." Now, Sullivan says on his blog that he belongs to no party or clique, but it's clear that he was a supporter of Sen. John McCain and, like Arianna over at the Huffington Post, has been very disappointed by McCain's below-the-belt 2008 campaign.

This brings the daddy to Sullivan's post where he talks about the guy he admired for his willingness to go against his party, walk across the isle and get some much-needed senate bill passed for the country. He talked about a guy who would not only provide engaging conversation but discuss policy that could move the country forward. Sullivan let us know that this was the McCain on "The Straight Talk Express" of long ago and that the candidate McCain of 2008 has sold his soul to a devil named Karl Rove, a homophobic, anti-Catholic and rapture-loving minister named Hagee and and the right wing of a party that has nothing left to offer the country but fear mongering and smear tactics. Sullivan states:

"For me, this surreal moment - like the entire surrealism of the past ten days - is not really about Sarah Palin or Barack Obama or pigs or fish or lipstick. It's about John McCain. The one thing I always thought I knew about him is that he is a decent and honest person. When he knows, as every sane person must, that Obama did not in any conceivable sense mean that Sarah Palin is a pig, what did he do? Did he come out and say so and end this charade? Or did he acquiesce in and thereby enable the mindless Rovianism that is now the core feature of his campaign?

So far, he has let us all down. My guess is he will continue to do so. And that decision, for my part, ends whatever respect I once had for him. On core moral issues, where this man knew what the right thing was, and had to pick between good and evil, he chose evil. When he knew that George W. Bush's war in Iraq was a fiasco and catastrophe, and before Donald Rumsfeld quit, McCain endorsed George W. Bush against his fellow Vietnam vet, John Kerry in 2004. By that decision, McCain lost any credibility that he can ever put country first. He put party first and his own career first ahead of what he knew was best for the country.

And when the Senate and House voted overwhelmingly to condemn and end the torture regime of Bush and Cheney in 2006, McCain again had a clear choice between good and evil, and chose evil.

He capitulated and enshrined torture as the policy of the United States, by allowing the CIA to use techniques as bad as and worse than the torture inflicted on him in Vietnam. He gave the war criminals in the White House retroactive immunity against the prosecution they so richly deserve. The enormity of this moral betrayal, this betrayal of his country's honor, has yet to sink in. But for my part, it now makes much more sense. He is not the man I thought he was.

And when he had the chance to engage in a real and substantive debate against the most talented politician of the next generation in a fall campaign where vital issues are at stake, what did McCain do? He began his general campaign with a series of grotesque, trivial and absurd MTV-style attacks on Obama's virtues and implied disgusting things about his opponent's patriotism."

Later, Sullivan concludes:

"McCain has demonstrated in the last two months that he does not have the character to be president of the United States. And that is why it is more important than ever to ensure that Barack Obama is the next president. The alternative is now unthinkable."

This is pretty strong stuff from a conservative, but it shouldn't be surprising. Sen. McCain has already demonstrated that he has no integrity left. On the other hand, the Sullivan just demonstrated that he does.

He's not the only one.

-------------------------
Note: Thanks to Craig over at Fumbling Toward Divinity for
inspiring me to write this post.

12 comments:

Somebodies Friend said...

Great post as usual MacDaddy,

I really don't have much more to add...

I never thought that Sen. McCain had integrity, but it is obvious to everyone now that he has none left.

He is a disgrace to this Country!

Anonymous said...

well he's not exactly a disgrace to his country given he's shown such courage as a POW and we can never take it from him. however, clearly his courage is MIA in recent years as he puts McCain and dirty politics first --certainly not "country first" as advertised. Please fellow coutrymen and patriots if you ever needed to come to the aid of your country the time is now! Vote Obama.

Anonymous said...

Hi, MacDaddy....These next 50 days are going to be soooo important. The one thing that distresses me is that Senator Obama seems to have had the wind knocked out of him....I am praying that he gets that FIRE IN HIS BELLY that we all know is there....a fire with VISION for America.....Andrew Sullivan is right on about the loss of intregrity on McCain's part....the Lust for Power is so devisive....I just wonder how behind all of this is his wife Cindy...the ever present Cindy in her disigner clothes and shallow smile.....I hope that Barack has some time with HIS rock, Michelle...We all need to have the AUDACITY OF HOPE at this time....Hang in there....It's not over yet.....

Mac Daddy Tribute Blog said...

sombodiesfriend: You may be right. But I think that Sen. McCain the 2000 presidential candidate held some principle positions on immigration and taxes. But Sen. McCain the 2008 candidate has changed his position on those same issues.
anon: How long are we going to give McCain a pass because he was a bad pilot, was imprisoned and tortured? But think about it: His being tortured should make him even more principled in his position that our government should follow the rules about torture that's laid out in the Geneva convention. But Sen. McCain the 2008, in his attempt to pander to the fierce right-wing of his party, went against his own position and said he was okay with waterboarding and "enhanced interrogation." But this is only one of many flip flops by him. For example, he came on Jon Steward's show and said he was going to run a clean campaign based on the issues. But he hired some people that were part of Karl Rove's staff-- people who smeared him in 2000, saying he had a black baby-- to do nothing but smear Obama, including question his patriotism.

None of us-- especially the press-- should allow him to get away with that.
nuninthehood: Obama has been remarkably consistent, focusing on the issues. It's the press that has chosen to cater to one trivial episode after another, militating against any serious debate about the issues. They don't even cover any policy stuff about health care, the economy or the war. It's all about lipstick on a pig and Gov. Palin's daughter or husband. We, the voters, are the ones who will decide if we want a warmonger with no clue about what to do about our economy or a smart guy who favors diplomacy over war with some progressive ideas. Thank you, sister. I'll be in touch.

Anonymous said...

Macdaddy - no pass given. just an acknowledgment of that period of his life to say to somebodies friend that he is not entirely "a disgrace to his country"
agree with the rest of your analysis and sullivans view.

NUN I'm not wild about cindy either but let's not start putting folks down for their designer clothes

Mac Daddy Tribute Blog said...

anon: You are right to acknowledge his experience as a POW; and I certainly didn't mean to minimize that experience. Thanks for the clarification.

Anonymous said...

If Sullivan can change and vote for Obama, maybe other conservatives can too.

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

never trust or belive a blogger u cant just comment on - hes paid

SagaciousHillbilly said...

I wonder Mac, in these times, is a politician really sunk once he/she loses the public's confidence? We seem to live in a time where what happened three days ago might as well be a life time ago with the short attention spans of the citizens and the nonstop sound bite media actually being the message.
We could be anywhere three weeks from now.

rainywalker said...

Integrity is something that can't be taken from you, you must willingly give it away.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this, MacDaddy. I've been following Sully's blog for quite some time. He's a conservative, but not one of those NeoCons that we love to hate. He's been feeling this about McCain for quite some time, and it almost sounds as if someone just told him that Santa Claus isn't real.

Craig Hickman said...

thanks for the shoutout, macdaddy.