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Managing Editor Scott Wright has been with The Post
since 1998. He is John McCain the wrong man for the job, but don't take my word for it By Scott Wright It is 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. I've been sitting at my desk all day trying to figure out how to follow up on last week's promise to convince the Fox News-watching lemmings among you that Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) is not fit to be president of the United States. I've been searching the Internet all afternoon for news stories, facts and figures, and relevant histories that I could compile to try and show naďve conservatives that McCain is a hot-headed flip-flopper who's more concerned with becoming president than being honest with the American people. I dug and dug for hard evidence to show, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Republican party's nominee for president has transformed from someone who once despised George W. Bush and his minions into his mirror image on the 2008 campaign trail.The first indicator that McCain has become what he once detested was his hiring of the same Karl Rove-trained smear patrol that dragged his family name through the mud in 2000. McCain, who promised earlier this year to “raise the level of political dialogue in America” has since resorted to misleading TV and radio ads attacking Sen. Barack Obama, ads that even Rove recently admitted went “too far” and failed the “truth test.” (Note to self: When the devil himself is sickened at your behavior, you have officially gone too far.) I could think of plenty of lousy things to say about McCain because of his decision to resort to mud-slinging, but instead I'll tell you what a former member of President Bush's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board said about it: “John McCain's ambition overrode his basic character,” said Rita Houser in a recent article in “Rolling Stone” titled “Make-Believe Maverick.” I could tell you that when it comes to foreign policy, John McCain will be “Bush on steroids” because he has “hawkish views” that are “very dangerous.” But why would anyone believe a dope like me? I didn't say those things about him, anyway. An old National War College buddy of his, John H. Johns, did. Former Republican senator Lincoln Chafee, who once stood alongside McCain to oppose drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, went much, much further, accusing McCain of making “a pact with the devil” in his quest to become president. Ross Perot once called John McCain “the classic opportunist,” and if you require examples of what the little fellow with the big ears was talking about, here are a few of the more recent ones: At various times over the past few years, the senator from Arizona has been on both sides a wide variety of issues, including waterboarding, the Bush tax cuts, the estate tax, kicking Russia out of the G-8, more troops for Afghanistan, the GI Bill, funding for No Child Left Behind, offshore drilling and even his own immigration policy. In fact, when McCain switched sides on Bush's tax plan, even conservative Grover Norquist admitted it: “It's a big flip-flop,” he said. “But I'm happy he's flopped.” That's not a flip-flop, folks. That's an out-of-control county fair Tilt-A-Whirl. Somebody hit the breaker before McCain pokes himself in the eye. Again. Earlier this year, McCain told the Wall Street Journal he is “always for less regulation” of the markets. (Check your 401-K to see how that's working). Of course, late last month, in response to the ongoing financial meltdown, McCain – surprise! – changed his tune. Now he's ready to regulate “the casino culture on Wall Street.” If you want to know how sincere he is about that particular promise, fire up your laptop, go to the Google website and type “Keating Five scandal” in the search line. What about terrorism and the Iraq war? McCain spouted the same lies Bush and Dick Cheney vomited into the ears of the American people in the wake of September 11, namely that Iraq was involved in the attack and was dangerously close to acquiring an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. (Wrong and wrong, we all know now.) In September 2002, McCain assured Americans that the war would be “fairly easy” with an “overwhelming victory in a very short period of time.” Four years later, however, McCain was inexplicably – yet somehow predictably – talking out the other side of his mouth: “The American people were led to believe this could be some kind of day at the beach,” he said in August 2006. (Yes sir, by you.) The article in “Rolling Stone” is enlightening and, in some cases, quite disturbing. If you think you know the real John McCain, trust me you do not. The article also brings up some questions about McCain's naval career, but as far as I am concerned his service to his country is off limits – just as Democratic Sen. John Kerry's should have been in 2004. I am not alone in my concern about McCain's newfound political philosophy, which is apparently to waive all principles and beliefs in order to try and win the election, the truth (and his own conscience) be damned. "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is a hothead," said Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, a fellow Republican. Former New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith, another Republican, said McCain's "temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger." Now that you know what some of the people who know him have to say about him, can you still in good conscience cast your vote for John McCain for president of the United States? I can't. |