Art Machine
Just another former infatuation junkie

I like John McCain as a politician. Which is not to say that I agree with his politics or think that he knows what’s right for the country. But while I disagree with a lot of what he has to say, I have a tremendous amount of respect for him – he’s one of the few Republicans left in office who actually seems to be following his heart when it comes down to making decisions. Other Republicans in elected office might feel that impulse from time to time, but the fact that they long ago scooped out their own hearts to make room for the vile green ichor fermented from pulped campaign donations has made it hard for them to have a conscience.

If McCain had gotten the nomination for President (and won the election) instead of Bush, I honestly feel that things would be different, now. I’d still be ranting and raving about the President, but I would at least feel that it was part of a discussion on the issues.

That said, the Republicans have turned their attack dogs on… John McCain?

Have they completely lost their minds?

McCain, who spent five years in a North Vietnamese prison, excoriated fellow Republicans on Tuesday for pushing more tax cuts while U.S. troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan (news – web sites).

“Throughout our history, wartime has been a time of sacrifice. ... What have we sacrificed?” McCain said. “As mind-boggling as expanding Medicare has been, nothing tops my confusion for cutting taxes during wartime. I don’t remember ever in the history of warfare when we cut taxes.”

Asked Wednesday about McCain’s remarks, Hastert, who was rejected for military service because of a bad shoulder, first joked: “Who? Where’s he from? A Republican?”

Then, more seriously, he said: “If you want to see sacrifice, John McCain ought to visit our young men and women at Walter Reed and Bethesda (two Washington area military hospitals). There’s the sacrifice in this country. We’re trying to make sure that they have the ability to fight this war, that they have the wherewithal to be able to do it. And at the same time, we have to react to keep this country strong not only militarily but economically. We want to be able to have the flexibility to do it. That’s my reply to John McCain.”

If you’re of a sensitive nature, you might just want to skip the screaming italics to come and get on to the more sensible part of this post.

You blithering numbskulls! Your President can’t even prove that he was willing to show up for duty in The National Guard when draftees were fighting and dying by the handful! You can’t find the weapons of mass destruction and you haven’t been able to come up with a justification for the war that doesn’t wind up biting you on the ass and now you want to go after the guy who’s on your side who just happens to be not only a Vietnam veteran – but a guy who spent five years in a North Vietnamese prison? What are they putting into your Kool-Aid?

ahem

That feels better.

Look. Maybe you can pull the “Your military is fighting and dying for you” card on me – I’m young and have never served in the military. But McCain was in the military. Not only that, but he was a prisoner of war during Vietnam. He spent five years in prison.

Not only that, but the attack doesn’t make any sense, fercryin’outloudindemud. Here. Let’s take a look at these in reverse order, shall we? First, here’s Hastert’s snide comment on McCain’s original statement?

“If you want to see sacrifice, John McCain ought to visit our young men and women at Walter Reed and Bethesda (two Washington area military hospitals). There’s the sacrifice in this country.”

Got that in your head? Good. Now, let’s take a look at the comment McCain made to set this off.

“Throughout our history, wartime has been a time of sacrifice. ... What have we sacrificed? As mind-boggling as expanding Medicare has been, nothing tops my confusion for cutting taxes during wartime. I don’t remember ever in the history of warfare when we cut taxes.”

[side note – Al Franken has been pointing out that not only has America never cut taxes in a time of war before, but we can’t find an instance of any country at any time in history cutting taxes while they were fighting a war.]

All right. Do you see the brain-exploding flub in Hastert’s response here? Hastert’s acting like McCain is whining about having to sacrifice.

McCain is pointing out that we haven’t sacrificed.

“If you want to see sacrifice … visit our young men and women at Walter Reed and Bethesda,” is the kind of thing you would say to the person at the gas pump loudly complaining about how much money they have to pay to fill up their tank because of the war.

It’s precisely the kind of thing that people who wanted to raise taxes to support the troops would be totally justified in saying.

But Hastert blithely tosses out Standard Pro-Military Industrial Complex Line #14/9-B in a situation where it makes absolutely no sense. You’re telling McCain that he needs to stop complaining and learn what real sacrifice is?

First of all, the man knows what sacrifice is. And, second, he’s calling on all of us to sacrifice more for the benefit of those making that sacrifice you so casually call on to win your arguments, Mr. Hastert.

Perhaps you’re the one who needs to take a trip out to Walter Reed and look around. Perhaps you’re the one who needs to see those pictures of flag-draped coffins being brought back to the United States. Perhaps you’re the one who should attend a few funerals and meet a few grieving families. Perhaps you’re the one who should actually take a plane to Iraq and see first-hand the situation that the fighters in Iraq are in – not the dining halls filled with carefully-selected, freshly-showered and shaven military personnel, but the actual areas of conflict.

And perhaps you should bring the President along for the trip. Just perhaps.

Or you could just sit back, enjoy your nice, fat tax cut and tell the rest of us that we just need to learn to sacrifice a little bit for your benefit.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2004 at 4:39 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.