Subscribe to Breaking NewsVanasco: I like John McCain
I like John McCain.
That’s what I came away with after his speech last night.
I disagree with him about energy policy, taxes, the role of government and most strongly over social justice issues.
And I was angry that he took a swipe at gays and lesbians by saying that he would support judges “who dispense justice impartially and don’t legislate from the bench.” That was clearly a reference to “activist judges,” which is what social conservatives cry every time we win back our rights in court.
I’m not going to vote for him.
But he seems to have learned the right lessons from being a prisoner of war - that people need other people, that America is an idea that is worth fighting for; he seems to believe many things I do - that all people are created equal, that because we are so blessed to live in this country, it is our obligation to “fight for the rights of the oppressed,” that social justice is crucial to a free society.
Of course, with the choice of the very anti-gay Sarah Palin, he isn’t giving signals that he believes that those same rights, that same fight, applies to gays and lesbians. And Republican delegates are 93 percent white, so it’s not so clear other oppressed people are on board.
Even so. He gave a stem-winder of a speech. His honest exploration of his time as a prisoner, his humbleness and regret, was moving. His words about reaching out to all Americans, about committing to service, about the American ability to work hard and solve our nations challenges, about education being the “civil rights challenge of this century,” all these were good words.
That’s the America I believe in, too.
John McCain and I disagree on important issues. But he is a good candidate. He’s not my candidate, but a worthwhile challenger to Barack Obama.
I still respect John McCain for his service to his country, but I no longer have respect for him in other ways as he has sold out to get votes from the religious right, with the choice of the very anti-gay Sarah Palin.
John McCain has never supported civil rights legislation for the only legally disenfranchised members of American society — the GLBT community. I found his contrite, humble journey down memory lane, making the case for his presumptive “Presidential Qualifications”, in terms of imprisonment, very maudlin and manipulative.
The perception that he is the least dangerous of several other once potential Republican presidential nominees is marginally comforting. Still, the anti-human rights carnivores, with whom he has an uneasy alliance, will caution him not to stray too far from the Republican fascist ideological reservation; that is, if he has any remote notion of running for a second term. Hopefully, he will limited the extent of his unholy alliance with them to only lip-service from time to time.
Unfortunately, the same is true with Barrack Obama regarding his lack of principles in regards to the GLBT community. He will not waste any political capital advocating on our behalf. Regrettable, if Obama wins, we will be the ones who will be getting only lip-service — with no results. After all, what sort of former professor of constitutional law would advocate for “half-equal rights” by cynically suggesting that marriage should only be reserved for heterosexuals couples because “god” favors heterosexuals above all others? Now, if that doesn’t give the green light to everyone who would wishes to deny us in the GLBT community our unalienable constitutional protected birthright of equality, then what exactly does?
While no one is ready to call him the Ayatollah Obama, Barrack has a religious bigot’s notion that “god” favors him over us. He has elevated his sexual orientation in the same manner by which “moderate” White racists once claimed superiority over Blacks. In the post-Civil War South, they would tolerate Blacks — as long as they knew their place. After all, “god“ did not want the races to mix, or else he would have made them the same color. Sadly, this is Obama irrational way of thinking too, in regards to us.
Barrack claims that “god is in the mix” at “sacred” heterosexual marriages only. And yes, McCain is the same, but shouldn’t we have expected more from our “alleged” advocates. Obama doesn’t advocate for our full equality, he just contemptuously offers us a few crumbs instead. So, I ask you, why do we deserve to have any rights at all if our dignity is so cheaply purchased for so little? Are we the last 1950s Black people in America — metaphorically speaking.
SAMUEL ADAMS once wrote: “It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.”
What a disappointment to the founders of our country it would have been if they had to imagine any red-blooded American so eager and willing to accept anything less than what they deserve as free citizens of the United States. I grew up in the 1960’s; I did not see Black civil rights leaders protesting, and even dying, to advance their equal rights by accepting a compromise to move up only incrementally in privilege and then humbly accept sitting no further than the middle of the proverbial bus. Obama’s obnoxious apartheid-like plan for our limited inclusion into American society is an affront to our worth as human beings. He nonchalantly insulted tens of thousands of legally married same-sex couples in both Massachusetts and in California by suggesting that “god” does not approve of their marriages and that their marriages shouldn’t even exist.
As cowardly as Bill Clinton was when “push came to shove“, at least he promised an end to inequality in the US Military. He did not suggest a compromise involving segregated barracks — like Obama would no doubt have offered us at the time. Ending the ban on Gays in the military was not supported by the majority of Americans in the early 90s — as it is now. But Bill Clinton made that uncompromising and unpopular campaign promise when he was running for president. It was quite a political risk, considering that he was new on the national political scene and he came from a southern state. Obama has no courage as a national presidential candidate, and I expect far less enthusiasm in his concern for our civil rights if he ever gets elected President.
On the other hand, if McCain is elected, I expect a semi-moderate conservative presidency similar to Ronald Reagan who actually worked rather well with the typically weak-kneed Democratic controlled congress of the 1980s. McCain will work better with the Democrats than the current Village Idiot in Chief. Social conservative will have less say than they currently do under POTUS DUFUS. I expect more moderate federal judge nominations — regardless of McCain’s disingenuous patronizing endorsement of Anthony Scalia.
I don’t expect any progress on our rights on the congressional level with him or with Obama. After all, the congress starts running for office again as soon as they are elected and they don’t want controversial issues to interfere with that. If that were not the case, ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act) could have been easily passed when the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress during the first two years of Clinton’s presidency — instead we got Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and two years later we got DOMA after the Dems lost control of Congress.
If Barack Obama is elected, I predict a little improvement in getting some legislation passed — as long as it doesn’t upset the status quo too much, i.e. corporate influence in health care and in energy — but don‘t expect any radical changes. Of course, don’t expect anything at all for us in the first four years. As I mentioned earlier, he will not want a repeat of Bill Clinton‘s first two years in office when Clinton took on the Dixiecrats and the Republicans in Congress with his more courageous, at the time, pre-election promise of ending the ban on Gays and Lesbians in the military. Of course, Clinton chickened out when he could have vetoed DADT and DOMA on principle. Even if his vetoes were overridden, at least history would have noted that he remained true to his convictions.
No, regardless who is president, I suspect, through a series of court victories, we will win, inevitably, one state at a time, and then a federal court victory will strike down all remaining obstacles to our marriage equality. All of this with no support, moral or otherwise, from anyone of significance in elected office. It is truly a shame that we have no one the equivalent of an Abraham Lincoln advocating for us. A true believer, with the oratorical skills of a Barack Obama, could have changed hearts by changing minds with his ability to argue convincingly for social progress. Unfortunately, Obama’s ambiguous tableau of “Hope” and “Change” doesn’t have a very big role for us in it.
Personally, I can take or leave either of these candidates, because they are both nothing more than predictable representatives for the status quo and for the privileged when it comes to the GLBT community. We are offered absolutely nothing by the Republicans, and then offered the furtive promise of second-class citizenship by the Democrats. For my part, I choose to decline the offer from either.
(contributed by Bud Evans at Rainfish2000 on blogspot)
What I want someone to tell me, because all we hear about McCain is that he was a POW and served our country…so tell me, as a POW survivor why does he support Bush policies of torturing prisoners? To me, this is demonstrative of just the kind of hypocrite he really is - the worst kind. I was tortured and it was horrible and now I am going to do it to others???? Yeah, that is just the kind of person that will bring change - just the wrong kind.
Yeah well, you know what? I DON’T LIKE JOHN MCCAIN. This is a freaking speech, it is designed for effect. Your actions are what matter. To date, his military service is the only thing that I can see that he has done that speaks about his character. But that was then and this is now. NOW, in his desparate desire to win this electiion, he has chosen someone who is so completely and utterly unqualified to be a (potential) president - that he actually jeopardizes the security of our country. This mayor of 9,000 is a heart beat away from the Presidency? That is absolutely TERRIFYING and shows just how shockingly bad McCain judgment is. Screw the country - he wants to win! Well, screw you John McCain - this country can’t afford for you to win!
I don’t like John McCain because he has given up his own principles to satisfy the religious and political rightwing of this country. He has couched his rightwing agenda around the cloth of patriotism and sentimentality. This is not a leader or a person that I respect.
John MacCain to me is more of the same that we had under george bush and with this anti-gay and hate agenda that Sarah Palin has to offer “NO WAY I WOULD VOTE FOR THEM”
count on me Barack Obama i am ready for a new america were civil rights will be respected.
Well said Joseph.
john MCcain did not say nothing new is more of the same we had for the past 8 years under george bush! and then he pick this Very anti-gay Sarah palin to court the far right there is no way i would vote for this ticket.
count on me Barack Obama
If John McCain thought all people were created equal then he wouldn’t think that the “Right” of Habeas Corpus was something that you have to be a citizen to receive. Unalienable means unalienable, not “If You’re American”
Personally, I don’t like John McCain because he gives me the creeps. There . . . I said it. He reminds me of the old men who use to make passes at me when I was in my early 20s and 30s. And, the photo with his thumb up really gives me the shivers.
John McCain indicates that “the days of Special Interests are over”. My question is: did he fire all the lobbyists that are on his campaign committee? I think that would be good proof that he takes his own statements seriously!
As a gay man I wish that I could see major differences between the two candidates, but I don’t and therein lies the rub; with either one we’re still sitting in the back of the bus, and speaking for myself, I’m good and tired of paying full-fare and having nothing but the fumes to show for it.
The older I get, the less patience I have for people who think that they’re better than I am.
I missed the speech, but I will say two things in McCain’s favor: (1) He explicitly acknowledged that a gay person (Mark Bingham) may have saved his life on 9/11. (2) In 2000 he stated that certain people, implying at least Jerry Falwell, were “agents of intolerance.” However… since then he’s returned to gay-bashing for political gain, including explicit SUPPORT for Proposition 8 in California (which Obama, and Schwarzenegger, a Republican, explicitly do not support), and he also kissed up to Jerry Falwell, for shameless political reasons, before the latter died. So, I just don’t respect or trust him. The Palin thing of course severely worsens my disrespect of and wariness of him.
Meh. McCain is a zombie. If he wins I’m starting a pool for how long it takes for him to die in office.
I still don’t like him. Neither me or my partner will vote for him. He’s evil. He’s unChristian. And he only knows how to benefit those who idealizes his own conservative platform.
He is NOT worth the praise other people see—-lest they vote for him.