Does McCain Have Any Shred of Honor Left?

[babylonsister]

I've wondered this since 2000...

http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2016/10/mccain/505010/?utm_source=atlfb

Chris Bodenner
2:55 PM / October 21, 2016
Does McCain Have Any Shred of Honor Left?


First there was McCain’s caving to Bush’s signing statement on his own torture bill, then his selection of an extremely unqualified and unvetted running mate, then he backed Trump until nearly the bitter end—even after Trump insulted his POW experience and his fellow vets with PTSD. And now, a shameless betrayal of constitutional principle that would have gotten far more attention this week if Trump hadn’t one-upped McCain with all his incendiary “rigged” rhetoric. Reader Don explains:

I don’t know if your readers have seen this yet, but it seems that McCain has announced that his fellow GOP Senators will not confirm any Supreme Court nomination by Clinton. Trump is an ignorant, narcissistic, nasty piece of work. But McCain used to be a guy who remembered and honored (at least sometimes) the old bipartisan traditions of the Senate. His statement is just outrageous and inexcusable. What he’s basically saying is that only Republican presidents get to appoint Supreme Court Justices.

I understand that their thinking is that they don’t want the bias of the Court to shift from conservative to liberal. But the Court has shifted back and forth over the years, and we have managed to survive those changes. Apparently, today’s Republican Party feels that the country somehow won’t survive a Democratic administration or a liberal Supreme Court.

We have what might be described as an asymmetric politics. One party disagrees with the other party’s policy domestic policy positions, but recognizes the legitimacy of an opposition party and accepts that the other party is patriotic and loyal to the country. The other party rejects the legitimacy and loyalty of the other party. The efforts to de-legitimize former President Clinton, President Obama, and likely future President Hillary Clinton are part of this effort. The refusal of the GOP Congress to allow Obama any legislative accomplishments was another part of it. I expect that a GOP House will adopt the same obstructionist tactics starting in 2017.

People predict that the U.S. population will continue to get younger, better educated, and less white. I hope our political experiment lasts long enough to see that day.

As one of my friends put it, “How does a man go from being one of our nation’s bravest soldiers to a career politician so desperate to remain in office at the age of 80 that he will sell out the very Constitution he swore to defend?” Jonathan Chait, who for years has covered the slow institutional decay of the Senate, shakes his head over McCain as well—then looks ahead:

If Clinton wins and Democrats pull enough Senate seats, Republicans will oppose her nominee, and then, eventually, Democrats will change the rules to abolish filibusters of Supreme Court nominees. (Republicans will decry this foul measure and justify any subsequent actions of their own as justified revenge.) If Clinton wins and Republicans hold on to 51 seats, they will simply refuse to let any nominee through. The fact that it is McCain, a personal friend of Clinton and as strong an institutionalist as can be found in the Senate, who is proposing to extend the blockade indefinitely shows just how deep the commitment runs through the party.

more...

http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2016/10/mccain/505010/?utm_source=atlfb

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Remember that McCain's in a race for his life now, and...

call it what you want, but politicians say what they have to say to keep their jobs. I'd rather he be put out to pasture, but if he stays in office I don't worry too much about this "threat".

There's plenty of others who will cause far more trouble.

[hlthe2b]

2. I thought so, but the last polls I've seen show he is decimating his opponent.

Unfortunately...

[GWC58]

5. And that makes no sense to me!!

It looks like McCain will have that seat until he's carried out in a body bag.

[tblue37]

12. I am sure this is literally true:

"Remember that McCain's in a race for his life now. . . .

I believe that if he lost his place in the senate he would die soon afterward, as often happens to men who retire when the job that defined them to themselves is gone.

[mwrguy]

3. He never really had any

[BeyondGeography]

4. Or maybe he was always just a little shit at heart

[mdbl]

6. People underestimate the power of hate radio propaganda

that's what controls the repuglican party, despite the right wing hate radio talkers contrary claims of humility

[pangaia]

7. Did he ever have any?

[NNadir]

8. No. n/t

[Hulk]

9. Simple answer: No

I have always given this dunce an extra chance, because he was a POW during the Vietnam war that we both served in.
Take that away, and he has been a disgusting embarrassment to the office of Congress.
I could go on and on about his ignorant and careless words and behaviors since the day this "entitled smart ass party boy" went away to military school and graduated at the bottom of the class, to having joined the military and crashed jet fighters at an alarming rate, to his alleged "careless behavior" that ended in his getting shot down over North Vietnam; but he didn't even start to rub salt in the wound until he was elected to Congress BECAUSE he was a POW. NO political qualifications, but he was a POW.
Fuck that. We've suffered his arrogant stupidity long enough. Throw his disgraceful, useless ass out of Congress NOW!

[vlyons]

13. and never forget that McCain was one of the Keating Five

Five US senators caught up in the late 1980s Savings & Loan scandals. Lincoln Savings and Loan collapsed in 1989, at a cost of over $3 billion to the federal government. Some 23,000 Lincoln bondholders were defrauded and many investors lost their life savings. Charles Keating was chairman of the Lincoln Savings and Loan and had made substantial contributions to the Keating 5 senators, who intervened with S&L regulatory body on Keating's behalf.

John McCain has been corrupt for a long time.

[patsimp]

10. None

[cstanleytech]

11. I heard a rumor that he has 1 or 2 shreds hidden away for safe keeping but

then again it is only a rumor.

[TonyPDX]

14. McCain lost all of my respect when he inflicted our discourse with Sarah Palin.

This is just another craven grab for relevance and I am disgusted by it.

[awoke_in_2003]

15. That train left the station long ago