Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CYBERKEN who wrote (555346)	3/23/2004 11:37:00 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Sen. McCain again is condemned for the sin of honesty Mar. 23, 2004 12:00 AM azcentral.com Sen. John McCain does not need - and would not want - a hack like me standing up for him. And who could blame him? But where is everybody else? Where are the Republican politicians and conservative talk-show hosts? Why haven't they rushed to McCain's defense? Why didn't they lock arms and stand before the ugly mob that wanted to stone the old warrior? After all, this is a person who has dedicated his political life to the Republican Party and its goals. Why didn't someone step forward and point out the good things that McCain did not say last week about Sen. John Kerry? McCain was asked on national TV if he thought Kerry, as president, would be weak on national defense. He gave an honest answer. He said no. Vice President Dick Cheney has been doing interviews in which he questions Kerry's ability to handle defense. It turns out that portraying Kerry as a placating jellyfish is an underlying theme in President Bush's re-election campaign. And yet McCain said, "No. I do not believe that he is necessarily weak on defense." Then he added, "This kind of rhetoric, I think, is not helpful in educating and helping the American people make a choice." For the grave offense of saying that cheap attacks are wrong, McCain himself was attacked. Which seems to be fine with him. He can take it. He has taken it. The Bush campaign machine went after McCain in 2000. And a year later McCain was pounced upon by his own party and its friends in the media for inviting Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle to visit his Sedona cabin. The two men broke bread, which for critics was the same as dining with the devil. Now McCain says that Kerry, whom some view as the latest incarnation of Satan, would not be weak on defense. What McCain didn't say, however, was that Americans should vote for Kerry. Just the opposite. He said, "I think the president has led this nation with clarity since September 11. I'm supporting his re-election." Likewise, McCain did not say that Kerry's record on defense should be glossed over. Just the opposite. He said, "He is responsible for his voting record . . . and he'll have to explain it." Explaining what he said about Kerry is not an option for McCain, however. Not these days. McCain's honesty about Kerry was not just an affront to those who support the president, it was a sin. For both Republicans and Democrats, it is sinful during a presidential campaign to say anything that might seem to support the enemy. Even if what you say is true. Especially if what you say is true. "John Kerry and I are friends," McCain said. "We have differences of opinion, but I am not going to criticize John Kerry." McCain would have done the same thing for a Republican who was being unfairly knocked around. He stands up for his friends. So why didn't McCain's friends stand up for him? And why won't either side listen when McCain says, "Both sides have been beating up on the other in the most negative campaign earlier than I've ever see. I'd like to see it stop." The man that McCain succeeded, Barry Goldwater, was attacked during the last days of his long and honorable career. He came out in support of gays in the military, and Republican activists in Arizona wanted the old man's name removed from party headquarters in Phoenix. It was a lesson in loyalty and friendship. It showed how, in modern politics, simple disagreement is seen as evil. McCain sees Democrats as the opposition, not as the enemy. Perhaps because McCain, like Kerry, has faced an actual enemy and knows the difference. Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8978.