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Wednesday, July 30,
2008
Future
Liar-in-Chief McCain and his BS Express
by Stephen Crockett, co-host of
Democratic Talk Radio
The fear that Republican Presidential candidate
will be soundly defeated by Obama in November has generated a massive
barrage of outright lies and some very smelly BS. Some of the lies and
BS come from the usual disreputable sources like Right Wing talk radio
hosts, Republican bloggers, Ann Coulter clones and certain Fox News
commentators. These are to be expected.
Right Wing Republican Congressional candidates
have been using slash and burn campaigns and outright lies routinely
since at least the 1994 election. The recent negative comments by
Congresswoman Heather Wilson falsely smearing Obama are a prime
example of this low road campaign style. Republican Congressman
Charlie Dent has been trying to defend his close ties to the oil
industry and the huge amount of money they have donated to his
campaign by blaming his Democratic challenger Sam Bennett for high
fuel prices. Wilson and Dent sound just like McCain. They are just
frightened of the voters and trying to hide their roles in creating
the current economic mess.
However, the
Republican Presidential candidates usually have not been nearly as
vicious or desperate as John McCain. McCain seems to have become as
divorced from the truth or civil political discourse as Dick Cheney.
Smears and attack lines cannot conceal the truth forever.
Only about a half dozen years ago, I remember
talking about the respect I held then for John McCain, as an
independent-minded Republican, on my talk radio show. While I
respected the McCain of Bush’s first term and admired the soldier
McCain of the Vietnam era, I have little respect for McCain’s behavior
as a Presidential candidate in 2008.
I admit that I would not have voted for John
McCain at any point in his political career because he has always been
a political enemy of working Americans and a powerful tool of the
Corporate forces crushing us as workers, taxpayers and consumers.
Those differences were ones of policy.
The problem with McCain in 2008 is that his
character has apparently been corrupted by his lust for the
Presidency. His nasty tone and negative personal attacks on Obama show
how much of a failure McCain has been as a Presidential candidate
trying to defend on the failed policies of Bush Republicanism!
McCain has falsely blamed Obama for high gas
prices. McCain has been receiving huge campaign donations from Big
Oil. He has done absolutely nothing to promote more competition in the
oil industry. He has opposed oil windfall taxes that would have been
used to promote alternative energy development.
McCain has done
nothing to pressure the oil industry to actually drill on the 68
million acres of offshore drilling rights leased from the federal
government. He has only attacked Obama for not supporting more leases
that would probably not be drilled on by Big Oil.
Why would the oil industry expand production when
it would lessen their ability to price gouge the American public? They
make huge profits by keeping oil production as low as possible and
supplies tight. They have been buying out competitors and closing
refineries ever since Bush and Cheney took control of the White House
in 2001 just to drive up prices!
McCain has offered meaningless gimmicks like the
temporary, dangerous proposal to suspend the federal fuel taxes this
summer. The price gouging by the oil industry dwarfs the temporary
relief of 18.4 to 22.4 cents per gallon. These fuel taxes are used for
roads and bridges repairs, maintenance and safety. We all remember the
Interstate bridge collapse in Minnesota when the Republican Governor
cut the funding for safety inspections and needed repairs. We need a
President willing to stand up for consumers against Big Oil instead of
a Liar-in-Chief trying to sell us on Big Oil talking points.
The Iraq War is another example of McCain
following in the unethical footsteps of George W. Bush and Dick
Cheney. The similarities are not just policy positions but also
political ethics. The terrible mistakes of Bush, Cheney and McCain got
us into this disaster of a war. It was launched based on lies told to
the American public that they knew were lies.
We have wasted the lives of over 4,000 brave
American soldiers and at least a trillion dollars of current and
future taxpayers’ money in an unnecessary war. The oil did keep Iraqi
oil off the world market and made worldwide price-gouging by Big Oil
possible. It made it possible for Republicans to give no-bid contracts
to the large corporations providing them with campaign donations.
If Bush, Cheney and McCain had not pushed us into
invading Iraq, there would have been no need for a troop surge.
Without this colossal failure of judgment by Bush, Cheney and McCain,
we would not have over 4,000 dead American soldiers, trillions of
wasted taxpayer dollars undermining the American economy and a likely
post-War dominance of Iraq by Iran.
The invasion of Iraq has vastly increased the
likelihood of Iran becoming a nuclear power. It has increased the
appeal of Islamic terrorists on the Moslem street around the world. It
has increased the chances of war with Iran. The Iraq policies of Bush,
Cheney and McCain have undermined our real fight against the Bin Laden
terrorist organization in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
These policies concerning war and terrorism
demonstrated that McCain shares Bush’s serious character flaw of never
admitting he has made a serious error of judgment even when the
results have been a disaster. We had 8 years of dealing with this
character flaw. We do not need 4 or 8 more years of the same. The past
Liar-in-Chief lied to the American people and himself. I believe
McCain will do the same.
It is time to cut through the bull droppings and
spin of the McCain campaign and look at the facts. McCain falsely
claims that Obama will increase taxes on most Americans. In truth,
Obama will only slightly increase taxes on those have taxable incomes
over $250,000 a year. The overall tax levels for most Americans will
likely be slightly reduced.
McCain will do nothing to protect American jobs.
He will do nothing to curb excess Corporate control over government.
McCain is likely to start more needless wars. He is a hothead. McCain
is not competent when it comes to dealing with the economy and has
publicly stated as much. He cannot be trusted with this important
responsibility. McCain supports basically 95 percent of the Bush
Agenda.
John McCain is a Super Rich guy with the
political opinions of a Super Rich guy. Most of us do not own a dozen
homes or measure our wealth in the hundred millions. He is not really
one of us. We would not have voted against giving returning Iraq War
soldiers the same education benefits that our Vietnam-era soldiers
once had like John McCain did.
McCain might have been one of us during Vietnam
but that was a long time ago. It was before he spent around 30 years
in Washington, D.C. screwing up the country. It was before he climbed
aboard his BS Express and started seeking the position of
Liar-in-Chief.
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Written by Stephen
Crockett (co-host of Democratic Talk Radio
http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com ).
Mail: P.O. Box 283, Earleville, Maryland
21919. Phone: 443-907-2367. Email:
midsouthcm@aol.com .
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