While McCain's death is being mourned as the death of political civility and remembered as everyone's favorite middle of the road maverick, I'm struck by a bit of deafening dissonance.
I get that by lavishing praise on a guy you disagreed with a lot seems like a credit to your own vast open mindedness in the era of Trump, where encouraging the beating of protesters is normal, executive toilet time includes degrading people you disagree with via Twitter, and voting as a block is more important than who is president because white supremacy and the patriarchy are in danger. Now, I respect his time suffering a POW (and lasting effects) and his willingness to sometimes not vote Republican, but as for everything else, you might want to consider another hero...
An incident that sums up McCain's life and philosophy could be that time in 2008, when his bigot supporter stood up, stating she didn't trust Obama because he's an Arab. He corrected one fact, but did so at the expense of revealing his true dangerous, far right of center beliefs: No, ma'am, he's not an Arab. He's a decent family man. He was widely praised for this half response/half insult in every corner of the US as brave, courageous, civil and polite. He was never seriously questioned on what most believed a harmless slip of the tongue. His public statements and policy positions on war, the Middle East, immigration, and adjacent issues support the harmless slip being intentional.
At least one was talking about it:
Arab or Decent? --from 2008
https://archives.cjr.org/campaign_desk/arab_or_decent.php
So as we read the eulogies and feel some warm fuzzies, remember what was - as well as what wasn't. He had some good qualities or moments, but his politics were still pretty terrible run of the mill GOP white supremacist sexist fare. We were able to forget about all of Bush's incompetence, lies, warmongering, prisoner abuse and other atrocities because he made a silly with his rain poncho that one time. Maybe this will be the same.
Respect people by all means, but that doesn't mean giving them a political face transplant and sweeping bigotry and destructive policies under the rug.
Despite what the press says, John McCain has a long record of horribleness -- from July 2017
Not so mavericky: voted with Trump 90.7% of the time, hawk, Reagan republican, ran on tax cuts and trying to block MLK Day, supports Israeli massacres.
Here's a quote from the Palestine Chronicle piece:
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/john-mccain-a-matter-of-character/
And two more, if you want: The Man Who Never Was -- from 2010
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/11/mccain-201011
The real McCain -- from 2008
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jun/22/johnmccain.uselections2008
There were quite a few from 2008 when he was running for president because I guess that was the only time it was okay to challenge him on the whole most moral, most civil, most bipartisan guy thing.
I get that by lavishing praise on a guy you disagreed with a lot seems like a credit to your own vast open mindedness in the era of Trump, where encouraging the beating of protesters is normal, executive toilet time includes degrading people you disagree with via Twitter, and voting as a block is more important than who is president because white supremacy and the patriarchy are in danger. Now, I respect his time suffering a POW (and lasting effects) and his willingness to sometimes not vote Republican, but as for everything else, you might want to consider another hero...
An incident that sums up McCain's life and philosophy could be that time in 2008, when his bigot supporter stood up, stating she didn't trust Obama because he's an Arab. He corrected one fact, but did so at the expense of revealing his true dangerous, far right of center beliefs: No, ma'am, he's not an Arab. He's a decent family man. He was widely praised for this half response/half insult in every corner of the US as brave, courageous, civil and polite. He was never seriously questioned on what most believed a harmless slip of the tongue. His public statements and policy positions on war, the Middle East, immigration, and adjacent issues support the harmless slip being intentional.
At least one was talking about it:
Arab or Decent? --from 2008
https://archives.cjr.org/campaign_desk/arab_or_decent.php
So as we read the eulogies and feel some warm fuzzies, remember what was - as well as what wasn't. He had some good qualities or moments, but his politics were still pretty terrible run of the mill GOP white supremacist sexist fare. We were able to forget about all of Bush's incompetence, lies, warmongering, prisoner abuse and other atrocities because he made a silly with his rain poncho that one time. Maybe this will be the same.
Respect people by all means, but that doesn't mean giving them a political face transplant and sweeping bigotry and destructive policies under the rug.
Despite what the press says, John McCain has a long record of horribleness -- from July 2017
Not so mavericky: voted with Trump 90.7% of the time, hawk, Reagan republican, ran on tax cuts and trying to block MLK Day, supports Israeli massacres.
As FAIR.org media analyst Adam Johnson has observed, we have been fed a “childlike narrative of McCain as brave truth-teller, rather than predictable champion of war and empire who occasionally makes toothless references to human rights for the purposes of image curation.”https://theintercept.com/2017/07/27/john-mccain-fake-maverick-horrible-record/
Here's a quote from the Palestine Chronicle piece:
And that last pattern has been typical of McCain’s entire public career. Shoot off his mouth, make big noises about being tough and honest, and then crawl back quietly shortly afterward, having achieved nothing but adding a notch to the reputation he relishes as a maverick.John McCain: A Matter of Character -- from 2008
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/john-mccain-a-matter-of-character/
And two more, if you want: The Man Who Never Was -- from 2010
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/11/mccain-201011
The real McCain -- from 2008
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jun/22/johnmccain.uselections2008
There were quite a few from 2008 when he was running for president because I guess that was the only time it was okay to challenge him on the whole most moral, most civil, most bipartisan guy thing.
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