Maverick My Ass, Or: How I Lost All Respect for John McCain

Written by: Gus Sanchez on Sep 12, 2008 1:27 PM EDT

A confession: 8 years ago, I seriously considered voting for John McCain, were he to win the GOP's nomination. I respected the Senator from Arizona. While I wasn't a student of his senatorial record, I appreciated the fact that McCain was willing to sidestep loyalty to his party and reach across party lines. His work with Senator Russ Feingold, a Democrat, in crafting the Campaign Finance Reform Act, will be regarded as his legacy.

Until now.

The evil forces of George W. Bush's campaign, led by Karl Rove (the reincarnation of Heinrich Himmler), made every attempt to smear John McCain's professional career. And it worked. McCain was soundly routed by Bush during the primaries. A light bulb must have clicked in John McCain's head sometime during the 2000 RNC: if I can't beat Bush, I better join him.

Everyone knows in the past 8 years, John McCain has sided with GWB over 90% of the time, on policies that have been proven as failures over and over again. His support for an unpopular President has been questionable at best, foolish at worst. Fast-forward to early this year, when John McCain's campaign, once on life support, now roared back into life, and he became the presumptive GOP nominee. How so? Simple: gone was the "maverick" John McCain. Now here's John McCain, Bush acolyte. He's run a campaign promising to further the failed policies of George W. Bush, all the while ignoring a failing economy and promoting an offshore drilling program that will only serve to benefit his Big Oil masters. In the meantime, he's run a campaign based on innuendo and fearmongering, promising "change" that's clearly an empty promise. In other words, in order to become President, McCain has aligned himself with the very same people that were personally responsible for derailing his 2000 campaign. He's traded in his so-called "maverick" status for self-serving status.

Mind you, I'm not fool enough to believe there isn't a politician that isn't going to make empty promises. I'm damned sure Barack Obama's going to oversee taxes being raised, and more partisan infighting, and Big Oil and corporations getting their way. The difference is John McCain has often portrayed himself as the John Wayne type, the rugged individualist who lost 5 1/2 years of his life in a POW camp while serving his country. We all appreciate John McCain's service to our country; that's never been an issue. It's simply now a matter of the truth coming out: John McCain will do and say whatever he can to get elected. Whether it's promising to continue the same tired policies that have failed this country, or choosing an unprepared, ultra right-wing running mate that's a heartbeat away from becoming President.

Until yesterday, I still believed John McCain had some sense of honor and dignity. That is, until the unveiling of one of the sleaziest ads ever brought forth. See for yourself the depths of scum McCain has dived down to:

To quote a paragraph from Sam Stein's article in The Huffington Post:

"In essence, Obama supported "age appropriate" sex-education for children as a means of teaching them what was proper or inproper touching, as well as to protect them against pedophiles, his campaign has said. Used in the context of the McCain campaign ad, however, Obama's stance becomes another one of those cultural issues that seems designed to alienate the Illinois Democrat from more socially moderate voters."

McCain isn't misrepresenting Obama's stance on sex education, he's clearly lying. The worse part of all this is he approved this message. You read right: John McCain has approved a message that clearly distorts Barack Obama's record on legislation dealing with sex ed for grades K-12, but, worse yet, implies that Obama's perfectly fine with teaching kindergarteners on sexual matters that are wholly inappropriate for them.

John McCain has spent a lot of time apologizing for his gaffes and his missteps, but any apology he can muster for this is utterly empty. He's shown his true colors, that of a vile, slimy politician who's no stranger to sleaze.

The time has come for the media and the American public to tell John McCain enough. The media had better start calling beyond bullshit; they've turned a blind eye to the pack of lies the McCain-Palin campaign has tried to shove down everyone's throats. The American voters must go out and vote; whether you agree with Obama or hold true and fast to your independent beliefs, the time has come to cast your vote against John McCain. Send a message to the McCain-Palin camp that enough is enough.

Shame on you, John McCain. Shame on you for being the lying piece of shit you are. May you spend the rest of your remaining years living with utter regret, for conducting yourself in such a sleazy fashion. You have disgraced yourself, and you've brought shame to your state, your country, and to the citizens whose vote you long for.

Shame on you.

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