By Mark L. Taylor
The Commoner Call (9/28/17)
Any progressive worth his subscription to The Nation knows there are (at least) two John McCains. There is the American war hero McCain who endured five years of imprisonment, torture and solitary confinement in North Vietnam, refusing an early release ahead of other comrades based upon his father’s rank and connections.
Then there was the John McCain of the bipartisan 1989 Keating Five corruption scandal. Then there was the presidential candidate John McCain who publicly rebuked a supporter’s racist comments about Barack Obama in the midst of a heated campaign. There is the humorous, self-effacing John McCain who frequently notes he graduated “fifth from the bottom” of his Naval Academy class, and then there is the bullying John McCain who accused protesters of American war criminal Henry Kissinger of being “low-life scum”.
Yes, there was that John McCain who propelled the incontinent pit bull Sarah Palin to prominence (really, what the hell, Senator?). But given the daily diet of rank bawdy house perversions served up by Trump, John McCain at his worst is Benjamin Franklin by comparison.
His role in now twice bringing a halt to Republican dogged efforts to take healthcare away from millions of our fellow citizens called for both courage and compassion.
Though I frequently disagreed with his policy positions, overall, I’ve liked the sometimes cranky, sometime wise cracking senator from Arizona. He was – for the most part – a conservative I could respect, and occasionally agree with or who would offer an argument that caused me to question my own beliefs and assumptions. At 81 and facing the same deadly brain cancer that claimed his personal friend Sen. Ted Kennedy we are seeing the passing of a too-rare breed in today’s Washington.
This past weekend CBS 60 Minutes had a good interview with McCain and his wife, Cindy, by Leslie Stahl. It’s worth the time.
Godspeed, Sen. McCain.
(Commoner Call column by Mark L. Taylor, 2017. Open source and free to use with link to www.thecommonercall.org )
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Reports Of Trump Mocking McCain’s Physical Disability Behind Closed Doors
By Jonathan Easely
The Hill (9/27/17)
Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) daughter Meghan McCain lashed out on Wednesday over a report that President Trump has been “physically mocking” her father behind closed doors, calling it “abhorrent.”
“What more must my family be put through right now? This is abhorrent,” she tweeted, linking to the report.
Axios reporter Mike Allen wrote in his Wednesday newsletter that in private meetings, Trump has been “physically mocking” McCain by imitating the “thumbs down” gesture he made on the Senate floor last month before voting against the GOP’s ObamaCare repeal-and-replace plan.
Allen also reported that Trump has been making fun of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky) posture and body language.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. …
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Republican Rep. Gohmert Kicking John McCain When He’s Down
“Wow, wow, what an unbelievable prick.” – Cenk Uygur, on Rep. Louie Gohmert’s comments about Sen. John McCain.
Young Turks (9/25/17)
John McCain went on 60 Minutes to describe his cancer prognosis and his relationship with President Trump. Cenk Uygur, the host of The Young Turks, tells you about one Republican who thinks McCain should step aside. Tell us what you think in the comment section below. https://tytnetwork.com/join/
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‘Who raised these people?‘: MSNBC’s Morning Joe pounds ‘ignorant’ Alabama Voters Who Booed John McCain
Sums up the followers of the Donald Trump cult
By Mark L. Taylor
The Commoner Call (9/28/17)
“Who raised them? Who raised these people?” MSNBC’s Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough said Tuesdau (9/26). “Because, I guarantee you, I was raised in the same region and the same socioeconomic background, going to the same Southern Baptist churches, going to the same public schools, going to the same public colleges, state schools, that these people went to. So I ask, who raised these people? Who have they become that they would boo a man who is fighting for his very life.”
Noting Donald Trump’s multiple draft deferments to avoid military service during the Vietnam war, Scarborough contrasted Trump to McCain’s record of service. At minimum, Scarborough said, the Alabama hecklers should muster an ounce or two of respect.
“(He) has served this country in uniform, who is a prisoner of war, who was actually told, you know what, you can be released from prison because your father is really powerful, he’s a powerful man, just walk out of the prison, go home, you can be reunited with your family, we’ll stop beating you, stop putting scars on your back,” Scarborough said. “Go home, you will be freed, and John McCain said, for those of you booing John McCain right now and are too ignorant to read a book, John McCain said, no, I’m not going to go home, tell all my men to go home with me.”
Then Scarborough focused his message on Trump’s cultish clan.
“Someone has failed you in your life, and you need to examine that,” Scarborough said. “If you still go to church, you need to pray for yourself this Sunday morning in church, and then when you get your head screwed on right and you start putting humanity ahead of politics, against the stupidity (and) tribalism that’s destroying this country, then go home and tell your children the story of John McCain.”