John ‘Elections have Consequences’ McCain

May 27, 2005

I’ve noticed, on too many occasions, some Dems look to John McCain as a left-leaning moderate who’ll stand with Dems on some of the biggest political fights. It’s a myth. Consider McCain’s efforts on behalf of John Bolton, Bush’s nominee to be U.N. ambassador.

First, take a look at the context, including the fact that McCain’s Republican colleagues are drifting further away from Bolton. Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), for example, has written to his fellow senators to insist they vote against Bolton’s nomination: “In these dangerous times, we cannot afford to put at risk our nation’s ability to successfully wage and win the war on terror with a controversial and ineffective ambassador

The opposition is having an effect. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who effectively ran a campaign based on the notion that he’d do Bush’s bidding, announced yesterday that he’s inclined to join Dems and vote against Bolton’s nomination when it comes to the floor.

And then there’s the senior senator from Arizona.

Among Mr. Bolton’s supporters, Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, was among those who urged the Senate to cast aside the Democratic objections and vote on Thursday in favor of the nomination. “Elections have consequences,” Mr. McCain said.

Yes, for McCain, the fact that Bush won the narrowest re-election of any incumbent in over a century entitles him to pick an abusive, ineffectual, corrupt, and incompetent official to be a diplomat despite not having any sense of diplomacy.

Indeed, McCain’s argument is eerily similar to Bush’s “accountability moment” approach. Those who win elections, no matter how narrow the margin, have won support for every decision he or she makes, no matter how misguided.

For McCain, it’s not that Bush has chosen the right man for the job, or that Bolton would serve the United States well, the point to remember is that “elections have consequences.” If the president wants to send a misanthrope to the United Nations who doesn’t believe the institution should even exist, why should the Senate stand in his way?

May 27, 2005 at 1:27 pm

I think the thing to remember and consider in regard to Sen. McCain is the difference between being a moderate and being a centrist. McCain is not a wingnut conservative in the Santorum mold, but he is conservative (especially on foreign affairs issues which the Bolton nomination fits into). The difference between McCain and most other Senators is that he believes on compromise and working in a bipartisan manner. I think Bolton is a horrible nominee and that his abuse of intelligence for political ends is bordering on treason, but he is being put up to represent the Bush Administration and the allegations against him are systemic from the top down in the executive. He makes sense and he would represent the Bush anti-internationalism agenda at the UN quite well. There is a legitimate argument, I think, to be made that a President has the right to appoint, as his spokesman, someone he thinks reflects his administration and Bolton certainly fits in that category.

John McCain has never really been a Centrist or Moderate. He just seems that way because Jerry Fawell et al deride him as less appropriate a republican nominee than Rudy Guiliani.

Of course, the reason Jerry hates him is that McCain spoke up against Fawell’s influence in the republican party. Or maybe Jerry thinks he is some sort of Mancurian candidate. Or maybe Jerry thinks McCain should not be elected because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone.

I think McCain is being Machiavellian again. He comes out in favor of Bolton probably knowing how much of an embarrassment he will be to GW. This may simply be a way to help discredit Bush’s circle on the way to ’08. In the meantime, McCain can say that Bush had the right to appoint whoever he wanted and got exactly that.

This is not to say McCain is not conservative, he is. He just isn’t a witless wingnut for the evangelical Christian + corporate coalition.

McCain just doesn’t matter as much as he, the press and many others think. From the moment he stood with Bush, arm in arm, he lost a whole lot of moderate and independent credibility.

McCain is a maverick, not a moderate. And the fact that he has such a reputation merely for speaking his mind and occasionally seeking compromise to get things done, instead of spouting the party line, is a sad commentary on the current state of the Republican party.

And on the state of the media: McCain by sucking up to Bush in the campaign, by hawkishly pushing for Iraq, by numerous actions has shown he is no straight talker. The media just loves to claim so because every now and then he says something outrageous. I am beginning to think they should call George Voinovich Mr. Straight Talk. He is not flashy and has said that his tombstone will say `Once Mayor of Cleveland’ so unlike Mr. Straight Talk Express he has no higher ambitions. But look at what he has done on Bolton! I didn’t think the dour Sen. V had it in him.

In a way, he’s right – elections have consequences. Supposedly more than 50% of voters voted for Bush. If those voters thought they’d get “rescued” from the consequences of their vote by Dems, they might just have to think again.

I used to be a fan of McCain, but he has continuously disappointed me since his performance late in the 2004 campaign shilling for W. His stand on Bolton seems insupportable. I do not understand why he is not “breaking some china” to get the U.S. out of the torture and extraordinary rendition business. How can he countenance such behavior and not demand – daily – from the well of the Senate that someone other than the Charles Graners and Lindsey Englands of the world be held accountable for this stain on this country’s reputation? He – of the “campaign finance reform” mantle seems not to be too enthusiastic about going after Jack Abramoff and following the threads even if it leads back into his own exclusive “club.” In my eyes, McCain is pretty much a whore these days. I don’t even bother to listen to what he has to say these days.

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