In May 2007, John McCain took to the floor of the Senate to deliver remarks about the politicization of the military that, at the time, sounded eminently sensible. “How can we possibly find honor in using the fate of our servicemen to score political advantage in Washington?” McCain asked. “There is no pride to be had in such efforts. We are at war, a hard and challenging war, and we do no service for the best of us — those who fight and risk all on our behalf — by playing politics with their service. How can we possibly find honor in using the fate of our servicemen to score political advantage in Washington?”
It’s hard to know if McCain meant a word of it at the time, or if he was just grandstanding, hoping to give his presidential campaign a little boost. Either way, his comments look especially hollow now.
The latest salvo: A statement from Michael J. Durant, the retired Army helicopter pilot who was shot down over Somalia in the incident that would later be made famous in the book and move, “Black Hawk Down.”
“Over the last week, Barack Obama made time in his busy schedule to hold a rally with 200,000 Germans in Berlin, hold a press conference with French President Nicholas Sarkozy in Paris, and hold a solo press conference in front of 10 Downing Street in London. The Obama campaign had also scheduled a visit with wounded U.S. troops at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, but this stop was canceled after it became clear that campaign staff, and the traveling press corps, would not be allowed to accompany Senator Obama.
“I’ve spent time at Ramstein recovering from wounds received in the service of my country, and I’m sure that Senator Obama could have made no better use of his time than to meet with our men and women in uniform there. That Barack Obama believes otherwise casts serious doubt on his judgment and calls into question his priorities.”
I’m not in a position to know how the McCain campaign deceived Durant into believing this nonsense, or why Durant would allow himself to be exploited by a dishonorable political campaign, desperate to disseminate demonstrable lies.
But like the disgusting new McCain campaign TV ad, today’s efforts to ratchet things up have three angles: the veracity (or lack thereof) of the message, what this tells us about McCain, and what this tells us about the state of the presidential race.
On the first, the message being distributed by the campaign is patently false, a reality the McCain gang is no doubt aware of.
The notion that the Pentagon’s nixing of press attendance had anything to do with the cancellation is a complete falsehood, for the reasons noted here and here.
Second, that McCain would want to take the campaign in this direction is just more evidence of the weakness of his character. Leaders with integrity simply wouldn’t conduct themselves in this fashion.
The Politico’s Jonathan Martin, a conservative, said “liberal elites” will “hate McCain for using” an attack like this, because they would prefer to see “the maverick McCain they once loved lose than win ugly against the new object of their affection.” Martin added, “Karl Rove and George W. Bush wouldn’t (and didn’t) care what these people thought about their tactics.”
Martin, I’m afraid, is badly missing the point. Anyone who takes the political process and intellectual honesty seriously should find dishonest campaign tactics offensive. This isn’t about “liberal elites” — a tired cliche — it’s about the McCain campaign trying to deliberately fool the public, and reporters lacking the courage to tell voters when McCain abandons his sense of decency. Rove and Bush didn’t care if their “tactics” undermined political norms or deceived a nation, but a) their effects on American politics were deeply malicious; and b) McCain isn’t supposed to be following in their twisted footsteps.
For Martin to argue that “liberal elites” don’t want McCain to “win ugly” is disappointing. “Win ugly” seems to be a euphemism for “deceiving a nation and getting away with it.” No one should want that, regardless of ideology.
And third, we’re reminded once again that McCain’s internal polling must show the campaign in bad shape. Exploiting a Black Hawk Down hero reeks of desperation.