Where Have You Gone John McCain?

As I take pride in being an independent voter, always voting for the man (or woman, had one found her way to center stage) with honorable policies and principals and not get caught up in campaign rhetoric, I looked forward to the presidential primaries of 2000 to see if there was someone out there who I thought best fit those values.

Senator John McCain caught my interest early on with his "straight talk express," a bus ride of reporters on the campaign trail that was open to any and all questions, answers, comments, whether we approved or disapproved of what he said. It was refreshing to hear and see this approach, a maverick and honest approach that began to catch on here in the northeast.

I discounted his involvement in the Keating Five banking scandal of the early eighties as poor judgement by McCain that was shortsighted and regrettable and in the years following that scandal he appeared to have righted himself.

Proclaiming to be a fighter and loving the underdog status that the press knighted him with, he stole the show early in the 2000 Republican primaries with an upset win over George Bush in New Hampshire. NH's motto -Live Free Or Die - seemed to be a perfect fit for McCain and the state's voters, propelling him onward to South Carolina where the primary race, and McCain's political future, would change dramatically.

The Bush team, a group who would say and do anything to win, whatever it took, sent out a public message that McCain fathered an illegitimate black child. I never thought this to be true and what followed was where I began to question the "fighter" he proclaimed to be. McCain had every right to be incensed, knowing full well that the charge was untrue (he and his wife Cindy had adopted a black child from Bangladesh after visiting that ravaged country, meeting many unfortunate and suffering children, fell in love with this child, and eventually took her home to Arizona).

McCain ruined my thought of possibly supporting him when he failed to fight back the charge by simply ignoring it. Bad advice? Poor decision? Whatever his reasoning, the fact that he did not fight back incensed me (if it were me I could not in all honesty just ignore it). Despite the courage he showed with his five and a half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict, his lack of that fighting spirit with this outrageous charge left me with something less than any respect for him. And what of the devastation that his wife and family must have suffered? And what would he say to his child later on - "sorry dear, I didn't fight back?" "Why not, dad?"

Fast forward to the year 2008, a different McCain appeared before the voters - an older man but not necessarily wiser, very erratic, and not at all the person he appeared to be in 2000 He hired the same clowns who were instrumental in his 2000 derailment to run his 2008 campaign. Now, how smart and honorable is that really? Actually, quite dumb, and shows that he joined the ranks of those who will say and do anything to win, a position that I find very hard to accept.

I am not so naive to think that all, or any, politicians are honorable but his lack of fortitude and integrity in not standing up to this false charge showed me he lacks what it takes to be president - sound judgement, doing the right thing.

And what of his behavior during this campaign? He admitted he knows nothing about economics and proved it by hiring Senator Phil Gramm as his economic adviser who had the insensitivity to call us a "nation of whiners" when the economy began to tank. And to compound that outrageous insult McCain said "the fundamentals of our economy are sound."

How foolish did he look when he said he was not going to attend a scheduled tv debate with his opponent Senator Barack Obama, flying instead to Washington, (with his Superman's cape - my words), to "address the nation's economic problems," and being publicly rebuffed by his own party's House of Representatives in failing to develop a plan that he could present to the people? He attended a meeting with George Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen, and other economic and political leaders, including Obama. He further embarrassed himself at this meeting by not asking one question, not uttering one word, while Obama asked incisive questions all throughout the meeting. He then retracted his cancellation and went ahead with the debate. How presidential did that look?

And his supposedly experience in world affairs? "We'll stay in Iraq for a hundred years if necessary." "Bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran." "A league of democracies," excluding the likes of Russia, China, Pakistan, India, North Korea, to name a few. Great policy statements. Shows his hand on how he would face world problems.

After pledging to run an honest and fair campaign, every week, sometimes every day, he came up with a new policy, a new sound bite, a new lie or distorted statement about Obama. Although not entirely saintly himself, Obama stayed on message, defended the accusations as clearly as he could, energized the voters as never seen before in our history, save except for the John Kennedy years, and fought off the negative charges thrown at him by the McCain campaign who was hoping that something would stick and derail Obama as McCain had been thrown off track in 2000.

McCain continued to show his lack of judgement with his first major decision as the Republican candidate by choosing as his running mate a governor who, just two years earlier, was a mayor of a small town in Alaska and proclaimed to having foreign policy experience because she could see Russia on a clear day from her state. Now that is impressive. This, after saying earlier that his choice as veep "must be ready to step in on day one, in a heartbeat, because I am old."

And what of that 3AM call? I wouldn't want that irascible old man running around the White House in the dark, looking to press the button that would change the course of history for years to come.

The only similarity of the McCain 2000 and the McCain 2008 is in name and political party. Any and all attempts to meld the two is deceiving and fruitless.

Sorry John. We deserve better.

Peace.

Larry