McMonster
McCain really can’t sink any lower, but he sure is trying:
In April, Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) introduced legislation named after the late soldier meant to provide more resources for suicide prevention to Reserve members. The House in May incorporated it into the National Defense Authorization Act for 2011, but it was stripped from the final version, and Holt is pointing the finger at the lead Republican negotiator on the Senate legislation, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).“Twice now, the Senate has stripped this legislation from our defense bill,” Holt told The Huffington Post Tuesday. “It’s hard to understand why. I know for a fact, because he told me, that Sen. McCain doesn’t support it. Whether he’s the only one, I don’t know. But there was no effort to try to improve the language or negotiate changes; it was just rejected, and I think that is not only bad policy, but it’s cruel. It’s cruel to the families that are struggling with catastrophic mental health problems.”
“He [McCain] said having these counselors check in with the Reservists every few months this way overreaching,” continued Holt, relaying a phone conversation he had had with the senator. “I asked him in what sense it was overreaching. Surely he didn’t think there wasn’t a problem, did he? I must say I don’t understand it.”
Is it possible that the bullet we dodged in 2008 wasn’t Palin, but McCain?
December 21, 2010 10:35 pm
Posted in: Assholes, Mainstream Media's McCain Mancrush
54 Comments
54 Responses
Xecky Gilchrist - December 21, 2010 | 10:37 pm · Link
Is it possible that the bullet we dodged in 2008 wasn’t Palin, but McCain?
Both.
And yet I still think McCain was the least terrifying one of the Republican contenders.
Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century) - December 21, 2010 | 10:38 pm · Link
McCain voted against the jim webb’s GI Bill.
He’s always been a fraud.
sturunner - December 21, 2010 | 10:39 pm · Link
Exactly. Dementia is terrible. In a public figure, it is a disaster.
Or am I being too kind?
JimK - December 21, 2010 | 10:41 pm · Link
Check out the NY times, Repubs still trying to delay DADT. Its under the “Caucus”, Michael Shear
The Dangerman - December 21, 2010 | 10:43 pm · Link
@sturunner:
I don’t think it is dementia; the Republican Party has become the Party of Mean Motherfuckers. Good grief, the 9/11 First Responders bill may still have problems.
John Arbuthnot Fisher - December 21, 2010 | 10:44 pm · Link
Rush Holt, consistently showing why he’s the best Democrat in Congress. It’s such a great feeling to be actively proud of your congressional representation.
cleek - December 21, 2010 | 10:47 pm · Link
the combination of his petulance, her shameless ambition and their dueling ignorant spite would’ve made for four kick years of SNL.
Obama’s kinda dull, as far as humor goes.
JRon - December 21, 2010 | 10:48 pm · Link
@sturunner: yes, you’re being too kind.
Three-nineteen - December 21, 2010 | 10:48 pm · Link
Oh, come on – this isn’t THAT bad. It’s not like he’s blocking health care money for first responders who are sick because of debris from 9/11 or anything.
Cat Lady - December 21, 2010 | 10:51 pm · Link
Mean is all McCain’s got left. He’s dropped all pretense to anything else, and now he’s just going to be a Village sideshow.
Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century) - December 21, 2010 | 10:51 pm · Link
He’s been in congress for 30 years, and the only thing he ever passed was campaign finance reform (and then only because 50 Dems voted for it) and that was overturned.
The Dangerman - December 21, 2010 | 10:53 pm · Link
If McCain had won, the economy would be a smoking crater and we’d be at war with North Korea right now.
Since McCain would be concentrating on the wars, he’s appoint Palin to Chair the Task Force on economic matters. She’d have responded by naming the Task Force some stupid name and by going shopping.
Is that what you mean by dodging a bullet?
freelancer - December 21, 2010 | 10:54 pm · Link
If McCain was President, by now:
We would be at war with Iran, this is beyond dispute.
We would openly be at war with Yemen.
We would be hated throughout the world, diplomatically. The only ally we would have left amongst democratic nations that would be willing to stand beside us would be Israel.
The terror plots of the underwear bomber and the ink cartridge bomber would be utilized to hamper even more of our civil rights than we have right now.
The Tea Party would not exist.
The economy would have utterly crashed and beyond that, there are no more predictions domestically that could be considered accurate. Society, American Society, I think, would look tangibly different.
Xecky Gilchrist - December 21, 2010 | 10:56 pm · Link
@freelancer: The Tea Party would not exist.
Ok, so it’s not all bad.
The Dangerman - December 21, 2010 | 10:57 pm · Link
@freelancer:
The Country Club set would look the same (though perhaps with higher fences and more armed guards).
The rest of us would be fighting for space under a bridge or in a tunnel.
General Stuck - December 21, 2010 | 10:57 pm · Link
Something like my first long gun. Over and under .22 and 410 gauge shotgun. You can decide which is which. At least Palin would wink and smile, upon ending life as we know it on planet earth.
There are more Mccains out there, and Palins. Folks like to bash the boomer generation wingnuts, but the grade of political wingnut on the horizon, is not only evil, but smarter than your average bear. And less obvious.
amk - December 21, 2010 | 10:58 pm · Link
This corrupt and short tempered punk is pissed off since when his pow schtick was shredded and stomped upon in 2008. Yet he was reelected for eleventeenth time. So blame the assholes to keep electing assholes.
Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century) - December 21, 2010 | 11:00 pm · Link
@freelancer:
daryljfontaine - December 21, 2010 | 11:00 pm · Link
“I was a prisoner of war, goddammit, and I didn’t need any pansy-wansy counseling!” (eyeball twitches furiously) “In my day, we were tortured and” (15-second pause, during which McCain’s jaw slackens and drool runs out of the corner of his mouth) “we liked it!”
D
freelancer - December 21, 2010 | 11:01 pm · Link
@Xecky Gilchrist:
No, those assholes would still be around, but they’d be in some kind of Hoverround Brownshirt rolling brigade. They’d have no “Don’t Tread on Me” anti-gubmint freedom fighter flavor to them.
Sasha - December 21, 2010 | 11:02 pm · Link
I wonder if he would have been like this had he won. A lot of his behavior just seems like bitterness at having lost. Even though it always thought it was unlikely the country would vote in another Republican after Bush, he was obviously really shocked that he didn’t win. I would have thought that pride would have kept him from such open displays of envy and disappointment.
There was a moment, early on, when I thought he would opt for the role of elder statesmen; becoming, in effect, the Republican vice president; standing with the president etc… It’s not as hard to believe as one would think. McCain clearly has no real principles so one act is as good as another.
amk - December 21, 2010 | 11:02 pm · Link
@Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century):
Refix’d.
The Dangerman - December 21, 2010 | 11:05 pm · Link
@amk:
I wonder if she would have placed Air Force 1 on Ebay?
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther - December 21, 2010 | 11:07 pm · Link
I have come to the conclusion that as unfortunate a piece of work as McCain has been in the past, he has lately truly gone off the rails. There’s something genuinely amiss in his noggin, and we will learn what it was after the autopsy.
amk - December 21, 2010 | 11:07 pm · Link
@The Dangerman: Heck,she would have put up a mile high fence around WH for sure.
Dee Loralei - December 21, 2010 | 11:08 pm · Link
John Cole @ top: Is it possible that the bullet we dodged in 2008 wasn’t Palin, but McCain?
Scarier thought: Is it possible the bullet we got in 2000 was better than the bullet we dodged, McCain? Seeing McCain these last few years, I gotta wonder, with a shudder, if Karl Rove and George W didn’t do this country a favor by the way they campaigned against McCain in 2000. Could this insane and bitter man have been worse than W????
The Dangerman - December 21, 2010 | 11:09 pm · Link
@Dee Loralei:
Not humanly possible.
Nutella - December 21, 2010 | 11:12 pm · Link
@amk:
Well, she’d need a wall so Joe McGinniss couldn’t peek into the White House windows.
Joshua Norton - December 21, 2010 | 11:14 pm · Link
McCain lost all respectability when he went into full-tilt uber wingnut dogmatic mode to run for the presidency. And since his loss, he has made quite a sideshow of demonstrating his peevishness and lack of decency.
Mike in NC - December 21, 2010 | 11:17 pm · Link
DIAF, McCain, you worthless piece of shit who never earned the right to wear the uniform you badly disgraced.
Mike in NC - December 21, 2010 | 11:22 pm · Link
@freelancer:
We would be at war with Iran, this is beyond dispute.
Add China and Russia, for sure. What a deranged prick that guy is.
Jamie - December 21, 2010 | 11:24 pm · Link
well, McCain chose Palin, which was a sign of some phenomenally bad judgment at the top of the ticket..
Glinda - December 21, 2010 | 11:26 pm · Link
A near perfect thread. Thanks to everybody who contributed.
hardtoport - December 21, 2010 | 11:27 pm · Link
I read today that McCain gets a full military disability benefit of $58,000.00/year. And this guy can’t give other vets the benefits of counseling? How about we pay them the same amount we pay McCain? I’m sure that would go a long way towards helping them.
This Republican war against Americans has got to stop.
The Moar You Know - December 21, 2010 | 11:29 pm · Link
@Dee Loralei: I don’t wonder at all. Ask anyone who flew with him.
George W. Bush at least gave a shit about how people viewed him. This puts a real damper on sociopathic behavior – and Bush, for all that he is reviled, could have been much, much worse than he was. Look at his #2. He could have been Cheney, who has a lot in common with McCain.
McCain does not care now about how people view him, and did not care then. He didn’t care when he got back from Vietnam, nor did he care when he left. It has always been about McCain and only about McCain, and the rest of you can all die in a fire as far as he is concerned.
The Republic of Stupidity - December 21, 2010 | 11:29 pm · Link
@cleek:
Not to mention a really, really good shot at WW III… or at the very least $200/bbl for oil…
Jamie - December 21, 2010 | 11:30 pm · Link
McCain as compared to Dubya? I think McCain would be awful in a number of areas of badness that Cheney covered for Dubya.
TooManyJens - December 21, 2010 | 11:33 pm · Link
@daryljfontaine:
That was my first thought, actually: that he feels contempt for those veterans who commit suicide, because he thinks they’re not as tough as him.
Of course, just being a bitter asshole who wants to block anything good the Democrats try to do is also an adequate explanation.
Suffern ACE - December 21, 2010 | 11:39 pm · Link
I’m pretty certain that if he were president we wouldn’t be at war with Iran, cause we’d be mired in Georgia.
JGabriel - December 21, 2010 | 11:53 pm · Link
@Sasha:
I think it did for the first few months, but then he got over it.
.
daveNYC - December 21, 2010 | 11:55 pm · Link
This is just an insane move. There is zero upside to it anywhere, and not providing help to suicidal reservists is one of those subjects that could actually turn the village against him. Maybe. I hope.
Christ, just imagine how batshit and bitter he’d become if he didn’t get his weekly spot on Meet the Press.
TooManyJens - December 22, 2010 | 12:00 am · Link
@daveNYC:
I’m willing to find out.
Sasha - December 22, 2010 | 12:04 am · Link
I think McCain and the Republican establishment in general are pretty vested in the idea that “real” soldiers don’t have mental health issues. I don’t think the village will turn against him because they share the same need to believe that there is no real cost to Americans from our glorious adventures.
Anyway, the Republican routinely vote against increasing benefits to the military/veterans and they don’t even pay a price for it with the military/veterans. They truly exist in a consequence free zone for their votes.
Suck It Up! - December 22, 2010 | 12:05 am · Link
I always thought the bullet we dodged WAS McCain. HE chose Palin and anyone who thinks she should be second in command should never be president
New Yorker - December 22, 2010 | 12:08 am · Link
@Mike in NC:
That reminds me of this:
http://www.amconmag.com/lariso.....ifference/
Maybe the best thing Daniel Larison has ever penned.
ed sanders - December 22, 2010 | 12:20 am · Link
I knew the young man for whom this legislation is named, Coleman Bean. His father seemed to age a decade in just few short month’s following his son’s death and the family has put in untold hours of work trying to keep other families from going through what they have experienced. At this point the best I can say of John McCain is that he is a cretin and a swine. God these people make me sick.
Vixen Strangely - December 22, 2010 | 1:25 am · Link
@Suffern ACE:
I was just about to pile on with “We’d all be Georgians, now” if McCain was president and you already hit it. But I still think we’d be in Iraq, based on stuff he said. Which, based on his policies, would make us in Iraq for 1000 yrs, in Afghanistan (still), in Iran, bombing it, and engaging for former Soviet bloc countries against the former Soviet Union, who we’ve been negotiating anti-proliferation with since the Reagan years, pretty much sending us back to the Cold War, except with hot wars going on, a massive deficit that gets worse every second, worse unemployment numbers, and….
Um, and nothing. We had a country but the military industrial complex eated it. He’d be really quite awful.
Ash Can - December 22, 2010 | 1:29 am · Link
McCain is evidently damaged goods. There’s no other explanation for someone acting like this.
Nellcote - December 22, 2010 | 3:13 am · Link
McCain doesn’t consider the Reserves or National Guard to be “real” military. Inspite of the fact that they also served in “real” war zones.
brantl - December 22, 2010 | 7:54 am · Link
McGrumpy and Paleass, two of many bullets from an idiot party with lots of dum-dum bullets and no accurate gun.
Svensker - December 22, 2010 | 9:45 am · Link
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther:
Irritable male syndrome?
It does seem like there is something physiologically wrong with him. Never liked the guy, but this is getting creepy.
artem1s - December 22, 2010 | 10:09 am · Link
@Sasha:
his concession speech was his last decent moment. It’s too bad cause just for a second there it actually looked like he wanted to lead the GOP towards working with Obama and at least healing the country. Then the Blue Meanies in the crowd booed him and he reverted to the pent up vile spiteful old man he’s spent the last 50 years becoming.
It’s too bad he didn’t have the benefit of the mental health counseling that he’s denying troops now.
Sasha - December 22, 2010 | 10:48 am · Link
The Abe Simpsonification of McCain is now complete.
Carol - December 22, 2010 | 11:14 am · Link
@amk: She would have needed to. Think of all of those out-of-work auto workers, and government workers, and an official unemployment rate of at least 20% after the Big Three cascade into oblivion. Add pissed off everyone else, and there would have been an impeachment brewing-Dems would have a super-majority by now (2010-everybody votes just to spite Tundra Thighs).
Thank you Obama.