Bringing John McCain down from his pedestal
By
Max J. Castro Read Spanish Version
majcastro@gmail.com
Compared
to the virulent anti-immigration advocates, religious fanatics, free
market fundamentalists, and opportunistic flip-floppers who comprised
the Republican field in the primaries, Senator John McCain is a
prince. And, unlike George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and the
neoconservative hawks who engineered the Iraq debacle, McCain doesn’t
just talk tough on war, he has lived it and has the scars to prove
it.
These
are some of the reasons much of the public and the media see the
Arizona Senator as a straight shooter, and even his Democratic rivals
hail him as “an American hero.” Some analysts even suggest that a
significant percentage of Latinos would vote for McCain if Obama is
the Democratic standard bearer because of the Republican’s military
record and the lukewarm support for Obama among Latinos.
Yet,
before we accept the canonization of John McCain, we should look more
closely at what a victory by McCain and the Republicans would mean.
It would, first of all, mean a continuation of George W. Bush’s
disastrous Iraq policy and, more importantly perhaps, of the
mentality that spawned Iraq and might bring forth new wars in the
future.
McCain
is comfortable with an endless American war in Iraq, which means many
more Americans, including a significant number of Latinos, will die
in what has become a bloody Iraqi civil war. Moreover, McCain
supports the aggressive posture that made Iraq possible, and he has
done more than his share of saber rattling on Iran. A continued war
in Iraq means a ruinous drain on American treasure beyond the $3
trillion the war is already slated to cost, money that is desperately
needed to fund health care, education, and other priorities in this
country. An aggression against Iran would increase military and
homeland security costs even more.
A
victory for McCain also would mean a win for “the conservative
movement.” Despite the fact that McCain is reviled by some hardcore
conservatives, including Anne Coulter and others in the lunatic
fringe of the GOP, the Republican Senator proudly proclaims himself a
conservative. What does the label conservative signify in the United
States today?
The
conservative camp is not monolithic, but it includes a sector of
bigots and extremists some of whom have already endorsed McCain. A
prime example is Reverend John Hagee, a pastor in San Antonio and a
leading “Christian Zionist.” Hagee has declared that Hurricane
Katrina was punishment for the sinful nature of the city of New
Orleans just as, in his view, AIDS is punishment for the gay rights
movement.
Latinos
considering voting for McCain, especially Latino Catholics, also
should be interested in the pastor’s view of their church. Hagee,
who blames the Roman Catholic Church for the Holocaust, has called
the religious institution “the Great Whore of Babylon,” a “cult,”
an “apostate church,” and “a false religious system” that
will soon meet its demise.
As
a “Christian Zionist,” Hagee’s views on the Middle East are
equally extreme. He believes the Palestinians have no right to the
land they have been living on for generations, and he favors a
military strike against Iran. Christian Zionists believe that
the
second coming of
Jesus Christ depends on Jewish possession of Israel and the
rebuilding of
the Temple in
Jerusalem on the site now occupied by two of Islam’s holiest mosques,
a surefire formula for ensuring even more intense conflict in the
region.
All
of McCain’s vaunted decency, moderation, and sincerity have not led
him to denounce the preacher nor caused the media to point out the
contradiction between McCain’s image and Hagee’s views or the
opportunism involved in McCain’s quest for the support of Christian
fundamentalists at almost any cost.
In
a recent debate, journalist Tim Russert drilled Barack Obama about
the endorsement of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Obama
denounced Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic views, which he called
“reprehensible.” However, that was not good enough for Russert,
prompting Obama to also repudiate the endorsement. In contrast,
McCain has accepted Hagee’s endorsement, and the press hardly has
laid a glove on him for welcoming the support of an anti-Catholic,
homophobic, anti-Arab bigot warmonger who blames the people of New
Orleans for their tragedy.
This
obvious double standard proves how dangerous the canonization of John
McCain is and why the Democrats have to begin to bring the GOP
presidential candidate down from his comfortable moral pedestal.
