Liberal Democratic Politics, Discussion and Snark

Glenn Greenwald puts some excellent perspective on the John McCain “centrism” fallacy. He writes:

At the very core of the media’s reverence for John McCain is the blatant, tired myth that he’s a “centrist.”

Like Lieberman, McCain may deviate from right-wing dogma on discrete issues when it comes to domestic policy questions. But on questions of foreign policy, national security and war, McCain — and Lieberman — are as extremist as it gets in the mainstream political spectrum. On those obviously central issues, there simply is nobody and nothing to the Right of McCain.

McCain marks the absolute outer ideological boundary of American militarism, imperialism and war-making, particularly (though not only) in the Middle East. That’s why he’s long been enthusiastically supported by the country’s most crazed warmongers — such as Bill Kristol, James Woolsey, most of the PNAC crowd, and Lieberman. In no meaningful sense are such individuals “centrists,” and neither is McCain.

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Honestly, anyone who votes against a ban on torture, or willingly subjects our troops to unnecessary violence in order to prolong a failed war is nothing more than a fundamentalist. A fundamentalist with sub-par singing and songwriting skills.

Today the NY Post tells us that the girl from the now famed Bosnian airport is shocked by Hillary Clinton’s easy lying:

Emina Bicakcic, now 20 and studying to become a doctor, told The Post she stood on the tarmac at the air base in Tuzla, greeted Clinton and even had time to share the lines of verse she’d written - all without fear of attack from an unseen enemy.

“I was surprised when I heard this,” Bicakcic said, referring to Clinton’s assertion that she braved snipers upon landing, ducking and sprinting to military vehicles.

So we have a direct dispute in stark contrast to Clinton’s original account. Seems like more than a slip of the tongue.

Other Bosnians said they had one of two reactions to Clinton’s debunked action-hero account of her visit: laughter or anger.

“It’s an exaggeration,” said former acting President Ejup Ganic, who was present during Clinton’s visit. “No one was firing. There were no shots fired.”

Sema Markovic, 22, a student, said she has long respected Hillary as a strong leader but was angered by her remarks.

“It is an ugly thing for a politician to tell lies,’ she said. “We had problems for years, and I don’t like when someone lies about them. It makes us look bad.”

Hillary claims she misspoke. I claim she intentionally said it to burnish her otherwise complete lack of credentials on anything except for being a Senator.

Well it certainly looks like James “the mean parrot” Carville has been sufficiently kicked in the pants by Bill Richardson. Talk about civility, something of which Mr. Carville (squawk) has apparently no knowledge. Here’s what Bill Richardson had to say about Carville:

Barack Obama supporter Gov. Bill Richardson, D-New Mexico, responded on Sunday to controversial comments by James Carville, saying that he would not “stoop to Carville’s level.”

It’s amazing how irrelevant one-time political guru James Carville has become these days.

“I haven’t gotten into the gutter on this. And you know, I’m not going to stoop to Carville’s level. I barely know the guy in the first place,” Richardson told Bob Scheiffer on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

In other words: ‘Who said what about me? Whatever.’ Haha!

Senator John McCain isn’t necessarily wrong on HIV prevention, he just has no clue about it:

Q: “So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?”

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.”

Thanks John McSame. No analysis necessary (but here it is if you want it). By the way, I think writing headlines with the words ‘John McCain’ and ’stumble’ is deplorable, because it makes me think of a famous commercial from the 90’s. C’mon, he’s only 71 years young.

I am curious though. If he’s stumbling on HIV, what else is he stumbling on? The carpet? The stairs?

In completely unrelated old news, one third of seniors 71 years or older have mental decline.

By the way, if you don’t think that his age is a legitimate issue, I dare you to let John McCain drive you down I-95. See?

I feel bad for James Carville, I really do. He’s on the losing team yet again, and now he’s resorting to Rovian opinion columns in the Washington Post to boo hoo his extra large crocodile tear all over my breakfast because Bill Richardson has the winning political trifecta of a heart, brain and spine:

Fully aware of this supercharged environment in which the slightest slight is elevated to the most egregious insult, I waded in — okay, dove in — by demonstrating what constitutes a real insult.

I believe that loyalty is a cardinal virtue. Nowhere in the world is loyalty so little revered and tittle-tattle so greatly venerated as in Washington. I was a little-known political consultant until Bill Clinton made me. When he came upon hard times, I felt it my duty — whatever my personal misgivings — to stick by him. At the very least, I would have stayed silent. And maybe that’s my problem with what Bill Richardson did. Silence on his part would have spoken loudly enough.

Wow. So here’s a completely far-fetched analogy to put this in perspective. Let’s say I’m the lookout on a pirate ship (arrrr!), and I owe everything I’ve got to the ol’ Cap’n. But said Captain is drunk as hell and intent on wrecking us into a reef. The trusty first mate is ready to take the helm, but the Captain won’t give up because his perspective is tainted by rum and scurvy. The entire crew is leaning towards ye olde first mate and I stand up and say, “Hey, the Cap’n is tanked, I say we let the first mate take over before we all die. Whaddya say?” Then the bald, mangy parrot starts hollering “traitor!” at the top of his lungs.

See how I did that? I play the part of Bill Richardson, Hillary is the Captain, Obama is the first mate, the ship is the Democratic Party and James “the ragin’ cajun” Carville is the parrot. Nobody likes a mean parrot. Nobody.