Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You cannot shame the shameless.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

I really should read my own blog.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

The words do not have to be perfect.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Venality / McCain Wants the World to End with Him

McCain Wants the World to End with Him

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg, in the NYTimes:

… [S]ix years after losing the presidential election to Barack Obama, Mr. McCain finally has the only job in Washington, other than being president, that he ever wanted: chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, overseer of the American military and the nation’s defense policy. The question is whether he will use his new clout (and ability to subpoena) to make war or some accommodation with the White House.

“McCain now has the power either to destroy the president’s national security policy or shape it constructively,” said Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. “This is the first step to see whether he is going to use his new power to clobber Obama as he has for the past six years, or whether he will use it to try to shape and improve Obama’s policy.”

For now, despite hints that he is trying to reinvent himself from cantankerous Obama critic to elder statesman, Mr. McCain still seems to be in clobber mode. In an early assertion of his new authority, he said on Tuesday that he would push legislation to block Mr. Obama from sending detainees at the Guantánamo Bay military prison to Yemen.

He said in an interview last Thursday that Mr. Obama’s decision not to send more American troops to Iraq to thwart the Islamic State had put America at risk. “That attack you saw in Paris? You’ll see an attack in the United States,” Mr. McCain said. He repeated his frequent assessment that the president’s foreign policy is “a disaster” and “delusional.” He said “of course” he would have made a better commander in chief….

Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff, said the president sees Mr. McCain as possessing “a very important viewpoint to consult with,” even if Mr. Obama rejects Mr. McCain’s interventionist stance. Mr. McDonough said Mr. McCain had influenced the Obama administration’s foreign policy, although when he was asked how, he paused.

“The reason I’m pausing,” he finally said, “is I’m trying to give you a concrete example.”…

In Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift spoke of the Struldbrugs, born immortal but not ageless:

As soon as they have completed the term of eighty years, they are looked on as dead in law… After that period, they are held incapable of any employment of trust or profit; they cannot purchase lands, or take leases; neither are they allowed to be witnesses in any cause, either civil or criminal, not even for the decision of meers (metes) and bounds… Otherwise, as avarice is the necessary consequence of old age, those immortals would in time become proprietors of the whole nation, and engross the civil power, which, for want of abilities to manage, must end in the ruin of the public…

Three hundred years of improvements in medical science don’t seem to have had much effect on the “necessary consequences” of angry, self-centered old men.

Reader Interactions

100Comments

  1. 1.

    Elizabelle

    You know the NYTimes reporter was barely typing for laughing with McCain’s plans to hold hearings with even older elderly statesmen.

    He better hold ’em quick.

  2. 2.

    Elizabelle

    So weird to have seen “Breaking News” on CBS and ABC networks, re bomb plot against US Capitol arrest.

    And nothing up yet on NYTimes and WaPost, at least not prominently …

    Bartenders wanting to poison Boehner. ISIS (?) wanting to bomb the Capitol? Maybe we’d be safer under Democratic congressional control.

  4. 4.

    Citizen Scientist

    I, for one, can’t wait to hear all of the new ideas that come out of these hearings.

  5. 5.

    dmsilev

    “The reason I’m pausing,” he finally said, “is I’m trying to give you a concrete example.”…

    Heh.

    Also, “other than being president” is very much an “other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?” moment. It pleases me to know that John McCain wakes up every day to the knowledge that Barack Obama is living in the White House.

  6. 6.

    kindness

    Whereas John McCain makes use of his new post as Senate Armed Services Committee Chair to yell and tell Obama to get off his lawn.

  9. 9.

    chopper

    mr. last-in-his-class-at-annapolis? this is just great. this is the guy who has been on the wrong side of every foreign policy for the last 20 years. fuck us.

  12. 12.

    JPL

    @Elizabelle: When Clinton was President he was mocked when the FBI thwarted attacks against us. Now Obama will be mocked for not preventing thought to take down the Capitol.

    also I know the statement makes little sense, but the republicans will somehow use this against the President.
    Gosh I wish the President would come out and make the announcement himself.

  16. 16.

    J R in WV

    @Elizabelle:

    Of course, employees reporting up a chain of command to President Obama are who arrested this nutcase (no,no, not McCain, the mad bomber who wanted to blow up the US Capitol)!

    But of course the RWNJs of Congress won’t acknowledge the President’s management of the Federal security agencies who have prevented any attack on America comparable to the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France.

    And again, McCain wa wrong, we won’t see an attack, we will see wanna-be terrorists arrested before they can strike against us. Unlike recent Republican administrations!

  17. 17.

    Mike in NC

    This sore loser will rattle his rusty saber for the next two years, and will go to his grave a bitter old man.

  18. 18.

    Elizabelle

    @Violet: @J R in WV:

    Thank y’all for keeping me posted. I see the WaPost put an item up at 5:18 p that I’d missed.

    Christopher Lee Cornell expressed support for the Islamic State as he readied his assault, the FBI said.

    The guy was from Ohio? What is it with people from Ohio losing their sh*t this week? (Ducks)

  19. 19.

    Hungry Joe

    “That attack you saw in Paris? You’ll see an attack in the United States.”

    Right. Just like that series of 9/11-style attacks we suffered after Obama was elected. You know, because he took away our guns, enacted Sharia law, set up death panels, and put all the patriots in FEMA camps.

    All of which really happened. Or will happen soon, anyway. Same thing.

  26. 26.

    Hungry Joe

    @Bobby Thomson: After Obama was elected? I must have missed that one — I guess I got it mixed up with all the other 9/11-style attacks we’ve had since then. Let me check with Rudy “9/11” G. and get back to you. He knows all about this stuff.

  27. 27.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I swear, there are three year olds protesting bed time that have more mature ways of reacting to bed time than John McCain does when it comes to that one in the White House.

  28. 28.

    divF

    @Elizabelle: Re: Tom Hanks column. A great and touching piece. I’m seeing it happen for another generation with my nephew as we put him through the Peralta community colleges (the ones just north of Chabot).

  31. 31.

    PsiFighter37

    The answer to any question about John McCain’s judgment is this: he picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate.

    Everyone can shut the fuck after that please, thank you very much.

  32. 32.

    Elizabelle

    @divF: The reader comments are wonderful.

    Lots of people who started at community college, loved the education they got there, went on to 4-year degrees and up. (And I think a lot of people need a few more years to buckle down to college work. It’s great to have an alternative. Wish we had a “gap” year in the US.)

    A very, very few people against the idea of free community college. The usual suspects, and they must not know much about college costs today.

  35. 35.

    Peale

    @Hungry Joe: I agree with someone above. The fact that ISIS is even thinking about hitting us is too much to bear. Plotting crosses the line, but we will hold Obambi accountable for not preventing thinking.

    Jeebus. I think henceforthwith, all attacks anywhere in the world should be signs of Obama’s failure.

  39. 39.

    Mike G

    Obama’s decision not to send more American troops to Iraq to thwart the Islamic State had put America at risk. “That attack you saw in Paris? You’ll see an attack in the United States,” Mr. McCain said.

    “How the fuck do more troops in Iraq stop an attack in the US? Hell if I know, but I’ve got a boner to send troops everywhere, so shut up.”

  42. 42.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Mike G: I think you’ve nailed it.

    Sending troops directly to fight ISIL/ISIS is more likely to result in an attack on US soil. This is how asymmetrical warfare works, after all.

  45. 45.

    Redshift

    This bit is pretty mystifying:

    “McCain now has the power either to destroy the president’s national security policy or shape it constructively,”

    Destroy the president’s national security policy? How, exactly? He can be a pain in the ass, like every other Republican committee chair. He can try to force the administration’s hand through the appropriations process, which is not actually very easy. Or… What?

    The Obama administration had been pretty successful at making Republicans who try to “destroy” them look like fools (assisted by the fact that they usually are folks.) What’s different here, except that the Beltway media have the bizarre idea that McCain is some kind of elder statesman?

  47. 47.

    catclub

    @Mike G: also, in 2009 we still DID have troops in Iraq, and ther was an attack at Ft Hood.

    Also, no Love for Don Rumsfeld. He is 82.

  50. 50.

    Redshift

    @Mike G: Sending ground troops somewhere in response to terrorist attacks worked out great before! Everybody thinks so; that’s why McCain won in a landslide in 2008!

  51. 51.

    catclub

    @Bobby Thomson: So they say being strong and forceful on foreign policy will prevent attacks.
    But we were attacked on 9/11/2001 when George Bush was president. I guess that means he was not strong and forceful on foreign policy. I will keep that in mind. Weak GOP presidents bring on attacks.

  52. 52.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Redshift:

    except that the Beltway media have the bizarre idea that McCain is some kind of elder statesman?

    The Villagers have a lot of bizarre ideas, this is just one of those that stands out because it is so incredibly stupid.

    Anyone who picks Sarah Palin, of all people, to be his running mate, has demonstrated that they are far, far too stupid to be allowed anywhere near the levers of power.

  53. 53.

    SatanicPanic

    @Cervantes: I didn’t know he wrote those songs. I thought “only the good die young” was Bob Seger or something- I don’t know classic rock all that well. HJ must have been talking about that one.

  55. 55.

    JPL

    @Elizabelle: NBC was streaming the last several hours. Staring at granite for hours, was quite exciting. NYTimes has an interactive with Dawn Wall which shows just how amazing the climb was. NBC is covering it now on network news.

  57. 57.

    Villago Delenda Est

    “McCain is planning hearings with Kissinger, 91, Scowcroft, 89, and Brzezinski, 86.”

    What? Can’t get any of the old China hands to rise from their graves to chime in on this?

  59. 59.

    raven

    @Cervantes: Seeger, Leanin on my Dream

    well I got up and turned off the tv set
    and to tell you I was feelin’ mean
    an I thought a while
    tryin to make some sense
    out of everything that I have seen

    I was addin’ the score when there’s a knock on the door
    was a letter addressed to me
    It read “greetings from the president, united states”
    I fell down on my knees

  61. 61.

    Mike E

    @Cervantes:
    Henry Kissinger
    How I’m missing yer
    You’re the Doctor of my dreams
    With your crinkly hair and your glassy stare
    And your machiavellian schemes
    I know they say that you are very vain
    And short and fat and pushy but at least you’re not insane
    Henry Kissinger
    How I’m missing yer
    And wishing you were here
    Henry Kissinger
    How I’m missing yer
    You’re so chubby and so neat
    With your funny clothes and your squishy nose
    You’re like a German parakeet
    All right so people say that you don’t care
    But you’ve got nicer legs than Hitler
    And bigger tits than Cher
    Henry Kissinger
    How I’m missing yer
    And wishing you were here

  67. 67.

    jl

    @Peale:

    ” I think henceforthwith, all attacks any thing whatever anywhere in the world should be signs of Obama’s failure. “

  70. 70.

    jl

    Let McCain have his hearings. I will worry when he starts calling people like Bolton. The younger RWNJs are the dangerous ones.

    Personally, I hope McCain decides to follow Mitt and run for president. Then the GOP primaries could a kind of reunion Olden GOP Goldies tour. Could have advertisements on late night TV selling CD ROMs by mail. It would be cool, and might draw in younger demo.

    Would be nice to have Bobdole too, but I think he is just a little too old, and even at his age, his wisecracks would go over the heads of the GOP primary voters and the media hacks. So, hate to say it, but Bobdole probably shouldn’t join in. And he’d be way too liberal.

  71. 71.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @raven: Who knows what FYWP finds objectionable? I think a mention of Dead or Alive would probably qualify.

    Or not…

  72. 72.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @jl:

    So, hate to say it, but Bobdole probably shouldn’t join in. And he’s bee way too liberal.

    Well, he agreed to be that fucking commie Ford’s running mate, so yeah, way too liberal.

  75. 75.

    jl

    @Hungry Joe:

    “That attack you saw in Paris? You’ll see an attack in the United States.”

    “That attack you saw in Oklahoma City? You’ll see an attack in the United States.”

    Horrible to say it, but the US would be lucky to only have attacks as bad as the recent one in Paris. Deranged nutjubs, usually white, usually kill and maim more in their nutjob mass shootings. But, those are just the price of (gun nut) freedom, right? Right.

  80. 80.

    pluege

    trying to reinvent himself from cantankerous Obama critic to elder statesman

    Ha! mccinsane hasn’t the personality or character to pull that off…or even want to.

  82. 82.

    Elizabelle

    @Mike E: Go geeks!

    NBC has a late afternoon pic of Yosemite, with the shadows lengthening. Beautiful. Love Yosemite.

    Wonder how long until the film about the free climbers will hit theatres? Did not realize they’d been planning and preparing for 7 years.

  85. 85.

    srv

    Talk about old men:

    10 years ago today, the pilot episode of Battlestar Galactica aired on the Sci-Fi channel—back before the Sci-Fi channel forgot how to spell its own name. The episode was called “33.” It wouldn’t be quite fair to call it the best pilot episode in the history of dramatic television; the show technically started 13 months earlier, with a two-part miniseries that introduced the universe of Battlestar Galactica, then basically destroyed that entire universe.

  86. 86.

    NotMax

    “The chair welcomes you and we are ready to hear your opening statement.”

    “What?”

    “The committee awaits your opening statement.”

    “What?”

    “THE COMMITTEE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO ORDER AND -.”

    “Thank you for asking. I’ll have tuna on whole wheat, hold the mayo.”

  93. 93.

    Cacti

    @jl:

    “That attack you saw in Paris? You’ll see an attack in the United States.”

    “That attack you saw in Oklahoma City? You’ll see an attack in the United States.”

    Horrible to say it, but the US would be lucky to only have attacks as bad as the recent one in Paris. Deranged nutjubs, usually white, usually kill and maim more in their nutjob mass shootings. But, those are just the price of (gun nut) freedom, right? Right.

    I mean, it’s not like we have mentally unstable citizens with access to private arsenals, who might go and let’s say, shoot up a movie theatre or a class full of kindergartners.

  94. 94.

    Tommy

    @Violet:

    Two words: Sarah Palin. No redemption for McCain. Ever.

    Amen to that. But his pick of Palin did do one “good” thing. As I’ve said a number of times my mother was in her late 60s. Life long Republican. Never voted for a Democrat in a Presidental election, and she voted in everyone. She is a pretty informed voter. Watches CNN daily (couldn’t pay her to watch Fox Noise). Reads the local paper daily as well. Gets Time and Newsweek (when it was still published — is there even a print edition these days?).

    Mom is a smart lady. Maybe the smartest person in my entire family of men. Once she was introduced to Palin she said to me, “Tommy that women is shit all stupid. She is an affront to smart women the worldwide.” I should note my mom cusses like once a decade so she was really mad about the whole things that Palin was remotely qualified to be VP, much less POTUS.

    She voted for Obama and hasn’t looked back on her party, at least in national elections. Voted for Obama last elelction as well.

    So McCain did do that “good” thing:)!

  98. 98.

    Mike in NC

    Caught an ad tonight about the latest attempt to make Palin a reality TV star. She gets a bow hunting lesson from Ted Nugent in the first episode.

    Picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue…

  100. 100.

    Sherparick

    @SatanicPanic: Satan can never die. He is immortal, although some day he will take on another form. As for ‘terrorist” events, McCain is confusing “correlation” with “causation.” ISIS is mostly focused on fighting Shia Muslims (or Shia splinter sects like the Alawites and Druze) and Kurds in Syria and Iraq. As for terrorist events, we have plenty of non-Muslim, white Christians who perpetrate them here like the Aurora shooting in 2012 that killed 12 and wounded 46 others (something that puts Paris to shame) or Sandy Hook (28 killed, one wounded). http://shootingtracker.com/wiki/Mass_Shootings_in_2014#cite_note-439

    By the way, someone should ask McCain how many American casualties would result from an Iraqi War III? McCain has indicated that he would have occupied Iraq for 100 years if he could.

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