The Real John McCain

This is a man who should not be President of the USA by Charlie Leck

Let me introduce you to the real John McCain. I am not going to write anything that I cannot in some sense document. Sometimes this documentation will be to columns and newspaper articles written by people whose truthfulness and accuracy I depend on and who seem to have documented everything they say.

(1) John McCain appears to be an incredible hot-head. He has a long history of losing his temper very easily. Even McCain concurs with this criticism and says he is “mellowing” in his golden years. One must seriously ask the inevitable question: Do we want a hot-head making dangerous, life-impacting decisions in the White House. We’ve had hot-heads before, that’s true. The question is still an important one and only one of many I am going to put forward to you here. I suggest you read this article by Libby Quaid, an Associated Press writer: Will McCain’s Temper be a Liability?

(2) Is the Environment issue important to you? The Sierra Club, only a few days ago, gave McCain a zero rating on environmental issues based on his votes in the Senate. Zero! Zed. You heard it right! You can read the story in AlterNet, an on-line newspaper that give one an alternative source of news – often news the newspapers are not willing to touch.

(3) How about McCain and special interests? The NY Times botched this important issue a month or so by mixing it with innuendo about sexual dalliances. Nevertheless, McCain’s campaign manager is a lobbyist and so are his top advisors. Read this story from Think Progress. It’s straight-forward and factual and it’s carefully documented and supported. Public Citizen, a government watchdog group, says there are 59 lobbyists raising funds for John McCain’s campaign. That’s far more than other candidates. You may also want to read this ABC News story about McCain’s lobbyist friends rallying around him when he needed them.

(4) A Woman’s right to choose is an important issue to me and I care about where candidates stand on this one. In South Carolina, during the campaigning, McCain told one of his audiences this: “I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.” McCain has also made it clear which way he’ll go on the appointment of Supreme Court Justices. Oh, my goodness. Here’s an MSNBC story that covers both of these subjects.

(5) Martin Luther King Day and other civil rights votes. McCain is trying to back away from this record now and says he’s changed his mind on a lot of these issues. Isn’t that convenient? However, the record stands and it isn’t a good one. Here’s an ABC News story on McCain and Martin Luther King Day. And, Color of Change presents a documentation of McCain’s voting record on civil rights issues.

(6) On torture, McCain claims opposition, but he voted against a ban on water boarding and applauded our president’s veto of the bill. Think Progress documents McCain’s votes on this issue.

(7) Children’s Health Care is a tough issue to oppose; yet the Children’s Defense Fund rates McCain the worst Senator in Congress on this issue. He both voted against the children’s health care bill in 2007 and defended Bush’s veto of it. You can go to the Children’s Defense Fund Web Site to see a score card that rates congressman and senators.

(8) How about the war issue? It appears that McCain will be every bit as hawkish as President Bush and he may be even more so. The conservative columnist and TV analyst, Pat Buchanan, says that “McCain will make Cheney look like Ghandi.” See the video here!  Bloomberg News, not exactly a conservative publication, says that McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Russia, China and Iraq. Read the Bloomberg News story!

(9) The Religious Right is making up with John McCain and they’re starting to chat again. Oh, boy! I’ve had enough of the religious right in American politics. These people are whacko indeed. I don’t want them making decisions for me or having decision making influence over our President. There are a host of stories about this courtship, but the best might be the following story from Think Progress on February 28:

“Yesterday, hard-line conservative Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel, endorsed John McCain. Hagee said that McCain “is a man of principle, [who] does not stand boldly on both sides of any issue.” McCain, who had been courting the endorsement for over a year, said that he was “very honored by Pastor John Hagee’s endorsement.

“Demonstrating how wildly out of the American religious and political mainstream Hagee’s views are, McCain’s acceptance of Hagee’s endorsement was condemned today by conservative William Donohue, president of the Catholic League. Calling Hagee a “bigot,” Donahue said the right-wing pastor has waged “an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church” by “calling it ‘The Great Whore,’ an ‘apostate church,’ the ‘anti-Christ,’ and a ‘false cult system.’”

“My friends,” as John McCain is constantly saying – constantly – “My friends,” I don’t want more of George W. Bush. That’s what this election is all about. A vote for John McCain is a vote to continue the political philosophy of the Bush administration – an administration whose approval rating in America is below 30% as I write this. It will be a vote to continue favoritism for America’s wealthiest people. Few know it, but John McCain is probably the wealthiest member of the current Senate – that’s true based on the enormous wealth of his wife, an heir of the Budweiser fortune (read this Associated Press story about her). Enough already of the super rich! They’ve got this country all screwed up.

It will be a horrible day in America if we put John McCain upon the throne.

(Many thanks to MoveOver.Org for inspiring this blog!)

The following was added to the blog on 9 April 2008 [6:18 a.m.]

NOTE ABOUT JOHN McCAIN from HOWARD DEAN

Howard Dean, head of the Democratic Party sent me this note today (9 April 2008) that provides even more evidence supporting the notion that John McCain should not be President. 

"John McCain is so wrong on Iraq, he can't even get the basic facts about the situation on the ground correct.

"Today, as he was questioning Gen. David Petraeus, he again confused the difference between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

"At least five times as a candidate John McCain has stated that Iran (a Shiite nation) is supporting Al-Qaeda (a Sunni group) in Iraq. This is not some minor mistake, but a significant gaffe. He clearly does not understand the sensitive political dynamics in that region of the world.

"What's worse is that he's done it at important times when you'd expect him to be at his best -- he did it today in the Senate while questioning the commander of American forces in Iraq, and he did it on a recent trip to the Middle East.

"If John McCain can't remember such a simple fact at crucial times, how will he be able to do it as President?

"Once is misspeaking -- five times is a dangerous lack of understanding. John McCain so badly misunderstands Iraq that he's content to stay there for 100 years, something he's said multiple times. He has also failed to explain how he would pay for a war that is now costing you and me $12 billion each month -- money we could be using to help our economy here at home.

"John McCain wants us to believe that his decades of foreign policy experience make him the natural choice to lead our nation at war with terrorists.

"We just can't afford someone who just doesn't understand Iraq -- it's too dangerous."

CHANGE THE SUBJECT

Thanks to my local newspaper, I found a new and very good blog this morning. It’s called CLOTHESLINEBLOG. It’s written by Susan Lenfestey and Barbara Miller. Their stuff is insightful and humorous when it needs to be. Lenfestey was published this morning in the Star-Tribune and her column was both witty and right-on. I suggest you take a look at it. She compares the Democrats to a dysfunctional family. Or, did she say the Democrats are a dysfunctional family? Something like that. She explains that we “manage to get along when push comes to shove.” Now, she tells us that there’s talk of intervention. “This bender is a long way from over,” she says. “Somebody pour me another drink.” You can read the entire column at the StarTribune web site.

CHANGE THE SUBJECT

Garrison Keillor wrote brilliantly again this week in THE OLD SCOUT column. He concluded his touching essay this way:

“What makes no sense at all is when the arrogant idiot expects us civilians to support his unprincipled policy as a way of ‘supporting our troops.’ The troops are not mercenaries, they are American soldiers in a long proud tradition going back to General Washington's Continental Army at Valley Forge, and what gives their mission dignity and meaning is that it comes from a constitutional government in which war is not a point of personal privilege but a matter to be openly debated, opposed, protested, reported. For the troops to fall into line is a noble thing; for civilians to fall into line is shameful.”

END

Forty Years Ago

Against our will comes wisdom by Charlie Leck

It was 40 years ago that Bobby Kennedy broke the news to the black people of Indianapolis that Martin Luther King had been shot and killed. Some contemporary historians call that speech one of the finest in the nation's history and rank it with the Gettysburg Address. It was a brilliant ad lib statement of our nation's remorse and loss. While most American cities erupted in violence on that night, Indianapolis remained peaceful and many attribute it to Kennedy's loving and ingenious speech. You can find the speech in many places, but I particularly love this video montage of it. Kennedy quoted Aeschylus on that evening by reciting the following:

"Even in our sleep,
pain, which cannot forget,
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until in our own great despair,
against our will, comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God"

A bit over two months later, Bobby Kennedy would be struck down by an assailant's bullet.

Hatred and distrust have gone on long enough in this nation. We, of the older generation, have not been able to gouge out this festering, infected and filthy wound. Our hope is in the hands and the hearts of the young, that they may see the foolishness of it, and the non-productiveness in it, and wash it away with civility and love.

END

An anonymous reader has commented that Robert Kennedy misquoted Aeschylus that evening and that the word "despair" should have been "despite."  Indeed! Scholars have wrestled with this and some believe that he purposefully misquoted the poem, believing his version was more suitable to the desperate evening. One must also give Kennedy some slack here for he was speaking without notes or manuscript, breaking tragic news to the gathered crowd. He paused a long time before the quotation and, in video clips, one can seem him struggling to remember the words. The reader's comment is not published here because it is the recommendation of the blog community that anonymous comments not be posted. [Chas Leck]

Comment: Chas, I don't think it was purposeful. Kennedy was struggling on that evening to remember the words exactly and he flinched here and there a bit. Thanks for the good blogs. I like the one on the UCC denomination. I'm going to pay a visit to one here in Boston. [Mark Hatter]

Building a Legacy

Keep an eye on what Bush is up to!
by Charlie Leck

George Bush is going harder and faster in the last couple of months than he went in his entire presidency before that. What’s going on? It’s called legacy building.

Here we have a president who is destined to go down in history as one of the three or four worst presidents of the nation; and, I think he knows it all right. So, as he moves into that last turn and approaches the home stretch, even though the entire rest of the field has crossed the finished line and is getting rubbed down and cooled out by handlers, George Double-U is going to turn on the jets and try to finish dead-last in a blaze of glory.

That’s what the sudden interest in a Middle East peace is all about. Where the hell was he on that issue for seven year? And, he’s now trying to rebuild NATO and he’s negotiating with Russia about allowing some of their old satellite nations into the organization. He wants to build anti-missile defense systems in Europe to repel weapons of mass destruction that might travel in from certain Arab states that he calls a part of the axis of evil. He’s spewing orders about getting New Orleans cleaned up and repaired pronto. How many years since that city was deluged? How many years have people been refugees?

Now, add to all of that the fence – the big-ass, 700 mile long fence that will divide us from Mexico. Don’t think this one through Double-U, making sure it’s the right thing to do! Don’t hold conversations with property owners along the way, and negotiate with them about what the fence will do to their properties, lives and pocketbooks! Don’t ask for a debate in Congress about the concept.

As Larry the Cable Guy says, “Just get ‘er done!” These ill-spoken, illiterate comedians stick together. Sorry, Larry, I don’t mean to lump you in with the President, because you’re much brighter than that. You are brilliant at what you do!

The fence might not be a dumb, stupid and insane idea. There’s an outside chance, anyway, that it’s not, but why hurry it now and try to get it done in the next six months.

George Bush just gets things done. That will be his legacy. Never mind that he didn’t consider diplomatic or foreign policy ramifications in the war he started or in the fence he built.

How I long for the old days when presidents and the legislative branch worked together on matters and made “considered and joint decisions.” I know! I know! It was a long, long time ago.

Let’s watch Double-U in these last few months. He’s got that funny look in his eyes again. If he can convince General Powell to be less than honest with us, you think he might have a chance with Chertoff?

Don’t blink! Keep an eye on him! Next thing you know he’ll be building a fence along the entire northern border, too – right through those big ole’ lakes and up and over those mountain tops.

Those fences, you know, are going to solve all our problems. Unemployment just rose to its highest level in many years and it looks like it is going to get worse. How many people can you put to work building the wall, afterall?

Jim Klobuchar Writes

Jim Klobuchar indeed writes, but not nearly enough!
by Charlie Leck

Jim Klobuchar is the father of Minnesota's U.S. Senator, Amy Klobuchar. Before retiring, he was a columnist for the Minneapolis newspaper. I eagerly jumped all over the newspaper to find and read Klobuchar's regular columns. Back then, he wrote with great wit and enormous insight. He's basically retired now, but he still writes with those qualities on his own blog, Jim Klobuchar writes.

For those of you old-timers out there, this is just a bit of notice that you can still read Jim Klobuchar. Let there be no secrets. This man is a progressive or, to use the old fashioned word, a real liberal. He posts something new about every two weeks (sometime a bit more often). It's very well worth your while to stop in at his blog occasionally to read his postings. I can't imagine you'll come away disappointed. In his latest piece he writes about what the seven years under "these imposters" have gotten us in America. Strong stuff! A few paragraphs from his blog follow:

"In the midst of all of this the Wall Street dropouts who have found a safe haven as economists in the Bush administration tell us the best way to avoid a Depression-style crash is to stop hamstringing the dynamic operation of the market with needless regulation.

"This is the market that has consigned 4 million homes to no-man's-land, dumped tens of  thousands of people out of work and driven thousands more into the street by happily engaging in fraud, manipulation, greed, and economic cannibalism.

"In the meantime  George Bush is traveling in Europe trying to recruit more  Eastern European clients to surround Russia with missile launchers.

"This is said to be in the interest of promoting world peace.  It comes from a president whose adventure in Iraq has killed more than 3,800 American service men and women and thousands of innocent Iraqis since he flew onto a carrier in full flight suit announcing the end of his save-the-world mission five years ago.

"So  here we are in an economic free fall, with the surviving Wall Street players cherry-picking the losers, and the natural question then is, if gas is at $3.30 and everybody in the industry denies making windfall profits, where is all the money going?"

Jim continues to get published in the CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR on occasion. In 1984 he was voted the nation's outstanding columnist by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. He's also written approximately twenty books.

Those of you who enjoy adventure travel should know that Jim is one of the KINGS in this field and takes groups on regular trips that sound extraordinary – but outside my own field of interest. They're for the rugged, outdoor types.

His 1970 book, True Hearts and Purple Heads, remains one of my all-time favorites and I carefully preserve and cherish my copy of it. Klobuchar was an extraordinary sports columnist when he was doing that – as good as the great Jim Murray – but he was wasting too much talent to stay in that field and we are fortunate that our newspaper expanded his duties.

It’s Not a Mystery

A Short Review: Playing for Pizza

by Charlie Leck

I told you within the last couple of weeks that I had read all of John Grisham’s twenty books. Turns out I hadn’t. I found out that a little novel he wrote in 2006, Playing for Pizza, had somehow escaped me. I saw it sitting in a bookstore and was rather surprised by it. I paid too much for it and took it home to read.

Right at the beginning, you must understand that this is not a mystery as 17 of his other novels are. That’s just a warning to mystery readers that they might not want to read this one.

Another warning to everyone else is that you probably won’t like this particular book if you’re not a fan of professional football. You probably will like it, however, if you are such a fan and if you also wouldn’t mind learning a great deal about Italy – especially Parma (the home of Parmesan Cheese).

The book’s only redeeming quality is that it does such a good job in describing Parma and some of Italy’s other small cities. I actually got hungry a few times while reading various sections of the book because Grisham does such a terrific job in describing some of the great dishes of Parma.

The character descriptions are strong in this work and nearly everyone was pretty likeable. Its weakness is the story itself. The plot is thin and the story is kind of sappy – though, I’ll say again, the die-hard football fan will probably like it.

Grisham, as those of you who read him know very well, is a story teller. He has a good imagination and a good sense of describing settings and places. He does all of that well in this little novel, but the problem is that it just isn’t that great a story.

Am I sorry I read it? Not at all! I’m just sorry I paid about twenty bucks for it. Whatever you do, don’t make the same mistake. Get it from your library. You can get through this one in just a lazy afternoon.

[Read a Washington Post review of Playing for Pizza]

Obama’s Church

Let me explain my denomination, the United Church of Christ! And, oh yes, and let me also introduce you to God!

A young blogger, on whom I try to keep tabs, recently opined that Barack Obama should have left his church. That was like a blow to the celiac plexus for me. Ooof!

Our denomination, the United Church of Christ (UCC), is not one which people leave. They come to it because they know of its openness to all points of view and ideas. They know that, within our congregations, one can talk of the ascension of Christ or about gay marriage; and on those subjects one can articulate whatever opinion one cares to offer and that expression will not be met with ridicule, but with open, honest and constructive discussion.

We are a historic, old player in the protestant movement. We were the separatists in 16th century England that withstood enormous ridicule and physical abuse from the Crown. We fled to the Netherlands and gathered there to plan our futures. We traveled to America aboard the good ship Mayflower and settled the Plymouth Colony on the Massachusetts shores of the Atlantic Ocean. More of our company followed in other ships over the next several decades. We had more than 600 congregations in America before 1776. Eleven of those who signed the Declaration of Independence were members of one or another of those congregations. We founded some of America’s finest and most famous universities and colleges; such as Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, Middlebury College and Oberlin College, to name just a few. (Oberlin, by the way, was the first college in America to award 4-year degrees to women!)

Our congregations were among the earliest of America’s abolitionists. “We were the first main-line denomination to ordain an African-American (1785), a woman (1853) and an openly gay pastor (1972).”

We advertise proudly that our doors, like Christ’s arms, are open to everyone. Color, gender and sexual inclinations have never been a barrier to acceptance in our congregations.

Our common denominator is an allegiance to the teachings and message of Jesus Christ and even that is open to various interpretations and to plenty of discussion.

Shortly after all the negative publicity that stemmed from Barack Obama’s own church, Trinity United Church of Christ of Chicago, our denomination released a statement showing how much it hurt to be criticized so much.

“Much has been said about the United Church of Christ in recent weeks, much of it hurtful for many in our country, including members of Trinity UCC in Chicago. That is why we are eager to share the broad and diverse story of the UCC, one that we celebrate.

“With all Christians, we rest in God’s amazing grace and God’s voice in the words of Scripture. Yet, the UCC is unique to some because we do not require uniformity of belief. We are a church of open ideas, extravagant welcome and evangelical courage. Our passion for democracy extends to both government and church, where decision-making rests within each congregation. We support liberty in our pulpits, just as we affirm the individual conscience of our 1.2-million members to agree, disagree and wrestle with life’s biggest questions in the spirit of love.

“…Our unity is not dependent upon uniform agreement, but in our shared allegiance to Jesus Christ. Ours is a risk-taking church, because ours is a risk-taking God.”

Our denomination believes deeply that God did not stop talking to us when it was finally decided which groups of writings would make up the official book we call the Bible. God is still speaking. We not only believe that, but we are trying to hear God and understand what message is being expressed to us.

In our struggles to discuss, debate and question, we make mistakes. We grow in faith as a result of those mistakes. We move closer and closer to hearing what God is saying to us today.

I’ve written a number of times about how important this denomination is to me. I grew up in it and was cared for and nurtured by it. In it I discovered there is a real and present God who I can experience and introduce to other people.

I was taught in Sunday School classes by a group of the most loving and caring old ladies that one could ever imagine – ever imagine, that is, their oldness and their love and care. Then, they were about the age I am now. Old Mrs. Beiser explained it all to me one Sunday morning. She told me who God is and I remember being startled by what she said; however, from that day to this it has always made crystal clear sense and I have never lost faith in the utter truth of what she taught me.

“God is love!” That’s what she said. And she pointed to the spot in the Bible where it said that and where it told me how, in the simplest possible language, I could know and relate to that God.

In my more mature years I would hear it said in more distinguished, erudite ways by philosophers and theologians. God is known in our relationship to another being. God is known as a part of an extraordinary triangle – one’s self, of course, and another being and then, and only then, God.

“If you want to experience God,” Mrs. Beiser said so wisely, her finger jabbing down at her open and well worn Bible, “you have to love all God’s children.”

“It’s not a great mystery,” she went on, “and it’s not magic or voo-doo. It’s simple as apple pie. If you don’t love, you can’t know God. If you do love, you know God because God is that love.”

To this day, I’ve never made it more complicated than that. That personal knowledge of God tells me what I must do. Justice! Fairness! Assistance! Compassion!

I love Pastor Jeremiah Wright and not in some condescending, patronizing way. I love him because he is a fellow journeyman with me, struggling to know what it is that love commands us to do. God is not complicated, but God’s will for us sometimes is. Pastor Wright’s sermons showed the enormity of that struggle, but, I'm here to tell you, he was rastlin’ with it.

I remember one of Martin Luther King’s last sermons. He was struggling mightily. The way wasn’t always clear to him. Sometimes he failed to do what God’s love would have had him do.

“Just like you,” he shouted out in this sermon, “I am a sinner!”

He paused for what seemed like a long several seconds and then, with a tear on his cheek, he continued, his voice cracking and the words in a whisper:

“But I want to be a good man, and I’m tryin’ so hard.”

That’s what it is for us in our denomination. We’re just tryin’ ever so hard to understand what it means to love. The answer is not always clear. We fumble around sometimes with the wrong words comin’ out. We keep tryin’ to understand what it is that God is sayin’ to us today.

I’m proud to be a member of the United Church of Christ. I’m proud of Trinity UCC in Chicago for all they do to express God’s love. I’ve been in that church more than once and I know what they do and what they mean to their community. I’m also proud of Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor of that church, ‘cause I know he’s a lovin’ and kind man.

END

Visit the web site of the United Church of Christ

If you do visit this web site, be sure to watch the video clip that shows a portion of Bill Moyers address to our national convention. Moyers is a UCC member.

Ashwin Madia

For the House of Representatives

from Minnesota’s 3^rd Congressional District

by Charlie Leck

The 3^rd Congressional District in Minnesota is rich, Republican territory. It’s a tough place for a Democrat to run for Congress. Two good, progressive candidates worked their way to the fore this year and it was difficult to choose one over the other.

Little things make the difference in such a decision. I was sitting at my desk one afternoon in early March. The phone rang. I was reading a mighty fine book and didn’t feel like picking up the call; however, I slid the book aside and reached out and grabbed the receiver and punched the talk button.

“Yup,” I said.

“Hello,” came back the reply in a thin, elevated, crisp tone. “I’m Ashwin Madia and I’m running for Congress in your district. Have you time to chat?”

I’d just been reading about Madia the night before. He sounded like an intriguing guy. Everything said I should be supporting Terry Bonhoff, another announced candidate, because she had worked her way up and proved her party loyalty and had stripes she’d earned. My question was about her toughness and her ability to sway some Republicans over to her side. It’ll take that in order for a Democrat to win. I know this district really well. I know the people. I play golf with many of them and listen to them in the bar afterwards. They’re nowhere near being progressives. Most of them are far to the right of John McCain.  Some of them are right of Genghis Khan.

Ashwin Madia sounded bright to me in our little conversation. He also sounded tough – like a fighter who didn’t like to lose. He also seemed to have a bit of a silver tongue. Bonhoff kind of rages and shouts.

“You’ve got me,” I told him. “I’ll support you.”

I’d never done that before, but this kid was convincing. Arrived in America, from India, as just a wee lad and settled with his parents in the middle class suburb of Plymouth. He likes to explain that his parents had 19 bucks in cash “and a dream that America would provide opportunities for their children.”

I wanted to pop his bubble a little bit and ask how much they had in stocks and bonds. It seemed a bit brash and not very funny.

He graduated from one of the suburban high schools and went to the University of Minnesota and then on to law school at New York University. He did a stint in the U.S. Marines. Now he’s practicing law. I often wonder when lawyers stop practicing and start doing it for real.

“How much?”

“How much what?”

“How much are you going to support me?”

We settled on a number –half  now and the other half if he gets the nomination. It’s more than I usually give, but he sounds like a winner.

A few days later I heard him rev up a crowd. He cranked them up pretty good. The place was loaded with kids in their early twenties. They controlled the place and he had them hooked pretty good.

He finally worked his way over to my table and said hello.

“Thanks for the support.”

“You can’t win out here, you know!”

He winked at me and flashed a smile as wide as his face – a good, white, flamboyant, strong smile.

“Double up if I do?”

I stood quietly. He’d called my bluff. I thought he just might pull it off, so I kept my mouth closed.

His eyes sparkled at me. He knew we’d play a game of chicken and he had won it! This could be a guy to watch. Keep your eyes on him.