This is absolutely infuriating to me. Consider this the pathetic coda to McCain's ridiculous rant following Rand Paul's filibuster last spring. McCain also referred to Rand Paul and those senators who stood with him (including Ted Cruz) as "wacko birds."
For myself, I'm not embarrassed that I voted for McCain in 2008. I'm a Republican and he was the party's nominee and that's how I roll. But it would be accurate to say that I'm disappointed that my party nominated him in the first place and that my first-ever vote in a presidential election had to be cast for this asshole. The GOP must do better!
Over at Hot Air, Allahpundit cheerfully acknowledges that he's fairly RINO-ish by most Conservative standards, but even he's had enough of McCain's bullshit.
That headline is Justin Amash's joke, not mine, but it's not much of an exaggeration. This is, essentially, the Democratic response: ObamaCare was duly passed, it was an issue in a presidential campaign that the GOP lost, end of story - whether or not there are 51 or even 60 votes in the Senate to defund this thing. He actually used the phrase "elections have consequences," which must be the first time a member of the *minority* party has ever tossed that into a debate. Like Ramesh Ponnuru says, weren't Ted Cruz and Mike Lee elected too?
Watching this was the first time I felt that he might be serious about retiring in 2016. The reaction to it on Twitter among righties, even those who have criticized Cruz for his "defund" strategy, was more uniformly, stridently negative than the response to any other display of maverick-iness in recent memory. And understandably so: There's no reason for McCain to go out and carry Obama's and Reid's water on this except his own antipathy to Cruz, Paul, and the other "wacko birds." It's not merely the betrayal, it's the pettiness of it. More so than even Mitch McConnell or Boehner, I think he's become public enemy number one among Republicans for tea partiers. He'll have a ferocious primary challenge in three years, and if he intends to defeat it, at some point he’ll have to start making nice with the Cruz/Paul contingent. I think he’d rather quit and enjoy the rest of his term sticking thumbs in their eyes.
"Elections have consequences" was only half the speech, though. The other half has Maverick in high dudgeon over Cruz wondering yesterday whether the opponents of his "defund" strategy would have also, ahem, stood up to Hitler. Given how many interventionists there are on the other side of him on this issue, I'm…reasonably sure that most would have. It's a lame Godwinian flourish, although RINO-haters no doubt will consider the comparison insulting to Neville Chamberlain, if anything. But seriously: After more than 21 hours of Cruz talking about ObamaCare, the key part of his speech that McCain feels obliged to put front and center with America watching is…a throwaway line about Nazi appeasers? This is what Maverick decided he needed to do with his precious moments on the floor and his credibility as a so-called "reasonable Republican?" Retirement can't come too soon.Amen to that! I agree that McCain knows he's all done and will take the rest of his time in office to go on the mother of all RINO rampages against his GOP colleagues and the grassroots Conservatives they represent. So, with that in mind, I'm declaring my own private war against him.
My opening salvo against him deals with the disingenuous tactic of throwing McCain's military service - especially the torture he endured as a POW in the Vietnam War - in the face of anybody who dares criticize him. He definitely deserves all due respect for his service and the suffering he experienced because of it. But as I said to somebody on Twitter last night, it doesn't give him - or anybody, for that matter - a lifetime free pass from criticism. It's an absurd and insulting premise, not to mention a total cop out.
It's also a tactic designed to stop the conversation, in the same way that liberals employ false accusations of "racism" in order to delegitimize a person's position and, thus, halt the debate.
McCain is a U.S. Senator and has been for a long time. He's been our party's nominee for president. He's been in the public arena and been heavily involved in legislating our lives. Not only does he not deserve to be above criticism but it would be absolutely un-American to place him or anybody else on that kind of pedestal, especially while they are still actively involved in crafting public policy.
When you watch the clips of McCain's response to Rand Paul back in March and Ted Cruz earlier today (less than an hour after Cruz finished), it's really remarkable the amount of hostility he displays, both in his words and his delivery. And this is a so-called "Republican" going after a member of his own party! I can't remember ever witnessing a similarly hostile response offered up by McCain in opposition to a Democrat. Not even when he was running for president!
With regards to Cruz's remark about appeasing Nazis I would like to point out a couple of things. Was it an example of Godwin's Law? Perhaps. But if so, it's no worse than the similar comparison to appeasers that warmongers like McCain himself are in the habit of using when describing people like Rand Paul as "isolationists." And, of course, other words - like "anarchists" and "arsonists" - have been repeatedly used by Democrats. And not just any Democrats but their respective leaders in the Senate and the House. So to hell with civility!
But since I'm feuding with McCain now, I no longer give a damn who gets offended. To those who think that McCain should be above criticism simply because he's a combat veteran I would ask this question: How far does that go? After all, John Kerry was a decorated combat veteran as well. It doesn't make him any less of a scumbag. Do we excuse a mass murderer because he served his country once upon a time? If you think so, then let me tell you the story of another decorated combat veteran who exploited that status for political purposes...
