How President McCain Might Have Handled Iran

Days like today are one reason I supported the no-nonsense war hero John McCain over Barack Obama.

After the presidential election in Iran was apparently stolen, thousands of protesters took to the streets. Instead of the United States boldly supporting the cause of liberty, and defending dissidents, President Obama meekly said, "It's not productive given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations to be seen as meddling."

That -- of course -- was not a great moment in leadership.


President John F. Kennedy did not say we would "bear any burden -- so long as we don't interfere." Nor can one imagine Winston Churchill saying, "We will fight on the land -- so long as we don't meddle." Nor can one imagine Ronald Reagan saying "Tear down this wall! -- if you're cool with it..."


If the strongest nation in the free world is not willing to take a stand and at least provide moral support for those willing to risk their lives for liberty, the America I know is long gone. While it is understandable for Obama to not invade a nation over this injustice, it is quite another thing to not even bother to forcefully condemn it. Having a humble foreign policy does not preclude one from moral clarity.


Meanwhile, Republican House Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) released a statement calling on Obama to "take a strong public position in the face of violence and human rights abuses." Cantor added that the United States has a "moral responsibility to lead in opposition to Iran's extreme response to peaceful protests." Cantor's full remarks are here.


We'll never know what President McCain would have said, but it's pretty safe to say that he would have taken a forceful stand -- once again positioning America as a beacon of freedom and the last, best hope on Earth.


Instead, we risk becoming a cynical nation that makes decisions based on perceived short-term diplomatic gain.


That's not change I can believe in.



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Obama will gain from honoring McCain

By James Forsyth

In a classy gesture, Barack Obama is holding an inaugural eve dinner to honour John McCain. (There are other dinners that night for Colin Powell and Joe Biden). But it is also smart politics, as it costs Obama little and gains much.

McCain is a genuine American hero and the evening will be seen, and is presumably intended to be seen, as a sign that Obama is moving from being the candidate of one party to the president of the whole country. McCain isn’t going to run for president again and his support for various initiatives—think immigratio reform and climate change legislation—would give them a pleasing bi-partisan sheen.

The dinner will make Obama’s administration appear bi-partisan without actually having to compromise on policy.

The soft-focus side of bi-partisanship is something that Obama has excelled at throughout his career. His 2004 convention address, which put such rocket boosters under his rise, was an exercise in it. Now, that he is the president we can expect much more of it. I suspect that, for example, the meetings with all previous Secretaries of State and Defense that the Bush administration instituted in its second term will become major events. Last week’s lunch for all living presidents was, after all, the idea of Obama’s chief of staff.

The conspicuous appearance of bipartisanship will make it harder for those within the Republican Party who argue that the party shouldn’t cooperate with the incoming presiden on the grounds that it should want clean hands if everything goes wrong.

McCain, who will be keen to restore his image as a bi-partisan figure after the election campaign, will be in the cooperation camp. It is to Obama’s benefit to boost his standing and isolate those who are reluctant to work with him.

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What if John McCain had been elected president?

Before we throw Barack Obama under the bus for giving a prominent role to a conservative pastor, let’s imagine the reaction if things were reversed.

By Chris Crain

What if John McCain had been elected president? I know the idea is a bit of a throwback, considering the shellacking the Arizona septuagenarian got from the Illinois senator with the funny name. But just imagine for a minute.

Conservatives would be gleeful, Sarah Palin would be on cable news 24-7 (actually, that happened anyway), and President-elect McCain would be planning his inauguration. Then imagine, in a conciliatory gesture toward Obama supporters, McCain selects Gene Robinson, the openly gay Episcopal bishop, to give the invocation. In a nod to his own supporters, he chooses the evangelical leader Rick Warren to give the benediction.

We know what the response would be. The Republican right would be furious: What a kick in the teeth from McCain to choose a minister whose elevation was an indictment of their core religious beliefs, and who advocates the destruction of traditional marriage and the murder of millions of aborted fetuses!

Gay rights groups and bloggers, still reeling from Obama’s unexpected defeat, would be cheered by McCain’s unexpected and courageous attempt at reconciliation. Press releases from progressives would defend McCain against charges of betrayal, chastising conservatives for their intolerance and their insistence on dividing, not unifying. Besides, they would point out, the benediction will come from Rick Warren, who opposes gay marriage and supported Proposition 8 in California.

You see where I’m going here? We know that, happily for us, history unfolded in opposite fashion, and Barack Obama chose Rick Warren to give his inaugural invocation, and civil rights hero Joseph Lowery, who supports full marriage equality, to say the benediction.

Yet the response from many gay bloggers and rights groups has been every bit as reactionary and intolerant as the Republican right would have been toward Robinson. Aren’t we better than that?

Can’t we see how any meaningful attempt by President-elect Obama to unify the country must include McCain voters, including the 31 million who bought Warren’s best-seller “The Purpose-Driven Life,” and the additional millions who agree with gay marriage opposition?

Can’t we keep our eyes on the prize? This inauguration will install the most pro-gay president, by far, in the history of this country. If reaching out to conservatives buys Obama some additional political capital, that is to our great benefit.

Aren’t we the ones who have argued till we are blue in the face for the separation of church and state? It’s always been a core part of our movement to oppose any attempt by one set of Americans to demand their religious views receive official favor, or that those with contrary views be excluded.

And yet here we are, basically demanding the president-elect remove one minister from his role in a public ceremony because of his religious beliefs and replace him with one whose beliefs we find more acceptable. Are we proving we are no better, when we have access to power, than our conservative opponents?

The misuse of public ceremonies to show official favor for one group over another runs afoul of the First Amendment’s “establishment clause,” which prohibits the establishment of an official religion, or from sending signals that some faith groups or views are preferred over others by government.

That’s why the courts won’t permit sectarian prayers in public schools, and why we no longer have manger scenes at Christmas time in front of city hall. That’s also why Roy Moore, the virulently anti-gay chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, was booted from office after he insisted on a Ten Commandments monument in the courthouse rotunda.

To be fair, it is partly Obama and Warren’s fault that church and state are entangled here. The president-elect’s decision to include inaugural prayers at all, while noncontroversial and in keeping with tradition, opened the door to this debate. What’s more, marriage as an institution is a conflation of church and state, “vesting power” in ministers to officiate at a religious ceremony with civil legal effect.

Warren makes matters worse by basing his opposition to gay marriage and support for Proposition 8 on his own religious beliefs about homosexuality. If you think about it, exclusionary marriage laws are also contrary to the First Amendment, since the primary intent -- repeated by politicians and pastors alike – is to preserve “the sanctity of marriage.” The government ought not be choosing which faith group’s views about marriage will be enshrined in the law or excluded from public ceremonies.

Those of us so exorcised by the idea of Warren saying a two-minute prayer would be much better served by arguing for church-state separation, in marriage laws and public ceremonies, than by demanding the president-elect show favor to friendlier religious beliefs.

Chris Crain is former editor of the Washington Blade and five other gay publications and now edits GayNewsWatch.com. He can be reached via his blog at www.citizencrain.com


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Presidential Pooch Bites Reporter

By BEN FELLER, AP

Talk about a biting critique of the press.



It seems President Bush's dog Barney wasn't much in the mood for friendly attention during his walk outside the White House on Thursday. So when Reuters reporter Jon Decker reached down to pet the Scottish terrier, the seemingly docile dog snapped at him and bit Decker's right index finger.

Barney won't have to worry about bothersome reporters much longer. The Bush administration ends in 75 days, and the president is headed back to Texas.

Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for first lady Laura Bush, said of Barney: "I think it was his way of saying he was done with the paparazzi."

Mrs. Bush asked McDonough to call Decker and make sure he was fine. She reports that Decker "is being a good sport about it all."

The intrepid reporter got bandaged up by the White House doctor.
As he says in the YouTube clip: "I got bit by Barney, and unfortunately it broke the skin, and I have to be on antibiotics for the next few days."

Consider it a cautionary tale. The incoming president, Barack Obama, has promised to buy daughters Malia and Sasha a puppy.

Sarah Palin 2012 Website: http://sarahpalinusa.blogspot.com

McCain starts mapping out a new role in the Senate

Before resting from the grueling presidential race, John McCain began discussing with senior aides what role he will play in the Senate now that he has promised to work with the man who defeated him for president. One obvious focus will be the war in Iraq. After two years spent more on the campaign than in the Senate, McCain will return as the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee.



That will put the four-term Arizona senator in a position to influence Democrat Barack Obama's plan to set a timetable to withdraw U.S. troops from combat in Iraq.

During the campaign, McCain staunchly opposed setting such a time frame, even as the Iraqi government began working with the Bush administration to do so.

But in conceding the presidency to Obama Tuesday night at a Phoenix hotel, McCain pledged "to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face."

He allowed that defeat was disappointing but said that starting Wednesday "we must move beyond it and work together to get our country moving again."

Aides said they believed McCain would work well with Obama as president because much of his best work in the Senate had been done with Democrats, including a landmark campaign finance law he crafted with Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold and an unsuccessful effort with Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

The day after Election Day quickly returned McCain to something much closer to normal life. After months of travel on his campaign bus or plane, McCain and his wife, Cindy, drove themselves to Starbucks for coffee near their Phoenix condominium.

McCain and his family planned to spend a few days at their vacation compound near Sedona, Ariz., to rest from the long contest.

Friends said that despite his disappointment, McCain also was relieved that the demanding campaign was finally over. Aides said he was relaxed Tuesday night — at peace with his loss and confident that he had done his best in a political climate where a failing economy, an unpopular GOP president and two lingering wars set steep odds against a Republican victory.

"We fought as hard as we could. And though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours," McCain told supporters Tuesday night. "I don't know what more we could have done to try to win this election. I'll leave that to others to determine."

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What Does El Rusbo's Gut Say?

Let's hear what Rush has to say:

RUSH: Now, Mr. Snerdley mentioned to me at the top of the break, he said, "I don't understand, Rush. You wouldn't believe the phone calls."

They're people who don't want to go on the air, Democrat, liberal voters are calling and gloating, and they're saying, "Boy, Rush, we love listening to you now. We just love it 'cause we know our guy's got it in the bag. It's over with, and I don't care what Rush says. It doesn't bother me. I'm at peace. I'm in a state of calm." You had a couple calls like that, right? And of course they think this because they were watching television, and it's in the bag. We've got a Pew poll out today has it 53-38 Obama. We have a Rasmussen poll out, three points. We got a Gallup poll, two points. We have the IDB/TIPP poll at 2.8 or some such thing. Zogby, their numbers today, are a little under five. They're call it "static"; the race is static. AP most recent AP poll is two points. But you still have ABC/Washington Post up there at 15 and the Newsweek poll they're still pretty large. They're all over the place.

Snerdley says, "Look, I know how to watch TV. You have taught me well, and I'm convinced, Rush. It's over. It's over. I mean, I look at their electoral maps, and I look at the whole thing and every state's blue! I don't see McCain winning but two or three electoral votes, two or three states. That's what they're showing me on TV." (sigh) You know, folks, people ask me all the time. "What do you think is going to happen?" and I don't know. And this is the first time in a lot of elections that my gut's not telling me anything, either. Now, normally I get instincts. Normally my gut says, "Go against the conventional wisdom." That's pretty normal for me. Normally my gut says, I think I know what's going to happen. When I have that gut instinct, then I pass it on.

I'm confused. My gut does not tell me anything here. The most honest thing you can tell you is, "I have no idea what's going to happen," but at the same time my gut does not say big-time Obama landslide. My gut also doesn't say a McCain surprise win. I just have no feeling for this, because it is way too far off the board. And there are other factors, too. We've been through them. I think the reason my gut is not giving me any guidance, as it were, is that I do believe this election is a referendum on Obama, up or down, and I don't know how that's going to play out. You know, I don't know how many people are actually going to vote for McCain because they're voting for McCain or voting for Palin, as to how many are voting against Obama. That's why I think my gut here is silent on this.

But I will tell you, I do have some gut human reactions. And I do have a traditional, highly respected view of the people of this country. Despite the devolution of pop culture and despite the rise of a lack of thinking and applied thought in our culture, having given way to a swarm of people who simply feel -- and I don't know how large either group is. I don't know which one's the majority, thinkers or feelers. I just don't know. But my traditional belief of the country tells me that average, ordinary Americans watch what's happening with the media in the coverage of this campaign and resent the hell out of it. The American people love fair, right? You can say what you want about the media, bias and all that. This is not even fair, and they expect fairness from the media.

Objectivity and all that, yeah, but they expect fairness. If you're going to go after people, go after everybody. I mean you've got two people here asking for the most power we ever give people, and they're only going after one. They're not investigating the other guy. I think most Americans think "fairness," which to me is an elusive concept anyway, but still most Americans have it, and this is not fair. I think most people know it. I think most people also are offended by anybody who gloats and is arrogant and is acting as though they've won, whatever it is, before it's over. I can't tell you the number of times I have watched a baseball or football game with people and one team's got a player or two that go up a touchdown with three minutes left to go, after coming back from being down two or three touchdowns.

The guy that scored the touchdown starts gloating and starts taunting other people, and the people watch that and say, "I hope that team loses." They don't like that kind of behavior being rewarded. They love people getting comeuppances. They love people who think they have it in the bag, finding out they didn't even have the bag, much less were they in it. Obama with his speeches in Berlin and running around the media and everybody acting like this is all over, and this 30-minute inaugural address tonight? I don't think it has anything to do with delaying the World Series. I just think, "Okay, Obama. We see. It's a little overkill here," a little backlash to the media, a little backlash to Obama, the arrogance and smugness of Obama.

Now, I still think that there are enough Americans that are repulsed by this that it can affect the way they vote. But other than that -- and I also really do not believe, and this is where I could be dead wrong; we're going to find out next Tuesday. I do not believe that a majority of voters -- not a majority of people in the country, that's a different equation. But I don't believe yet that a majority of voters are ready to give away their freedom. I don't believe that a majority of voters are ready to turn over the keys of this country to somebody about whom they don't know anything, about somebody who will not tell them anything about himself. I just don't believe there are people in this country -- a majority of voters in this country -- who are going to sign up for making The Government the most important aspect of their lives. We'll find out Tuesday.


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Republican Bumper Stickers

Here are some new bumper stickers that are making the rounds. Please print them out and circulate. There is not much time left.




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