blog.caleval

McCain determined to exceed Bush Crown

At the outset of the U.S. election I wrote that the United States and the world could rest content with either candidate’s victory in November. I believed that McCain was a man of sense, duty and integrity and I was particularly impressed with his willingness to stand on a stage with fellow primary contenders and alone assert he would never allow torture of any kind.

Oh, but what an election can do to people.

I had a dream where McCain was debating Obama. McCain had just finished answering some question with assertions about his love of country and self-sacrifice. Obama turns to him and says, “I knew John McCain. John McCain worked with me in the Senate. You sir, are no John McCain.”

The John McCain running for president is not the John McCain who filled the world with inspiration and courage.

Instead it seems this McCain is determined to exceed the Bush crown for buffoonery before he even sits himself on the throne. George took at least a little time before exposing his office and the U.S. government to global ridicule. John is not waiting at all.

First he distanced himself from championing human rights by turning his previously clear position into muddy waters of Guantanamo-speak.

Then he began persistent anti-intellectual references, obviously believing most U.S. citizens think it dirty or wrong to be intelligent.

He then engaged in multiple interviews of the following form:

Q: “What’s your economic policy?”
McCain: “I know about tough times. I served five years in a prisoner of war camp.”

Q: “How do you propose to handle social security?”
McCain: “I know a little something about making ends meet. Prisoner of war. Tortured you know.”

Q:Will your policy ensure everyone has access to health care?
McCain: “Prison camp. Tortured.”

Q: When will you hold your next news conference?
McCain: “Prisoner.”

Then he selected a running mate who thinks the two words “and also” constitute a complete thought.

Now he’s gone completely off the reservation, calling imaging equipment for a planetarium “an overhead projector.”

See http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/pressroom/pr/2008_10_08_AdlerStatement_aboutdebate.pdf

Research into the DNA of bears may have been a fair target for a conservative since such research will only be of value in managing wildlife responsibilities. But to attack everything connected to science and scientific research reveals either the McCain campaign is truly out of touch with the majority of U.S. citizens or that U.S. citizens really do hate smart people and “smart things,” that the label of “elitism” is a useful tool because the people do not see themselves either as intelligent or as gaining anything from the exercise of the intelligence of others.

What a sorry world we would live in but for the monumental achievements of elitists like Einstein, Edison, Ford, Bell, Armstrong and legions of others. Without the elitist brilliance of U.S. citizens past and present, every one of us would be much, much worse off.

That McCain and Palin want to actively feed into this sorry antagonism toward “elitists” would be laughable but for the fact that regardless the outcome in November, these two creatures will continue to be counted among the most influential leaders of the United States political establishment.

And also.