Meghan McCain's Sneering Contempt

That was my first reaction when I saw this brief video, and my goodness the look on her face is shocking. She's an angry old woman (as someone snarked on Twitter at the time), and she's not even old yet. Bitter and angry.

"The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great," Meghan McCain says to applause at her father's memorial. https://t.co/2YcKzM6pnb pic.twitter.com/TF5Yovu6eK

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 1, 2018

Damn, the sneering contempt on her face. Damn.

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 1, 2018

'It does not behoove us to celebrate defeat and losers are not generally regarded as heroes in politics. John McCain was a loser, and the particular way he went about losing deserves to be studied as an example of what not to do in politics...'

John McCain was Robert Stacy McCain's very distant cousin, and those who've been reading the Other McCain for years probably remember some of the latter's musings on the "crazy" Arizona senator from time to time.

But with his passing it behooves us to take a a fresh and critical look at the "Maverick's" political legacy. Why, for example, is the grief and outpouring so profound among leftists, who during the campaign in 2008 demonized Senator McCain as a racist warmonger?

Well, check the long and compelling entry at the Other McCain, "Every Liberal’s Favorite Republican, and the Problem With ‘Bipartisan Reform’."

All that is necessary for any Republican to win praise from the liberal media is for him to endorse their negative opinion of the GOP, and this is how John McCain became every liberal’s favorite Republican.

This is not how winners play the game. Nor can the kind of “bipartisan reform” agenda with which John McCain made his name synonymous ever do anything to help elect Republicans. There are three basic problems with “bipartisan reform,” first, that GOP officials who support such efforts are always doing so to curry favor with the liberal media; second, that these “reform” schemes always have the political effect of alienating the Republican Party’s conservative grassroots; and third, that Democrats will never support any “reform” unless they believe it will help them win elections (and thus obtain greater power) in the future...

RTWT.

John McCain, Faith of My Fathers

At Amazon, John McCain, Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir.

John McCain, The Restless Wave

At Amazon, John McCain, The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations.

John McCain, 'Maverick' War Hero, Senator, and Presidential Candidate, Dies at 81

By now you've heard the sad news.

I never met John McCain, but during the 2008 presidential campaign, he was my personal hero. My longtime blog readers will know why. "American Power" was among the very first of conservative blogw to come out in support of McCain's bid for the GOP nomination in 2007. That's when I basically went into full-time politics blog mode, and when McCain won the nomination I felt a sense of euphoria and accomplishment. I hope in some small way that I contributed to his success. That, of course, can't be said of the general election campaign in 2008. When the Kenyan interloper won the election I was in a funk not unlike the one that afflicted leftists after Shrillary's loss in 2016. I know the feeling.

In any case, at the New York Times, via Memorandum, "John McCain, War Hero, Senator, Presidential Contender, Dies at 81," and "John McCain to Lie in State at Capitols in Washington and Arizona."

And do read Mark Barabak's excellent obituary, at the Los Angeles Times:

He was described (and described himself) as a charmer, a wise guy, an underachiever, a warrior, a hero, a coward, a straight-talker, a shape-shifter and, perhaps more than any label, a maverick. John McCain dead at age 81. https://t.co/GEnDLAB80F

— Mark Z. Barabak (@markzbarabak) August 26, 2018

I’ve covered a lot of campaigns, but some of my best memories go back to 2000 and John McCain’s first run for president. Riding on the Straight Talk Express was unlike anything I’ve experienced, before or since…1/

— Mark Z. Barabak (@markzbarabak) August 24, 2018

'John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls'

I watched TV all day yesterday, which is unusual for me, since I don't watch that much TV, except for baseball. I recalled that HBO plays the entire 10-part "Band of Brothers" series on Memorial Day, and I tuned in around 9:00am. And once I got going, I couldn't stop watching. I love that show. I love it more than just about anything else ever made.

After it was over on the West Coast, I clicked over to the main HBO channel and caught the new documentary of John McCain. It was surprisingly good. McCain generates intense passion, if not hatred, so folks can just take my word for it, or just watch it and judge for themselves. McCain's a patriot, no doubt. But that doesn't absolve him from the disgusting wishy-washy flip-flopping he's engaged in his entire life, and of which he's now currently engaging with relative gusto. All the bad calls he's made, the one's that don't accord with the radical left's cultural PC dominance, are now jettisoned for the convenience of preserving a legacy. The biggest repudiation he's made is of selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008. Actually, I think that's one of the best things he's ever done. If he hadn't chosen Palin it's likely that Obama would have matched the Electoral College victories of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan in 1972 and 1984, respectively. That is, McCain would have probably one just his home state of Arizona if it wasn't for Palin on the ticket. She energized conservatives around the country and give the GOP a real forward/progressive orientation. Say what you will about Sarah Palin --- not the least of which she was often a policy lightweight --- the woman is genuine and genuinely conservative, and perhaps paved the way for the Trump administration today, and the resurgence of the regular, red-blooded Americanism that has driven the left-wing establishment literally insane since November 8, 2016.

Now John McCain's even saying that his support for the Iraq war was a mistake. Really, really, that's a bridge too far for me. It wasn't a mistake. McCain was right all along, and he would have been right for our country. Islamic State would have never emerged under a McCain presidency. The nucleus of the organization was crushed in the Bush administration's surge. But Barack Obama's precipitous withdrawal, which led to the rise of ISIS and the Syrian civil war and humanitarian crisis, squandered all of the heroic sacrifices made to secure the Iraqi people. McCain's attempt to whitewash his legacy is pathetic.

Sure, he's a genuine war hero. He shouldn't ever be attacked for his service. But his service shouldn't exempt him from criticism of his mistakes, and absolving his mistakes is the central goal of "For Whom the Bell Tolls."

Here's his latest book, if you're a fan, The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations.

And the preview:

President Trump Slams John McCain

Well, yeah.

At Politico:

Trump issues a warning to McCain: "At some point I fight back and it won’t be pretty" https://t.co/QqxBfJsQvj pic.twitter.com/5faj1dCyPH

— POLITICO (@politico) October 18, 2017

'Like Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator, McCain then makes a thumbs-down gesture, killing the bill. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell watches on grimly with his arms folded, as other GOP senators hang their heads in disappointment...'

This is something else.

At BuzzFeed, "Watch The Shocking Moment John McCain Killed The Republican Health Care Bill: There is so much going on in this clip. I can't stop watching." (Safe link.)

And watch here, "I can't stop watching this: the moment McCain votes no with a 👎🏻. Watch Bernie notice what's happening. Then Look at McConnel's grim reax..."

Senate Rejects #ObamaCare 'Skinny Repeal', 51-49, in Dramatic Light-Night Vote

I actually really liked "skinny repeal." It would have removed ObamaCare's individual and employer mandates, and it would have rescinded the medical device tax. I've said all along that protections for pre-existing conditions should remain. Plus, since I have a 21-year-old kid, I can see how allowing young people to remain on their parents insurance can be helpful (even though I still shake my head sometimes to think that 26-year-old Americans should be dependent on their parents, but wtf?).

In any case, even the skinny repeal got rejected, owing a lot to Sen. John McCain, who's generated some enormous animosity since last night.

In any case, at the New York Times (FWIW), "Senate Rejects Slimmed-Down Obamacare Repeal as McCain Votes No":

WASHINGTON — The Senate in the early hours of Friday morning rejected a new, scaled-down Republican plan to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act, derailing the Republicans’ seven-year campaign to dismantle President Barack Obama’s signature health care law and dealing a huge political setback to President Trump.

Senator John McCain of Arizona, who just this week returned to the Senate after receiving a diagnosis of brain cancer, cast the decisive vote to defeat the proposal, joining two other Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, in opposing it.

The 49-to-51 vote was also a humiliating setback for the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has nurtured his reputation as a master tactician and spent the last three months trying to devise a repeal bill that could win support from members of his caucus.

As the clock ticked toward the final vote, which took place around 1:30 a.m., suspense built on the Senate floor. Mr. McCain was engaged in a lengthy, animated conversation with Vice President Mike Pence, who had come to the Capitol expecting to cast the tiebreaking vote for the bill. A few minutes later, when Mr. McCain ambled over to the Democratic side of the chamber, he was embraced by Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California. A little later Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, put her arm around Mr. McCain.

The roll had yet to be called, but the body language suggested that the Trump administration had failed in its effort to flip the Arizona senator whom President Trump hailed on Tuesday as an “American hero.’’

Many senators announced their votes in booming voices. Mr. McCain quietly signaled his vote with a thumbs-down gesture. He later offered an explanation on Twitter:

Skinny repeal fell short because it fell short of our promise to repeal & replace Obamacare w/ meaningful reform...

After the tally was final, Mr. Trump tweeted:

3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!

The truncated Republican plan that ultimately fell was far less than what Republicans once envisioned. Republican leaders, unable to overcome complaints from both moderate and conservative members of their caucus, said the skeletal plan was just a vehicle to permit negotiations with the House, which passed a much more ambitious repeal bill in early May.

The “skinny repeal” bill, as it became known at the Capitol this week, would still have had broad effects on health care. The bill would have increased the number of people who are uninsured by 15 million next year compared with current law, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Premiums for people buying insurance on their own would have increased roughly 20 percent, the budget office said...

More.

Also, at Politico, via Memeorandum, "How McCain tanked Obamacare repeal." And at the Los Angeles Times, "McCain's surprise vote doomed GOP healthcare bill, but did it open the door for Senate bipartisanship?" (No.)

Senator John McCain Returns (VIDEO)

This is the state of our discourse.

Worse than ever. Simply no decency left in American politics.

At Twitchy, "‘I hope he dies right now’: John McCain returns to Senate following cancer diagnosis, begins The Triggering."

Look, he's long been the bane of conservatives, but I don't see folks on the right cheering his brain cancer.

Here's the full speech, "McCain returns to Senate floor."

Huge Constituent Backlash at John McCain Town Hall

Well, I guess Syria's not at the top of the list for Arizona voters.

At the Blaze, "VOTERS EXPLODE ON JOHN MCCAIN AT PHOENIX TOWN HALL: ‘WE DIDN’T SEND YOU TO MAKE WAR FOR US’."



More video at Time, "Syrian Woman Confronts John McCain at Town Hall."

Sarah Palin: 'I was banned from talking about Rev. Jeremiah Wright...'

Well, Republicans were basically banned from winning the election.

If you don't talk about the treason and anti-Americanism of the Democrat Party and its vile nominee, no one else is going to do if for you, last of all the leftist media complex.

At Twitchy, "Sarah Palin tells Greta Van Susteren: ‘I was banned from talking about Rev. Wright’ [video]."

Illegal Immigrant Climbs Border Fence While Senators McCain and Schumer Look On

At Pundit Press, "Illegal Alien Climbs Fence Right Behind Senators McCain, Schumer." And Hot Air, "Illegal immigrant climbs border fence right in front of McCain and Schumer; Update: Video added."

John McCain Apologizes to Rand Paul and Ted Cruz

At Hot Air, "McCain: I apologize to Rand Paul and Ted Cruz for calling them “wacko birds”."

There's video at that link.

Clearly "The Maverick" see's the balance of GOP power in the Senate shifting to the young guns of the tea party. Allahpundit makes an astute observation about that:

By the way, am I misunderstanding or does he seem to think Ted Cruz, like Paul, is some sort of isolationist? I’m … not sure why. There was no one in the Senate, McCain included, who was tougher on Chuck Hagel than Cruz. When the Washington Free Beacon asked him to explain, Cruz said it’s because Hagel “has repeatedly been soft on our enemies.” Paleocons have also noticed that Cruz, despite often being lumped in with Paul on foreign policy, sounds plenty hawkish on Iran. Maverick’s likely concluded that because Cruz and Paul both speak frequently about the tea party and the Constitution and because Cruz was, after all, Paul’s wingman during the drone filibuster that they’re simpatico on foreign policy, but I suspect that’s untrue. In fact, Cruz and Paul seem to me to represent the two sides of the tea-party coin. From the beginning, Ron Paul fans have insisted that he’s the “godfather” of the movement; there are certainly tea partiers, especially the younger set, who are doctrinaire libertarians and whom Rand is trying to mobilize. But there’s another wing, which skews a bit older, that’s composed of more traditional conservatives — hawkish, concerned about “values” — who are disaffected with the GOP leadership’s squishiness and looking to rebrand themselves. The two wings overlap on spending, the core tea-party concern, and on stricter observance of constitutional limits on government, but they diverge on social issues and on foreign policy. Cruz was an ally of Paul’s during the drone debate because of that constitutional overlap, and of course because it was a chance to rebuke Obama. If a bill hit the floor tomorrow authorizing military action against Iran, though, I’m a lot less confident than Maverick that Cruz would end up on Paul’s side rather than on McCain’s and Rubio’s. We’ll find out…

I don't know. But just love watching Ted Cruz grilling all the leftists idiots up on the Hill. He's been on fire.

McCain and Graham Try to Ruin the Party

Well, there's still lots more buzz on Sen. Rand Paul's filibuster. The Old Guard's feathers are ruffled. Chris Stirewalt reports, at Fox News, "Can GOP Learn to Live With Libertarianism?"

(Plus, at the Daily Caller, "Mark Steyn: McCain, Graham ‘mercurial figures,’ ‘not helpful to the Republican Party cause’."

And you gotta love how the McRINO senators are the ultimate useful idiots for the progressive hacks at MSNBC. Seriously. This is a news channel?

HBO's 'Game Change' Depicts Sarah Palin on Verge of Nervous Breakdown

At LAT, "'Game Change': Sarah Palin on the verge of a nervous breakdown."

I'd be interested in checking it out, although who knows how much of this to trust?  See ABC News, "Critics: HBO Movie Trailer Puts Sarah Palin in Bad Light":

HBO’s critics on the Right were apparently right about the network’s upcoming movie “Game Change,” about Sen. John McCain’s run for the presidency in 2008.

While the network claimed the movie would be even-handed politically, it seems Sarah Palin doesn’t come off too well in the trailer.

Critics decried the HBO film from the get-go as a hit piece on the former Alaska governor who became the target of a merciless media and political barrage after McCain chose her as his running mate.

Starring Ed Harris and Julianne Moore — who in the past has been critical of Palin — the movie, which premieres on March 10, depicts how McCain’s team picked the former Alaska governor and then subsequently, had second thoughts about it when Palin seemed to fold under pressure.

The book of the same name on which the movie is based is about the entire 2008 election, but the filmmakers — who also produced the Left-leaning HBO movie “Recount” — chose to focus on the Palin/McCain part of the book.

Included in the trailer is Palin claiming that Russia can be seen from Alaska as Woody Harrelson, who plays McCain adviser Steven Schmidt, quips, “Oh my God, what have we done?”

More at the link.

McCain Endorses Romney

I'm not sure if this is a good thing.

At New York Times, "McCain Backs Romney After Santorum’s Surge in Iowa."

Senator McCain Slams Obama's Leadership on Iraq

At Weasel Zippers, "McCain Shreds Obama After He Takes Credit For Success of Iraq War: “History Will Judge His Leadership With The Scorn And Disdain It Deserves”…"

This is why I backed McCain in 2008. Good to hear him smack down the administration. We need to hear it.

PREVIOUSLY: "War in Iraq Officially Over."

2013

I especially like this first McCain ad at top. I'm confident that a McCain administration would have achieved some of those campaign pledges, although in 2013 we could be stuck with our "Celeb" one more time ... that is, depending on who (whom?) the GOP nominates. Quinnipiac indicates that voters would prefer an "unnamed" Republican in 2012:

A year after President Barack Obama's political honeymoon ended, his job approval rating has dropped to a negative 44 - 48 percent, his worst net score ever, and American voters say by a narrow 39 - 36 percent margin that they would vote for an unnamed Republican rather than President Obama in 2012, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

But who's it gonna be?

Unreal: J.D. Hayworth Pitched 'Free Government Money'

Recall that following the "Phoenix Rising" event a few Saturdays back, AZ GOP Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth held a barbeque fundraiser that night. Organizers were asking $25 to attend, and I wasn't too thrilled about it. I didn't know anyone, for one thing (and the crowd wasn't overflowing by any means). But more importantly, I didn't know that much about Hayworth himself. Well, I know something now. See, "Hayworth pitched ‘free money’ seminars in 2007 infomercial." (Via Memeorandum.) And remember, there's no such thing as "free money."