What on earth has happened to Senator John McCain?
By: Niall O'Dowd | Published Friday, March 26, 2010, 10:50 AM | Updated Friday, September 9, 2011, 9:35 PM
What has happened to Irish American
Senator John McCain, the man of principle, who stood up for what was right and to hell with the consequences?
Those of you who saw him on the
Today Show yesterday will know what I mean.
Host Ann Curry asked him about the violence that is occurring around the country as fanatics target Democratic lawmakers who voted for the health care reform bill.
McCain's weasel words in reply, effectively saying there was nothing new in such tactics, do not fit the man who is a hero to so many Americans for his ability to speak truth to power.
The old John McCain would have spoken out directly against the acts that are being committed and would have insisted that everyone calm down.
But alas, with a tough vote in
Arizona on his hands, where he is running against a Tea Party candidate in the primary, McCain it appears had to play the hardball angle every chance he gets.
What a pity for a man who had so much class that I even helped run a fundraiser for him two years ago because of his support on immigration reform.
Back then an impassioned McCain spoke powerfully about what it was like to find out that desperate immigrants, some of them young babies, had died of thirst trying to cross the border from
Mexico and how he was committed to doing something about it.
The new McCain is an impostor I'm sure and if he wins his seat back let's hope we see the old McCain.
U.S. politics badly needs him.
Perhaps he could take a lead from his daughter Meghan McCain,who made clear her feelings on
Tom Tancredo, keynote speaker at the recent Tea Party convention who made several downright racist comments during his speech about Latinos.
“It’s innate racism, and I think it’s why young people are turned off by this movement,” McCain charged of Tancredo’s remarks. “Revolutions start with young people, not with 65-year-old people talking about literacy tests and people who can’t say the word vote in English. It’s ridiculous.”
That's the kind of McCain we need
47 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.seanomelbourne | Mar 30, 2010, 09:45 PM EDT
if they had IQ tests for voting rights what would all those right wingers do? It would be boring having the Dems in ad finitum.
Monsoonman | Mar 30, 2010, 01:29 AM EDT
Anyhow these guys are in office waaaaay too long. Politicians are like dirty diapers, they start to smell and they need to be changed, often. If any of them were that great we wouldn't be in the mess we are in today.
Monsoonman | Mar 30, 2010, 01:25 AM EDT
I just go by the criminal prosecutions of ACORNS voter registrars. As far as the Supreme Court getting involved in the gore/bush election, it did what it had to do. The democrats kept bringing ballots into closed rooms and coming up with new counts until they would win. I always thought they should have IQ and literacy standards for voters, then there wouldn't be the problems with ballots like they have.
Pat Riley | Mar 29, 2010, 09:51 PM EDT
Gaulilu is mistaken.
hyattsville | Mar 29, 2010, 03:18 PM EDT
@Monsoonman ‘many votes cast for obama were illegitimate and fraudulent’ – are you sure you’re not thinking about Dubya’s first ‘victory’ and the very dubious Florida count? You know, the election that was really won by Al Gore.
Derrylass627 | Mar 29, 2010, 12:47 PM EDT
Earth calling Monsoonman! Get real! What's a whinger - it's a person who complains when the tide goes against him - like you! Obama was elected fair and square so deal with it. That's what we had to do when W was elected.
gaililu | Mar 29, 2010, 12:31 PM EDT
When the going gets tough, the real John McCain has appeared. How he continue to align himself with Sarah Palin is beyond my comprehension. Most Americans think of her as a joke.
Monsoonman | Mar 28, 2010, 10:17 PM EDT
"many votes cast for obama were illegitimate and fraudulent as registered by ACORN." What's a whinger?
seanomelbourne | Mar 28, 2010, 09:57 PM EDT
people who do not vote deserve the government they get. they are usually the whingers who cry foul.
Monsoonman | Mar 28, 2010, 07:37 PM EDT
Sorry Shawn, it is hard to differentiate rhetoric from a rheostat when it is writing only, I wasn't able to discern the sublety in your crafty wordsmithing. BTW, obama was not elected by a majority of the American people. Many American citizens chose not to vote and many votes cast for obama were illegitimate and fraudulent as registered by ACORN....have a nice day!
seanomelbourne | Mar 28, 2010, 06:29 PM EDT
lighten up moonsoonman I am well aware of bush's 8 long lying years in office the statement was rhetorical, can't cant canya not disseminate the written word.
Monsoonman | Mar 28, 2010, 05:31 PM EDT
Shuvonn I did pay attention when he ran for US Senate, liked what he said and liked his work ethic. When he said he would vote against obama/teddycare, it gave people a clear choice to voice their opposition. They chose Scott Brown and rejected the liberal democrat machine puppet that Irish have automatically kept in power these many years....It shows we aren't the fob starving desperates that we were 170 years ago.
shuvonn | Mar 28, 2010, 02:01 PM EDT
Monsoonman: What did Scott Brown achieve before he was elected while he served in the state senate? He served 2004-1020 and I never heard of him before this. I am of the opinion that he was voted in because Coakley was a bad choice, didn't campaign, took it for granted that she was certain to get teh seat and was not a good speaker. He was voted in because she was a lousy candidate.
Monsoonman | Mar 28, 2010, 01:12 PM EDT
Correction: President Bush served his two full terms as was mandated by the constitution, he and his administration, were not booted from office. Get yer facks, fax, facts, straight.
seanomelbourne | Mar 28, 2010, 08:41 AM EDT
Gone to pasture one would hope. Felicia Bush and his gang got the boot by the majority of the American people.Would you like a box of tissues?
DoraLBrown | Mar 27, 2010, 11:24 PM EDT
You are right. We need the old McCain.The man who reached across the aisle and fought for human rights and dignity. I am an independent American, affiliated with no political party. When the religious right highjacked the Republican Party, I had no use for it. Now the tea party idiots have taken over. What a disaster. Its a shame that the centrist Republicans have been politically influenced by such idiots..
Monsoonman | Mar 27, 2010, 05:28 PM EDT
Good riddance to McCain, he has been in long enough, time for new blood with no RINO dna this time. We don't need royalty in America, that's why we threw out the british....and put Scott Brown in "teddys seat".
shuvonn | Mar 27, 2010, 02:04 PM EDT
Corliss: And you are reading and posting comments on an Irish on line News letter, so it works both ways :-)And Vincent what say you about the CLASS Act that has just been passed along with the health care bill?
corliss | Mar 27, 2010, 10:12 AM EDT
Ireland is a beautiful country with delightful people...but I am amazed at your interest in our politics
sully1167 | Mar 27, 2010, 06:34 AM EDT
Hey Felicia, let's just admit that there are radicals on both sides of the political spectrum. It is pretty obvious that your partisan bias is showing.
Felicia | Mar 27, 2010, 01:04 AM EDT
Senator McCain has been a RINO for years who I think is finally realizing you can't reach across the aisle to the Democrats without getting slapped back. The poor, whining Democrats conveniently forget what liberal fanatics put Bush, Cheney, Palin, Rove, etc. etc. through for years and still are. I say term limits for all of Congress and sincere vetting of their background. Naill your bias is showing......
nmbyrne | Mar 27, 2010, 12:03 AM EDT
I think Naill O'Dowd has his head so far up his arse that I fear he will never be able to hear, see or speak the truth.
vincentruane | Mar 26, 2010, 11:12 PM EDT
WELCOME TO IRISHCENSORSHIP.COM
vincentruane | Mar 26, 2010, 11:05 PM EDT
Impostor indeed, statements like this raise the question,about what this current fraud democratic party is most associated with ie-lies, deceit, false claims, fixed statistics, helping kill unborn children and now setting the dark stage to deny old people needed healthcare.
kickstar | Mar 26, 2010, 09:12 PM EDT
This is Not a man, This is the phoniest boloniest Penguin of a human to ever exist. This Guy has to check with his Lobbyist Catalog before he can tell you the time
JOSIESAR | Mar 26, 2010, 08:37 PM EDT
OH SO THIS COMMENT IS OK. HUH? SO CENSORSHIP DOES GO ON BYE I WON'T BE BACk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JOSIESAR | Mar 26, 2010, 08:36 PM EDT
WELL I PUT MY COMMENT UP TWICE AND IT'S NOT HERE SO I GUESS YOU DON'T WANT HERE WHAT THIS CONSERVATIVE HAS TO SAY. SO I GUESS I AMGOING TO STOP THIS CRAP
Spiritranger | Mar 26, 2010, 06:38 PM EDT
Niall, you are still playing the IrishAmerican Goebbels for the Obama democrats, huh? Still calling conservatives racists and haters and peddling the false propaganda of the MSNBC/CBS machine. You are really sad. God hates liars.
allentown | Mar 26, 2010, 06:17 PM EDT
McCain risked his Republican support in the presidential primary by co-authoring the Amnesty Bill for illegal aliens and was rewarded with 32% of the Latino vote in the presidential race. Obama must try for amnesty before the November elections, because he will never get it after the new Congress takes office.
manhattan | Mar 26, 2010, 02:22 PM EDT
The REAL conservatives like Barry Goldwater, Bill Buckley etc. would cringe at the antics of the people calling themselves conservatives today.They are spinning in there graves. McCain lost my vote when he picked Sarah Palin without checking out her ability to run the country if needed. We are in deep trouble with these hate groups that have taken over and honest people who are unhappy with the Goverment are caught up in it. Lord help us all....
rcrdskpr@aol.com | Mar 26, 2010, 11:56 AM EDT
what part of the constitution guarantees health care? who is going to pay for it? we are already broke and headed for finacial collapse due spending in the last year.
rickduff | Mar 26, 2010, 11:37 AM EDT
Well that's your sense of what's going on. The majority of us are in favor of Health reform and it's the minority psycho right wingers making all the noise. Most of us want health insurance for all as did Teddy Rooseveldt, Eisenhower, Nixon, Clinton and more. You conservatives are a small minority on the verge of extinction, desperate to push your unAmerican agenda on us all.
kelauggie1 | Mar 26, 2010, 11:23 AM EDT
You should get a sense of what is happening in the US - people are disgusted with the fall of democracy in the US. McCain was a terrible presidential candidate - the least he can do is stand up for the not-so-silent majority. Niall, you so often wind up on the liberal (aka wrong) side of so many issues, it looks like you do it on purpose in order to get comments.
rickduff | Mar 26, 2010, 11:04 AM EDT
Right and the Republicans are so inclusive with their idea, unless, of course you disagree with Rush, in which case you're smacked down or thrown out. This is the party that insisted on loyalty pledges for anyone to be allowed in to see Bush or the vice fuhrer. It's real easy to connect the dots there.
MalcomAC | Mar 26, 2010, 11:01 AM EDT
I once defended McCain to Karl Rove. Few people are as shamelessly opportunistic as Rove. That McCain was able to turn a 180 and support Bush and Rove as he did was a clue.
irishwxman | Mar 26, 2010, 10:51 AM EDT
Niall you make me sick you liberal hippie. How dare you attack this man for standing up for the American people. I will never understand the liberal mindset. You attack McCain for standing up to that moron Ann Curry for asking him about Palin's cross hairs? McCain rightly scoffed at how ridiculous that was. I warmly welcome this new McCain. Where was he during the 2008 elections?
MikeRock | Mar 26, 2010, 10:34 AM EDT
Typical ridiculous response by Niall O'Dowd. How many battle ribbons do you have, Niall?
Bridgetftmyers | Mar 26, 2010, 10:00 AM EDT
I LOVE JOHN McCain, Shame on you !!!!
Fran Connor | Mar 26, 2010, 09:54 AM EDT
ALL of our politicians receive similar phone calls and threats every day. The democrats are trying to portray themselves as victims again. Any time you disagree with them you are labeled racist or obstructionist, wheareas when they object to a republican idea, they are "exercising a time-honored American tradition as the loyal opposition".
reggieA01 | Mar 26, 2010, 09:52 AM EDT
John McCain may have been a hero in the past, but now he is a complete weasel--he has sold his soul!
reggieA01 | Mar 26, 2010, 09:50 AM EDT
I agree--the recent John McCain is an imposter. I am a Democrat, but I really liked John McCain and what he stood for. I am really disappointed in how he is now--a weasel!
DLW12183 | Mar 26, 2010, 09:33 AM EDT
Niall, you have been drinking to much Obama coolaid. Here we go again-the racist twist to the story if you are not supportive of the Obama plan. This racist slant is getting old.
knockatee | Mar 26, 2010, 08:53 AM EDT
He, like a lot of other Republicans, have lost all their principles. They will say and do anything to go re-elected.
kathleenC | Mar 26, 2010, 06:50 AM EDT
I thoroughly agree with Meghan McCain, and I'm a 77 year old. She has her father's true spirit. I miss him, too!
iamceltic | Mar 26, 2010, 06:39 AM EDT
You forgot to write that Sen.McCain is pro-life and the "health care" bill is loaded with baby killing money pushed through by the abortion Democrats -led by Obama. You did not write that the great American hero Sen.McCain, spent 6 years in a horrible prison camp in Viet Nam.
Madeleine | Mar 26, 2010, 04:29 AM EDT
I have no thoughts on the subject, I'm an American, what do I know. If you want the real scoop ask Niall.
BobbysJury | Mar 25, 2010, 10:54 PM EDT
The real John McCain has stood-up! Defeat after defeat peeling away his outer-SELF, that stage character he likes to be known by. This is the real, obstinate, defiant, rebellious, pig-headed person he truly is. I wish him luck in his final days in Congress and his life afterward. Cindy is in my prayers, as well.