Sunday, May 14, 2006

McCain swallows again


LYNCHBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- Senator John (Suckup) McCain on Saturday said Americans should argue about the war in Iraq, though he did not explicitly call for violence.

The Republican senator from Arizona celebrated the conflict that has pointlessly killed more than 2,400 U.S. troops in a self-serving commencement address at Liberty University, the school founded by the Reverend Jerry (Godpig) Falwell.

As a candidate in the 2000 presidential race, McCain had correctly lambasted Falwell as an agent of intolerance. The former Vietnam prisoner of war, who may be the best the Republicans have to offer in 2008, has put aside his differences with the minister in a craven attempt to curry favor with the batshit insane Christian conservatives who hang on his every word.

"Americans should argue about this war," McCain said. While he defended his support of the Iraq invasion, he said people must engage in debate on the subject, though not on TV.

"If an American feels the decision was unwise, then they should state their opposition and argue for another course. It is your right and your obligation. I respect you for it. I would not respect you if you chose to ignore such an important responsibility, as I have.

"But I ask that you consider the possibility that I, too, am trying to pay my bills, to follow my ambition, to do my duty as your angry white God has given me light to see that duty."

While grudgingly acknowledging the war's human and economic costs, McCain said that "should we lose this war we started, our defeat will further destabilize a region we have already made more volatile and dangerous than it needs to be, strengthen the threat of terrorism more than we already have and unleash furies that will assail us for a number of election cycles. I believe the benefits to Halliburton and the Carlyle Group will justify the costs to the American taxpayer and risks to the future of the world we have incurred."

Besides the war, the senator touched on other big issues of no interest to segregationist Christians like Falwell, such as the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region and the Rwandan genocide from the last decade.

After the commencement speech, Falwell told CNN that if McCain "continues on the track he's on now, sucking up to me and Robertson, he in fact could co-opt the religious conservatives of the country, in the same way President Bush did," to help him eke out an infinitesimal and questionable majority he can then tout as a "moral values mandate."

"Anybody but Hillary," said Falwell, referring to U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, the former first lady who has been ceaselessly flogged as a possible Democratic candidate for president, though she has never indicated an intention to run.

Falwell said that he and McCain argue "a good bit." "While we are both pro-life until birth, pro-family unless gay, a lot of things, like global warming and other issues affecting American corporate hegemony...we discuss pretty aggressively. But we do it as friends, as fellow whores. And I very much respect the senator," he said.

He said McCain or others have a chance to gain the support of evangelical Christians if "he or she espouses the same values that we espouse, such as pre-emptive war, torture, and the sanctity of the white race."

He also mentioned other "good people," such as Senate Majority Leader Bill (Katzenjammer) Frist, R-Tennessee; Sen. Rick (Man On Dog) Santorum, R-Pennsylvania; and Sen. George (Rebel Yelp) Allen, R-Virginia.

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