Besides having an ambiguous position on science, I think it’s important that the libertarians understand that anybody that the neo-Nazi Stormfront supports has to be some kind of bug-ass crazy doodoo-head, and that Ron Paul has that kind of white supremacist support. Which makes him a bug-ass crazy doodoo-head. Which is not, obviously, a disqualifier, since look at the bug-ass crazy doodoo-head we’ve lived with for the last seven years, but it should make even the Ayn Rand liberation front a little wary of getting too cozy with him, him being a bug-ass crazy doodoo-head, and all.
Suffering the same ideological handicaps as his political bedfellows, lacking a coherent understanding of how a well run government programs such as national health care will benefit us all, John McCain nevertheless exhibits moral strength and good character in public affairs. When you look at the above exchange in the so-called debates, it’s obvious that McCain is a decent person seeking an ethically bounded solution to a complex problem, whereas his opponent, Mitt Romney, is a sleazy scum-bucket of the first water. Remarking on that exchange, Scott Horton at Harpers says,
The moral clarity and vision of McCain’s answer was perfectly balanced by the bankruptcy of Romney’s. In the end, the former Massachusetts governor ducks by saying that he would turn to his ultimate guru for guidance: Cofer Black, the Vice Chair of Blackwater USA. Mr. Black is known for his bravado, including a pledge to the White House that he would send them Osama bin Laden’s head in a box packed with dry ice. But of course it was Mr. Black who failed in efforts to catch bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders as they disappeared into the caves and ravines of Tora Bora. He moved from that high accomplishment to Blackwater, which is now engulfed in a series of scandals reflecting questionable management practices. Moreover, CIA officers complain that Black’s move to Blackwater entailed the privatization of vital national security relationships for personal profit, another hallmark of abuse in the Bush Administration.
It’s possible that once again this year I will be faced with the choice of abstaining or voting for the better person. Of all the candidates lined up on the Republican side, McCain is the only one who qualifies as neither morally repugnant nor absurd.
Probably the biggest reason that GOP insiders want you not to read this book is not the rude first-person memories of Bush, Rove, Feather, Synhorst, et al. but the way [it] showcases in-crowd contempt for their freeper supporters — “the Jesus-loves-guns crowd” — “the knuckle-draggers, the gunnies, and the committed ideologue nuts.” “The mouth-breathers who who decide GOP primaries might allow people to steal their money and send their children to impossible wars but they’ll cut no such slack for baby-killers.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee can’t seem to get off the dime to release the much-needed Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act so it can get voted on. Maybe this book will help more people see the light about why it is needed.
