John McCain has brain cancer

shoshannah said:

sac said:

shoshannah said:

Right! "He's an Arab." What an idiot. Arabs can be Christian, Muslim, Druze, Ba'hai, Bedouin, even Jewish. And most Muslims are not Arab. Egyptians (and other north Africans), Iranians, Indonesians, Pakistanis, Indians, Malaysians can be Muslim.

Americans can be (and many are) Muslim.

Well, of course. But I was distinguishing between ethnicity and religion, not citizenship. American is not an ethnicity; Egyptian, Iranian (Persian), etc. are.

Unless one is Native American

Had to post this somewhere.

Conservative Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa came out against Trump's ban of transgender persons serving in the Military

LOST said:

Had to post this somewhere.

Conservative Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa came out against Trump's ban of transgender persons serving in the Military

This guy is such a schmuck. 

Is that the worst you can say about him?

He is pure evil. He is the scum of the Earth.

LOST said:

Had to post this somewhere.

Conservative Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa came out against Trump's ban of transgender persons serving in the Military

OMG. Joni Ernst? She is a conservative's conservative. My guess is that she has a close family member who is transgender. That's the only time conservatives support LGBT rights.

LOST said:

Is that the worst you can say about him?

He is pure evil. He is the scum of the Earth.

It was the worst thing I could think of at the moment. I like your comments, too. 

She was in the Military and says she served with all kinds of people.

LOST said:

She was in the Military and says she served with all kinds of people.

Good for her! I think some sort of national service -- military or otherwise -- should be mandatory.  That's the way Americans of different stripes will get to know and respect each other. I would structure it like this:

• Two consecutive years.
• Any time between the ages of 18 and 26, individual's choice.
• Undocumented immigrants who were brought here as minors by parents and have been in country at least five years can serve and apply for citizenship at completion.
• Choices could be military or other service branches, like coast guard, national guard, merchant marines. And some sort of CCC and WPA programs are established.
• Everyone gets room, board, and stipend.
• Cohorts of 25-50 individuals from the initial two-year assignment go back for "reserve" duty one week per year until the age of 50. This helps keep the bonds among people from all walks of life and keeps citizens in touch with the national interest, whether it be military, infrastructure, or environment.

LOST said:

She was in the Military and says she served with all kinds of people.

even liberals?

ml1 said:

even liberals?

Now now!

lord_pabulum said:

shoshannah said:

sac said:

shoshannah said:

Right! "He's an Arab." What an idiot. Arabs can be Christian, Muslim, Druze, Ba'hai, Bedouin, even Jewish. And most Muslims are not Arab. Egyptians (and other north Africans), Iranians, Indonesians, Pakistanis, Indians, Malaysians can be Muslim.

Americans can be (and many are) Muslim.

Well, of course. But I was distinguishing between ethnicity and religion, not citizenship. American is not an ethnicity; Egyptian, Iranian (Persian), etc. are.

Unless one is Native American

I don't know if there are very many Native American muslims, but there are quite a few African American muslims. And their (long ago) ancestors mostly came from West Africa, which isn't in that list either ... although I would submit that they are more "American" than "African" after several hundred years.

Rand Paul's Amendment was just voted down 45-55. McCain voted "no" as apparently did 6 other Republicans. I believe his Amendment was a complete repeal of ACA but I am not sure.

I don't thing John McCain's last hurrah on this earth is going to be the delivery of a victory to the a-hole in chief. 

He helped him get elected.  His last thoughts may be about how an African American Democrat and constitutional scholar  served with class and grace, while his own party is represented by a reality show buffoon with no class at all and a third grade vocabulary.  Is this what he fought in Vietnam for?

bub said:

I don't thing John McCain's last hurrah on this earth is going to be the delivery of a victory to the a-hole in chief. 

You called it. I didn't think he could do it, but he stuck it straight into Trump's eye.

Good for him.

Can't wait for the tweets on this one.

bub said:

I don't thing John McCain's last hurrah on this earth is going to be the delivery of a victory to the a-hole in chief. 

bub said:

I don't thing John McCain's last hurrah on this earth is going to be the delivery of a victory to the a-hole in chief. 

It was truly heroic. 

It was almost 2 AM.

I actually yelled out Go John McCain!

Never doubted him.

if that was heroism, we've really defined that word down. 

He did the most minimally humane thing. And if Paul Ryan had pledged not to pass the "skinny repeal" as is in the House, McCain would have voted yay. And put millions of people's health insurance at risk. 

Let's not let our desire to find heroes among our elected leaders blind us to McCain's continuing callous phoniness. 

Geez, I think he earned the title of heroic LONG before last night. There's that little POW thing in his past. smh

What he did last night was awesome! 

conandrob240 said:

Geez, I think he earned the title of heroic LONG before last night. There's that little POW thing in his past. smh

What he did last night was awesome! 

people are saying what he did last night specifically was heroic.  It wasn't.  And like all of McCain's actions, he milked it to grandstanding effect.  He could have voted nay as soon as the voting started.  But he had to make a big show of his nay vote.

Should being a war hero exempt someone from criticism for the rest of his life?

not at all but maybe he should be exempt from your line of attacks.

The rest of his life might be weeks.  That might earn him some gentleness.  On his worst day - and he's had some bad ones in his older years - he's an ubermensch compared to you know who so I cut him some slack.  

ml1 said:

conandrob240 said:

Geez, I think he earned the title of heroic LONG before last night. There's that little POW thing in his past. smh

What he did last night was awesome! 

people are saying what he did last night specifically was heroic.  It wasn't.  And like all of McCain's actions, he milked it to grandstanding effect.  He could have voted nay as soon as the voting started.  But he had to make a big show of his nay vote.

Should being a war hero exempt someone from criticism for the rest of his life?

conandrob240 said:

not at all but maybe he should be exempt from your line of attacks.

first, I don't think it was an "attack," it was a criticism. And second, as long as someone is still serving in elected office, they aren't exempt from criticism. If he should be exempt because he's got cancer, I don't agree with that either. 

do you think anything I've written is untrue or unfair?  I think it's a pretty fair criticism of how John McCain has served in office as a U.S. Senator.  To be fair, the reason for the harshness of most of my criticism isn't really about John McCain personally.  He's doing what anyone in his position as a Senator would do.  My criticisms are so pointed because our media and regular folks have turned John McCain into a heroic figure as a Senator, which he is absolutely not.  We should put his military service in one box, which is heroic POW.  And then put his Senate career in another which would be marked as grandstanding opportunist.

here's another POV on McCain as Senator:

I started with McCain because so many journalists still fall for his pose as an independent-minded maverick, ignoring the reality that he has almost always been a reliable partisan yes-man whenever it matters. Incredibly, some commentators actually praised his performance earlier this week, focusing on his noble-sounding words and ignoring his utterly craven actions.  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0...

I get why the stuff I'm writing is unpopular.  People want to believe that John McCain has continued to be a hero even after he left the service.  They want to believe that there are heroes in the Senate.  And I'm going agains the taboo of putting people with terminal diseases above criticism.  But he's still the same Senator John McCain as far as I can tell.  If he has a revelatory moment in his dying months and truly becomes a heroic Senator, I'll definitely give him all the praise he deserves.  But he's not there right now.

He is a heroic figure. And he's a dying human being. You don't have to agree with anything he does but you don't have to be so harsh either. Disagreeing with his policies doesn't automatically mean he's a terrible human being.

I've never called him a terrible human being. And just because someone has a terminal illness, they shouldnt' be immune from criticism.  He's still going to the Senate and voting on bills.  If he retires and goes home to rest and be with his family, then it would be cruel to keep bringing up his Senate career and criticizing it.  

But I don't think I'm being harsh.  What specifically do you think is unfair in my criticism?

I agree with ml1. I think Senator McCain has not fully used the opportunity as a visible (and vote-casting) member of the government to create more programs that improve people's lives. It doesn't take away from his military service. Anyone who is active in government - particularly at high, influential levels - is open to criticism of their work, particularly their current and most recent decisions.

I wish McCain would use his platform and the likelihood that he's terminally ill and doesn't have to face election again to speak out for real reform on health care.  How much influence could he have in trying to push forward the idea of universal health care?  Maybe not much given the powerful corporate and ideological forces aligned against it. But wouldn't it be great to see him make a speech saying that every American has the right to the kind of treatment he's getting, regardless of their income?

If he does something like that, I'd be glad to eat all my words about him.

That's a bit much.  His vote earlier in the week helped the Republicans get to the point of potentially passing the skinny repeal.

Don't forget, there were two other senators that voted no last night.  McCain seems to be getting all the credit.

fairplay said:

bub said:

I don't thing John McCain's last hurrah on this earth is going to be the delivery of a victory to the a-hole in chief. 

It was truly heroic. 

they didn't make it about them.  They committed to being agains repeal weeks ago.  And they didn't make a big show of holding their vote until 99 other senators had cast theirs.

yahooyahoo said:

That's a bit much.  His vote helped the Republicans get to the point of potentially passing the skinny repeal.

Don't forget, there were two other senators that voted no.  McCain seems to be getting all the credit.

fairplay said:

bub said:

I don't thing John McCain's last hurrah on this earth is going to be the delivery of a victory to the a-hole in chief. 

It was truly heroic. 

I think it's pretty heroic to stay up until 2:00 AM watching this.

drummerboy said:

You called it. I didn't think he could do it, but he stuck it straight into Trump's eye.

Good for him.

Can't wait for the tweets on this one.

bub said:

I don't thing John McCain's last hurrah on this earth is going to be the delivery of a victory to the a-hole in chief. 

fairplay said:

bub said:

I don't thing John McCain's last hurrah on this earth is going to be the delivery of a victory to the a-hole in chief. 

It was truly heroic. 

Morganna said:

It was almost 2 AM.

I actually yelled out Go John McCain!

Never doubted him.

I thought I was a political junkie.