John McCain RIP

Been having a good time driving McCain worshippers nuts by asking them "Once you take away the marketing/branding, what did McCain actually do all this time he was in office?"

mccain-feingold got pwned by citizens united, and he did the thumbs down thing for obamacare, thats about it right?

as far as possibly good things, that is

he liked barbeque

for real? fuck that guy

he liked barbecuing people in southeast asia and the middle east

he liked charles keating

His favorite Fleetwood Mac album is Penguin

I mean, yeah. It certainly wasn't Bare Trees.

https://i.imgur.com/hCAXKnh.jpg

30 years of being in the Senate and he never got to Mystery To Me? Fuck that guy...

good mourning!

Its mourning somewhere *drinks*

late entrant for the 'worst mccain take'

Just as 9/11/01 galvanized a generation of young people perhaps 9/1/18 (the date of McCain’s funeral) will be the inspiration for another generation of Americans to eschew tribalism and seek common ground in defense of overarching values. https://t.co/bFYb7UZqMU

— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) September 3, 2018

is the sentiment really that galling tbh

I think my biggest takeaway over the past week has been that McCain's talent as an accidental cult leader went sadly unrecognized in his lifetime. It's really been something to behold.

is the sentiment really that galling tbh

...

yes?

oh well carry on so

*doffs cap, continues posting*

Just as 9/11/01 galvanized a generation

U outta touch lady, the leader describes that as “a tiny period of time with a bullhorn.”

Perhaps she’s right tho and it’s better to remember it as “the battle of little bullhorn” in which we rode hard for george custer bush.

this is never gonna end huh

As McCain (R-Ariz.) ascends to heaven on an updraft of praise, Trump’s political hell on Earth will burn hotter. Through the wall-to-wall coverage of McCain’s life, and his memorial and burial that will take place over the next few days, Trump will become a bystander as our nation is given a reminder of the best of what it stands for, and the best of what it can be. The president and the rest of America are about to look in the mirror and see Trump’s opposite.

McCain lived a life of service to country; Trump lives in service of self. McCain exemplified sacrifice; Trump, indulgence. McCain played down his heroism; Trump boasts of imagined rescues into school buildings to save children from gunfire. McCain sought reconciliation with his enemies; Trump thrives on creating new ones. McCain was, in the words of his longtime aide and collaborator Mark Salter, a “romantic about his causes and a cynic about the world.” Trump is a cynic about both.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/08/26/in-death-mccain-shows-an-alternative-to-trump/?utm_term=.ee7b2449341b

McCain sought reconciliation with his enemies

*ahem*

https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Feehard.files.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F09%2F5052a31b1f.jpg&f=1

I mean, look, if we're all in agreement that this ridiculous overpraise of McCain and his 'legacy' is all for the sake of trolling Trump, then I'm happy to play along. Just wish y'all had sent me the memo a little earlier, is all.

We might want to pull the reins back just a touch on going too full-bore Kelly cartoon, though. I think even Trump will start to see through the purple prose at some point.

We’ll go through this all again when we try to square Jimmy Carter, the good Christian peanut farmer, with Jimmy Carter, the nuclear submarine engineer and Admiral Rickover acolyte who changed the US nuclear policy to first strike is his belief that a nuclear war was winnable.

*in* his

there are, famously, no good us presidents but carter at least has spent the last four decades working with habitat for humanity rather than endlessly urging war like mccain did

tbh i'd be shocked if the media gave carter the mccain/reagan/etc great hero treatment when he dies.

elvis t -- do you have a link or a book recommendation w/ more info on carter changing nuclear strike policy? embarrassed to say i had no idea about that

Carter

I’m not at home (and typing this on my phone) so I can’t consult my library, but this is a good overview:
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb390/

Worth noting that much of these changes were occurring during the false alarms of 1979-1980
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb371/

Honestly this is better suited to the Cold War thread because there was more going on politically and technically in a short period of time (the accuracy of the MX, the B-1 cluaterfuck, stealth bombers, cruise missiles, neutron bombs, Afghanistan)

Anyway, fuck McCain.

While I respect Bernie, I disagree with him strongly on this. John McCain was a war hawk who sent American youth to fight and die and never met a problem he didn't think could be solved through invasion or intervention. The real heroes are those who fought for PEACE.#GravelGang https://t.co/a3l6700Vo4

— Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) March 21, 2019

yup.

there are impressive number of tulsi gabbard trolls.

(i mean i keep seeing them in the responses to tweets that have nothing to do w/ her.)

mccain obviously showed personal bravery, but a "hero"-- how can we agree that the vietnam war was a near genodical disaster and claim that those who perpetrated it (even if they weren't calling the shots) are "heroes." nope, nope, nope.

sorry, i know we all know this, just that military worship is down there with cop worship as one of the great sicknesses of our country.

Turns out the orgasm that made Meghan was his greatest crime.

there must have been some way you could have written that Meghan is an irredeemably bad person whose every television appearance exhibits a remarkable negative-count of charisma that didn't make me want to throw up

2009 in one photo

https://44.media.tumblr.com/d1697f0b37f334d069d74a69a5d78d07/tumblr_p7yuytcwn31sj0oe0o4_400.gif

I get her mixed up with Meghan Trainor a lot

i don't trust megans who sneak an h in there

It’s 2021 and we are all Whoopi. pic.twitter.com/SncHJPxHTW

— Justin Martindale (@justmartindale) March 9, 2021

Meghan McCain advertises her book on her fathers headstone. (2022) pic.twitter.com/Q8IgStY8BM

— crazy ass moments in american politics (@ampol_moment) May 10, 2022

A book that's officially (?) only sold slightly more than 300 copies.

It’s a nice look at what all these godawful books would sell without the bulk purchases that every party-line republican is guaranteed.

maybe he preordered

dog