mccain de sade
by Ari Holtz
Published: July 19, 2008
In a June 5th cover story, The Economist magazine labeled the current presidential race between John McCain and Barack Obama “America at its Best.” The article heralded McCain’s political courage in bucking party orthodoxy, as well as frequently reaching across the aisle in admirable bipartisan fashion. McCain’s laudable biography needs no detailed description here - military scion, veteran, POW, torture victim, noble-beyond-words refusal to be released from captivity unless his fellow prisoners were as well. The man is a true American hero.
There is another McCain, however, a shadow of his champion-among-men image. This disturbing underbelly lies in McCain’s reflex to cruelty, violence and a frightening sadism towards others. None of this undoes his past heroism and impressive political independence, but it is part of the man. In electing the leader of the free world, Americans need to see the whole person, the complete picture of judgment, personality and world view.
Examples of the shadow McCain are many. Most recently, reports cited a 1986 joke made during a campaign event that insinuated a woman would enjoy being raped by an ape. In 1998, he commented before a Republican crowd about the ugliness of both 18-year-old Chelsea Clinton and Janet Reno. McCain has reportedly been witnessed, by aides and reporters, calling his wife Cindy a “cunt” and “trollop.”
Nice.
The startling insensitivity doesn’t stop with misogyny.
This spring, McCain responded in song to a question about how to handle Iran, “bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,” making mass death inflicted upon a civilian populace whimsical. Just this past week, at a campaign event, McCain responded to a question about American exports of cigarettes to Iran with a carp about the benefit of Iranians dying from smoking. Through at least 2000, McCain was still publicly referring to the Vietnamese as “gooks.”
We all make off-color, insensitive remarks from time-to-time. All of the above, however, happened in public. This is worrisome in that it suggests not only does McCain have cruel, insensitive thoughts, as we all do, but that he also thinks it’s acceptable to voice these to others, that they have some value and validity. This is a gaping lack of self-awareness, understanding and psychological maturity. It is, in fact, frightening.
McCain supporters will say, and already have, that those who are offended by the above-described behavior are overly PC and sensitive, that they should go sit around a camp fire and sing kum ba yah. Relax, chill out, they will say. McCain is an authentic, off-the-cuff kind of guy. This stuff is just McCain being McCain. We need to stop taking ourselves so seriously.
That this stuff is McCain being McCain is what I am worried about.
Republicans preach ad nauseam about the importance of character in our elected officials. What does all this say about McCain’s character? What would you think of a 60-something-year-old man who mocked your 18-year-old daughter’s appearance in public? Are the women of America truly supposed to put their trust and support in a man who publicly calls his wife one of the ugliest words in the English language? And McCain, of all people, should know that war, the large-scale slaughter of humans, while sometimes necessary, is far too serious a topic to be publicly trivialized and made joke fodder.
Once again, you, I and everyone we know have inappropriate, cruel and harsh thoughts on a variety of subjects. We may even joke and speak of them in moments of candor, intoxication or poor judgment. You, I and everyone we know, however, aren’t running to be the chief representative and leader of the American public. We are a nation of 300 million people. We pick one man or woman to stand up for us, represent us, and put forth our interests at home and to the people of the world.
Are McCain’s sadistic, misogynistic tendencies, these dark sides of his soul that keep seeping out, really what America needs right now? Is this who we are as a nation, as a people?
I sorely hope not.
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July 20th, 2008 at 7:55 am
And call me crazy, but I don’t think that having been captured and tortured in the only war in which McCain ever took part is a sign of a man who “knows how to win wars,” let alone a man with the psych to hold the red button. I don’t know what the party was thinking when they selected him.
July 20th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
John McCain, a Navy veteran and the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, comes from a military family, and knows a great deal more than Mr. Socialize Obama about wars and foreign policy in general. Its funny how Obama talks about policy when he just stepped foot in afghanistan for the first time.
July 20th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
You’re absolutely right about Obama, but that doesn’t even address McCain’s concerning psyche.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Some of the McCain slip-ups you put in the article were surprising to me. Some of them certainly contradict McCain’s character as seen through the media. While these comments should be known to voters, I don’t know that all of these comments are something for Americans to really worry about. I’m not going to defend him on any of his comments, but I do think we need to put things in perspective a little. For example, his gook comment. While the word is outdated and offensive now, it was, unfortunately, what soldiers called the Vietnamese during the war, and McCain is a Vietnam vet. By putting such a comment in perspective, I think we can consider it a poor word choice and be rightfully angry, but we need not label him a racist. I think some of the other comments can be seen in the same light as well.
The same can be said for Obama. While we can call his wife and pastor America haters for their comments, we shouldn’t blow those comments out of proportion either. They were probably just venting frustration. No, Obama did not make those comments himself, but they are people he surrounds himself with. In both cases, voters should be aware of the comments, but I don’t think anything that scandalous has come up in either campaign (or whole public career, for that matter)….yet.
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I’m left wondering (as I have been since right after Super Tuesday) what to do. I will encourage people to vote for McCain only because I think the alternative is worse. But what have we come to as a nation when we must pick the least worst option left for our presidential candidate, and that’s not saying much, instead of a candidate we choose. I am frustrated by the two party system, but how to vote by choice without “wasting my vote” is difficult. I have the privilege or unfortunate opportunity, however you choose to see it, of living in a state that will vote for a certain candidate regardless of my actions. I have the dubious freedom to write in my candidate and know that it won’t affect the outcome of the race one iota. Lucky me?