John McCain sells out

(From a recent column by Cenk Uygur)

John McCain spent over five years in a prisoner-of-war camp in Vietnam. He was given the choice to leave when the Vietnamese found out his dad was a senior Admiral in the US military. He declined to leave his men behind and stayed for many more years in the Hanoi Hilton where he was regularly tortured. He is a genuine American hero.

The Senator from Arizona has also spent a majority of his political life defying partisan politics. He has tried to clean up campaign financing. He has often worked with the other party to find middle ground. And lately he insisted on banning torture by the United States in defiance of the administration.

I voted for John McCain in the 2000 Republican primaries. I thought he would have made an excellent president. I was proud to support this American hero and rare courageous politician.
So, it is with profound disappointment that I say that we have lost John McCain. He has become what he warned us against. He has turned into a pandering politician who will stop at nothing to get elected.

John McCain will be speaking at the commencement ceremonies of Liberty University in May. The founder of Liberty University is Jerry Falwell. McCain is going to Liberty to kiss the ring of Falwell (to put it politely).

Here's what Senator McCain had to say about the idea of pandering to Falwell in 2000:
"Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell on the right."
How the mighty have fallen. Where have you gone John McCain? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. The Straight Talk Express has left and gone away. You promised back then that you wouldn't pander to these guys. You lied. You broke our trust.

McCain lost the infamous South Carolina Republican primary in 2000. A primary in which Bush supporters called voters to ask them whether it would change their vote if they knew John McCain had an illegitimate black child (McCain has an adopted child from Bangladesh). He lost to the zealots and he lost to them in the meanest, dirtiest way possible.

Instead of fighting back on his own terms, unfortunately, Senator McCain has apparently learned the terrible lesson: if you can't beat them, join them. He has sold out what little there was of his remaining principles. To pander to Falwell of all people -- it is not only terribly disappointing, but also, nakedly, awkwardly obvious. It is bowing your head to the agents of intolerance.

The full text of this story is available HERE.