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McCain: We must fight 'propaganda and crackpot conspiracy theories'

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McCain: We must fight 'propaganda and crackpot conspiracy theories'


John McCain ✔
@SenJohnMcCain
I believe in Americans and the American dream, but it’s time we wake up.
6:32 PM - Oct 30, 2017
By Jordain Carney
The Hill - 10/30/17

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took aim at the current political environment, including apparent veiled swipes at President Trump, during a speech on Monday night. "We have to fight against propaganda and crackpot conspiracy theories. We have to fight isolationism, protectionism and nativism. We have to defeat those who would worsen our divisions," McCain said at the Brigade of Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. The Senate Armed Services Committee chairman added that "we have to remind our sons and daughters that we became the most powerful nation on earth by tearing down walls, not building them." McCain, who has been diagnosed with brain cancer, didn't directly name Trump during his speech, which was largely focused on serving the country. But his remarks mirrored some of his criticism of the administration and a strain of nationalism embodied by Trump's campaign rhetoric. Comparing the current state of nation to the early 1990s, which he described as "hopeful," the 81-year-old senator argued that it was "time to wake up."

"We are asleep to the necessity of our leadership, and to the opportunities and real dangers of this world. We are asleep in our echo chambers, where our views are always affirmed and information that contradicts them is always fake," McCain said. He also referenced one of Trump's campaign mantras, "America First," as he detailed the lessons learned from the rise of fascism and World War II. "Our failure to remain engaged in Europe and enforce the hard-won peace of 1918 had made that clear. There could be no more isolationism, no more tired resignation — no more ‘America First,'" McCain said. McCain's remarks on Monday night come after he warned of "half-baked, spurious nationalism" during a speech in Philadelphia earlier this month.

No need for Senator McCain to directly mention Trump. Most everyone now recognizes and realizes that The Donald is a conspiricist, an habitual liar, and totally uninterested in national unity.
 
While I am not a huge McCain fan I have always respected him. He makes more sense these days that most of the people in Washington, though I don't always agree with him.

The speech ^^^ in the OP is one hell of a speech! I sincerely hope that all Americans read or view a video of Sen. McCain's speech and take it to heart.

Again within the month a national leader who isn't the President gives a very Presidential speech. I'll take that everyday over name calling, blaming, baiting, bitch slapping and low rent Tweets from the White House.
 
McCain: We must fight 'propaganda and crackpot conspiracy theories'





No need for Senator McCain to directly mention Trump. Most everyone now recognizes and realizes that The Donald is a conspiricist, an habitual liar, and totally uninterested in national unity.

The problem is that it leaves open, how to persuade the allies to do the hard things it takes to shoulder a fair share instead of hiding behind the umbrella the US has been holding with a small number of close friends. He also does not address the way to deal with these same countries' use of often illegal non tariff trade barriers while using the profits from free riding US supplied global public goods on social programmes to buy votes.

Don't get me wrong. I like McCain. But he is being too vague here to be helpful.
 
The problem is that it leaves open, how to persuade the allies to do the hard things it takes to shoulder a fair share instead of hiding behind the umbrella the US has been holding with a small number of close friends. He also does not address the way to deal with these same countries' use of often illegal non tariff trade barriers while using the profits from free riding US supplied global public goods on social programmes to buy votes.

Don't get me wrong. I like McCain. But he is being too vague here to be helpful.

I agree. I saw this pretty much as political grandstanding rather than any kind of useful information. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is as firmly dug into the permanent political class in Washington as is McCain and he isn't about to rock any boat that interferes with that.

The funny thing is that people who completely trashed him in myriad ways when he was running against Barack Obama are now singing his praises when he appears to be dissing President Trump. Intellectual honesty is often very difficult to come by these days.
 
We should give everyone the benefit of the doubt, except Trump. Right?
 
McCain is wetting his pants because of the threat that President Trump poses to the permanent political class.
 
I agree. I saw this pretty much as political grandstanding rather than any kind of useful information. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is as firmly dug into the permanent political class in Washington as is McCain and he isn't about to rock any boat that interferes with that.

The funny thing is that people who completely trashed him in myriad ways when he was running against Barack Obama are now singing his praises when he appears to be dissing President Trump. Intellectual honesty is often very difficult to come by these days.

I didn't think that McCain or Romney were right for America, and I'm glad I voted for Obama both times. Praising McCain and Romney aren't signs of hypocrisy or lack of intellectual honesty, but that the bar has fallen so low that McCain and Romney are looking pretty good right now.
 
The problem is that it leaves open, how to persuade the allies to do the hard things it takes to shoulder a fair share instead of hiding behind the umbrella the US has been holding with a small number of close friends. He also does not address the way to deal with these same countries' use of often illegal non tariff trade barriers while using the profits from free riding US supplied global public goods on social programmes to buy votes.

Don't get me wrong. I like McCain. But he is being too vague here to be helpful.
If there is a complaint about countries with tariffs and trade barriers Trump has gone about it in the wrong direction. Trump decided to tear up the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade deal in his first week in office (clearly without having read it or understanding its vast geo-economic implications.) Trade experts and government officials in the far east are still stunned by this, which is a gift that will keep on giving America's trade allies pain and China gain for years to come.

Trump simply threw away the single most valuable tool America had for shaping the geo-economic future of the region our way and for pressuring China to open its markets. Trump is now trying to negotiate trade openings with China alone, as opposed to negotiating with China as the head of a 12-nation TPP trading bloc that was based on U.S. values and interests and that controlled 40% of the global economy. China's trade hard-liners must be surely laughing in their sleeves at a move that was just stupid. You see, all the things that you want in trade was in the TPP. Beijing is now encouraging everyone in the neighborhood to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, China's free-trade competitor to TPP, which, unlike TPP, lacks environmental or labor standards. So, instead if the U.S. being the leader, Trump is allowing China to take the lead. America first is just a slogan.
 
I didn't think that McCain or Romney were right for America, and I'm glad I voted for Obama both times. Praising McCain and Romney aren't signs of hypocrisy or lack of intellectual honesty, but that the bar has fallen so low that McCain and Romney are looking pretty good right now.
...and George W. Bush now sounds like a statesman in comparison.
 
...and George W. Bush now sounds like a statesman in comparison.

That "miss me yet?" meme that conservatives loved to post here during Obama's two terms is finally applicable.
 
We should give everyone the benefit of the doubt, except Trump. Right?

Well, conservatives did give Trump the benefit of the doubt.

They applauded when he denigrated the military, the handicapped, and females. They elected him cheerfully right along side extremists and supremacists.

And after being given the benefit of the doubt by conservatives and being elected, he immediately went on to flip-flop on virtually every meaningless campaign slogan and half-hearted bumper-stickered ideal that conned them. The fact that conservatives still wish to give him the benefit of the doubt, despite how he behaves, say's more about them than it does Trump. I mean, people actually thought that a silver-spooned and privileged elite was going to "clean up Washington?"
 
I didn't think that McCain or Romney were right for America, and I'm glad I voted for Obama both times. Praising McCain and Romney aren't signs of hypocrisy or lack of intellectual honesty, but that the bar has fallen so low that McCain and Romney are looking pretty good right now.

I was pretty neutral on McCain though I did think him somewhat superior to Obama in both credentials and vision. But I can see why even Republicans might vote for Obama the first time as McCain has been soft on many conservative values, and Obama ran to the right of McCain with all kinds of promises and statements of conviction that never materialized once he was safely in office.

I think anybody who voted for Obama the second time, after the truly dismal record he had in his first term, is highly unlikely to vote for ANYBODY with GOP after his name.
 
McCain is wetting his pants because of the threat that President Trump poses to the permanent political class.

'McCain has become a favorite of all the socialists, He's scorned by just about
every other element of society. McCain actually believed the positive press the NYT gave him leading up to his primary win in 2008,
then they left him at the altar over obama. He probably cried each morning over why they didn't love him
anymore. And yet, he continues to try to play to liberals for affirmations.'
 
I didn't think that McCain or Romney were right for America, and I'm glad I voted for Obama both times. Praising McCain and Romney aren't signs of hypocrisy or lack of intellectual honesty, but that the bar has fallen so low that McCain and Romney are looking pretty good right now.

Romney was badly beaten & McCain lost in a landslide to Obama, that's why they look 'pretty good right now."
 
I love that 'some' Republicans are finally waking up to the fact that they, and they alone, created the alt-right/far right beast that is now splitting the GOP apart. And 'some' are finally speaking out against the far right of their party.

When McCain says this:

"We have to fight against propaganda and crackpot conspiracy theories.

I would have respected him, and other Republicans more if this was said in 2012 when Trump was running around the country spewing his Birther propaganda and conspiracy theory about Obama. But instead not only did the GOP stay silent, many encouraged and laughed about what Trump was doing. Because well, he was attacking Obama, so Trump and the 35% of so Republicans that believed Trump Birther BS were seen by the GOP as allies.

Now that 35%, AND Trump are tearing the GOP apart. So 'some' Republicans are finally speaking out against Trump and his 35% 'base'?

Might be too little, too late.
 
McCain is wetting his pants because of the threat that President Trump poses to the permanent political class.

If McCain is wetting his pants, it's because of the NAt, Nuclear Apocalyptic trump. No doubt trumposters will defend trump's idiotic trip to the DMZ, if he's allowed to go. Pray for Kelly every day ...
 
Romney was badly beaten & McCain lost in a landslide to Obama, that's why they look 'pretty good right now."

Sen. Romney will look very good replacing Sen. Hatch, who trump has now lost. Lee's another asshole like Cruz that needs to go. Get used to saying Sen. O'Rourke ...
 
McCain is wetting his pants because of the threat that President Trump poses to the permanent political class.

He's doing no such thing. The man is dying and IMO, realizes now that his legacy will be to be a major contributor to bring down the dangerous ass in the WH while preserving an America...and Republican party...that can be strong and globally respected again.

As a man confronting death, it's ridiculous to assume he's concerned about any continuation of the farce that the "permanent political class" has become. That's who he's been trying to kick in the ass to do their jobs and join him in denouncing Trump.
 
McCain is wetting his pants because of the threat that President Trump poses to the permanent political class.

Dude, damn. Trump is the permanent political class.

He, and his folk, are the ones behind the permanent political class. The first thing the man did after elected was fill his transition team with lobbyists. He then filled his cabinet with billionaires, investment bankers, and Wall Street insiders. I mean, he literally surrounded himself with the people who thrive because of the swamp. Is there any surprise that Mueller is being charged with income tax evasion? Trump wouldn't even release his tax records. What does this tell us? These are the people who are supposed "drain the swamp?" He used every anti-Obama slogan in the book and conservatives ate it up and then he went on to flip on everything.

Now he uses Twitter to play the celebrity because he has found himself way in over his head. Conservatives have always been all about hating the commies. Yet, here we are with this shady Putin crap and conservatives wish to ignore it outright. Conservatives were all about supporting and defending the military, now denigrate McCain because Trump say's so. What does the guy have to do?

You are far better than Trump. He doesn't deserve your loyalty. He has done nothing to earn it. I think Conservatives are hung up on the ideal that they thought Trump represented, rather than what the man actually stands for, which is largely nothing. If Conservatives and Liberals want to "shake up" the institution, Trump and Clinton were not it. Sanders was, but both sides only saw (D) or (R) and voted accordingly. It is quite frustrating.
 
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I love that 'some' Republicans are finally waking up to the fact that they, and they alone, created the alt-right/far right beast that is now splitting the GOP apart. And 'some' are finally speaking out against the far right of their party.

When McCain says this:



I would have respected him, and other Republicans more if this was said in 2012 when Trump was running around the country spewing his Birther propaganda and conspiracy theory about Obama. But instead not only did the GOP stay silent, many encouraged and laughed about what Trump was doing. Because well, he was attacking Obama, so Trump and the 35% of so Republicans that believed Trump Birther BS were seen by the GOP as allies.

Now that 35%, AND Trump are tearing the GOP apart. So 'some' Republicans are finally speaking out against Trump and his 35% 'base'?

Might be too little, too late.

McCain and his compadres have been thriving on propaganda and made a fine and powerful position for themselves. Now that an outsider threatens their comfy loft, they are getting antsy.
I am not defending Trump by any means, but lets face it, our career politicians never had a real challenge.
The Reps who are speaking out seek reelection, or in Mc's case, a legacy.
 
Dude, damn. Trump is the permanent political class.

He, and his folk, are the ones behind the permanent political class. The first thing the man did after elected was fill his transition team with lobbyists. He then filled his cabinet with billionaires, investment bankers, and Wall Street insiders. I mean, he literally surrounded himself with the people who thrive because of the swamp. Is there any surprise that Mueller is being charged with income tax evasion? Trump wouldn't even release his tax records. What does this tell us? These are the people who are supposed "drain the swamp?" He used every anti-Obama slogan in the book and conservatives ate it up and then he went on to flip on everything.

Now he uses Twitter to play the celebrity because he has found himself way in over his head. Conservatives have always been all about hating the commies. Yet, here we are with this shady Putin crap and conservatives wish to ignore it outright. Conservatives were all about supporting and defending the military, now denigrate McCain because Trump say's so. What does the guy have to do?

You are far better than Trump. He doesn't deserve your loyalty. He has done nothing to earn it. I think Conservatives are hung up on the ideal that they thought Trump represented, rather than what the man actually stands for, which is largely nothing.

Not hardly and don't curse me again.
 
He's doing no such thing. The man is dying and IMO, realizes now that his legacy will be to be a major contributor to bring down the dangerous ass in the WH while preserving an America...and Republican party...that can be strong and globally respected again.

As a man confronting death, it's ridiculous to assume he's concerned about any continuation of the farce that the "permanent political class" has become. That's who he's been trying to kick in the ass to do their jobs and join him in denouncing Trump.

He should go home and STFU, then.
 
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