McCain

I've been stewing on a John McCain post for over a month now, never really knowing how to start it or end it, though I was quite certain nearly all of the middle portion would be swearing. Yesterday's address by McCain has finally loosened me up. I've been biting my tongue (or fingers) now for close to 24 hours and I think I've got most of my profanity in check.

Here goes.

John McCain is so confident he has wrapped up the conservative vote that he isn't even going to throw me a bone. He is so sure that the conservatives will fall in lock step behind him that he's willing to bet that his talk of ceding US sovereignty to other world leaders will be ignored. Not likely. At least not by me.

And to think, foreign policy is supposed to be his strong suit.

According to McCain there will be no more of this going it alone stuff that the US is now, apparently, slogging around in. Never mind that we had a coalition that included our greatest allies and that we gave every other limp-wristed pantie waist nation on Earth an opportunity to join us. Not an opportunity to kick some ass, but the opportunity to do what was right. They didn't want to. Russia had too much to hide. France, aside from not wanting any of their soldiers to break a nail, was making too much money in the Iraqi oil fields. Spain? Well, they were on board until a dozen terrorists chased their nation into a quivering hole of surrender. The UN and EU? Sure, they are on board for any peace keeping mission as long as no troops will face hostile fire. A gaggle of women heading for a blue-light bin of corsets would be enough to scare off a UN peacekeeping force, at least after they had a chance to buy a couple.

Scared of the anti-American attitude that Guantanamo has helped to create around the world, McCain says he will shut it down. Tom Lantos was absolutely correct when he told Dutch lawmakers that “Europe was not as outraged by Auschwitz as by Guantanamo Bay,” this as the Dutch were threatening to remove their troops from Afghanistan over Gitmo. Better, Dutch lawmakers feel, that their troops be fired at from released Gitmo prisoners, than to have their country face a restive Muslim population that threatens to explode over any perceived slight--whether it be an insulting cartoon, a film on Islam or a false rumor of a desecrated Koran.

The fact is, most of our European brethren face different social and cultural problems than we do, and these problems have done a great deal to compromise Europe's courage and morals. There are still pockets of free thinkers in Europe, but these enclaves are being pushed to the margins by the same people that demand we leave Iraq, close Gitmo, disarm, and please send them some money!

When we give other countries an opportunity to join us in doing what is right, it is simply that, an invitation to help. We should never seek the world's permission to engage in battles that are integral to our national interests. Just because another nation lacks the vision and fortitude to do what is correct should not be reason enough for America to abdicate its responsibilities.

John McCain should know better.