McCain: slouching toward the elder Bush?

Should we be "scared" of an Obama presidency?

By Wes Vernon

Just when John McCain gets up a good head of steam in this campaign, he pulls a switch and reverts to his futile posture of "reaching across the aisle" only to get his arm bitten off.

Does he want to win or not?

Why do I suddenly get this feeling of being in a time warp — like it's 1992 all over again?

That was the year when Bush '41 (George H. W.) — having betrayed the Reagan revolution by raising taxes in the teeth of a recession — decided to betray his own party by being the "above-it-all statesman" and running what was easily the worst presidential campaign in the history of American politics.

While then-Governor Bill Clinton and/or his hired guns were pounding the first President Bush day in and day out, Mr. Bush remained stoic, stopping barely short of wearing a Kick Me sign on his back.

Oh, it wasn't time to campaign, he protested when challenged. Now was the time to govern. Of course, that kind of limp jellyfish approach to politics gets you nowhere in the real world. Of course, the strong-arm Clinton machine took full advantage of that weakness, and upon reaching the White House, ran "the permanent campaign."

Know your place

The enthusiasm at McCain/Palin rallies reflects a legitimate frustration. The mainstream media's regard for any Republican candidate goes only so far as that candidate's willingness to (1) ape the Democrat policies, (2) have the "decency" never to attack his opponent, (3) acclimate himself to another "honorable" defeat with a smile like a good sport, and (4) then go away to a respectful obituary years hence as a "decent person."

But — gasp! — the crowds at McCain-Palin rallies have not followed that "decency" script. Why, they even had the gall to give a media caravan the thumbs-down and — quick, Mom, hide the kids — even the one-finger salute! (Pass me the smelling salts!) The crowd at Waukesha, Wisconsin, spotted another case of the Democrat party infiltrating the Republican ranks under cover of an "objective" press doing "impartial" reporting on the campaign.

"Bellowed"?

At the Waukesha rally, local radio talkshow host James T. Harris challenged McCain thusly: "It is absolutely vital that you take it to Obama, that you hit him where it hurts. There's a soft spot" — a reference to what Harris then referred to as "all those shady characters that have surrounded" Obama.

Then, with pen dipped in poison, the Washington Obama Post said Harris "bellowed" in urging McCain, "We have corruption in Wisconsin voting and voting across the nation. I am begging you, sir. I am begging you. Take it to him." (Note: I watched the Q&A on YouTube. Harris did not "bellow." I can't say for certain why the WP used that description, except to note the liberal media usually reserve their bitterest scorn for blacks who dare stray off the liberal plantation, as Harris has.)

Cool it? On the battlefield?

Senator McCain — apparently unaware that the mainstream media that loved him when he was "reaching across the aisle" in the Senate will never forgive him for daring to run against their matinee idol — attempted to calm another crowd the following day.

At a rally in Lakeville, Minn., one voter called out to the GOP candidate that "the people here in Minnesota want to see a real fight." Another said Obama would lead the U.S. into socialism. Yet another said he did not want his unborn child raised in a country led by Obama.

McCain's response was that if you want a fight, "we will fight." (Whew! With what? A delicate feather?) The GOP candidate added, "I admire Senator Obama and his accomplishments." That got the Arizonan some boos from his own supporters, as did this whopper: "I have to tell you he is a decent person and a person you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States."

By that time, I was yelling at my television set again.

Decent? Scared?

This column has no doubt that Senator Obama is "decent" in the sense that he loves his family and doesn't kick his dog, if he has one. Speaking of which, remember that Hitler loved his dog. No, that is not to say Obama is Hitler. That vile charge has been leveled time and again at George W. Bush by "moderate" and "decent" Obama supporters, complete with their movies about the assassination of the sitting president. (This column's view of Bush '43 is a mixed bag left for another day. But Hitler he is not.)

Like your stereotypical mafia don, a person can be a loving father and husband without having decent instincts with the larger world. And that is what we are talking about here. On the rank-and-file level, that has nothing to do with being Democrat or Republican. But we are talking about a man who wants to be President of the United States.

"Decency," Obama-style — let me count the ways

This column submits to you that including terrorists among your friends is not "decent."

Nor is "decency" defined as bedding down with the corrupt Chicago machine, even going so far as to form a dubious financial alliance with a convicted slumlord, Tony Rezko.

What is "decent" about spending 15-20 years in a church where the pastor whose hate-filled sermons have included an appeal to "God-d--- America?"

My copy of the dictionary fails to define "decency" as sanctioning drivers' licenses for illegal aliens, as advocated by Obama, notwithstanding (to put it in context) that Mohammed Atta and 12 other 9/11 hijackers had obtained valid drivers' licenses. Eight of them had registered to vote.

Can anyone ascribe "decency" to Obama's friends and criminals at ACORN who are working night and day to steal the election? His refusal to condemn this voter fraud (which thereby cancels the votes of duly registered law-abiding citizens) is oh so decent, is it not?

Yet, another "decency"-check goes to Obama's virtual endorsement of infanticide when — as an Illinois state senator — he fought against legislation that would spare the lives of babies who had survived a botched abortion. These bills were aimed specifically and only at rescuing children who had been born — or were, in Obama's odd phraseology, "temporarily alive." Obama was on record opposing bills providing that a born human being who was alive and out of the womb was also cared for rather than left to die. How "decent."

Pray tell, is it "decent" to support (as Obama did) Raila Odinga, a Marxist America-hating politician in Kenya with troubling ties to Muslim extremists and whose backers burned down scores of Christian churches throughout Kenya, hacking to death those who tried to escape?

More "decency" at work

If Obama becomes president, you might have to do battle with the heavy hand of the state if you criticize your government. Here is a man who has urged his supporters to corral Republicans and "argue with them, and get in their face" — a man whose minions jammed the phone lines when researcher Stanley Kurtz appeared on a Chicago radio station to reveal his findings on Obama's relationship with terrorist Bill Ayers; a man whose allies in the St. Louis county and city attorney's offices have threatened criminal libel prosecutions of anyone who makes statements against Obama that they deem "false."

What Senator McCain must do

Senator McCain has a responsibility that goes beyond defeating an inferior candidate. The Arizona senator needs to understand that he is all that stands between us and a Marxist-oriented administration in the White House. Every Marxist — here and abroad — who despaired of the demise of the Soviet empire would get a tremendous morale-boost, and will be emboldened to act on it. And this is before we even consider the plans this man himself would have for us if he actually attains access to the levers of power.

Senator McCain surely understands he will win no friends in the media if he "takes it" to his opponent. They are so in-the-tank for Obama that they have long since abandoned McCain anyway. The mannerly Bush '41 campaign will not do. Surely, this brave veteran of the Hanoi Hilton should have no trouble getting past that hang-up. Being "scared" of this confrontation is not only not in his DNA, it is a matter of "decency."

© Wes Vernon