- Sorry Senator, the institution and what its rules and traditions of late have produced just ain’t that great
- “Compromise” of the Constitution (or toward big government) is no virtue
- The Democrat Party does not mean the institution well.
Arizona Senator John McCain spoke to the Senate yesterday after returning for an important vote regarding Obamacare, which has a worse prognosis than his. Being there was certainly a commendable, perhaps even fortitudinous thing to do. The good new is, as certainly no one with their head screwed on straight wishes him anything but physical and mental well-being after the announcement of his medical condition, is that Senator McCain is the same old Senator McCain. The bad news is that the speech reflected the same old Senator McCain.
That is why we found this praising commentary by Ed Willing at The Resurgent maudlin at best, if not for McCain, the Senate. Reading the speech will make our full comments understandable.
The title:
McCain Just Delivered A Speech You’ll Be Quoting For Years
It includes this hagiography
Either way, this speech will likely go down as one of the great speeches by a Senator in the modern era. This is not an exaggeration. His 2,000 word speech contained both history, reflection, reverence for the founders, defense of federalism, America’s destiny,
We doubt the efficacy of the title other than to offer as a reflection of McCain being McCain. The real focus seems to be to extol a “return to order” in the Senate, the good old days. Of course that would only serve to inculcate some very bad things, like Obamacare. As to Willing’s summation set forth above, — we don’t see where he gets that, from the speech which was a lot of window dressing or, arguably from McCain’s legislative history.
Is McCain’s speech an appeal to Democrats as well, tot heir good will? Well one might naively think that would be possible if there were a track record of genuine response from them to such. The little shaming zing he gets in about how Democrats imposed Obamacare has been employed by others enumerable times, to no avail. At that McCain’s “effort” was in conjunction with a slap at uncompromising Republican stalwarts and his extolling of the “order” that effectively sustains big government and unconstitutional things, and by the way empowers Democrats.
Ironically, Senator McCain of McCain-Feingold fame feels compelled to air once more his disdain for talk radio. How pathetic, what kind of defense of reverence for the founders, defense of federalism, America’s destiny” is that? We consider it an institution that has probably saved the Republic of late through more truth-telling in reporting, albeit reporting related to opinion, than journalism disguised as “unbiased” reports. The later having softly and blatantly corrupted reverence for the founders, defense of federalism, America’s destiny.
It’s just so phony anyway. McCain is as recalcitrant as they come in his demeanor, compromise happens when he just doesn’t choose to care much.
In further reading this morning we came across this article by Dennis Prager writing in Heritage Foundation’s Daily Signal. While Senator McCain is not mentioned we think he could be lumped in with the likes of Bret Stephens, the New York Times resident conservative at least as far as Prager’s critique of Stephens fearing Russia more than the loss of western values, properly understood.
McCain’s compromises with the left i.e. Democrat leadership and their essentially Stalinist goals are potentially more country/culturally damaging than outright embracing of Russia, a country which he is bent on opposing, ever suspicious as the cold war hawk that he is. We think suspicion is always in order with Russia, but no less so Democrats, who are of the same philosophical tree, nurtured in Marx and Alinsky tactics.
Yes, the Left Really Is a Greater Threat to the West Than Russia (excerpt that McCain should take to heart)
Bret Stephens devoted his New York Times column last week to admonishing me for my tweet from two weeks ago and critiquing my follow-up column last week explaining the tweet.
The news media in the West pose a far greater danger to Western civilization than Russia does.
You mentioned that you will be sending me a birthday gift, a book about Putin’s Russia, “Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible” by Peter Pomerantsev. I promise to read it.
And I request a promise in return: Read the book I am sending you, “The Strange Death of Europe” by the eminent British thinker Douglas Murray.
The book describes Europe’s suicide at the hands of its progressive elites—in particular, its multiculturalism-affirming political leaders and mendacious news media. To the best of my recollection, in describing the death of European civilization, Murray doesn’t mention Putin once.
(Regarding the mendacious media, read the report published this week in Germany about the dishonesty in the German media, which routinely substitutes left-wing opinion for facts in reporting the immigrant crisis in Germany.)
R Mall
