The Wrongologist

What’s
Wrong Today:

On
Friday last week, the BBC broadcast a live TV debate about the US and
whether it has lost its way internationally. The debate was held in Davos,
Switzerland at the World Economic Forum, where hundreds of business and
political leaders spent the week discussing the world’s most pressing issues. And
networking.

The
BBC-organized debate asked the question: Has America lost touch with the world?

The
panelists included Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Russian parliament member Alexey
Pushkov, Chairman of Russia’s State Duma Committee for International Affairs and
Saudi prince Turki Al-Faisal, former Ambassador to the US and former head of
Saudi Arabia’s Intelligence Agency, and former US Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), who
is now President and CEO of the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars.

They
debated America’s role in the world in 2014 and whether the US is losing
credibility, influence and power on the international scene. The debate lasts 55 minutes. You can find it here.

Mr. McCain
says in a BBC
video clip (at 1:48): (emphasis by the Wrongologist)

“We”? It
was only “we” in McCain World.

McCain takes his CIA and Israeli Intelligence briefings
and believes all of it: Democracy loving young people were (are) being massacred
by the twisted dictator, and we were winning until the Hezbollah showed up!

Mr. McCain also took
Mr. Obama to task, for refusing to take stronger action against Mr. Assad for
using chemical weapons. His comments drew support from Prince Turki, who
has criticized the US for the same thing:

To Sen. McCain, the US’
main problem was that it is not active
enough on the world stage. He says that makes America’s allies feel
they can no longer depend on the US, and it leaves room for others to fill the
void. Fill the void?
Isn’t that what we tried to do in Iraq? How did that work out?

McCain droned on:

The use of
force by the US in the Middle East has not made anything better. It has created
more enemies for the US and has not led to any type of self determination.

McCain’s
BBC comments led Secretary of State John Kerry, also at Davos, to spend 37
minutes of his speaking time enumerating the many ways in which the US was
deeply engaged around the world, from trying to solve the crisis in Syria to
pushing for a settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, and negotiating
with Iran about its nuclear program.

So, we
have another in the long list of occasions where McCain undermines the efforts
of the US in its international negotiating position, this time in the Syrian
Peace negotiations. Back to the debate, Mr. McCain said his “friend” John
Kerry had a lot of work to do “as long as we have a president who does not
believe in American Exceptionalism”.

That comment brought
a retort from Mr. Pushkov, saying that the comment was “racist”. Even Ms. Harman
distanced herself from the concept of American Exceptionalism, saying that she
disagreed with Mr. McCain. Harman
said the US should be looked at differently in a post-Cold War world, as an
“indispensable partner” rather than the sole superpower.

But McCain also needs to
mend fences at home.

Arizona Republicans passed a resolution
to censure Mr. McCain for what they characterize as a liberal record that has
been “disastrous and harmful” to
the state and nation. Apparently, they are angry that McCain supports
immigration reform and failed to support the government shutdown. They fail to give
him a free pass just because he advocates
war in every
situation in most countries on
Earth.

It used to be that if
you believed in American Exceptionalism and thought that the use of America’s military
force was always a good thing, then Republicans would willingly stamp your
candidate dance card.

But now, you have to
bring much more (or less), in order to stay in the club. You have to be a
defender of the “Christian nation” philosophy. You have to believe
that women are inherently inferior and must be directed and controlled by the
hand of a man. You have to believe that dark skinned persons are a threat to
the nation’s health and security.
You have to believe
that anyone who does not succeed in life is a lazy moocher who wants everything
handed to them. You have to believe that the wealthy have attained their status
because they are better human beings. You have to believe that there is
absolutely no role for government beyond fighting wars and protecting the
elites. You have to believe that, above all else, an individual has the
pre-eminent right to own any firearm manufactured, and that they have the right to use their own personal discretion to
decide if an armed rebellion is necessary in the US.  

You see the pattern
here. The basic tenet of George Bush’s “you’re either with us or against
us” philosophy has morphed into a Frankenstein’s monster that is consuming
the GOP and our political debate.  

How ironic that this
is happening to Mr. McCain, who, as leader of the “undermine Obama’s international
position” team, along with his fellow-travelers
Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman get more mindshare and face time from the media than anyone
else.

That should be enough
for the Tea Party and the most conservative Republicans, but it is not.

John McCain is simply
the latest in their cross-hairs. In his case, it’s good to see it!

Its time he stood
down from politics.