 |
McCain’s Rhetoric Says Change, But His Policies Are Just More Of The McSame |
 |
You’ve got to give it to the Republicans. They’ve got guts. How else would they even attempt to pull off the paradoxical campaign of John McCain? How else could the incumbent party run as the party of change? How else could a man who has been a Congressman and a Senator since 1982 try to present himself as a Washington outsider?
Throughout his acceptance speech on Thursday night, McCain talked about his desire to reform both Washington and the Republican Party:
“I want to get the country back on the road to prosperity and peace.”
“I want to restore the pride and the principles of our party.”
“We’ve lost the trust of the American people.”
“We were sent to change Washington, but Washington has changed us.”
“We need to change the way government does almost everything.”
Nevermind the sheer recklessness of that last statement. The message that McCain is getting across loudly and clearly is this: “As Republicans, we know that we have been the party in power, that we have held the White House for the last 8 years and Congress for 12 of the last 14. And we admit that we have screwed up royally. But please give us another chance. We’re bringing in new management, and we swear that things are going to change.”
And we could almost believe McCain. We could almost be convinced by his “maverick” image and his POW toughness and patriotism. Except for the fact that McCain himself, in the content of this very same speech, lays out a platform that features no significant departures from the policies of the Bush administration.
It’s almost laughable. McCain preaches change, but then on issue after issue - from school vouchers and school choice to health care to oil-centric energy policy to aggressive neo-con foreign policy to tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy to a basic denial of the economic suffering of the American working class to playing on fears of terrorism to Cold War rhetoric on Russia to a good vs. evil view of the world to the U.S. mission to spread freedom and democracy around the globe - it’s all just more of the McSame.
So now that the conventions are over and it’s time to get down-and-dirty, America is left with a quite simple choice. Do we want the party that has been in power and is promising to reform itself, even though it can’t come up with any new ideas? Or do we want true change? I believe that the next two months are going to make this choice painfully obvious to the American people.
we need change from fear that is being instilled by repubs ,fear we have for our fellow country men ..fear from thinking forces outside are trying to destroy us ,when we in fact meddle too much in other’s affairs …fear that anyone with a strange name or idea will destroy .
If we elect such people we will deserve in our lifetime to see a united China or India do better than us and loose our status as the best country in the world …forget about being a super power …we need a fresh look at our policies and vote for true change