In The Village Have They Finally Realized McCain's Lost His Marbles?

Anyone who's ever had any doubts about voting for Obama in November on 2008-- who has been quite the disappointment for many people who imagined he was a progressive and that he was serious about their visions of Hope and Change-- John McCain's manifest nastiness and bigotry this week should put that to rest forever. Joe Klein says he used to know a different John McCain, the Maverick guy (who more discerning people always saw as a gimmick after he wormed his way out from having been exposed as-- if not convicted of-- taking bribes in the savings-and-loan scandal).

In commenting on the defeat of the DREAM Act this weekend, Klein mentions that "[t]wo of the bill's original sponsors, John McCain and Orrin Hatch, voted against the bill...and one wonders why, especially in McCain's case, given the fact that he recently won reelection and doesn't have to pretend to be a troglodyte anymore." Pretend? One of the problems is that Inside the Beltway they were all always convinced that he was always just pretending to be a reactionary asshole. But he wasn't, which is a big part of how Barack Obama became president.

McCain has professed himself all misty and honored in the past when he attended ceremonies in which green-card holders and other non-citizens achieved citizenship through military service. But, because of the anti-immigrant mania, this flagrantly cynical and cowardly politician would deny similar status to young people who-- through no fault of their own-- were brought to this country as children, grew up as Americans and love the country enough to serve it. If the Dream Act were passed, we would have gained an estimated 65,000 valuable, patriotic and productive citizens-- college graduates, military service-members-- each year. We could use them.

McCain distinguished himself doubly this weekend, opposing the Dream Act and leading the opposition to "Don't Ask," despite the very public positions of his wife and daughter on the other side of the issue. I used to know a different John McCain, the guy who proposed comprehensive immigration reform with Ted Kennedy, the guy-- a conservative, to be sure, but an honorable one-- who refused to indulge in the hateful strictures of his party's extremists. His public fall has been spectacular, a consequence of politics-- he "needed" to be reelected-- and personal pique. He's a bitter man now, who can barely tolerate the fact that he lost to Barack Obama. But he lost for an obvious reason: his campaign proved him to be puerile and feckless, a politician who panicked when the heat was on during the financial collapse, a trigger-happy gambler who chose an incompetent for his vice president. He has made quite a show ever since of demonstrating his petulance and lack of grace.

What a guy.

I doubt Klein is the only one who noticed. This week McCain was hysterical in his opposition to the DREAM Act, to the repeal of DADT, to the START treaty, and he even voted against compensation for the 9-11 first responders. Andy Borowitz thinks he needs more-- and earlier-- naps. Still, McCranky won't make Obama look good to this guy-- after all, no one likes their penis being taken from them-- but everyone else...



And there's this.

In fact, another Villager, the Washington Post's Dana Milbank, seems to think McCain is cracking up.

If John McCain gets any more hostile toward his Senate colleagues, they might consider having him go through the metal detector before he enters the Capitol.

Saturday's debate on the repeal of the "don't-ask-don't-tell" policy was only half an hour old when the Arizona Republican burst onto the floor from the cloakroom, hiked up his pants and stalked over to his friend Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). Ignoring Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), who had the floor, McCain hectored the men noisily for a few moments, waving his arms for emphasis.

When McCain finally stormed off, Durbin shook his head in exasperation and Lieberman smiled. A minute later, McCain returned-- he had apparently remembered another element of his grievance-- and resumed his harangue... It doesn't take much to set off McCain these days.

Earlier in the week, he was observed in the unseemly act of publicly gloating on the Senate floor over his success in killing a massive spending bill. He's also been raising hurdles to the ratification of the Obama administration's nuclear arms treaty with Russia. At the same time, he led the opposition Saturday to repealing the ban on openly gay men and lesbians serving in the military-- taking on Lieberman, who led the other side.

McCain's statement on the floor was roughly one part argument, four parts tantrum. "So here we are about six weeks after an election that repudiated the agenda of the other side," he said, and those who would repeal don't-ask-don't-tell "are acting in direct repudiation of the message of the American people." (Actually, polls show support for repeal.) ...The Arizonan suggested those who vote to repeal would have blood on their hands. "Don't think that it won't be at great cost," he said, punctuating his words by bouncing on his toes and chopping with his left hand. It will "probably," he said, "harm the battle effectiveness which is so vital to the survival of our young men and women in the military."

McCain famously said in 2006 that he would support repeal once military leaders recommended it. Instead, he led the opposition to repeal. McCainologists in the Capitol speculate that on this and other issues he's driven less by policy consideration than by personal animosity. A decade ago, his antipathy toward President George W. Bush led him to seek common cause with Democrats to thwart a Republican president. Now his antipathy toward President Obama has made him a leading Republican hardliner.

This seems especially odd since by appointing popular Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano Secretary of Homeland Security, Obama removed the only real threat to McCain's 2010 reelection prospects. Other than winning the election, Obama has bent over backwards to accommodate the nasty-- many say extremely vicious-- old curmudgeon. Yesterday 8 Republicans abandoned McCain, including hard right-wingers like Richard Burr (NC) and Jon Ensign (NV), and few Republicans were all that worked up during the debate-- except the histrionic, over-the-top McCain, who made a disgusting display of bigotry on the floor of the Senate, disgracing himself and the whole institution. (Almost immediately after his DADT loss, McCain was dealt another backhand across the snout as the Senate rejected his ploy to derail ratification of the START treaty. McCain was defeated 59-37, with Lieberman reuniting with him on this one but with all the Democrats and three mainstream conservative Republicans shunning an explosion of McCain obstructionism that disregarded national security.)

The loss of Republican votes, no doubt, made McCain even angrier. When it came time for his closing argument before the day's key vote, McCain spoke for only a few seconds: "Today's a very sad day. The commandant of the United States Marine Corps says when your life hangs on the line, you don't want anything distracting... I don't want to permit that opportunity to happen and I'll tell you why. You go up to Bethesda Naval Hospital. Marines are up there with no legs, none. You've got Marines at Walter Reed with no limbs."

McCain turned and, without another word, walked into the cloakroom.

Barbara Boxer (D-CA) didn't want to call McCain senile and no other senators do either. She said “He makes things up. He loses control."

After McCain railed on the Democrats’ floor schedule-- and referred to the upcoming consideration of the Sept. 11 first responders bill as “fooling around”-- Schumer teed off in a Senate floor speech Friday, saying the Arizona Republican was being insensitive to the emergency responders who need health benefits.

“We are not fooling around,” Schumer said. “We are fulfilling our duty as patriotic Americans for all of those, from New York and elsewhere, who rushed to the towers.”

McCain didn’t back down.

“The majority leader keeps bringing up that and other pieces of legislation for votes [that] don’t get enough votes,” McCain fired back. “So for the senator from New York to somehow interpret that as my [being] critical of the bill itself, of course, is an incredible stretch of the imagination.

“And, frankly, I resent it.”

McCain was severely outnumbered, however, on Saturday’s repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which the Senate passed 65-31. Opponents of the policy accused McCain of repeatedly flip-flopping-- so much so that Reid said on the floor earlier this month that McCain offered a “dizzying” defense of the law.

“I have no idea what he's talking about and no one else does either," Reid said plainly.

Even if he failed to keep gays in the closet, McCain can at least gloat over his role in deporting young Latinos and other children of immigrants who were raised in America and whom a majority of the Senate felt would make a valuable contribution to this country-- just like McCain himself, though the value of his contributions are debatable, who was born in Panama and came to the U.S. at a relatively young age. This could well have helped, politically, Democrats with the nation's fastest-growing population, who more and more frequently see politicians of the Republican Party standing in the way of their legitimate aspirations. Nevertheless, it also showed the bankruptcy of Obama's get-tough policy of increased deportations of undocumented immigrants.