Maybe McCain should have 'adopted' a consistent position
By Steve Benen Thursday Jul 17, 2008 7:30amOver the weekend, John McCain told the New York Times that he opposes gay adoption, even if the alternative is leaving a child in an orphanage. A few days later, McCain’s campaign reversed course and said the senator doesn’t actually believe what he said — “caring parental figures,” even if they’re gay, are “better for the child than the alternative.”
This has been a politically tricky story for McCain. In the wake of his interview comments, published Sunday, McCain drew fairly intense criticism from gay rights groups and adoption advocates, both of which were pleased to see McCain quickly reverse course.
But in making them happy, McCain has once again made the unhinged wing of his party far less happy. Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody wrote:
I’m confused. John McCain gave an interview to The New York Times this week saying he was against gay adoption but then his Communications Director sought to clarify those comments afterwards by saying it was a ’state issue” and that “caring parental figures are better for the child than the alternative” of abandoned children.
Huh? That sound you just heard was a can of worms opening up…. I mean if you’re going to say that you’re against gay adoption then why not just stick with that view rather than trying to massage it? The qualifier after the interview does some damage. Why? Because McCain had an opportunity to add the gay adoption issue to his Evangelical checklist and now it’s muddy. […]
Evangelicals are already feeling fidgety about McCain and have concerns about him on a number of issues. Why add to the list?
Brody wrote this on Tuesday, shortly after the McCain campaign “clarified” the position, but the religious right’s discontent has festered.
The Family Research Council also expressed its displeasure in an email to members.
Trying to appeal to both moderates and social conservatives, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has generally tread lightly on some touchy values issues. That was not the case last weekend when the Arizona senator’s personal experience led him to make some candid comments about his opposition to homosexual adoption. The GOP nominee, whose daughter Bridget is adopted, answered questions about what type of parents are best suited for raising children. In response to New York Times reporters who said, “President Bush believes that gay couples should not be permitted to adopt children. Do you agree with that?” McCain said plainly, “I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family, so, no, I don’t believe in gay adoption.” When the Times pressed him with, “But your concern would be that the couple should be a traditional couple,” McCain replied “Yes.”
After the Times interview, McCain’s communications director, Jill Hazelbaker, reportedly issued a statement that qualified the senator’s remarks. If it came to choosing between remaining unadopted and or having homosexual parents, she said, “McCain believes that in those situations that caring parental figures are better for the child than the alternative.” The remark only muddies the waters. It’s incumbent on mother-father families to step up so that no child faces a dilemma like this. At the same time, abandoning the mother-father model has a cyclical impact by weakening the traditional family unit. The McCain campaign should not fall into this “lady or the tiger” trap and should emphasize the need to rebuild the natural family.
As a substantive matter, I haven’t the foggiest idea why far-right conservatives — and John McCain, as of Sunday — would oppose children in need going to live with people who will love and care for them.
But as a political matter, McCain continues to find himself tied in knots, trying to appear reasonable while keeping a very unreasonable Republican base happy.
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He's way to old and clumsy to straddle fences like this. Pick yer poison. Common sense or feed the freaks?
The ugly reality that is politics: Lie to get where you need to be, then do what you really wanted to do. The entire idea of the process has mutated to that.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave,
when first we practice to deceive.
And with all of the practice that he's been getting you'd think that he'd do a better job of it. Must be that "D" student factor...
well they are going to vote for him or no one regardless because they won't like Obama's liberal views. But it just show what a panderer he is.
The GOP nominee, whose daughter Bridget is adopted,
Hmmm, no mention of his other children...
At the same time, abandoning the mother-father model has a cyclical impact by weakening the traditional family unit.
Could someone please explain to me how this works, exactly? 'Cuz I can never get a real answer from the idiots who spout this crap.
John McCain adopting a consistent position? Don't make me laugh!
He'll say whatever he thinks will get him appointed President just like Bush did in '00. I don't think the election will be so close this time that the SCOTUS will have to appoint him President.
This is the John McCain we all have come to know. He jumps from one side of the table to the other then back again. Who knows what John McCain really believes?
because as we all know, gay in-the-closet republicans are usually also pedofiles. So no wonder they are upset.
If this is how he is campaigning for the President, can you imagine what it's going to be like if he wins? "Invade Iran!!! No, wait, not yet, well soon, maybe in a month or two, or a year or two, or I don't know...just invade them, whenever. If it turns out bad I'll just say I didn't mean it."
When you stand firmly on opposing sides of an issue, you really stand nowhere at all. McCain might have lost with dignity if he were a principled man with genuine values. As it is, he is going to be humiliated in November. President Obama may invite him to the White House for a couple of informal dinners -- but that's as close as McCain will ever get to the Oval Office.
Christian Broadcasting Network What a joke
They're pretending not to notice that McCain is divorced and married to a trophy wife 20 years younger than him.
I'm pretty sure that McCain is not personally religious at all. His consistent antiabortion stance over the years was a necessary posture for a Republican from Arizona, and that's why the religious fanatics bit the bullet and ultimately endorsed him. But their flock wants to hear him spout about Jesus and the apocalypse -- they're waiting for him to do it. I'm betting he won't, and they might just stay home.
Good - I'm glad the Christaliban are getting pissed off. They're one of the key reasons we're in the shi*hole mess we're all in.
I really dislike the term 'religious right' because it gives the impression or allows the interpretation that they are somehow correct in their bizarre and often counter intuitive positions on reality. I think religious 'reich' appropriately captures the malignancy that they've become. 'American taliban' is also apt.
On topic, did anyone think mcsame would actually make a statement he could or would stick to? I'm honestly certain that he's not even sure what city he's in most of the time, let alone what decade this is. I really don't care if pointing out the obvious realities about mcsame has been moved "off the table" by his base in the msm. The truth is he's an elderly, sick man who is mentally living in a different era than the rest of us and he is not fit by a long shot to take any office. Period. The fact that he remains a senator is a real injustice and disservice to the people he is supposedly representing. When was the last time he even showed up to vote?
There isn't a single thing about mcsame that makes him a viable candidate. He's there because the slugs couldn't come up with anyone better. Period. That is the best they could do.
How anyone sane could vote for that with a clean conscience tells me that the msm and pentagon propaganda machine have done their jobs perfectly.
I just wish god would go ahead and rapture these people so we could all get on with life. I'm sure McCain does too, since he can't seem to be able to dance very well to their tune.....wait, wait, he's changed his mind, oh well......just rapture them already
... and God forbid anything on an "Evangelical Checklist" was "muddy".
Can't have that, heavens no! Why, then we may have to admit that the world isn't the black&white dichotomy that we claim it is in order to free ourselves from critical thinking!
Maybe mccain could adopt a clue.
That'll happen as soon as Angelina Jolie adopts me.
"Why? Because McCain had an opportunity to add the gay adoption issue to his Evangelical checklist and now it’s muddy. […]"
That ain't the only thing of his he muddied.
The MSM is thrusting this dogshit angry brain damaged "candidate", who can't seem to remember what he said yesterday, down our collective throats. If anyone is "unelectable" it should be this lost, pandering old fool.
I tried watching Headline News then CNN last night...and after about 10 minutes of Glenn Beck, and 2 minutes of Lou Dobbs painting McCain as the unwavering candidate and Obama as the flip-flopper...I turned to MSNBC and got what seemed like actual reporting.
Then I got bored with that and played video games...I think I'm gettin some sort of fatigue from all this shit...me brain needs some down time.
In my opinion not enough is written about how religious leaders dictate that is people are tolerant and welcoming god will punish them and the country. If you are not out there screaming about "the others", the non white, non right wing, non republican others, god will punish the country with death and disaster. They preach hate of the "others" if it comes from Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or any other religious belief system. Radical, fundamental, religious views are OK as long as you happen to be of the same religion, but all the others are crazy. Hate is hate no matter what prospective your coming from.
… and God forbid anything on an “Evangelical Checklist” was “muddy”.
Yea, but the "mixed metaphors" box is clearly checked.
20 liberalNmoderation
I've been watching the Green Hornet with Gordon Jones and Keye Luke
And listening to tapes of the Lone Ranger radio show with Brace Beemer as the Masked Man of the Plains and John Todd as his faithful Indian campanion Tonto.
"Why can't I quit you, kemosobee?"
As a Christian, it saddens me that the Presidential candidates, who represent a nation where such diverse religions as Shinto, Hinduism, Roman Catholic Christianity, Baptist Christianity, and Haredi Judaism, and a large irreligious population all co-exist, not only appeals to one religion alone, but to the nastiest elements of that religion. An American President represents Native American tribal beliefs just as much as Appalachian snake-handling and Smarthas and Theravadin. We should not be this way, where religion and politics have not only become seemingly only related to Christianity, but to a specific form of Christianity, at that. America is not a merely Christian society. And both Barack Obama and John McPapen have both done this? What are sane Christians and other religious and irreligious folk to do?
Nada @ 14:
I dislike it for another couple of reasons, one, it states that religion only exists in the specific concept of Abrahamic religions of revelation, and two, it ignores a not-inconsiderable Christian Left that gets drowned out.
McPapen is dangerous, probably more so than Obama. Yes, Obama's inexperienced, but all his brain cells are evidently firing right, whereas with everything that will be awaiting the next president in '09, a person with McPapen's memory problems would be dangerous indeed in the White House.
Nada @ 14:
It's so painfully obvious when he's asked an unexpected question (Viagra vs birth control for example) and he hasn't been given his scripted response. He's either afraid to give his actual opinion or he can't think fast enough to formulate an opinion.
Technodaoist @ 16:
RayC @ 21:
@ Technodaoist and RayC:
I'm not so sure a society ruled by atheists of the Richard Dawkins variety would end up much different from Oliver Cromwell's England or Al-Hakim's Egypt. That said, it does seem that hate gets a free pass if certain sects associated with the cross are associated with it, whereas if the Name of Allah or the Hindu sects are associated with it, all Hell (pun not intended) breaks loose. And if you were to look at the world, you become aware that even Christianity is not as simple and stupid as the Evangelicals make it out to be. Catholicism has advanced much beyond them by now. They are only one small section of a religion some 2 billion strong. To make American evangelicals the sum total of all Christians is like making Wahhabi Hanbalis the sum total of all Muslims, ignoring the numerous divisions within the religion.
ysbaddaden @ 23:
Heheheheheheee.
Tonto was a faithful companion wasn't he?
liberalNmoderation @ 20:
Joyeux Noel is a great movie about the spontaneous christmas truce in 1914. It is inspiring and has bagpipes in it.
For complete escape Martin Millar's book "The Good Fairies of New York" is extremely silly.
It is easy to get fatigued with the news these days. We've banished the TV and every few days we stay away from the internets as well.
General_Rennenkampf @ 24:
Mornin General
Maybe we could try to show them the errors of their ways in a patient and caring manner...and if that fails...round 'em up, put 'em on an island big enough and let them have their theocracy.
Or we could just ridicule them mercilessly until they just keep their beliefs to themselves and out of our govt.
liberalNmoderation @ 30:
Mornin'. One alternative way to do it is to address a seldom-recognized root source of fundamentalism, poverty. The South is a poor region of the US, and many people have less-than-stellar lives there regardless of sexual orientation, gender, or skin color. For instance Appalachia-of-the-snake-handlers is so poor that in the Great Depression, FDR created an entire program of the New Deal designed to improve life there. If people would help lift those regions out of poverty, Fundamentalism would increasingly fade, as like Fascism and Communism, it breeds best in hard times. We all know Bush has created an increasingly hard time, and it's worth noting Fundamentalism is growing faster and faster due to it.
Mickxotic @ 29:
I think I'll look for that movie, thanks!
I haven't had much luck reading these days...my house is too noisy...my nephew runs around like an idiot...well, in the mornin before they get up and before it gets too hot, the patio is a nice quiet place for some good readins...
liberalNmoderation @ 20:
Me, also. I'm getting my down time by doing more studying to get prepped for my freshman semester in college this fall.
General_Rennenkampf @ 31:
That is indeed true, but Appalachia isn't as dirt poor as most would think...there are towns making money hand over fist with the tourist dollar...and some of my folks are from the mountains of NC...but I was just in SC...and the poverty there is staggering...as is the gap between the rich and poor...it's like goin back in time 50 years or more.
But seems to me that these particular folks wouldn't be very fundamentalist...lately the fundies seem to be well off white folks exploiting the less fortunate, less educated folks that attend church regularly...but hell...that's been goin on for a long time actually...Kinda lost my point there somewhere...
But you're right...ending poverty can only be a good thing on every level!
General_Rennenkampf @ 33:
Studying is downtime? Whoa...that would make my head hurt....I think I'm gonna go see the new batman flick. I need some escapism.
For fucks sake, we don't know which Grandpa will show up from one day to the next. Grandpa or anyone else can believe whatever imaginary friend that they like in their church, just don't bring that church to me. Being a good parent has more to do with other more important character qualities in my mind.
Is all this on a video somewhere?
McCain is lambasting Obama with the 'flip-flop' title and yet McCain acts like he practically invented the political 'flip-flop'...
Good Lord. Is anyone keeping an updated list on McT-Rex's flip-flops?
I love the way McCain tosses the issue back to the States when it becomes to hot for him to handle. I'm sure if the media keeps the pressure up on the whole birth control being covered by insurance issue, McCain will throw it to the states in short order. Handy how the Rethugs want a Constitutional ban on gay marriage, but Viagra and Orthocept being covered under the same insurance plan, that's one for the states.
VietVet67 @ 38:
Listening to Air America over the weekend, they mentioned a site with them all listed...can't remember the site though...but there IS one out there!
it ignores a not-inconsiderable Christian Left that gets drowned out.
If there is a "not-inconsiderable Christian Left" the problem is not that it gets drowned out, but that it consists of a bunch of wimps without the courage of their convictions. They refuse to come forward publicly to denounce the wingnuts, they aren't politically active, they don't organize, they don't write op-eds or letters to the editor, they don't have their own radio and cable TV shows. Hell, I live in Boston and the cable TV is full of John Hagee and our local far right archbishop. Where is the UCC hour? The only reason they are drowned out is because they aren't even making a peep.
cervantes @ 41:
Couldn't you say the same, though, about the political left in this nation that would have the majority of this nation on their side if they'd get off their lazy asses to actually do something?
VietVet67 @ 38:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oGcfwKN5jY
Maybe so General R. I don't know why the hell there aren't hundreds of thousands of people in the streets every goddamn weekend -- the general lack of outrage and organizing is almost inexplicable.
But "everybody else is a wimp too" is not an excuse for the Christian left, it it even exists.
Personally, BTW, I think that arbitrary belief in obviously fictitious supernatural forces is not consistent with progressive humanism or the critical thinking necessary for our survival. I believe that all religions are equally ridiculous, but I'll concede that some are more equally ridiculous than others.
cervantes @ 44:
@ Cervantes:
The Christian Left certainly has sites online, such as Crossleft, Street Prophets, and the Christian Alliance for Progress. Then again, it seems the Left in this nation is more of an online phenomenon than an offline one as well, and an online one seemingly restricted to social, as opposed to economic, leftism at that.
Religion, I believe is not consistent with the needs of the present day type of society, it is too conservative and adapts too slowly to meet the needs of today's faster-paced First World. For Third Worlders, however, one of the best ways to reach them is through their local religious authorities, at least until we can break the back of the endless poverty in that part of the world. It remains to be seen, though, whether the First World as it is today, with the standard of living it has today (which is detrimental to religion, period, look at what European religious standards of living have done to Maliki and Hanafi Muslims moving into there), will last beyond this century. I have no real faith that alternatives will always be found, and I expect that this winking of democracy will one day fall. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy the fruit of it now, though.
Not presidential
If it wasn't for the bloggers and progressive talk radio we would never hear about St. McCain's flip-flopping like a fish out of water.
I would wish that McCain were more consistent if it were not for the fact that I have no intention of voting for him since he seems to courting the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party (oxymoronic, I know). In fact, I wish that he had more "senior moments" because the mainstream media would actually have to report on them eventually, seeing that they almost seem not to see them.
It is so funny to watch McCain dodder his way around. But it is downright dangerous to let the pundits frame this election.
They jump on Obama's every move, but then make excuses for McCain.
They don't understand that it is a President's job to "sell out" to the American people. We pay the president's salary. He serves us.
It is something else entirely to run for president of the USA but sell out to a bunch of elitist a-holes.
This is the chief difference between Obama and McCain's panderings. Obama wants to do what the American people want him to. McCain wants to do what the GOP establishment wants him to.
John McCain to Oppose Gay Adoption of Highways
Social conservatives would probably prefer that the dirty sluts who dared to have sex raise their unwanted children themselves. Sure, quite a few of those children would end up being neglected or abused, but that's better than allowing those children of sin being exposed to gay parents in happy, healthy relationships: they might think homosexuality is normal! Besides, it's the child's fault for being born by a slutty mother: someone forgot to ask Baby Jesus to make them a rich, white mommy's baby, huh?
A lot of what I'm seeing from religious conservatives is the reason why I left the church and never looked back. I'm glad to know there are Christians like General R. out there, who see religion as a personal choice and are well educated on the effects (positive and negative) of religion in our society and our government.
Big Red Will @ 39:
That "let the states decide" bit is dog-whistle politics: Basically, it's the cue for the Theocons to divide and conquer state by state. Just like they do with abortion and teaching creationism. Our Democratic State Senator just flat-out came out and said that the soi-dissant "Right to Life" org. might as well have a permanent seat in our legislature. And we're a blue state.
Some people are just bigoted. Even my brother, who is liberal on every other issue,
told me, "if I had a kid, I wouldn't want him adopted by two men who suck each other's dicks every night".
The loser is 42 and has never had a girlfriend.
You can't please all of the people all of the time, but you can piss them all off. People don't always remember when you try and please them, but they do always remember when you break your promises to them. McCain will never hope to even challenge people if he keeps trying to be all things to all people. Even by choosing the most unpopular positions available, he could still walk away with, say, a quarter of the vote. This way he's going to get two old ladies voting for him while every special interests group under the sun eggs his house.
cubiclegrrl @ 52:
Theocons? Here I was thinking Confederacons, but whatever.
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