John McCain

John McCain is a Republican Senator from Arizona. He has served in the US Senate since 1987. McCain attended the Naval Academy, graduating 894th out of 899 in 1958.

McCain tried to run for President in 2000. I really liked him. Before you were even out of high school, I had a McCain sticker on my freshman dorm door. He won New Hampshire and got beaten down like a gnat in South Carolina. Although no one is exactly sure what happened, there are rumors and allegations that the Bush camp (or his associates, just like the Swift Boat veterans--purposely no link to Dubya) started rumors about his wife's drug abuse and the fact that McCain has an illegitimate black daughter. There was also some sort of election miscommunication, as in people were told that the normal place they vote in the primary was re-located, when it wasn't, then they went to a new place and they weren't on the list. In any event, Dubya won SC and McCain never looked the same.

In 2000, I liked him because he wasn't Dubya and he campaigned on the Straight Talk Express. I also like him because, whether it worked or not, whether it violates our First Amendment rights or not, he was trying to do something to curb excessive campaign spending. Campaign finance reform is not popular in DC, and I respect him for standing up and trying to do something (no, that is not a very high hurdle).

McCain, as Senator from Arizona also has the support of a large number of American Indian groups. I don't know why I am swayed by that, I just am.

Everyone knows a little bit about his story in Vietnam. McCain went to the Naval Academy, like his father and grandfather before him. He then flew planes for the Navy in Vietnam. He was shot down in 1967 and spent over five years in various POW camps, one nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton. To this day he cannot raise his arms above his head, due to the severe beatings he received at the POW camp. I could go on, but I won't.

In the late 1980s, McCain was part of the Keating 5 scandal. Five Senators in total provided help to Charles Keating who was secretly manipulating savings and loan schemes. After the de-regulation of the banking industry, savings and loans associations were allowed to expand their investments. Charles Keating, was Chairman of Lincoln Savings and Loan Association in California. To make a long story short, when the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (the federal agency that regulates the industry) tried to investigate, several Senators stepped in and asked them to ease off. It turns out that those Senators had received millions in campaign contributions from Keating. The Senate Ethics Committee ultimately determined that McCain was not "substantially involved" in this influence-peddling scheme.

Alright, turning to more recent stuff. He partnered with Ted Kennedy to sponsor the only decent immigration bill that is getting any attention. He supports it in speeches how I would support it: all of us have ancestors that are immigrants, they are trying to make a better life, etc. That is good.

McCain, however, also is a big supporter of the war in Iraq. (Shall we call it Bush's War from now on?) According to him, the war is good and was started for all the right reasons, but Rumsfeld is to be blamed for how it turned out. I am sure there is more to his position than this, but that is all I know right now.

No one knows if he is actually running, but Republicans who have become less happy with Bush are now turning to McCain. This is funny to me, because a lot of these people are the same ones who campaigned so strongly against McCain in the 2000 primaries.

It is also worth noting that he is no spring chicken. By the 2008 election he will be 72. If elected, that would make him the oldest President ever, surpassing Ronald Reagan.

Included in this post is a picture. Not that we need to know what McCain looks like, but just to start that trend. I figure attaching pictures will help those people that haven't heard of the person about whom we are talking.

My rather inarticulate position on him is that he is too old, missed his chance on 2000, and has become way too conservative in the last six years. The big question might be: is he electable? Yes is the answer. Most people in the US know him, Republicans no longer hate him. He is not Dubya. That might be enough right there. I, for one, think he is has become too conservative. And what I am saying by that is that he was once a moderate maverick who Republicans thought should switch parties, now he is going to be their nominee for PRESIDENT? What gives.

Your thoughts?