Jessica Compton
Aug 31, 2018 · 3 min read

Yes, McCain would probably be satisfied with anything that vindicated him in life as well as death. Being a warmonger and a bigot hardly makes him a giant in my eyes. He was not too big on women’s rights. He called his wife the c-word after telling her she put makeup on a like a trollop. There was also that time he was chased off of a Navajo reservation. And I am not the only one aghast at the media’s portrayal of him. Here is a bit from Jeffrey St. Clair from Counter Punch.

“After a week of media fawning, flags racing up and down staffs, and memorials coast-to-coast, John McCain will finally be laid to rest this weekend in Annapolis amid eulogies from George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Give McCain some credit for using the occasion of his funeral to illustrate vividly that there’s less than a dime’s worth of difference between the politicians of our time. I’m only surprised that McCain’s final will and testament didn’t follow the Caesarian tradition and call for seven days of war games as part of his memorial. (The best protest Trump could make against this prolonged McCaingasm is not to drone anyone this week.) The image of McCain as some kind of free-wheeling political contrarian was, of course, almost entirely the creation of the press corps that is now weeping over his corpse. McCain was no Cicero. His jokes, barbs and long-winded floor speeches were largely for show. When it came time for voting (on matters ranging from war in Iraq to apartheid in South Africa), McCain was an unvarnished creature of the far right. Politically he wasn't far removed from the political savages of our time: Jesse Helms, Trent Lott and Dick Armey. Those spitting cobras have been rightly consigned to a kind of historical detention for their racism and warmongering, but McCain has been almost universally venerated, largely because he knew that the easiest way to manipulate the press was to preen for the cameras and give them an occasional pat on the head….” ~ Jeffrey St. Clair, Why McCain Lost: a Flashback, Counter Punch, August 31, 2018

There were indeed things McCain did which made him look humanistic at times, very few things; however, this does not excuse the behavior I have been witnessing. It quite risible to vindicate a man and call him a “giant” over things we would expect any decent human-being to do, even a shoplifter is a giant compared to Trump. Saying disparaging things about Trump does not undo his life’s work of setting the US at war with nearly the entire Asian continent.

Remember, Trump only seems like a dictator now because the powers of the presidency itself were expanded by Bush Jr. and Obama and every other president which came before them. Each president inherits the presidency of his predecessor. I can still recall when Bush Jr. was president how he was likened to that of a dictator. Rob Paravonian made some comedic video about Bush’s use of signing statements likening him to King George. President Obama continued to use those powers in a similar manner in addition to whatever else was expanded on before his arrival, i.e. foreign affairs.

I have never completely understood why Americans view the presidency like an elected dictator. Every season it is like this. It does not matter who it is.

While I agree with you that it was fortunate McCain died when he did, I still cannot get over the whitewashing and love-bombing. It is like that whole ordeal with Chris Kyle. A liar and a killer and who knows what else elevated to national hero over his kill count in Iraq. He bragged in his book about killing people he did not kill. It only makes sense that this was McCain’s fate all along in a country where “honor,” “bravery,” and “heroism” are vacuous terms only endeared to those who fight the state’s chosen enemies.

Anyway, I appreciate your feedback, my friend. ❤️

    Jessica Compton

    Written by

    Always finding myself in a liminal state, a stranger in a strange land. I am a dabbler, a dreamer, and a thinker. Totes support the LGBTQIA+. Computer Scientist

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