McCain to Bush: Fuck You

The New York Times has this article about the Senator from Arizona. No, it isn't a sweetheart endorsement of the Democratic candidate, but it IS a nice bitch-slap at the lunatics running Camp Bush:

``I think that John Kerry is a good and decent man. I think he has served his country. I think he has different points of view on different issues and he will have to explain his voting record. But this kind of rhetoric, I think, is not helpful in educating and helping the American people make a choice.''

Mr. McCain also defended Mr. Kerry in an appearance on NBC's "Today," saying in response to a question that he did not believe Mr. Kerry was "weak on defense."

Meanwhile, the serial liars who run the Bush campaign managed to pick up on a quote from Senator Kerry regarding the $87 billion dollar appropriation that they'll try to use to their advantage. How? By assuming that everyone in the country had the IQ of a tuber.

Here's Kerry's quote: "I actually did vote for his $87 billion, before I voted against it."

Oh, how the right will throw their arms in the air with glee and pretend that this is a smoking gun somehow "proving" that the Senator tries to have it both ways. Sadly, it does take a slight degree of literacy--and a tad of education--to see that this is little more than dust thrown in the air from a group of folks who've lost ALL credibility in matters domestic and international. And, if anyone seeks to say otherwise, consider that proof that said anyone is either a liar or a moron.

Here's why: The Senate, like any legislative body, follows a protocol, or rules of order. Perhaps you've heard of Robert's Rules of Order--to be honest, a pretty boring tome of a book, but such rules ensure that proper procedure is followed, not unlike court proceedings. In the US Senate, the rules mean, among other things, that a bill might have to undergo MULTIPLE votes prior to final passage or rejection. And that's exactly what happened here.

Kerry and a number of other Senators tried to amend the bill in several ways--one would have paid the $87 billion by raising the taxes of people making over $200,000 a year. Another provision tried to separate the money going to the military from the money going to Halliburton--not a bad proposal, considering that Halliburton is beginning to rival Hussein in the level of corruption they've managed to grease their grubby little palms with over there. Unfortunately, both of these reasonable suggestions were voted down--so the Senator, sticking to his principles, went on the record with a final NO vote to express his displeasure with the method Bush used to basically extort an extra $87 billion dollars of borrowed money so that he could continue to play war in the Middle East--with deadly consequences for the troops.

By the way--notice how the $87 billion STILL didn't properly equip all of our forces? Some continue to lack body armor.

That's the story. Yeah, it's a little longer than a ten second sound bite, but I don't think anyone with a middle school education couldn't figure it out--that is, if their middle school actually functioned--but that's another story.

I expect the right will continue to bloviate about this, mainly because they have nothing else. The baby that is the war in Iraq is one year old--and it's clearly ugly. The economy is in the tank, Afghanistan is a mess, our "ally" Pakistan has been selling nuclear techology to anyone with cash, and the terrorists are publically supporting Shrub, apparently because he's so stupid.

For some reason, the Bob Dylan song "Idiot Wind" is now stuck in my head...