patriotism
samuel johnson once observed that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel", and being still astounded that a decorated war veteran could have been smeared over such a thing four years ago, i have never doubted the truth of those words.
many of the "conservative" opinions i've read over the past 36 hours cite the importance of respecting and honoring john mccain's military service, both as a matter of shared national patriotism, as well as an important reason to have supported his candidacy. (hear, hear).
of these "patriots", i might also ask where such sentiment might have been four years ago for john kerry, but, instead, i'll point to yet another reason i think john mccain deserves national recognition and our enduring respect:
never once did john mccain allow patriotism, or military service, to be raised as a campaign issue.
for his part, back in june, now-president-elect obama rebuked wesley clark's crass exploitation of such things by quoting mark twain and offering this:
"patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. we may hope that our leaders and our government stand up for our ideals, and there are many times in our history when that's occurred. but when our laws, our leaders or our government are out of alignment with our ideals, then the dissent of ordinary americans may prove to be one of the truest expressions of patriotism".
i'm profoundly sorry that 2000 didn't see us with a choice between a younger, less-compromised john mccain, and a fairly-heard al gore. i'm quite sure we'd be in a different place right now either way, and profoundly better for it. right now, as the wags over at the onion put it, all we've done so far is see that a black man has been given the worst job in america.
here's hoping that patriots of all hues are ready to stand together and get to work helping our president in digging us out of this mess.
many of the "conservative" opinions i've read over the past 36 hours cite the importance of respecting and honoring john mccain's military service, both as a matter of shared national patriotism, as well as an important reason to have supported his candidacy. (hear, hear).
of these "patriots", i might also ask where such sentiment might have been four years ago for john kerry, but, instead, i'll point to yet another reason i think john mccain deserves national recognition and our enduring respect:
never once did john mccain allow patriotism, or military service, to be raised as a campaign issue.
for his part, back in june, now-president-elect obama rebuked wesley clark's crass exploitation of such things by quoting mark twain and offering this:
"patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. we may hope that our leaders and our government stand up for our ideals, and there are many times in our history when that's occurred. but when our laws, our leaders or our government are out of alignment with our ideals, then the dissent of ordinary americans may prove to be one of the truest expressions of patriotism".
i'm profoundly sorry that 2000 didn't see us with a choice between a younger, less-compromised john mccain, and a fairly-heard al gore. i'm quite sure we'd be in a different place right now either way, and profoundly better for it. right now, as the wags over at the onion put it, all we've done so far is see that a black man has been given the worst job in america.
here's hoping that patriots of all hues are ready to stand together and get to work helping our president in digging us out of this mess.
posted by kad barma at 11:02 AM
1 Comments:
Kad Barma,
Great points about 2000 and about McCain in general. As someone who can remember my post-New Hampshire excitement for McCain like it was yesterday (and the Economist cover 'McCain's Big Mo') and then ultimately voted for Gore, I'm definitely with you there.
And for what you said about McCain, his refusal to beat the drum about his military record was truly admirable.
I know we don't see eye-to-eye on John Kerry's service or his candidacy, but I really do think he did himself in with his 'Reporting for Duty' stuff and his wish to have his biography spun whichever way served him at the time, dating all the way back to the sixties.
-gp
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home