John McCain Loses His Way

I've always liked John McCain. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that he is the one Republican out there whom I've considered worthy of my vote. But lately, he's been making it harder and harder to justify my doing so. As the 2008 presidential election season draws near, the good Senator has become something of a panderer.

Point and case

In 2000, McCain roundly criticized President Bush for speaking at Bob Jones University, a school that has been noted for their anti-Catholic sentiment and which at the time, had a ban on interracial dating. In a 2000 debate, he claimed that had he been invited he would have told them, "Look, what your doing in this ban on interracial dating is stupid, it's idiotic, and it is incredibly cruel to many people." Now he says that he would consider speaking there. This comes on the heels of speaking at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University this past spring, though in 2000 he labeled Mr. Falwell as an "agent of intolerance."

Sadly, the Senator had it right the first time.

Today, the AP is reporting that Senator McCain has labeled the alleged North Korean nuclear test as a failure of the Clinton Administration. A curious charge.

Let's look at the facts. The Clinton administration held bi-lateral talks with North Korea in the 1990s. During this time there was no nuclear test or random launching of missiles by Pyongyang. In fact, things on the Korean peninsula had warmed up to the point that in June of 2000, the last year of the Clinton administration, the leaders of North and South Korea met to discuss reunification; something that likely would have led to the peaceful dissolution of the communist north regime.

Then the Bush administration took over. President Bush has refused to engage in bilateral talks with North Korea, instead preferring to bring in multiple partners, including, China.

Apparently the surest way to end communism in a country is to have the biggest purveyor of it, negotiate on your behalf.

In his 2002 State of the Union address, the President really stirred the pot, when he made his famous "axis of evil" statement which, of course, included North Korea.

Since then, things have deteriorated to the point where this year, North Korea has conducted 6 missile tests and an alleged nuclear test. Interestingly enough, when Bill Clinton left office, North Korea had fully honoured a 1999 moratorium on such tests.

Which brings us back to Senator McCain.

John McCain is not a stupid man. He well knows that the isolationist policy of the Bush administration has dramatically compromised peace on the Korean peninsula. Instead of standing up against it, however, he has decided to trot out that old Republican chestnut: It's Bill Clinton's fault! I guess that's what happens when you have presidential stars in your eyes.

Shame, shame, shame on you, John McCain.