Gee, how long were you in Vietnam, Mr. Hastert? Oh, that’s right - you had bad knees. Meanwhile, McCain spent 5 years in the Hanoi Hilton being tortured and even refused an opportunity to leave early.
I gotta say, Mr. Hastert, you have a lot of fucking nerve telling McCain to go to Walter Reed and Bethesda. McCain served this country in a more honorable fashion than you could ever dream of accomplishing. And how do you acknowledge that? By suggesting that McCain doesn’t understand making a sacrifice for this county because he doesn’t see the wisdom in cutting taxes at this time.
I’ve seen some pretty ugly politicking over the last few years. But I can’t recall be as astounding as I am at the balls it must have taken Hastert to suggest that McCain doesn’t understand what it means to sacrifice for your country during a time of war. I’m almost at a loss for words.
So, Dennis Hastert, fuck you. You certainly get my Asshole of the Month Award and, even though it’s only May, have already secured a place in the final round for the coveted 2004 Asshole of the Year trophy.
He’s lucky that John McCain is the man that he is, because had he said that to me I think I would have had to be restrained from ripping his uvula out and showing it to him.
That is simply unconscionable. Don’t these friggin’ guys ever even think for one second about who they’re speaking to?
“At the Capitol yesterday, Hastert shot back: “If you want to see sacrifice, John McCain ought to visit our young men and women at Walter Reed [Army Medical Center] and Bethesda [Naval Hospital]. There’s the sacrifice in this country.””
Wow. That’s … damn. I can’t imagine a credible attack on sacrifice aimed at Senator McCain. Dennis Hastert, meanwhile, has shown his ideas on integrity and honesty.
How in the world Hastert had the balls to say that to someone of McCain’s credentials and character makes me wonder if Hastert isn’t committing political suicide for a cause.
I just saw John McCain on the Today show. When he was confronted with the clip of Hastert’s comments, he calmly explained that he had visited the wounded at Walter Reed, not mentioning his own service. He also explained that he was a loyal Republican despite working and appearing with Democrats.
The patent absurdity of the Hastert’s charge is match by McCain’s class.
Clearly not. About the classiest these sort of things get is when the attacker says “I would never attack so-and-so’s service to our country” before attacking that person’s service. :rolleyes:
On the other hand, if this jerkish behavior pushes McCain to become a Vice Presidential candidate, than I owe this moron a thank-you.
“If you want to see sacrifice, John McCain ought to visit our young men and women at Walter Reed [Army Medical Center] and Bethesda [Naval Hospital]. There’s the sacrifice in this country.”
What was Hastert thinking about? Even disregarding Sen. McCain’s history, what logical point was Hastert trying to make?
I think McCain showed serious class in responding entirely to the point, ignoring the veiled personal attack.
“The speaker is correct in that nothing we are called upon to do comes close to matching the heroism of our troops. All we are called upon to do is to not spend our nation into bankruptcy while our soldiers risk their lives. I fondly remember a time when real Republicans stood for fiscal responsibility.”
I lived in Hastert’s home district for a good number of years. He was the first person I deliberately voted against (2002). Hell, I call him “Hastert the Bastard,” due to the fact that he stands against just about every social/political value I hold.
So, needless to say, I’m not totally surprised. Still, though. . .sheesh. At the very least I thought he had more common sense than that. Thank God he doesn’t represent me anymore.
Un-frigging-believable! How dare that, that, PE teacher lecture John McCain on sacrifice for one’s country. Still, not at all untypical of what the GOP has become.
I’m reminded of the senator (IIRC) who beat another with his cane. The handle broke, and he was given another one with the engraving “Hit him again” … or is that yet another bit of American folklore that’s as much fact as fancy?
I realize that the current republican leadership isn’t ALL that fond of McCain (and he returns the lack of love) but that’s just dumb.
Biden comes out a couple days ago with ‘Kerry should pick McCain for VP and McCain should agree for the good of the country’ and now this? It’s like they want him to bolt the party or something.
First they chased out the liberal Republicans (remember when those existed?).
Then they chased out the moderate Republicans (an operation not yet complete, but awful darn close to).
Now they’re working on the Republicans who have real conservative beliefs (as opposed to the neoconservative, religious-right version of that political philosophy).
Pretty soon the Republicans are going to have made themselves about as relevant as the American Whigs.
They won’t be irrelevant as long as 40% of Americans are evangelicals, and 70% of voters consider themselves conservative. (from Frontline two weeks ago on Bush and his close personal relationship with Jesus.)
A conservative doesn’t necessarily vote Republican, especially as the party turns further away from rational conservatism and further toward Crazy Loony Rambo Absolutist Godbotherer Land.
Three propositions applicable to the present political situation and the Speaker’s hysteria.
First, the art of the politician, as opposed to the art of politics, is to stand up on your hind legs, right out in public in broad daylight, and say the most outrageous, self-serving, irrational things that God or man can think of with a perfectly straight face. The Speaker of the House has mastered that art.
Second, some times there is an armed conflict that is not a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight. This is not one of them.
Third, Senator McCain has always been a class act. The Speaker doesn’t know the meaning of the phrase. Lackey, however, he does understand.