# McCain's "Surge at Home" Idiocy **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 3, 2008, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681 "2008-08-03T05:43:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/21 "2008-08-03T13:50:18Z")
I don’t really see anything like martial law in McCain’s comments. If anything, it just sounds like a restatement of the obvious: “How should we fight crime? By sending cops to places where there’s a lot of crime!”. It’s a sensible solution, albeit the same one you’d get if you asked a ten year old the same question. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/22 "2008-08-03T13:57:58Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] If he’s going to be helping out, you’re going to need to give him a shovel. -Joe [/QUOTE] You’re going to need a bigger shovel. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/23 "2008-08-03T14:13:12Z")
[QUOTE=MsRobyn] You’re going to need a bigger shovel. Robin [/QUOTE] Nah, somebody already dug up and re-animated McCain. Oh, you meant Scheider… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/24 "2008-08-03T15:11:58Z")
[QUOTE=Simplicio] If anything, it just sounds like a restatement of the obvious: “How should we fight crime? By sending cops to places where there’s a lot of crime!”. [/QUOTE] I don’t see that in his plan. He said we need to use the same tactics used in Iraq, which to my mind means curfews, armed checkpoints and the like. I don’t see how sending a few more cruisers into South Central is going to do anything but make things worse. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/25 "2008-08-03T16:35:53Z")
[QUOTE=MsRobyn] You’re going to need a bigger shovel. [/QUOTE] There is a BOAT-load of funny in that one! (candy gram) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/26 "2008-08-03T16:51:09Z")
This is outrageous. It’s unheard of. [http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/246F4F8E-6520-4F0A-B634-4C57CE996067/](http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/246F4F8E-6520-4F0A-B634-4C57CE996067/) OK, maybe it’s heard of. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/27 "2008-08-03T17:09:27Z")
Rudy did the same thing in NYC, Bricker. Ruled unconstitutional, because they were stopping pedestrians and not letting them walk away. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/28 "2008-08-03T17:15:11Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] This is outrageous. It’s unheard of. > **[Salesforce: The #1 Agentic AI CRM](https://www.salesforce.com)** > > Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, helping companies become Agentic Enterprises where humans and agents drive success together through a unified AI, data, and Customer 360 platform. OK, maybe it’s heard of. [/QUOTE] That’s different. DC is run by Democrats, so it’s OK. I think it’s a stupid term to use because it could be construed (as the wags in this thread aptly demonstrate) as using the military domestically (funny irony: The Posse Comitatus Act goes back to the reconstruction south where it was originally implemented by Southern Democrats as a way to keep the Feds from preventing the start of Jim Crow. Good law, bad origin). However, assuming (and it’s a safe assumption, hyperbole aside, does anyone here really think that McCain is proposing sending the 101st Airborne to South Central?) that McCain was talking about an increased police presence in violent neighborhoods to clamp down on criminal activity and to work with the community to keep it safe, how is this really any different than Clinton’s 100K policemen? Except for the loaded term, I can’t see the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/29 "2008-08-03T17:21:41Z")
Yeah, but like I said in the OP - even if he’s just talking about a ‘Cops’ program, phrasing it in military terms is just stupid. He handed Obama an issue on a platter for no reason. His team is just incompetent if they came up with this idea. And if this is McCain’s idea on his own, it’s not a good reflection on his political judgment. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/30 "2008-08-03T17:29:06Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] Yeah, but like I said in the OP - even if he’s just talking about a ‘Cops’ program, phrasing it in military terms is just stupid. He handed Obama an issue on a platter for no reason. His team is just incompetent if they came up with this idea. And if this is McCain’s idea on his own, it’s not a good reflection on his political judgment. [/QUOTE] It’s stupid all right, stupid in all 57 states. 😃 People say dumb things. _shrug_ It’s not usually worth getting excited about a slip of the tongue, awkward phrase or poorly worded speech. Hopefully someone pointed out to McCain how it sounds and he’ll modify his language going forward. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/31 "2008-08-03T17:40:55Z")
Yeah, next thing you’ll know he’ll want some sort of private citizen army equal to the military. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/32 "2008-08-03T18:09:24Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] This is outrageous. It’s unheard of. > **[Salesforce: The #1 Agentic AI CRM](https://www.salesforce.com)** > > Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, helping companies become Agentic Enterprises where humans and agents drive success together through a unified AI, data, and Customer 360 platform. OK, maybe it’s heard of. [/QUOTE] They did this for a few months in the late 80’s too. In some “bad” areas, the cops were espablishing roadblocks at key intersections and questioning everyone who drove through. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/33 "2008-08-03T18:17:05Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] Yeah, next thing you’ll know he’ll want some sort of private citizen army equal to the military. [/QUOTE] Yeah, Obama’s massive expansion of civilian ‘service’ into quasi-military roles is just as creepy. A pox on both their houses. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/34 "2008-08-03T19:11:48Z")
There’s nothing inherently wrong with a militia. But of course it depends on the use and setup and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/35 "2008-08-03T20:33:54Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] Yeah, Obama’s massive expansion of civilian ‘service’ into quasi-military roles is just as creepy. [/QUOTE] Damn that Salvation Army! ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/36 "2008-08-03T20:44:41Z")
So, when’s the Compton Awakening? Is that before or after the Surge? We’ve had a surge here in Crown Heights recently. Even though I made an effort to talk to and welcome the recent academy graduates that were pored on the neighborhood, ultimately their harsh tactics and “everybody’s a potential” criminal" approach ultimately just made this working-stiff taxpayer want to spit on them, not help them. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/37 "2008-08-03T20:49:37Z")
Do we get the ethnic cleansing, walls between neighborhoods and bribing of local officials that accompanied the surge (even if they weren’t an integral part of it)? From what I can tell, they had a lot to do with the surge’s “success,” at least as far as the reduction in violence was concerned. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/38 "2008-08-03T21:26:38Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Isn’t it illegal to use the military for law enforcement? A little thing called Posse comitatus? [/QUOTE] No, no, no… Congress changed it. It’s now known as: _Posse Comin’ At Us_. It’s been updated to allow gangs of military personnel to stalk jaywalkers and check-bouncers in America’s suburbs. To preserve our freedom and stuff. Nothing to see here… move along. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/39 "2008-08-03T21:41:03Z")
[QUOTE=I Love Me, Vol. I] No, no, no… Congress changed it. It’s now known as: _Posse Comin’ At Us_. It’s been updated to allow gangs of military personnel to stalk **jaywalkers and check-bouncers** in America’s suburbs. To preserve our freedom and stuff. [/QUOTE] But only if they’re a Democrat, or you know, black or something furrin like that there. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681/40 "2008-08-03T21:41:07Z")
I’m all for it. I’ve had my car window casually smashed out too many times. It’s like it’s my responsibility to protect my property but it’s criminal’s right to commit crime if I’m stupid enough to not protect myself. What am I supposed to do, sit on my front lawn with a machine gun 24 hours a day? No thanks, I like that world even less. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-surge-at-home-idiocy/458681.md?page=3)