The Willful Ignorance Of John McCain

I once liked John McCain a lot although our politics only occasionally meshed. His life story was inspiring, especially his heroic refusal to buckle under torture as a POW, and his four-star admiral father, widely beloved by officers and enlisted men alike, had been my commanding officer during the Vietnam War.

But in a case less of familiarity breeding contempt than McCain shedding his mavericky skin while selling his soul, he morphed into the very kind of political creature he had long despised, perversely voted against our fellow veterans' interests, chose the insipid Sarah Palin as his running mate, and worst of all, became the most despicable sort of warmonger.

That is the sort of warmonger who is so willfully ignorant of all matters pertaining to war and peace that he keeps advocating making the same mistakes.

It is quite possible that McCain is going around the bend and I wrote as much 16 months ago. He certainly is overrated. His befuddlement on the campaign trail last year was evident, he no longer is a party leader and certainly can't speak for the GOP, but that hasn't kept the Sunday teevee talk shows from inviting on him to blather -- some 14 appearances this year alone by one pundit's count -- ad nauseam about making the very sort of mistakes in Afghanistan that got the U.S. in such a deep hole in Iraq.

McCain is unapologetic about having beaten the Iraq war drum with his fellow neocons when the real war was in Afghanistan, and he shrugs off uncomfortable questions about there being no Iraqi WMD, as well as explaining his repeated claims that the war would be over quickly, both vivid illustrations of his never letting reality getting in the way of cheerleading for more bloodletting.

That makes him not just befuddled, but dangerous, as well.