We all know that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is an angry, angry man. McCain is famous for having been a POW during the Vietnam War, surviving years of torture in order to return home and seek elected office. It must have been a personal milestone, then, to be elevated to Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee following his party's triumphs in the mid-term elections. McCain's image had been tarnished by his choice of running mate in the presidential election where Obama beat him. The former governor of Alaska seemed so brazenly ignorant and yes, dumb, that it was hard to credit McCain's judgement in choosing her. Unless, of course, he was determined to lose the election and thus play his part in what Frank Zappa famously called, "the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex."
Henry Kissinger, on the other hand, the exalted geriatric warmonger (see the citizens' idictment against him here) who bears major responsibility from having put McCain in harm's way in Vietnam -- his very presence is apparently enough to make McCain's heart swell with pride.
Imagine getting to chair a hearing with Kissinger as the honored guest! Such are the dreams that might keep a young airman imprisoned in the "Hanoi Hilton" from going mad.
Then, along come women -- women! -- dressed in pink, no less, to spoil the greatest day of your life.
.jpg)
Women with the effrontery to speak out of turn, disrupting the start of your hearing in the hallowed chambers of power. McCain appeared to lose his temper when he said, "Get out of here, you low-life scum" to Codepink's Alli McCracken, among others. Or, maybe it was a Freudian slip, since it would be difficult to find a scummier creature on this planet than Kissinger.
Should a powerful Senator and former candidate for the highest office in the land really have to call out, "If we can't get the Capitol Police in here immediately..." Such a plea for backup could make the pleader appear weak in his own eyes, and in the eyes of his hero.
McCain's false claim that Codepink protesters wanted to physically harm Henry Kissinger is a coward's defense. Even if McCain has failed to pay attention since 2003 when Codepink began disrupting congressional hearings to call out warmongers, his staff knows better than that. Did McCain's staff not brief him on what would be entirely likely to occur in that hearing? Was there no one in charge of making sure the Capitol Police -- who know Codepink protesters very, very well by now -- were in the room and alert to intervene when the disruptions began? As far as controlling the message, McCain and his staff made a poor showing.*
So poor that McCain is on record groveling (per C-Span's transcript):
HENRY... DOCTOR KISSINGER, I HOPE THAT... ON BEHALF OF ALL OF THE MEMBERS OF THIS COMMITTEE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE, IN FACT, FROM ALL OF MY COLLEAGUES. I WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIZE FOR ALLOWING SUCH DISGRACEFUL BEHAVIOR TOWARDS A MAN WHO HAS SERVED THIS COUNTRY WITH THE GREATEST DISTINCTION AND I APOLOGIZE PROFUSELY.People often ask what is the point of such disruptions. Henry Kissinger got fawned over, not led away in handcuffs. Madeleine Albright was not called to account for the deaths of thousands of children in Iraq under U.S. sanctions prior to Shock and Awe, deaths she said were a price worth paying.
The point is that the message HENRY KISSINGER WAR CRIMINAL was seen by millions around the globe, including lots of young people for whom Kissinger is a cipher. The Vietnam war and the bombing of Cambodia and Laos are history to millennials and all who follow. It's why the Pentagon has embarked on an enormous propaganda campaign to rewrite the history of the U.S.'s genocidal exercise in Southeast Asia. And also why the organization Veterans for Peace, founded by Vietnam vets now long of tooth and grey of hair, has mounted its own campaign to tell the truth about that war. Their website for the purpose, Vietnam: Full Disclosure, will be a resource for educators for years to come.
Unless information control in the 21st century becomes even more insidiously effective. In which case, we'll all be reduced to accepting McCain and Kissinger and Albright's versions of history. And that really would be a tragedy.
--------
John McCain Blasts ‘Low-Life Scum’ Protesters at Senate Hearing
http://www.businessinsider.
Business Insider
January 29, 2015
What John McCain Told Anti-War Protesters Who Interrupted a Senate Mtg Drew Applause From the Roomhttp://www.theblaze.com/
The Blaze
January 29, 2015
Watch John McCain Call Kissinger Protesters ‘Low-Life Scum’
http://time.com/3687891/
TIME
January 29, 2015
John McCain Calls Ejected Protester a ‘Low-Life Scum’
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/
The Wall Street Journal
January 29, 2015
‘Get out of here you low life scum’: John McCain loses his cool with protesters
http://www.nydailynews.com/
New York Daily News
January 29, 2015
McCain to Kissinger protesters: ‘Get out of here, you low-life scum’
http://onpolitics.usatoday.
USA Today: Politics
January 29, 2015
WATCH: McCain calls protesters ‘low-life scum’
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-
The Hill
January 29, 2015
McCain to Protesters: You’re ‘Low-Life Scum’
https://foreignpolicy.com/
Foreign Policy
January 29, 2015
McCain Calls Protesters ‘Low-Life Scum’ At Senate Hearing
http://www.npr.org/blogs/
NPR
January 29, 2015
http://www.businessinsider.
Business Insider
January 29, 2015
What John McCain Told Anti-War Protesters Who Interrupted a Senate Mtg Drew Applause From the Roomhttp://www.theblaze.com/
The Blaze
January 29, 2015
Watch John McCain Call Kissinger Protesters ‘Low-Life Scum’
http://time.com/3687891/
TIME
January 29, 2015
John McCain Calls Ejected Protester a ‘Low-Life Scum’
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/
The Wall Street Journal
January 29, 2015
‘Get out of here you low life scum’: John McCain loses his cool with protesters
http://www.nydailynews.com/
New York Daily News
January 29, 2015
McCain to Kissinger protesters: ‘Get out of here, you low-life scum’
http://onpolitics.usatoday.
USA Today: Politics
January 29, 2015
WATCH: McCain calls protesters ‘low-life scum’
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-
The Hill
January 29, 2015
McCain to Protesters: You’re ‘Low-Life Scum’
https://foreignpolicy.com/
Foreign Policy
January 29, 2015
McCain Calls Protesters ‘Low-Life Scum’ At Senate Hearing
http://www.npr.org/blogs/
NPR
January 29, 2015
Code Pink Tires to Arrest 91-Year-Old Kissinger for ‘War Crimes’, Get Smacked Down by 94-Year-Old George Shultz -http://pjmedia.com/tatler/
PJ Media
January 29, 2015
McCain to Code Pink Protesters: Get Out of Here You Low Life Scum - http://www.realclearpolitics.
Real Clear Politics
January 29, 2015
Senator John McCain Calls Out Protesters Who Swarmed Henry Kissinger - http://abcnews.go.com/
ABC News
January 29, 2015
McCain rips protesters during Kissinger hearing, calls them ‘low-life scum’ - http://www.foxnews.com/
Fox News
January 29, 2015
McCain boots ‘low-life scum’ from hearing
CNN
January 29, 2015
McCain Lashes Out at ‘Low-Life Scum’ Protesters at Senate Hearing
NBC News
January 29, 2015
John McCain blasts ‘low-life scum’ protesters
http://www.washingtonexaminer.
The Washington Examiner
January 29, 2015
WATCH: John McCain Say ‘Get Out of Here You Low-Life Scum’ - http://heavy.com/news/2015/01/
Heavy.com
January 29, 2015
John McCain to anti-war protesters: ‘Get out of here, you low-life scum’
The Washington Times
January 29, 2015
McCain To Protesters: ‘Get Out of Here You Low-Life Scum’
The Daily Caller
January 29, 2015
McCain to protesters: ‘Get out of here, you low-life scum’ http://www.utsandiego.com/
UT San Diego
January 29, 2015
Watch John McCain call a bunch of protesters ‘low-life scum’
The Week
January 29, 2015
BEASTMODE: McCain Owns Protester: ‘Get Out of Here, You Low-Life Scum’
The Washington Free Beacon
January 29, 2015
Sen. McCain calls Code Pink protesters ‘low-life scum’ after they shout at Kissinger
Tampa Bay Times
January 29, 2015
McCain to protesters against Henry Kissinger: ‘Get out of here, you low-life scum’
Star Tribune
January 29, 2015
McCain Snaps at Anti-Kissinger Protesters: ‘Get Out of Here You Low-Life Scum’
Mediaite
January 29, 2015
McCain to protesters: ‘Get out of here, you low-life scum’
Yahoo News UK
January 29, 2015
McCain boots ‘low-life scum’ from hearing
ABC15 Arizona
January 29, 2015
John McCain Slams Anti-Henry Kissinger Protester As ‘Low-Life Scum’
Huffington Post
January 29, 2015
McCain Calls Protesters ‘Low-Life Scum’
The Daily Beast
January 29, 2015
McCain to protesters: ‘Get out of here you, low-life scum’
Yahoo News
January 29, 2015
McCain Boots ‘Low Life Scum’ Protesters Out of Hearing with Kissinger
Talking Points Memo
January 29, 2015
Code Pink Tries to Arrest Kissinger - John McCain Tells Them “Get Out of Here You Lowlife Scum”
Gateway Pundit
January 29, 2015
McCain to protesters: ‘Get out of here, you low-life scum’
Fox10 Phoenix
January 29, 2015
McCain to Code Pink Protesters: ‘Get Out of Here, You Low-Life Scum’
National Review Online
January 29, 2015
John McCain calls protesters at hearing ‘low-life scum’ http://chicago.suntimes.com/
Chicago Sun Times
January 29, 2015
UPDATE: Is McCain seeing red (or 'green') over Code Pink?
http://www.azcentral.com/story/ejmontini/2015/02/02/john-mccain-code-pink-henry-kissinger-clint-eastwood-low-life-scum/22729019/AZ Central
February 2, 2015
I once thought McCain was smart. After his tirade against truth tellers, I'm not so sure he knows who the real enemy is.
ReplyDeletePete Sirois