McCain's Guts, Impatience Make Him Tough On Others, And Himself

by Edwin Chen and Hans Nichols - August 31st, 2008 - Bloomberg News

McCain says he sees himself as someone who tells people "what I think is the truth -- what they need to hear as well as what they don't want to hear.'' And he's seldom accused of lacking the courage of his convictions.

When worried campaign strategists and fellow Republicans last winter urged him to develop a political fallback position strategy for himself in case the Iraq War troop ``surge'' he was advocating failed, McCain would hear none of it. He now cites the diminished violence there as a measure of his sound judgment.

McCain often exudes the aura of a man who knows he's already overcome the worst that life can inflict. And if he doesn't make it to the White House, he says, so be it.

"Obviously, I would feel a sense of disappointment,'' McCain says. But, he adds, "I've had a wonderful life.''

I find it difficult to be a total McCain enthusiast, but I also find it contemptible the way he is being portrayed by Barack Obama and the socialist majority in the Democrat Party. This article says a lot about his flaws and his strengths. Written by two pro-Obama liberals of the liberal Bloomberg News, it is clearly not intended to be a postitive article, yet to those of us who admire McCain, it is not all negative. It does remind us of one issue, though, which I feel is imperative to emphasize.

John McCain embraced and advocated the surge long before it became the administration policy. That success kept America safe. When he was fighting for the new strategy he was ridiculed. He did not flinch. There is no question that the Islamo-fascist movement had plans to keep attacking America. As we were failing in Iraq, the threat to renewed attacks on America were very high. As the surge started to work, that threat receded. By the time we were winning the Islamo-fascists were so demoralized that attempting to come back to America was a low priority. Today they are abandoning Iraq and trying to restart the war in Afghanistan as the only way to reinvigorate the Islamo-fascist movement. They are losing. That does not mean they will lose unless we fail to keep fighting. However, thanks to John McCain, they are losing.

I don't think we are beyond their reach and I am sure that we are still at risk of attacks here in our homeland. However John McCain can take as much credit for keeping America safe as George Bush. Having proved himself right on this huge issue, anyone who does not trust him to keep us safe and free has failed to appreciate why so many support him.

I do not trust his opponent at all. No one so stupid that they deny the success of the surge and who withholds respect for the man who fought for it when no one else did, should ever be trusted with the title of commander in chief.