speculawyer said:
Here is why John McCain lost this debate . . . he is living in the right-wing echo chamber.
Goes waaaaaaay beyond right-wing echo chamber, though. At least, it's a lot more disturbing than a mere echo chamber.
The Republican party (and by extension, John McCain) is operating under a mindset straight out of the 1940s.
Their military policies are built on an "Us vs Them" "Good vs Evil" mentality, which dates back to WWII. That war was truly and undeniably a Good vs Evil scenario. It was America, England, and Russia fighting against Nazis and the Japanese empire. The battlefields resembled trench warfare. There were very clear distinctions between the opposing sides. It was easy and logical to believe America was the good guys. There was a clear and visible victory to be had (defeating Nazi Germany and Japan).
Their social policies echo the intense xenophobia immediately following Pearl Harbor. There was no fair consideration in race relations. Anyone and everyone with slanty eyes were persecuted out of paranoia and fear. Virtually nobody attempted (or bothered) understanding the gray area. Japanese-Americans were forced into internment camps, solely on the irrational belief that they might be double-agents/insurgents.
Their economic policies are intensely outdated, tapping into the love and embracing of free market capitalism at the conclusion of WWII. They're convinced that it's beneficial to permit the market to continue pushing forward at its own speed. That ideology may have worked post-WWII, but it was a much simpler time back then, with less demand for resources. The global economy was radically different, and never could have spun out of control like it has in the past 20 years.
Their energy policies are hyperfocused on drilling and nuclear power plants. There's little else. The brief mentions of solar, wind, etc, are included to appease modern sensibilities and function as lip-service. And this obsession on "Drill, Baby, Drill" and nuclear power, to me, screams 1940s/50s. America as a consumer, gorging upon mass quantities of cheaply available oil with little to no regard for the consequences, and looking to nuclear power as the "key to the future."
But things are so radically different today that the Republican viewpoint is utterly outdated.
To elaborate on the military stance...the military policies became irrelevant with the advent of guerrilla warfare, suicide bombs, and boobytraps. Once Vietnam began the battlefield as America knew it...changed forever. No longer was it one side versus the other. No longer were there clearly defined lines between combat forces. From Vietnam on, American soldiers could be hit at any time from any side. Death no longer only came from uniformed soldiers. And America clearly was not prepared for Vietnam. There was no victory to be had there, which was a very bitter pill for Americans to swallow. But just because there was no victory to be had doesn't mean our troops didn't return home with honor and dignity.
Because no matter which war American soldiers serve in, they return home with honor and dignity. No matter if America has to pull-out (like Vietnam) or if America triumphs (WWII), American troops return home with honor and dignity. They make a sacrifice in the act of serving their nation in the armed forces. It is that sacrifice that gives them honor and dignity.
That is why it's so so so disingenuous of McCain to say that "Victory" in Iraq is the only way we bring our troops home with honor and dignity. He argues that pulling out of Iraq reflects poorly on our soldiers. He acts like withdrawing from a conceptually flawed military campaign will tarnish the honor of the brave men and women serving in America's armed forces.
I find it incredibly distasteful for him to claim such a thing, considering he fought in Vietnam, a war where we had to pull-out to avoid assuming further immense losses due to poor judgment on the part of the administration.
By McCain's own reasoning, he has no honor and dignity because America withdrew its forces from Vietnam, thereby failing to achieve the nebulous "victory" McCain speaks of for the Iraq War.
Time and time again, in the Republican party, I've seen tough talk straight out of Rosie-the-Riveter newsreel schlock. It has absolutely no place in the modern battlefield. Absolutely no place in the modern geopolitical climate. And absolutely no place in modern diplomacy.
But no, we've had Berlusconi for 15 years, we will still have him for another 10 years or so >_<
