Shrieking tool: McCain “doesn’t seem to really have an ethical compass”
posted at 6:48 pm on February 21, 2008 by Allahpundit
Yeah, listen. Despite what some of our more rightward commenters may think, I’m not in the tank for McCain. The Democrats can hit him on the war, on amnesty (please!), on campaign finance (please!), whatever they like without much objection. But there is a certain respect that must be paid to his war record, and assertions about his supposed complete and utter lack of ethics are insufficiently nuanced on that point. To wit:
Well, now it looks like John McCain is part of the corruption problem in Washington. He has done things that are legally questionable — the Keating Five business back in the ’90s — but he doesn’t seem to really have an ethical compass. He doesn’t seem to have an instinct about what is the right thing to do and what isn’t the right thing to do.
Although McCain was badly wounded, his captors refused to give him medical care unless he gave them military information; they beat and interrogated him, but McCain only offered his name, rank, serial number, and date of birth… Interrogation and beatings resumed in the hospital; McCain gave his ship’s name, squadron’s name, and the attack’s intended target. Further coerced to give the names of his squadron members, he supplied the names of the Green Bay Packers’ offensive line…
In March 1968, McCain was put into solitary confinement, where he would remain for two years. In July 1968, McCain’s father was named Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command (CINCPAC), stationed in Honolulu and commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater. McCain was immediately offered a chance to return home early: the North Vietnamese wanted a worldwide propaganda coup by appearing merciful, and also wanted to show other POWs that elites like McCain were willing to be treated preferentially. McCain turned down the offer of repatriation, due to the Code of Conduct principle of “first in, first out”: he would only accept the offer if every man taken in before him was released as well. McCain’s refusal to be released was even remarked upon by North Vietnamese senior negotiator Le Duc Tho to U.S. envoy Averell Harriman during the ongoing Paris Peace Talks.
Here’s the Wikipedia entry on how Dean-o spent his Vietnam years. Maverick himself denounced the Swift Boat ads against Kerry in 2004; how about at least laying off any conclusory pronouncements about what an amoral rat he is in return, hm?
Blowback
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Allahpundit= Best Headline Writer Evah!
terryannonline on February 21, 2008 at 6:50 PM
I want to call Dean a name that sounds like rick, but I don`t want to get banned. :)
ThePrez on February 21, 2008 at 6:53 PM
The democrat party: the gift that keeps on giving.
SouthernGent on February 21, 2008 at 6:53 PM
Dean I think you need to check out William Jefferson of LA or some of the other democrats who have ethics problems.
William Amos on February 21, 2008 at 6:56 PM
I guess the Democrats are determined to conjur up massive McCain support.
Topsecretk9 on February 21, 2008 at 6:58 PM
they’re just begging me to vote for McCain
locke on February 21, 2008 at 7:01 PM
You know, this election seems to have become a fight to see which side can claim to be the most politically inept more than anything else.
doubleplusundead on February 21, 2008 at 7:02 PM
They will kill ANY chance of winning just by being Dems. Dean has hidden himself away and unveiled just in time to start doing damage to his party’s chances.
TroubledMonkey on February 21, 2008 at 7:03 PM
Were the Democrats en masse hit with the stupid stick? Did they wake up yesterday going, “You know how we can bring McCain down? By getting conservatives to rally around him!”?
amerpundit on February 21, 2008 at 7:03 PM
You know, I’ve always considered something like leaving a person to drown in a submerged car and waiting a day to report it was a type of “ethical compass” challenged and lacking “an instinct about what is the right thing to do and what isn’t the right thing to do.” is, hmmmm?
Topsecretk9 on February 21, 2008 at 7:03 PM
How stupid and inept is the Screamer for going at McCain this way?
doubleplusundead on February 21, 2008 at 7:04 PM
The Liberals still don’t realize how much rope they’ve
already used to hang themselves individually,and also as
a party,I say keep the flow of rope coming, forget the back order problem,ship it direct from the factory——ASAP!
canopfor on February 21, 2008 at 7:05 PM
How can any democrat even say “ethical compass” without immediately suffering spontaneous human(?) combustion?
Rodent on February 21, 2008 at 7:07 PM
Any bonus miles that McCain got for being a POW have long since been used up. And his credit card is now more than maxed out.
MB4 on February 21, 2008 at 7:08 PM
They are preparing for hell so I guess a little combusion on their part is like a dry run.
William Amos on February 21, 2008 at 7:09 PM
Google shows 17k hits for “ethical compass” and 748k hits for “moral compass.” I wonder why Dean-o chose the former instead of the latter?
Dems and morality must not focus group well.
rw on February 21, 2008 at 7:10 PM
Here, tell the DNC where to stick their “moral compass” and tell them Howard Dean made you a McCain supporter
Topsecretk9 on February 21, 2008 at 7:11 PM
McCain should show up at Dean’s next appearance or his office and confront him directly on this. Have a camera running.
He should use phrases like “Do Democrats really have so little respect for the facts that the would stoup to arguing through innuendo?” “My moral compass is fine but how did yours allow you to question my knowledge of right from wrong when you know so very little about the situation” “Have you no shame Mr. Chairman?” Force him right then and there to back down and apologize or to publicly accuse McCain of wrongdoing.
Dean is a joke and should be used as a way of embarrassing all of the Democratic candidates.
OBQuiet on February 21, 2008 at 7:12 PM
How on the heck did Dean become a doctor given his inability to string together coherant sentences or even passable grammar? Keep talking Screamer…
Less than an hour left to see if Mrs. Clinton will settle for the VP spot or if she’ll bring the whole thing down on the Dems if she can’t win the big prize.
DrW on February 21, 2008 at 7:13 PM
Dean is risibly out of touch with how he sounds to adults . He’s Mr. NumbNuts. He reminds me of the dog who barks at himself in the mirror.
petefrt on February 21, 2008 at 7:14 PM
Look, close your eyes and think of all the strengths McCain has as a candidate. Once you have that list, prepare yourself for each of those strengths to be directly attacked. By the time Nov. rolls around McCain will be portrayed as one who is just as “right-wing extreme” as the rest of us. All the “moderate” “independent” “maverick” garbage will be thrown out the window. It won’t matter if the stories are corroborated or not. They won’t have to be sourced. It can be as bold face as saying the sky is purple, it won’t matter. All day long, as I listened to talk radio, every top and bottom of the hour news break began with this story; and rather than pointing out how unsubstantiated it is, it was approached more as a he said she said, which always leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Weight of Glory on February 21, 2008 at 7:16 PM
LoL… It is a nice ray of light through the gloom that the Democratic Party and their puppets in media are just as idiotic as ever. How tin-eared do you have to be to attack McCain on ethics grounds and from the left? It’s like the left wasn’t even paying attention the last 12 months… if they had just kept mum until the election a huge portion of the right would have let McCain choke. But now it’s the Democrats reminding the voters on the right who they hate more.
Besides… An ethics smear? Really? McCain may be a wretched, ornery old coot and only barely conservative, but if McCain-Feingold has taught us anything it’s that McCain is a little too obsessed with ethics.
Lehosh on February 21, 2008 at 7:16 PM
I agree with you completely when it comes to respecting his war record, because he has most certainly earned that, Allah.
What I don’t understand is why it’s brought up every time anybody suggests that the Maverick has ever done anything wrong, ethically speaking.
Yes, I know full well that he was a war hero, I am absolutely amazed and awed (no sarcasm or snarkiness hidden in there, honest!) at his defiance in the face of his commie bastard captors, and anybody as much as thinking about questioning his integrity BACK THEN will have to come up with some titanium-plated, industrial grade, unassailable, notarized by G-d His Almighty SELF proof if they want to keep their teeth in my presence.
But how does this mean that nobody, anywhere, can ever again question his morals and ethics without being reminded of the kind of hero he was 40 years ago and being accused of denigrating that?
I just don’t get it.
Didn’t we use to make fun of Kerry for that (and rightfully so)?
Misha I on February 21, 2008 at 7:17 PM
What does that have to do with the Chair of the DNC accusing McCain of not having a moral compass, based on a claim by the New York Slimes that can’t be substantiated?
And, sorry, 5 years of torture in a foreign prison doesn’t go away because he’s taken the opposite side on issues or because he used bad judgment in a situation.
amerpundit on February 21, 2008 at 7:18 PM
Tell that to the people who lost everything in the S&L mess.
I’m sure they’ll agree.
Misha I on February 21, 2008 at 7:22 PM
Do we need to remind this dipshit the Keating Five scandal actually took place in the 1980s and, um, involved four Democrats?
I guess we do.
And how’s this for dumb luck?
JammieWearingFool on February 21, 2008 at 7:23 PM
I can’t believe more hasn’t been made in Republican circles of the Democrats’ insistence in 2004 that the CiC in a time of war should be somebody who has been in the armed forces, preferably in the heat of battle, and would therefore have “moral authority” to send young men into harm’s way.
McCain had a damn site more time in service and in country and higher up the chain of the command than Kerry. Why shouldn’t he get the same deference from Democrats, if not more?
Doesn’t matter, we know.
Mark V. on February 21, 2008 at 7:23 PM
What a bad a$$. LOL
OK_Nate on February 21, 2008 at 7:24 PM
He was found to have used “poor judgment” and has been trying to make up since, as even Keller acknowledges.
amerpundit on February 21, 2008 at 7:24 PM
Case and point, folks. Here’s is a little nugget in the latest article by the NYT on the scuffle:
See how they throw in a “Dick Cheney” reference? Think that is by accident? They are going to make McCain look congruent with the Bush administration, rather than its maverick. Pretty soon they will be calling him a neo-con.
Weight of Glory on February 21, 2008 at 7:28 PM
JammieWearingFool
From your Wiki link
Ethical. Compass.
Topsecretk9 on February 21, 2008 at 7:28 PM
Sorry MB4, I don’t understand. I am not at all excited about McCain but I really don’t remember him trading on his time spent as a POW. It is common knowledge and he will talk about it when asked but I have never seen him wearing it on his shoulder.
JonRoss on February 21, 2008 at 7:29 PM
Dean has just laid out what the campaign against the Mav will sound like from now until November. Nancy Pelosi redux:
Keating 5. Culture of Corruption. Scooter Libby. Lobbyists. Keating 5. Keating 5. Culture of Corruption. Bush. Lobbyists. Alberto Gonzales. Keating 5. Lobbyists.
He’ll figure out how to get Halliburton and Cheney in there somehow.
Buy Danish on February 21, 2008 at 7:29 PM
Whatever my disagreements with McCain the politician, that story gives me goosebumps every time I hear it…..
McCain’s heroism while in captivity deserves a permanent honored place in American lore.
Hawkins1701 on February 21, 2008 at 7:29 PM
I’ll use that defense if I ever decide to take bribes myself then. I’m sure all my sins will be washed away instantly.
It’s funny how heroics from four decades ago are constant and will buy you a get out of jail free card in perpetuity, but corruption is as transient as a fart in a pair of boxers on a windy day as long as you say “I’m sorry.”
And I could care less about what Keller says.
Misha I on February 21, 2008 at 7:30 PM
Thats right, if our candidate was on board with the conservative base, we would be leading the charge against the liberal tools out to get him.
Since he’s assured us we’re not needed, ee mights well jus, git ta swing’n.
Speakup on February 21, 2008 at 7:31 PM
You know, I’ve heard that McCain story before, but had forgotten it. It needs to be placed on tee-shirts for pete’s sake. (Yeah, so what if the print would be too small to read.) Okay, call me crazy, but I think Mav beats Obama like a drum. Veteran vote. Senior Vote. Hispanic vote. “Independents” (who actually have a brain and love their country) vote. If Mav makes a remotely good choice for VP (50-ish, conservative, southern) I think he’s golden.
Sugar Land on February 21, 2008 at 7:33 PM
Check out my post just above yours. They are half way there.
Weight of Glory on February 21, 2008 at 7:33 PM
AP i’d like to add a new term to the HA lexicon
The New Your Times “Nyphonged” John McCain today.
DrW on February 21, 2008 at 7:35 PM
Pretty good translation, considering that what H. Brush Dean actually said was: McCainispartofthecorruptionprobleminWashingtonhedoesn’tseem toreallyhaveanethicalcompassyeaaaaaaarrrgh
joewm315 on February 21, 2008 at 7:37 PM
EDITOR OF NYT IS AN ADULTERER
http://deceiver.com/2008/02/21/quick-which-one-had-an-affair/
THE CHOSEN ONE on February 21, 2008 at 7:42 PM
Dean doesn’t seem to really have any idea who the he#$ he’s talking about.
RightOFLeft on February 21, 2008 at 7:47 PM
SHUT UP AND GET OUT OF THE GUTTER.
It isn’t about having an affair, anymore than Clinton’s impeachment was about sex. The Times is trying to make it about quid pro quos, but hasn’t succeeded.
Buy Danish on February 21, 2008 at 7:49 PM
I know what Dean means. Only Democrats have moral compasses. For example, there was Bill Clinton. Well, actually, it was this needle-like thing that always pointed towards women, but still…
NNtrancer on February 21, 2008 at 7:51 PM
Dean is a despicable moron and has no idea of what he speaks. This screaming idiot typifies the left wing in this country.
rplat on February 21, 2008 at 7:53 PM
Does anyone, with the exception of New York city Manhattan, read the times?
Kini on February 21, 2008 at 7:53 PM
I still would like to see what comes of this, I think they very well might have more dirt and are just leaking it out in bits to hurt the other sides’ perceived “credibility”. Everybody is putting their head on the chopping block for McCain and they very well might get it chopped off. This story makes no sense at the moment and it is too early to jump to conclusions, wait until we find out more. It’s bad enough people are rationalizing their vote to ratify amnesty .
“Therefore those who skillfully move opponents make formations that opponents are sure to follow, give what opponents are sure to take. They move opponents with the prospect of gain, waiting for them in ambush.”- Sun Tzu
LevStrauss on February 21, 2008 at 7:55 PM
And what will be your excuse for bearing false witness?
You can choose or not to believe Bennett’s description, quoted above, but you’re slandering McCain regarding the Keating 5 scandal. McCain was cleared of wrongdoing, and not even the most heavily implicated senators were convicted of “taking bribes.” Cranston was censured – the stiffest penalty – but even he wasn’t accused of enriching himself.
CK MacLeod on February 21, 2008 at 7:55 PM
Buy Danish on February 21, 2008 at 7:49 PM
F You. The guy responsible for this smut is an adulterer himself. It’s totally relevant and the Times ought to burn in hell. Keep defending the indefensable, loser.
THE CHOSEN ONE on February 21, 2008 at 8:00 PM
heh, I was just going to say the same thing! That, and those screencaps…
Eh, this righty…whose an avowed McHead…doesn’t think AP’s “in the tank” for McCain. Gheeze, if anything, there’s been a lot of almost “anti-McCain” posts on HA. Almost…
JetBoy on February 21, 2008 at 8:00 PM
Frankly, I take anything Howard ” YEAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!!!!!strong> ” Dean says with a grain of Mrs. Dash. The man is the last word in Irrelevant as far as I am concerned.
pilamaye on February 21, 2008 at 8:04 PM
Because Howard Dean didn’t say that McCain had an ethical lapse or something like that. He made the blanket statement that McCain “doesn’t seem to really have an ethical compass. He doesn’t seem to have an instinct about what is the right thing to do and what isn’t the right thing to do.”
And when the guy who makes that statement got a deferment from military service on physical grounds and then spent his time skiing, attention must be paid.
Great post, AP.
Levy on February 21, 2008 at 8:04 PM
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
JayHaw Phrenzie on February 21, 2008 at 8:06 PM
Do you think that you can compare Kerry’s laughable excuse for a war record (he still hasn’t released his Military records) vs a True American Hero like John McCain.
Do you really believe they are comparable? Really?
Really?
JayHaw Phrenzie on February 21, 2008 at 8:18 PM
His time as a POW and his time since are two seperate things.
Wars can bring out the best in men and being a politican can bring out the worst of the same man (See: Cunningham, Duke).
Why is it assumed he is ethical because he was a POW?
EJDolbow on February 21, 2008 at 8:23 PM
Kerist you’re thick. I’m not defending The Times, but if you want to be a garbage picker, include me out.
Buy Danish on February 21, 2008 at 8:25 PM
Who let Dean out?
I think they let Dean loose now and then to scare us
They used to have a treatment in mental hospitals similar to water boarding. I remember the scene with Olivia DeHavilland in the Snake Pit
For fun, watch this movie and imagine Dean in her place. He has the scream
entagor on February 21, 2008 at 8:25 PM
Remember Howard Dean’s brother, Charlie? He and a friend decided to go backpacking down the Mekong Delta in the middle of the Viet Nam war, which was a grossly idiotic thing to do. They were captured and killed by Laotian commies. Now flash forward to 2003, when his body was dug up and brought home. Howard, who lacks an ethical compass and has no idea what is the right thing to do and what isn’t the right thing to do, had his brother buried with full military honors and repeatedly referred to him as a POW-MIA.
Blake on February 21, 2008 at 8:26 PM
How DARE the democrats accost McCain on anything!
That’s the
Republicans‘real conservatives’ job!!Reaps on February 21, 2008 at 8:28 PM
There are real men, and there are little men, and all kinds in between. Dean is a little man.
Entelechy on February 21, 2008 at 8:32 PM
This says more about Dean than it does about McCain. It’s like an ant peeing on an elephant.
Entelechy on February 21, 2008 at 8:34 PM
Does anyone remember when this jerkstore told Tim Russert that the difference between Democrats and Republicans is that Democrats don’t think kids should go to bed hungry at night?
Kensington on February 21, 2008 at 8:41 PM
Listen, it’s quite simple: You take money from somebody and you try to use your influence in ways that would benefit that somebody. You can call it whatever you like (as can Congress desperately trying to cover their own asses), and it’s quite obvious that you will when the recipient of the funds is somebody you want to spin for, but everybody with a moral compass knows what it is.
And no, saying that you’re sorry doesn’t change it either.
Sorry you got caught, I’m sure.
Damn, I never expected to have to explain that to a fellow conservative. The morons at the Daily Kossack, to be sure, but not around here.
Did you notice the use of the present tense? He didn’t say that “he never had an instinct about what is the right thing to do and what is not.” Notice the difference there? No, you probably don’t.
And don’t get me started on that shitbird Dean, please, I’ll never get done with the expletives, but I wasn’t aware that facts become something else because they’re mentioned by somebody you don’t like.
Again: I always thought that was something that liberals in the deep throes of BDS had cornered the market on.
Sheesh.
Ahhhh… So now it’s all a matter of how high on the JayHaw Phrenzie Scale of Heroics you scored? If you score highly enough, all is forgiven for the rest of your life, and no amount of ethical lapses can ever be mentioned, lest you be accused of insulting a war hero.
Gotcha.
Of COURSE I’m not comparing F*ckFace’s record to McCain’s, you dolt, but that’s hardly the point, now is it? The point is that some people, just exactly like the ridiculous Kerryites back in ’04, seem to take any criticism of their hero McCain as a most heinous and vile attack on his war record, no matter the relevance or utter lack of same.
Pathetic.
This is turning into The Daily Kotz.
*Sigh*
Misha I on February 21, 2008 at 10:12 PM
The good news is that a Democrat has heard of the moral compass.
snaggletoothie on February 21, 2008 at 10:25 PM
Could conservatives tell me why they are defending John McCain from an attack by the New York Times, when up till today, John McCain still refuse to reject the endorsement from that same New York Times?
Why is it that John McCain and his cronies have no problem viciously attacking conservatives as racist, bigots, nativist etc, and could only come up with an “I am disappointed” to this scurrilous attack by the New York Times?
Seems like Johnny Mac and his buddies reserve thier venom for consrvatives and shower their love on liberals.
RMR on February 21, 2008 at 11:06 PM
After she loses, I nominate Hillary Clinton to be the one who gives Howard Dean the great big bitch-slappin’ he so badly needs.
Travis1 on February 21, 2008 at 11:24 PM
Heh. Reminds me of the Allah of Old, the God of Photoshop.
baldilocks on February 22, 2008 at 2:09 AM
Well, if you wanna be a turd, Dean didn’t say “at present he doesn’t have an instinct about what is the right thing to do and what is not.” He simply said “doesn’t,” which, while it is indeed a present tense form, can also imply an extension into the past. And Dean also brought up the Keating Five, which in fact happened in the past. Get it? No, you probably don’t.
(Oh, and for the record, I ain’t exactly the world’s biggest McCain fan.)
Levy on February 22, 2008 at 2:18 AM
Where on the “ethical compass” is cheating on your wife when she gets in a car wreck, and does her having stayed with you while you were a POW (and after) have any bearing?
Guess not. I wonder why Republicans don’t like Bill Clinton. I mean, cheating on your wife is the actions of a man with a strong sense of ethics and morals now.
Or something… I’m not sure, maybe cheating on your wife isn’t an ethical/moral question?
gekkobear on February 22, 2008 at 2:53 AM
Ethical?
This is coming from the same mouth that claimed late term abortion in this country is a myth. I guess when abortion is your party’s main platform you have to make it sound good, like calling extermination camps “work farms”.
Hening on February 22, 2008 at 7:19 AM
GLAVIN!
mojo on February 22, 2008 at 1:17 PM