John McCain’s Op-Ed Response to Putin

The Business Insider calls it “blistering”.  Huff-Po says he “Fires back”.   What’s all the hoopla about? It seems that John McCain promised to write a rebuttal to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s op-ed on Obama, which came out recently in the New York Times.  McCain described Putin’s piece as “an insult to the intelligence of every American.” In an interview with CNN McCain said he would “love to have a commentary in Pravda.” 

The only thing is, which version of Pravda did McCain want to write in, and does it matter? According to CNN, McCain had the old Soviet paper in mind when he made his statement.  The original Pravda was the propaganda paper for the Communist Soviets, and the editors of the newer version, which is published in Russian and still under Communist domain, claimed McCain could only write for their paper if his “arguments on the issue was not in contradiction to the communist party’s stand on the conflict of Syria.”

McCain’s op-ed appears in the online version of Pravda, which consists of some of the journalists from the USSR-era Pravda paper, but this one is published in English. When asked which version he would be writing for, McCain told reporters, “I hope it’s Pravda the Communist publication.”

Regarding what McCain was planning on writing about, a spokesperson for McCain said that he would most likely address democracy and human rights in Russia, and “certainly Putin’s regime aiding and abetting of the Syrian regime, which has killed 100,000 of its own people.”

Interesting. But we’ll come back to that part in a minute.

So why does it matter which version McCain wrote for? It doesn’t really, but it just strikes me odd how the headlines have been all screaming, almost proudly, that a Senator from the US has managed to land a spot writing for the famous Communist paper, when that’s not really the case at all, even though the piece will also be written in Russian.

I’m not defending by any means Putin or his comments about America, or his backing of Bashar Assad, who has perpetrated enough of his own atrocities against the Syrian people.  However, I find it incredibly hypocritical that many of the things John McCain writes about the Russian government to the Russian people, are things he doesn’t believe in or practice in our country, and that he accuses Putin of doing the same things that he himself and others have supported.  Let’s read some of his piece, which he titled, “Russians Deserve Better than Putin”

McCain starts off by praising the Russian people:

I respect your dignity and your right to self-determination. I believe you should live according to the dictates of your conscience, not your government…  You should be governed by a rule of law that is clear, consistently and impartially enforced and just…  President Putin and his associates do not believe in these values. They don’t respect your dignity or accept your authority over them.

Let me stop it right there. First of all, one could write the same things about Obama and much of our government right now.  McCain claims that he believes people ought to be able to live according to their conscience, yet many here in the US are forced to violate their consciences when it comes to forcing religious institutions to provide for abortions and accept homosexual practices when their beliefs clearly are opposed to them.  McCain also says that the people should be governed by a rule of law, which is consistently and impartially enforced and just; yet he, being one of the ranking members of the Gang of 8 has been the biggest champion of passing an Amnesty bill disguised as Immigration reform. He knows full well that America has immigration laws on the books already, and that thousands of people go through the process every year, yet millions of others are ignoring the laws, not just those pouring through our southern borders, but many in our government are ignoring them as well. He claims that people ought to be governed by a rule of law, yet he and many of our own government seem to believe our nation’s rule of law, the Constitution, is worth very little, especially the Bill of Rights and our Second Amendment rights.

McCain says that Putin doesn’t respect the dignity of the people, nor accepts the people’s authority over them. Well if that isn’t the proverbial pot calling the kettle a wacko bird!

He goes on:

President Putin claims his purpose is to restore Russia to greatness at home and among the nations of the world. But by what measure has he restored your greatness? He has given you an economy that is based almost entirely on a few natural resources that will rise and fall with those commodities. Its riches will not last. And, while they do, they will be mostly in the possession of the corrupt and powerful few. Capital is fleeing Russia, which – lacking rule of law and a broad-based economy – is considered too risky for investment and entrepreneurism.

This is rich, coming from a Senator who supports most of the present Administrations policies which has caused lower opinions about America from around the world, has created the highest number of food stamp recipients in our nation’s history, which has virtually forced most manufacturing jobs to move overseas, and who is destroying small businesses with massive tax burdens.  Not to mention the coming Obama-care nightmare.

But wait, there’s more.

How has he strengthened Russia’s international stature? By allying Russia with some of the world’s most offensive and threatening tyrannies. By supporting a Syrian regime that is murdering tens of thousands of its own people to remain in power…  By refusing to consider the massacre of innocents, the plight of millions of refugees, the growing prospect of a conflagration that engulfs other countries in its flames an appropriate subject for the world’s attention.

To Senator McCain:  you and others, including the Obama administration, are doing the exact same things by supporting and arming the so-called “rebels” in Syria. You know, those jihadists that you and Lindsey Graham met with in Syria a few months ago, when you both had your photo op, while using our Special Operation Forces as your personal bodyguards?

You support the opposition forces that are made up of terrorist groups and jihadists, Senator; men who have committed some of the most barbaric and evil atrocities imagined. How does that make you any better than Putin?

I could go on and point out more hypocrisy of your op-ed, Senator McCain, but I’ve had more than I can stand already.  You and others may feel like you did a praiseworthy thing by your support of Obama, but to use your own words, Senator, I just find this piece as another in a long chain of things you have done and supported as “an insult to the intelligence of every American.”

If I seem overly harsh in my criticism, it is only because I am sick of seeing and hearing such blatant hypocrisy lately from so many politicians who have not listened or respected those whom they are supposed to be representing, and for so long lamented at previous administration’s’ faults yet now have gone full throttle in creating more bloodshed.  These “leaders” seem to have had total disregard for our troops who are in harm’s way already, and who now seem so eager to put many more into a situation that could potentially be worse than Vietnam.  And for Senator McCain and others like John Kerry who have spoken out against that war, I find it incomprehensible what they are supporting now.