In light of Rep. John Lewis’s recent remarks on Twitter eulogizing the recently deceased Sen. John McCain as a “warrior for peace”, there’s no better time to read up on the few recent pieces on the Internet that actually put the late P.O.W.’s life and legacy into perspective. And while it’s understandable that when one passes people tend to focus on the more positive aspects of their character, calling one of the Senate’s biggest war-hawks who never met a war he didn’t like “a warrior for peace” is not just stretching the truth, it’s absolute blasphemy. So without further ado, here are the internet’s most truthful John McCain obituaries.
CounterPunch: John McCain: War Criminal, Not War Hero
excerpt:
“I hate the gooks,”Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) doubled down when asked on the 2000 presidential campaign trail about his continued use of the racist slur for Vietnamese people. “I will hate them as long as I live.”
In the mind of the settler-colonialist, the white invader is always the victim and the people he invades, occupies, expels or exterminates are always the
aggressors, going all the way back to the Native American genocide. McCain was never able to understand that in Vietnam, as in just about everywhere else they went, Americans were the invaders, not the victims. Even as McCain deserves praise and perhaps even admiration for the manner in which he endured the unendurable while imprisoned in Vietnam, we conveniently forget what he was doing when he was shot down over Hanoi. That day, US warplanes were bombing and strafing a light bulb factory in the densely populated capital, where thousands of innocent men, women and children were being killed by relentless American aerial attacks.
Among the other things the “warrior for peace” backed and supported noted in the article:
- ”bombing Iraq’s water purification plants during the first Gulf War”
- donating money to the Contra death squads in Nicaragua who mutilated people, cut the breasts off of women and cut the tongues out of men
- the NATO/ terrorist-led overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, though he previously promised to help Gaddafi acquire weapons of mass destruction
- decades-long war-mongering against Iran, even famously singing “bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” on the campaign trail. Such a gleeful “warrior for peace”!
- his push for armed confrontation with Russia, as well as his support for war on Syria and his pivotal role in the coup in Ukraine (where he allied with neonazis)
- his clear “disdain for women” and unabashed sexism, going so far as to call his wife Cindy a “cunt” on the campaign trail
- ”vehemently opposed the national Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, a popular move in a state known for its racism but a shock to millions of Americans who watched McCain vote against the holiday even after President Ronald Reagan finally approved it.”
- ”voted dozens of times against funding for veterans’ health care and other crucial services” and voting against a bill that would cover the medical needs of 9/11 first responders. His voting record in this regard earned him a 2 out of 10 rating from the Disabled American Veterans.
CounterPunch: One Dead McCain. 2.5 Million Dead Iraqis
CounterPunch: The Horrors of John McCain: War Hero or War Criminal
United States Hypocrisy 
Thanks for setting the record straight. I had my suspicions.
It’s amazing how none of these things made it into the mainstream obituaries.
I think that we need a more nuanced view of McCain though than unquestioned praise or only slamming him.
He opposed MLK Day but was one of the first group of cosponsors of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He was a war hawk (to unhealthy proportions so o agree on that) but he also pushed the Clinton Administration to normalize relations with Vietnam. He had issues with his own campaign finance but become one of the most prominent advocates for campaign finance reform.
Ultimately, unquestioned praise of him is to me an act of revisionist history. But I think it is also unwise to only look at the bad. Viewing him somewhere in between those two extremes I think is healthiest, in my humble opinion.
In my opinion the bad is of such great a magnitude as to outweigh the bit of good there was.
That war hawk, that warmonger had no integrity whatsoever and to hear and see such outrageous lies lauding him as some sort of ‘saint’ was just beyond the end of enough. He was an evil, depraved, sick and twisted piece of filth. He isn’t even fit for hell! They’d have to pull hell up to send him somewhere underneath it, he was so vile!
I’m actually reading your piece right now.
https://shelbycourtland.wordpress.com/2018/08/26/warmonger-john-mccain-dead-at-81-so-why-mourn/
And it’s amazing how Democrats suddenly are singling his praises simply because he was critical of Trump on a few occasions. Just like how so many “leftists” are now admirers of CIA and FBI. It’s like we’re living in the Twilight Zone.
Caleb, just because someone dies is no reason to refuse to acknowledge how vile and atrocious they were when they were alive. I would not be a party to that in any way and that just shows you that so-called “leftists” have no more integrity than those on the “right.” They are all cut from the same cloth, hence the reason why so many Americans abstained from voting. They decided that there was no point because who could stomach Hillary Clinton and who could stomach Trump except the racist base of supporters he played up to?
And you are so right, this is some “Twilight Zone” type mess. Not to mention I read just today, an article that stated that millions of Americans are waking up absolutely depressed to the point of no return simply because they cannot stomach another day of this “Trump Twilight Zone” derangement syndrome. It is just too much for many to take.
Also thank you so much for mentioning my post. I just could not let those lies about McCain slide. The truth of what McCain actually was needed to be told in an attempt to push back against the lies!
I was appalled to hear John Lewis call McCain a “warrior for peace”. It reminded me of when Hillary Clinton said that Nancy Raegan was a champion for people with HIV and AIDS. That is more than stretching the truth. They are telling bold-faced lies!
I was appalled as well. And I also posted a blog about those lies of Clinton as they relate to filthy Nancy and Ronald Reagan. And I remember how Ronald Reagan falsely accused Black women of being, “welfare-loving, Cadillac queens.” The best thing the Reagans did was drop dead, McCain as well.
Raegan is one of the architects of the whole “welfare queen” stereotype. He repeated it so many times and poisoned so many minds with it, and this cruel stereotype was part of the reasoning behind Bill Clinton’s horrendous “welfare reform” law.
..and yet people have the nerve to still laud Bill Clinton, for I don’t know what, when he was the one who is also responsible for why so many Black people are incarcerated to this very day.
“Clinton signed into law an omnibus crime bill in 1994 that included the federal “three strikes” provision, mandating life sentences for criminals convicted of a violent felony after two or more prior convictions, including drug crimes.”
And yet, the heroin epidemic that is decimating white, upper crust neighborhoods is being treated as a medical issue as opposed to how Bill Clinton’s policies treated Black drug addicts; incarceration.
I don’t know if you follow Mumia Abu Jamal’s commentaries or not but in his commentary “40 Years in the Wilderness” he mocked the idea of Bill Clinton being lauded “the first Black President” back when he was being praised by people who should know better – many of the same people now praising McCain no doubt.