(TPJ 180)
By Steven Jonas, MD, MPH – February 20, 2008
With this column I begin a three part series on “Gentleman Johnny
McCain,” the likely Republican Party nominee. Why the moniker “Gentleman
Johnny” when Senate colleagues have been anonymously quoted that he is anything
but? Well, ever since I saw the movie of the George
Bernard Shaw play “The Devil’s Disciple” (1959, starring Kirk Douglas, Burt
Lancaster and the incomparable Lawrence Olivier as the British Revolutionary
War General, “Gentlemanly Johnny” Burgoyne) I have been fascinated by the
latter personage. Having recently seen the play on stage for the
first time, performed by the very fine Irish Repertory Company in New York
City, he came very much to mind. So, you might ask, what are the
comparisons between McCain and Burgoyne? Actually I can’t think of
any.
Burgoyne was a gentleman indeed (even though he attained that
status in the first instance by marrying well). McCain is hardly one
(although after having divorced the wife who stood by him while he was
imprisoned in North Vietnam for five years, he did marry a woman who, by
conventional American Standards, is very attractive and of regal bearing).
Burgoyne acknowledged his military mistakes. McCain has not.
Burgoyne, at least according to the Irish nationalist Shaw, thought that his
bosses in the British military were a bunch of incompetents who knew nothing
about fighting wars against insurgencies and that the political leaders who
were pursuing it were both incompetent and fighting an unwinnable
enterprise. McCain --- well I don’t have to detail his (public) positions
on those questions.
Finally, Burgoyne was an intellectual, a successful playwright
in fact, who wrote both serious plays and comedies. One of the latter, a
satire on the British occupation of Boston, was being played before a
much-amused group of British officers in Boston when a messenger broke into the
hall to proclaim that the rebels were attacking British positions on Breeds
Hill. The officer audience thought that the announcement was part of the
play until General Howe, their commander, came into the hall to order them all
to their posts to fight what the next day, April 19, 1775, became the first
recognized battle of the American Revolutionary War, known as the Battle of
Bunker Hill. As for McCain, there is hardly any apt comparison with
Burgoyne’s intellectual capacities. So why do I use the moniker for
McCain since there are no viable comparisons between the two men? Oh just
that to my ears, it has a nice ring to it.
There are a number of issues to raise about McCain. Let us first consider his now very well-known, and now often
repeated projection (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080215/pl_afp/usvoteiraqmccain_080215145036)
that the United States will have to remain in Iraq for 50, 100, perhaps even
1000,000 years (http://www.americanprogressaction.org/progressreport/2008/01/pr20080107).
There has been much comment both pro and con about the position he has
taken. McCain has built his political reputation and indeed his career on
being a “Straight-talker.” Indeed his campaign bus is called the
“Straight-Talk Express.” Of course, an American enterprise in Iraq
of that length, with objectives not yet specified by the Senator, would have
major consequences for the United States in terms of manpower, money, and a
variety of other considerations. Since McCain is nothing if not a
straight-talker, I know that you know that we can soon expect to see a report
of a major speech by him on Iraq and the consequences of his policy for our
country. Such a report of such a speech just might read as follows.
(Just for the record, as of this writing, Feb. 17, 2008, I had not seen
anything like a report nor have I heard anything like the reported “speech”
coming from the lips of Gentleman Johnny McCain.)
“In a speech yesterday on Iraq policy and its connection
to both U.S. domestic and foreign policy, after noting that the 'million years'
was just put in for rhetorical emphasis (and since he has just converted to
Creationism it is impossible to think of men being around for that many years),
Sen. John McCain told the American people just what would have to be done in
order to carry out the mission as he had stated it. He proclaimed that it is a
mission that he feels is vital to the security of the United States and its
people, to say nothing of being vital to fulfilling the mission that George
Bush set forth so clearly when he originally ordered the Iraq invasion: to bring
peace, stability and Democracy to the Middle East as a whole.
“First, being a military man he knows better than anyone how the current War on
Iraq and the subsequent occupation has essentially destroyed the best of the
American military's ability to fight land wars and then run policing operations
such as we have ongoing in Iraq. The U.S. is very quickly running out of
military manpower, he noted. Thus his first act as President would be to send
Congress a bill to reauthorize the draft, which is absolutely essential for the
new 100-year mission.
“Second, he has put meat on the bones of his determination both to cut
unnecessary government spending and to find the funds to continue the Iraq
operation for the next century. Putting heft behind his verbiage on 'cutting
pork barrel spending,' with the determination to show that his Party, not those
spend-thrift Democrats, will lead the way, he will send to Congress a bill
rescinding every single piece of pork-barrel spending that was passed during
the first six years of the Bush Presidency, when the Republicans dominated the
Congress. He will also challenge the Democrats to do the same for the 2006-2008
period.
“Third, he recognizes that for the 100 Years War he says is essential for peace
and U.S. security, the U.S. cannot continue to carry it out on borrowed money
the way it has been under Bush. Thus, regretfully, he will propose a rescission
of all the tax cuts awarded to those who can most afford to pay for the effort
and who appear to want it the most, that is the rich.
Finally, recognizing the continuing burden that the War will be on all U.S.
taxpayers, he will ask Congress to immediately cancel all contracts given to
the military industry for 'exotic, high-tech' warfare, since they are
absolutely unnecessary for the kind of war/policing action that the U.S. will
be carrying out in Iraq and elsewhere. The country not only doesn't need them
any longer; but also it simply cannot afford them.
“Asked if he didn't think that he was putting his candidacy at risk by making
such a speech, he said that he knows that above all, the American people value
honesty and integrity, and that it was time that somebody from his Party gave
it to them.”
More on John McCain and the “Straight Talk
Express” next week.
This column is based in part on “Dr. J.'s 'He Really Said That':
McCain and The Hundred Years War,” which originally appeared on BuzzFlash
on Fri, 01/18/2008, (http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/jonas/096).