Sen. John McCain, who faced down his captors in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp with jut-jawed defiance and later turned his rebellious streak into a 35-year political career that took him to Congress and the Republican presidential nomination, died Saturday after battling brain cancer for more than a year. He was 81.
McCain, with his irascible grin and fighter-pilot moxie, was a fearless and outspoken voice on policy and politics to the end, unswerving in his defense of democratic values and unflinching in his criticism of his fellow Republican, President Donald Trump. He was elected to the Senate from Arizona six times but twice thwarted in seeking the presidency.
An upstart presidential bid in 2000 didn't last long. Eight years later, he fought back from the brink of defeat to win the GOP nomination, only to be overpowered by Democrat Barack Obama. McCain chose a little-known Alaska governor as his running mate in that race, and turned Sarah Palin into a national political figure.
After losing to Obama in an electoral landslide, McCain returned to the Senate determined not to be defined by a failed presidential campaign in which his reputation as a maverick had faded. In the politics of the moment and in national political debate over the decades, McCain energetically advanced his ideas and punched back hard at critics — Trump not least among them.
The scion of a decorated military family, McCain embraced his role as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, pushing for aggressive U.S. military intervention overseas and eager to contribute to "defeating the forces of radical Islam that want to destroy America."
Asked how he wanted to be remembered, McCain said simply: "That I made a major contribution to the defense of the nation."
Also at The New York Timesand c|net.
(Score: 4, Informative) by FatPhil on Sunday August 26 2018, @07:49AM (20 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Bot on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:15AM (12 children)
After what Trump said about POW, that's the bare minimum.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @09:44AM (11 children)
He's only being remembered fondly because he died...I prefer people who don't die! -DT #NOCOLLUSION #WITCHHUNT #LOCKHERUP #LOOKOVERTHERE
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @02:52PM (3 children)
For you know-nothing losers who don't get it, it's a parody of what Trump said about McCain being a POW.
Goddamn. I hate this
website"community". Well, I for one laughed.(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday August 26 2018, @04:35PM (2 children)
Your assumption is that the one, yes one, person who downmodded it didn't understand the comment was intended to be humorous.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @05:53PM (1 child)
Get it yet?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @09:31PM
No.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @02:56PM (5 children)
I beg the admins to please get rid of downmodding. It absolutely RUINS this website.
This website isn't popular enough to have actual spam or trolls who need to be shut down (and, FFS, this isn't even a troll!). Please. PLEASE. Take downmodding away from the actual self-loathing, dull, dead-eyed trolls, who just censor anything that is actually interesting or entertaining to read.
You need humor in life, assholes. Especially around death.
No. Not it hasn't. This website is total trash.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday August 26 2018, @04:39PM (3 children)
Never going to happen, and you might as well leave forever. How many times have you've made variations on this same comment? 50?
If you're already using Tor, how about you find some unmoderated dark web cesspool to call home?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @05:52PM (2 children)
and I not-infrequently receive scores of 4 of 5 on this dank website, despite posting as an anonymous coward.
You want to keep people like me around, not give us the boot. However, it's getting increasingly tiresome around here.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @06:33PM
You and your incessant whining are getting increasingly tiresome.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @10:08PM
It's us members contributing to the operation of this site; perhaps we should vote on proposals to change the mod system.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @07:01PM
This web site isn't popular enough for me to read at anything > -1. I see how the asshole downmodding mob works, but I'm not missing anything. In fact, the only thing I care to miss are DN and crazy story guy, and those are easy to skip over.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @03:30PM
love the hash-tag "lookoverthere", lol!
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:20AM
Neither McCain's people nor the White House has confirmed that, although it seems inevitable that he will skip it:
https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/05/07/did-mccain-say-doesnt-want-trump-at-funeral/ [snopes.com]
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1033515425336885248 [twitter.com]
^ I can't wait until the history books start quoting tweets!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @10:38AM
Really? [wikipedia.org] His foundation and his wife's "charities" are long overdue for federal investigation.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by VLM on Sunday August 26 2018, @12:47PM (3 children)
I'm sure vampires are not fond of vampire hunters, either. Being disliked by bad people, doesn't mean vampire hunters are themselves bad people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @02:07PM (2 children)
And you mean what exactly?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @04:51PM (1 child)
That he wants to get laid but it just never seems to happen.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @05:29PM
He wants to get laid with your wife, but your wife is too busy sucking negro cocks.
(Score: 3, Funny) by SanityCheck on Sunday August 26 2018, @03:02PM
Of course they do, the dead tend to overwhelmingly vote Democrat.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by shortscreen on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:00AM (4 children)
in remembrance I shall sing a verse of "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran"
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @02:14PM (3 children)
My thoughts too. Is the Chicago Tribune now only fawning over him because of his disagreements with Trump?
He was captured while bombing a civilian target with the potential to cause a lot of civilian casualties around, in an illegal war. It wouldn't be a stretch to call him a war criminal.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Sunday August 26 2018, @04:30PM
Yes -- John McCain, who supported every war of aggression he could, didn't like Trump and so became a darling of the Democrat party. When bloodthirsty warhawks die, it is a good thing and a cause for celebration. Who but the most inveterate assholes mourn people such as McCain?
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/mccain-and-wars-of-aggression/ [theamericanconservative.com]
(Score: 2) by Arik on Sunday August 26 2018, @05:53PM
This seems likely. Under the influence of Trump Derangement Syndrome, the mainstream media is happy to rehabilitate, to positively treat with honor, Bush era war criminals as long as they will publicly denounce Trump.
As Glenn Greenwald put it:
"2005: George W Bush is a pillaging, torturing war criminal who let a city drown"
"2017: I may have disagreed with Bush but he was A Good Man™"
Just look at how the progressive press suddenly discovered that Eric Holder was a great man of integrity and honor - after nonstop disrespect for decades.
It's the current_year version of medieval absolution. Just denounce the orange monster, and all your sins shall be instantly forgiven. What a deal!
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @10:24PM
Not the Chicago Tribune. It was copy from Nancy Benac of the Associated Press.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:01AM
And that all the negative talk is Fake News... Well, guess McCain disagreed.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @08:46AM
prohibiting the participation of cancerous individuals in politics.
up-vote if your gut said yes before your brain started cheering the idea.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @09:46AM (22 children)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 26 2018, @11:02AM (21 children)
That's close to my feelings. There is good and bad to be said about McCain. He's not the douchebag that Ted Kennedy was, but he comes close on some counts.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @11:24AM (1 child)
If SN had a dollar for every time that was said about you they wouldn't need to ask for donations.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @11:56AM
Almost no one is as big a douche as Kennedy - but you're getting close.
(Score: 2, Troll) by VLM on Sunday August 26 2018, @12:44PM (2 children)
(crickets...)
He might have been a nice guy personally (or I have no evidence to the contrary) and he did have a sense of humor... here's a hilarious response to a journalist calling him out (rightly) for being a carpetbagger when he moved to the easiest senate seat to live when he entered politics, which randomly happened to be Arizona at that time:
The guy was kinda great-great-grandpa shitposter, in his own ancient way.
As for politics the guy was a fairly respectable example of a Democrat; admittedly he ran as a RINO which was required to win his senate seat, but in the set of politicians supporting the "ideals" of the Democrat Party, he was hardly the worst.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @02:14PM (1 child)
He voted against the dismantling of Obamacare, that hugely good.
(grin)
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday August 27 2018, @07:59AM
He didn't just toe the Republican Party line. Often, but not always.
I don't agree with a lot of his ideas, but I gave him credit for having more balls than pretty much all other R senators combined.
This democracy is based on having elected officials acting as individuals representing their constituents. We need more people ready to step out of party line for their principles.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @01:00PM (14 children)
"He's not the douchebag that Ted Kennedy was"
Drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident vs. treason.
I think your douchebag meter might be broken.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 26 2018, @02:34PM (13 children)
Alright - citations for treason. In the POW camp? FFS, man, there is no man alive who can resist ongoing interrogation for years, especially when various forms of torture are put to use. It is my impression that McCain resisted interrogation until his information was far less valuable, than when he was first captured.
The single worst incident of his military career for which you can find fault, is the Forrestal fire. You can put the deaths of all those US Sailors at his feet. But, treason? Forget it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @02:42PM
He did not agree 100 % with what El Comandante Orangue said!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @03:18PM (7 children)
The fuck? [hotair.com] For an example of duplicity, note that McShitStain and Al-Qaeda support [fox19.com] was mutual. [telegraph.co.uk]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 26 2018, @04:31PM (6 children)
The hotair link is pretty good. What is left out of that account is, grabassery. Skylarking. Fucking off. Young John McCain started that conflagration when he gunned his engines. His exhaust is what set that Zuni rocket off. If you should watch the movie of the Forrestal fire, you'll want to rewind and watch that initial rocket launch a couple of times. That rocket was bathed in fire and exhaust from McCain's engines, causing the rocket propellant to ignite. It needs to be noted that John was evacuated from the carrier, while other, seriously wounded men, were left at the mercies of the ship's doctors and corpsmen. Why was John singled out for evacuation? Politics. Johnny's daddy had him evacuated.
An incidental - McCain's daddy was one of the admirals who made the decision to use that old ordnance. John McCain Senior figures into a lot of history in both Vietnam and the Med/Mideast in the '60's and '70's.
And, back to my original post. I can't like McCain, I can't even respect him a helluva lot. But - he's family. He did go out there, he did put his life on the line. He's far more of a brother than that asshole George Dubya Bush ever was.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @04:58PM (2 children)
Huh? [youtu.be]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @05:16PM (1 child)
Okay, one of the comments explains...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday August 27 2018, @04:52PM
I spent several minutes looking for that footage on Youtube. The movie we watched in boot camp is not what Youtube has available. I did find several videos explaining how "Wetstart McCain" caused the fire, but none of them (that I found) actually shows the real video.
Memory fades, and memory plays tricks, and it's been decades since I watched that movie. But, we were required to watch it many times, and we discussed the movie many times. I clearly remember seeing one jet fire up it's engines, and bathe the jet behind it with fire and hot exhaust. The Zuni isn't visible, until AFTER it has ignited, then it comes out of the wall of hot gasses, creating it's own ball of fire. In eight years of service, I watched that movie at least eight times, as part of fire fighting and damage control training. It was also available from time to time on our CCTV, as "entertainment". We didn't watch an edited version - or more precisely, we didn't watch such a heavily edited version.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @05:52PM (2 children)
Do tell. [snopes.com] Please find me a better source than that which pretty much rips up what you said to shreds. And when I say "good source" let's see actual names of actual sailors who were present and able to confirm that McCain started it. Let's see properly cited sources. We can discuss why you think an individual knocked unconscious by a concussive explosion should simply stay with the treatment available aboard an aircraft carrier, and whether or not McCain was the only evacuated person, at another time.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday August 27 2018, @06:55PM
Wetstart McCain.
Perhaps you're not aware how real life works. A cop isn't really supposed to work a case that involves close acquaintances. An EMT or paremedic, ditto. A judge is supposed to recuse himself from a case he is party to, or overly familiar with. And, a fleet admiral probably shouldn't be investigating a major incident which his son is involved in.
McCain's daddy ran this investigation. That's really not different from some old redneck judge in the "Old South" investigating his own son's involvement in a lynching of a black man.
I have often discounted Snopes in the past. I don't trust them. You trust them if you want.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday August 28 2018, @01:40AM
http://www.monomakhos.com/johnny-wet-start/ [monomakhos.com]
What authority is most likely to know what happened on that fateful day? Maybe the commanding officer of the ship in question?
(Score: 5, Informative) by Arik on Sunday August 26 2018, @04:25PM (3 children)
Admiral James Stockdale was by all accounts tortured far more heavily and for far longer. He was crippled by the mistreatment he received but he never broke. When he was finally released, he was given the Medal of Honor - and a pink slip.
McCain, a junior pilot who had been shot down after around 20 hours of combat, who broke and cooperated both by giving military information and by making propaganda recordings, he received a whopping 28 medals. And years of physical therapy instead of a pink slip.
If his father hadn't been Admiral John Sidney McCain Jr, CINCPAC, I can't imagine this would have turned out the way it did for him. I don't know if a fair court would determine his actions amounted to treason or not - because no fair court was ever allowed to consider the question. It was just too dangerous, politically.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 26 2018, @04:38PM
I was busy typing, and didn't see your post. Please scroll up a tiny bit, to see my reply to AC. I concur with your conclusion - if Daddy wasn't an admiral, everything about Little Johnny's career would have gone differently.
And, I appreciate your lead in. Interesting allegations, is precisely right. Nothing provable, nothing proven - but others who made as great, or greater sacrifices, were neglected. Kinda reminds you of John Kerry, except John McCain didn't write his own recommendations for awards - his daddy did.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @05:56PM (1 child)
Sounds like somebody doesn't know the difference between allegation, facts, and what builds credible statements. [politifact.com]
(Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday August 28 2018, @06:47PM
The link you provided actually confirms most of the allegations made against McCain, while spinning each and every paragraph just as hard as they can in his favor nonetheless.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by DavePolaschek on Monday August 27 2018, @04:35PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five [wikipedia.org]
Just wish he'd gotten booted from the Senate earlier.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Sunday August 26 2018, @12:02PM (8 children)
Back in 1999-2000, when McCain was running for the Republican nomination for president, I was a high school senior in New Hampshire, which meant we got to meet all the big name politicians. George W Bush came off as a dangerous fool. John McCain, Al Gore, and Bill Bradley did not: You might disagree with them, but they weren't idiots with cocaine problems. So I was one a large contingent of independents who voted for McCain hoping to knock Bush out of the running.
Based on what happened during the Bush administration, from slacking on counterterrorism to squandering resources attacking at least one country that was not a threat to the US, I still think I was right. The only thing McCain really did wrong was introduce the nation to Sarah Palin.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @12:23PM (1 child)
Nowadays George W. comes off as a mild-mannered, intellectual elder statesman. The bar is about as low as it gets.
(Score: 5, Funny) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday August 26 2018, @12:40PM
Just wait a week.
I think what you said every so often, and then something happens in the next few days that is even crazier.
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Sunday August 26 2018, @02:21PM (3 children)
Don't be upset, everybody makes mistakes when young.
Granted, most of us at that age pick the wrong sex partner, but voting McCain is not such a grave mistake in the big order of things.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @02:15AM
I too voted for McCain in 2000. The GOP primary gap between McCain and Bush was huge compared to Gore and Bradley
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday August 27 2018, @04:27PM (1 child)
My choices were:
- George W Bush
- John McCain
- Al Gore
- Bill Bradley
I did what a voter is supposed to do: I looked over my available options very carefully to try to make the best decision I could. I made out George W Bush to be the worst of the lot, and voted to try to eliminate him from contention. Knowing what I do now about these candidates almost 20 years later, I still make out George W Bush to be the worst of the lot, and do not regret my vote one bit.
So why do you think I should be treating that vote as a teenage embarrassment?
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday August 28 2018, @12:39AM
(see that -grin- at the end of my comment? It means: don't take me seriously, I'm just goofing around)
Yes, all awful choices as sex partners. They would rape the voters at the first occasion without a second thought.
(grin)
If there would be a non-grinning point in both my comments: I reckon you attitude to the voting matters was uncommon in the age bracket of the population
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Sunday August 26 2018, @04:46PM (1 child)
Whether or not McCain appeared cocaine addled, there wasn't a foreign war of aggression he did not support to the fullest. Appearances can be deceiving but I won't fault you for being uninformed in your youth. My first vote was for Bill Clinton so it would be incredibly hypocritical for me to fault you. As for whether McCain would have been better than GWB, history doesn't bear that out, even as soon as 2008 and especially since.
https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/john-mccain-foreign-policy-even-worse-bush [cato.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday August 27 2018, @01:59PM
My reasoning for why McCain would have likely been better than Bush:
1. He would have been much less likely to ignore the problem of Al Qaida until after Sept 11, 2001 happened. I'm not saying the Bush administration "let it happen on purpose", as some conspiracy theorists suggest, but there is substantial evidence that they didn't care enough about counterterrorism to take it seriously. McCain wouldn't have done that, precisely because of his hawkish nature. And if the planes had hit, McCain would have I'm quite certain done something more useful than read The Pet Goat.
2. His response to Hurricane Katrina probably would have been less lousy. As a real veteran as opposed to a guy going AWOL from the National Guard, McCain knew something about what can and can't be done when crap is hitting the fan.
3. He would probably have been less accepting of blatant corruption among his cabinet. Although he did pick Sarah Palin a few years later, so maybe not.
Would he have still attacked Iraq? Maybe, but if his team had stopped 9/11 they would have a harder time making that case. Would he have still attacked Afghanistan? Maybe, and the same problem occurs about no 9/11. In addition we can guess that his understanding and use of military intelligence and spying would have been better than Bush's people's. Would he have ignored the looming problems in the banking sector? Maybe, because Wall Street has for all practical purposes owned both Congress and the presidency for decades.
Counterfactuals are always hard to know for sure.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday August 26 2018, @12:59PM (6 children)
He was a POW. He was captured and tortured in Viet Nam. And what does he do? He goes all rah-rah-rah for the Iraq War under Dubya McChimparse, which saw the US engaging in torture as well and if anything had even *less* justification than 'Nam. I lost all respect for him back then. Treacherous son of a bitch. I hope he fries for a good long time and reincarnates a few dozen times--short lives, each one--in the Middle East, in the Hell on Earth he helped create.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @02:43PM
Let's not be charitable. [oathkeepers.org]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday August 26 2018, @04:26PM (1 child)
Now, now. I'm not a huge fan of McCain, but he has spoken out against torture publicly many times, most recently regarding Gina Haspel. And he very publicly and notably broke with George W. after the news about torture used interrogations first broke and condemned it as few Republicans were willing to do.
On the other hand, he made deals in Washington politics later about this stuff that undermined his position (though he clearly fought to create bills initially against torture... but gave in to try to compromise).
In short, he learned to be a politician and compromised his ethics as just about everyone in DC does from time to time. But he was also a rare voice among conservatives against the concept of torture.
Do I respect his compromises? No - I think he should have stood his ground. But compared to the vast majority of conservatives on the issue, he at least tried to do something.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @05:02PM
Therein lies the problem. [mondialisation.ca]
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday August 26 2018, @11:28PM
He was shot down while bombing Hanoi, his 23rd bombing mission.
I wonder how many Vietnamese people he killed when his bombs fell on their houses?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @05:06PM (1 child)
Or you have an individual who intimately understands what it is to be in a situation where you are at the enemy's mercy and may well die unable to fight back.... and still felt that the threat was worth putting American lives at risk at that time. And was wrong about that decision. And owned up to being wrong about it.
May you never have someone's life in your hands, fuck it up, and find yourself at the mercy of the public like yourself.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday August 27 2018, @07:13PM
Sorry? Explain to me how this squares with his cheerleading of the Iraq War under Dubya? You may have misfired here.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 26 2018, @02:33PM
What again did we lose?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Sunday August 26 2018, @09:32PM (5 children)
Fox News disables comments for all YouTube videos about McCain’s death after followers ruthlessly smear him. [rawstory.com]
Now, I hesitate to ask, but could it be that Fox News and SoylentNews have some of the same commentors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @12:16AM (4 children)
Your link redirects to a story titled "VA accused of cruel experiments on dogs". Are you surprised that while establishment Democrats eulogize the warmonger, Trump supporters are suggesting his brain tumor be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Monday August 27 2018, @06:14AM (3 children)
Russians! They were, after all, the first to put a dog into space. Rupert Murdock, on the other hand, is the first to put an idiot into the White House.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @02:53PM
In al fairness to the Russians, they did get the second idiot into the White House and the first Manchurian candidate. (Moscownian candidate?)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 27 2018, @03:05PM (1 child)
Do you mean Reagan, Clinton, Dubya or Obama?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday August 27 2018, @04:42PM
Reagan: Primary credit there goes to a group of guys with guns in Iran.
Clinton: Primary credit there should go to Ross Perot.
Dubya: Primary credit there should go to his daddy and Carlyle Group, with some help from William Rehnquist (who was willing to enshrine in law that Americans don't have a right to vote for president, and that Americans who vote don't have the right to have their vote counted, just so that their guy could win). Dubya could also very reasonably be accused of being installed and propped up by Saudi Arabia.
Obama: He was president thanks to Citigroup. He never forgot that.
However, the first idiot president was probably William Henry Harrison, who was so stupid he didn't wear a coat when it was cold out during his inauguration, caught pneumonia, and died before he could do much of anything else.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.