OPINION:
Sen. John McCain, the Republican best loved, in order, by Democrats, RINOs and the mainstream media, is at it again, taking up partisan rhetoric to slam a fellow GOPer.
Really, Mr. McCain. It seems a story like this comes out about you at least once a month. It’s starting to become a yawner.
So how about some imagery, instead?
Remember that part in the blockbuster “Toy Story” movie when Woody, the leading character, finally overcame his jealousy about super hero Buzz Lightyear to forge a lasting friendship? Only Woody’s fellow toys, aboard the moving van, hadn’t yet heard the good news of the forged friendship? So when Woody managed to get inside the van, and when he started tearing open boxes to find the remote control car, named R.C. — and when he then threw R.C. from the speeding truck onto the pavement below — they misunderstood his intentions. In truth, Woody was using R.C. to save Buzz. But all the other toys thought Woody had gone Evil Woody and was throwing R.C. to his demise— as he had tried with Buzz.
And then Rex, the lovably wimpy dinosaur, shouts: “He’s at it again.”
That’s McCain, going after Republicans. He’s at it again.
This time?
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
In an op-ed in the New York Times, which must love McCain because he serves as such a handy Republican spokesman — handy, because he speaks all things Democratic — the senator first referenced recent remarks Tillerson made to his employees.
He wrote: “In a recent address to State Department employees … Tillerson said conditioning our foreign policy too heavily on values creates obstacles to advance our national interest.”
And McCain’s problem with that remark?
He then wrote: “With those words, Secretary Tillerson sent a message to oppressed people everywhere: Don’t look to the United States for hope. Our values make us sympathetic to your plight and, when it’s convenient, we might officially express that sympathy. But we make policy to serve our interests, which are not related to our values. So, if you happen to be in the way of our forging relationships with our oppressors that could serve our security and economic interests, good luck to you. You’re on your own.”
Well, that’s a bit skewed. Secretary Tillerson certainly did not tell the downtrodden the world over that America wouldn’t help.
What he rather said was common sense: America was going to put America’s interests first, and not jump willy-nillly into every overseas heart-pull.
Isn’t that what President Donald Trump ran on — serving America first?
Think back: Make America Great Again. It was all about Americans first, overseas’ interests second. Trump was pretty clear on that point. Border control? Trade policy? All based on America first, foreign entities second.
The fact Tillerson laid out to his State Department employees that this State Department, under Trump, would adopt a similar America first viewpoint isn’t all that shocking — or upsetting. Most Americans, to be honest, kinda like that notion.
Apparently, not McCain.
His bone of contention?
That universal human rights, rather than an America-first mindset, should guide State Department goings-on.
“America didn’t invent human rights,” McCain wrote. “Those rights are common to all people: nations, cultures and religions cannot choose to simply opt out of them.”
Well, in fact, they can — and do. That’s why Islam is a blot on world peace; why women subjected to sharia are forced to serve pretty much like dogs. Some nations, cultures and religions do indeed choose to opt out of human rights — at least, the concept of human rights that our nation understands.
McCain labels himself a “realist” in this piece, as someone who’s “certainly seen my share of the world as it really is and not how I wish it would be.”
Well, OK to that. But how about showing some of that realism in America, circa 2017?
Reality check Number One: Trump won. And so did his America First message. Let it go, Mr. McCain. We know you’re not a fan, but truth is, Trump will be here for almost four more years.
Number Two?
Forging foreign policy on the soft-and-fuzzy is neither sound, nor sensible. It will only result in an overstretched military, overburdened taxpayer — who has to cover the costs of all these humanitarian-type missions — and entangle us in overseas’ alliances that may one day prove unsustainable and harmful.
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