OPINION:
Let’s provide an accurate portrayal of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain — the good, the bad and the ugly, and not create a myth. Yes, he was a war hero, tortured beyond belief; he became a senator, but he had faults, including adultery, accepting questionable donations/gifts (see the Keating scandal), advocating war and having an explosive personality.
NPR, for its part, struggled to find legislation written by McCain that became law. Most media have mentioned the McCain-Feingold Finance Act, which is correctly called Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act — but they forget to mention that McCain was funded in 2008 with $4.2 million from a super PAC funded by casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson. McCain was a war hawk who believed in firing first and asking question later. He not only supported the immoral Vietnam War, he was also the chief supporter of President George W. Bush’s unethical invasion of Iraq. He supported President Clinton’s bombing of Kosovo, pushing for an American invasion there, too. And he was in favor of military intervention in Libya, Nigeria, Bosnia, Yemen and Syria.
McCain could also be very crude and rude. “Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?” he asked guests at a 1998 fund raiser. “Because her father is Janet Reno.”
McCain was no saint or a man of peace. Does he really represent the good in America, as portrayed by the press?
CHRISTIAN GATSBY
Birmingham, Ala.
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