Why I Love John McCain But May Not Vote for Him

all three ofr them are communist all three of them are scum, the jerk that wrote this story is a bald faced lier ,how dare this stupid pile of democract slander the pow/mia familes like his buddies mccain and kerry did, he has his head were most communist loving scum have theair heads up his ass. He should learn what he is talking about before he opens his mouth and lets the whole world know how stupid he realley is .david ifshin was a communist just like clintion,and kerry, oh yes grassley was not one of the pow/mia sell out he and bob smith was for the pow/mia familes knowing the truth. not slandering them like mccain and kerry.

striker of AZ 12:49PM September 07, 2008

You never really loved John McCain because he can't ever really be John McCain. He is a politician which means he can't be himself. He is running for President and he has to be what will get him elected, just like Mr. Obama is attempting to do too.

You shouldn't worry about who is President but concentrate on the policies of the Republican and Democratic parties and vote on what you think is best for our country, not yourself.

What a joke to blame President Bush for the problems of the last 8 years? He doesn't write the laws and he surely can't control the spend crazy congress. To think John McCain or Barrack Obama will be able to make a difference is pure folly.

jim of CO 7:27PM August 28, 2008

To claim that Senator John McCain joined John Kerry and others in a "successful effort to extinguish the POW/MIA issue" maligns the very purpose for establishing the Select Committee in 1991 and also r3eveals the author's ignorance of the facts on the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue. If Mr. Farrell wanted to write on this subject, one would think that he'd at least check a few facts, one of which is that the vast majority of the POW/MIA families do NOT expect their missing loved ones to come home alive to their embrace, but rather to learn whethe ror not he is alive or dead. That truth can readily be provided by the Vietnamese government with a simple decision to implement their countless promises. Don't undercut the facts of the POW/MIA accounting effort with attempts to score political points; America's military personnel deserve better treatment than this opinion piece by John Aloysius Farrell.

Ann Mills Griffiths, Executive Director, National League of POW/MIA Families of VA 1:26PM August 26, 2008

The comments of Mr. Farrell, who used to be one of my favorite political reporters when he worked at the Globe, puzzle me.

For one thing, he surely knows McCain has not run the ad on Ayers. It’s an outside group over which McCain has no control and which by law he cannot be in contact with. In short, McCain cannot “order” these ads off the air.

Now, Farrell and Obama supporters can rightly point out that the group has 'ties' to McCain, but even were he to ask the group to desist, it would most likely ignore McCain. Independent groups like are under no such compunction.

At which point Democrats would seek to score political points by saying McCain can’t even control people in his own party. The Democrats did that with some state ads during the primary (NC, I think).

Politically, it’s not smart for McCain to repeat his mistake. Nor do I see Obama telling groups that back his campaign to stop with their attacks on McCain.

More to the point, though, is why Farrell thinks Ayers is not an issue. He references an article by his colleague, Michael Barone, who clearly believes this is a relevant issue. Would Farrell suggest that Barone is engaging in calumny, too.

It’s telling to me that Obama thought nothing of associating with Ayers when it helped further his career. Ditto his relationship with Tony Rezko. A reporter like Farrell is talented enough to know this represents a pattern – and a problem.

In my view, the association with Ayers clearly reflects the very leftish political milieu out of which Obama’s career emerged. Indeed, Obama is arguably the most leftwing nominee to ever emerge from our two-party system. Only William Jennings Bryan in 1896 and George McGovern in 1972 might have been further left for their time.

So far, Obama has done a masterful job of concealing this record as a “community organizer,” state rep and US senator. But the American public should know exactly where Obama has stood on the political spectrum when his votes counted.

Now, if the public decides it wants a hard turn left in Washington, fine. But let’s not allow the pretense. The press’s job is to put all the cards on the table, and if it won’t, the GOP has the right and obligation to lend a hand. No candidate should be allowed to control the entire script about what the public gets to see.

Furthermore, there is the issue of truthfulness. Is Obama really telling the truth about his association with Ayers? What if their relationship is deeper than he has publicly stated. If so, would Farrell think it was okay for Obama to lie or misrepresent it?

As for McCain, Farrell surely knows the new John McCain is the same as the old one. Yes, he’s playing tough in an election, and he has to appease a suspicious rightwing to win, but does Farrell really have any doubt about how McCain would govern if elected? It’s beyond belief that a journalist as smart as he would think that.

Just like Obama, McCain is now pretending to be someone he’s not in order to win.

jb of DC 11:53AM August 26, 2008