Courting John McSame’s defeat

As the Democrats in the US move ever closer to officially picking a nominee, the reasons why it is so important to defeat John McCain are becoming clearer. All of these can be summed up this way: 82 percent of Americans believe America is on the wrong track, so picking McCain—who represents four more years of Bush-Cheney policies—is the wrong thing to do.

But two Bush-Cheney-McCain policies stand above the others. First, of course, is Iraq, where McCain thinks another century of armed occupation of Iraq is a good idea. Bush-Cheney-McCain are completely out of step with ordinary Americans on this.

The other issue is probably harder for voters to focus on, but in some ways, it’s even more critical: The US Supreme Court. The next president will appoint perhaps three new justices, and McCain has already announced that the Bush-Cheney nominees "would serve as the model for my own nominees”.

The Washington Post reported recently that McCain condemned "the common and systematic abuse of our federal courts by the people we entrust with judicial power". That’s typical far-right deception—the far-right is perfectly happy with judges using their unlimited powers as long as they use those powers to back what the far-right wants: A total ban on all abortions, preventing recognition of gay, lesbian and transgendered people’s human rights and relationships and the promotion of government-mandated christianist religion, among other things.

“My nominees will understand that there are clear limits to the scope of judicial power, and clear limits to the scope of federal power," McCain said. Yeah, those “limits” are that the rule of law and the rights of the people will be trampled in pursuit of the far-right agenda. In support of this, McCain also announced that a “who’s who” of far-right ideologues and extremists on judicial issues will advise him on his judicial selections, should he be elected.

So, why does this all matter? Bush-Cheney-McCain prefer hard-right judges who are also young—meaning their rulings will bind America for at least a generation, maybe two. The primary goal of the right wing is to install judges who will overturn Roe v Wade, the landmark decision that allowed safe, legal abortions. They also want to overturn GLBT rights protections and to forever outlaw marriage equality.

Alito, a Justice appointed by Bush-Cheney and offered as an example by McCain, has already written that there’s no constitutionally protected right to abortion—in other words, he’s a sure vote against Roe v Wade. Roberts, the other Justice appointed by Bush-Cheney and McCain’s other example, issued the ruling that prevented public access to the records of Cheney’s super-secret meetings in which the energy industry (oil, gas, coal) dictated Bush-Cheney’s “energy policy” without consultation from environmentalists or anyone who disagrees with energy companies (without a public release of the records, we have no reason to believe they considered opposing views at all).

So the Bush-Cheney-McCain style judges believe in using the power of government to promote far right ideas and the dictatorial powers of the presidency. They seem more like enemies of the Constitution, rather than wise adjudicators, yet Bush-Cheney-McCain think they’re perfect judges.

Americans who value the rule of law, civil rights and liberties or the separation of powers have a duty to ensure the defeat of John McCain. A different kind of Republican? Bull. He is just like Bush-Cheney in every way that maters. He is John McSame.

(Tip o’ the hat to fellow blogger Dawn, who sent me the link to the Post article).