Twitter and McCain and the High Road

If you really want to bring about positive change in this country it's best to stay on issue and attack the message and not the messenger. Accusing an old man of treason -- and based upon unsubstantiated, forty-year-old hearsay "evidence" -- does not help the cause of veterans. McCain spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. That's a fact. Whatever information he divulged to the enemy under torture or threats of torture is conjecture. He wasn't released early from captivity and his family connections did not always work in his favor. That's a fact, too. I dislike the man intensely, but calling him a coward and a traitor just doesn't wash.

McCain has done more collaborating with big business against the interests of working class Americans since 1982 than he did with the Viet Cong against the American military between 1968 and 1973. Focusing on the later while ignoring the former is both politically  counterproductive and intellectually dishonest. If the Senator is selling out veterans -- and I think he is -- he is doing so today.  Questioning his patriotism, based on what he may or may not have done forty years ago and not on what he did or said last Tuesday is a mistake. And, what's worse, it looks bad. It only gives him the opportunity to pose in front the American flag and attack the motives of his critics.

I say give the man his due. Hero or collaborator, half a decade as a guest at the Hanoi Hilton was clearly no picnic. He was used by the North Vietnamese and such treatment leaves scars, both mental and physical. Leave his military record alone and attack his record in the Senate instead. He has a great deal to answer for politically. When describing McCain, I prefer dimwit, hypocrite, sociopath, and -- my favorite -- humorless opportunist hack born with, both, a silver spoon and a gold braid up his ass. If you give the matter some thought I'm sure you can come up with some apt adjectives for him and his more recent behavior also.

And remember. Once again. Don't attack the messenger, attack the message. When you attack the message your argument holds true no matter who you're debating. When you attack the messenger your argument dissolves when the person you're debating changes. Do your homework and take the high ground whenever possible. Don't let bad bile disrupt your brain chemistry. And don't piss off your allies if you can help it. No one's telling you what to think, I am only offering you a much needed alternative perspective. Morals declare war, but tactics win battles. Don't make martyrs of your enemies.