"Smiling while talking about kicking Jon Stewart's dog? Joking about putting an IED under a comedian's desk? Why were those "jokes" so uncomfortable? Because they are shadows of murderous rage. Because they reflect the fury he boils with when someone smartly suggests everything isn't so—ahem—black and white as he paints it."

[McCain] up a good fight, but in the end, no one really cared about the Vietnam POW hero days he milked to death - and then some. In a culture so superficial most of us barely remember Monica Lewinsky, his long-winded gush on campaign finance reform proved to be such a bore that a Texas billionaire graciously and altruistically alleviated our collective boredom (although short-lived) by financing an attack ad on McCain's environmental record and making the Vietnam vet loose his temper. His public outburst all but ruined the vein-popping restraint he exercised during a debate where Alan Keyes attacked him on his abortion record. Addicted to the politics of fighting, like his wife Cindy, he just did not know when to say No.

Gush and Bore and Nothing More
A Campaign 2000 Autopsy
By CLINTON FEIN
March 11, 2000

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The Barely Concealed and Uncongealed Rage of McCain
By Nezua Limón Xolagrafik-Jonez
TheUnapologeticMexican.com
April 26, 2007

Full Name: John Sidney McCain III Party: Republican Political Office: U.S. Senator from Arizona, elected 1986; reelected 1992, 1998, 2004; U.S. Representative from AZ, 1983-1987 Military Service: Pilot, U.S. Navy 1958-1981, retiring as captain; POW in Vietnam, 1967-1973 Date of Birth: August 29, 1936 Place of Birth: Panama Canal Zone Education: B.S., United States Naval Academy, 1958; grad., the National War College, 1974 Spouse: married (2d) Cindy Hensley, 1980 Children: adopted sons Douglas and Andrew of first wife, Carol (m. 1965; div. 1980); daughter Sidney (with wife Carol), born 1980; daughters Meghan and Bridget (born and adopted, 1991); sons John IV and James Religion: Episcopalian Home: Phoenix, AZ Campaign Web Site: www.johnmccain.com Source: The New York Times

NOISE

Senator John McCain said last week that he served in the Navy with many gays, although none had come out and identified themselves. When asked how he knew, then, he said, "I think we know by behavior and by attitudes...and lifestyle."

Now, there's some straight talk.

Margaret Carlson, McCain and His Gaydar, Time Magazine, January 31, 2000

Senator John McCain, who has spent the last few years trying to push blocking software on public libraries, has found a new way to cordon off Internet porn. On Tuesday, the Arizona Republican and erstwhile presidential candidate successfully added a sex-filtering amendment to a spending bill being debated on the Senate floor.

McCain said the measure was necessary to protect American children from the "technological sophistication of online predators" and websites featuring sex, racism, anti-semitism, drug-making information, and bomb recipes.

The amendment includes the same language as the Childrens' Internet Protection Act, which McCain introduced in January 1999. It requires any library or school receiving federal "e-rate" funds to tell the FCC it has selected "a technology for its computers with Internet access in order to filter or block Internet access."

Even though McCain darkly warned of websites with a "coloring book of racist symbols" for children, his legislation only applies to sex sites, specifically "material that is obscene and child pornography."

Declan McCullagh, McCain Renews Porn-Filter Push, Wired News, June 28, 2000

I do not believe, however, that guaranteeing respect for our national symbol by prohibiting "acts" of desecration impinges on political 'speech"...the American flag serves as a symbol of our great nation. However, the American flag is not just a hollow symbol without substance or meaning. It is a living symbol which represents nationhood, and national unity...as long as citizens are free to speak out on any matter and from whatever point of view they wish, as our forefathers intended, it does not seem burdensome to me that we accord some modicum of respect to the symbol of those precious freedoms for which so many of our countrymen have laid down their lives.

Some view these efforts to protect the flag as political demagoguery or empty "symbolism," unworthy of the attention it receives. I see the issue differently. The flag represents each and every one of us, regardless of race, religion or political point of view. It is a point of unity in the midst of our great diversity. Tolerating desecration of the flag is silent acquiescence to the degeneration of the broader values which sustain us as a free and democratic nation -- the ramifications of which are far more profound than mere symbolism.

For these reasons, I support a Constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration.

John McCain, The Flag Protection Amendment, Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, April 28, 1999

Republican presidential candidate John McCain, looking to improve his standing with the party’s conservative voters, said Sunday the court decision that legalized abortion should be overturned.

"I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned," the Arizona senator told about 800 people in South Carolina, one of the early voting states.

McCain also vowed that if elected, he would appoint judges who "strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States and do not legislate from the bench."

McCain says Roe v. Wade should be overturned, Associated Press, February 18, 2007