Read what John McCain said about Ron Paul supporters. Also
included in this article are some of my personal experiences
working against John McCain's decade long quest for unlimited
power.
I met John McCain back in the 2000 Presidential campaign cycle.
I was working for Steve Forbes at the time as a regional campaign
manager in North Carolina. As part of my duties during the Republican
Presidential Debate down in South Carolina I served as Mr. Forbes'
driver and escort. It was great to be a part of the behind-the-scenes
action, starting with Mr. Forbes getting his stage make-up put
on for the debate, to driving our van at break-neck speed to
get to the debate on time with Mr. Forbes and a handful of reporters
shouting directions from the back seat, to our surprise post-debate
visit to an international AMWAY sales convention. But one moment
left an indelible impression on my mind; it was when I met John
McCain.
After seeing Mr. Forbes into the VIP section to prepare for
the debate, I returned to the secure area behind the center
where I had parked. I met Senator Strom Thurmond coming out
from the Republican Banquet at which he had just been honored.
Two men guided him by either arm. I spoke briefly to him and
he smiled and drooled in response. As I turned around I noticed
that McCain's "Straight Talk Express" bus had pulled
in. McCain was sitting with a reporter on the bus conducting
an interview. I could see him mouthing his signature phrase,
"my friends", over and over again. I had met all the
other candidates already, save George W. Bush - whose hand I
had refused to shake, (his likely seizure of the Republican
nomination was the reason I was supporting Steve Forbes, after
all) - so I waited outside the bus to meet McCain as he exited.
(Article continues below)
The man is short, maybe 5'7". His arms aren't normal length,
due to his torture in Vietnam, so I've been told. He has virtually
no upper lip. And, of course, the guy oozes cockiness. He was
congenial enough, I suppose, but I could tell he was the consummate
politician. McCain was, and is, willing to say anything to grab
power. To one crowd he champions himself as a progressive maverick
willing to stand against the right-wing of the party, but at
other times claims that he is the incarnation of Barry Goldwater
and the true heir to the Reagan legacy. I didn't pretend that
I was pleased to meet him and he didn't pretend to want to please
me. I think it was my fluorescent orange FORBES FOR PRESIDENT
campaign shirt that gave me away. As he walked on in to the
convention center I had a distinct, gut feeling about John McCain.
This guy was crooked.
After Steve Forbes dropped out of the race in 2000, McCain
continued his fight for the Presidency against Bush and the
blubbering showboat, Alan Keyes. With the Presidential election
all but sewn up for King George W, I took a job as campaign
manager for NC Representative Bill Hiatt. I vowed to campaign
against McCain should he ever run for President again. In 2004
I joined an effort to try to persuade Congressman Ron Paul to
run for President once more, but he eventually declined. Instead,
I helped out on the Badnarik (Libertarian Party) and Peroutka
(Constitution Party) campaigns.
Imagine my dismay that eight years from my first encounter
with McCain the Republican Party still hasn't learned its lesson.
Bush Jr. was bad, but McCain is worse. This time, though, I
am glad to not simply be protesting someone's candidacy but
proudly supporting a candidate that I truly believe in.
It gives me great pleasure to know that I am part of a political
movement that is bothersome to John McCain. In this week's issue
of the New Yorker, Ryan Lizza reports an exchange that McCain
had with reporters regarding Ron Paul and his supporters:
"We had a debate in Iowa. I mean, it was, like, last
summer, one of the first debates we had. It was raining, and
I'm standing there in the afternoon, it was a couple of hours
before the debate, and I happen to look out the window. Here's
a group of fifty people in the rain, shouting Ron Paul! Ron
Paul!' " At this point McCain begins to pound his fists
on the table and chant in mockery of the Ron Paul Revolutionaries
outside.
"I thought, Holy s**t,
what's going on here? I mean, go to one of these debates. Drive
up. Whose signs do you see? I'm very grateful, they've been
very polite. I recognize them and say thanks for being here.
They haven't disrupted the events. But he has tapped a vein.
And it's a combination of isolationism, the old part of our
party, and the conspiracy. You know? We have made an important
discovery: the headquarters for the organization that's going
to merge three countries into one - Canada, Mexico, and the
U.S. - is in Kansas City!' "
Such bodacious babble from McCain might irk some Paulites,
but not me. We have gotten under his skin. He has been compelled
to accept that a very vocal and angry segment of the nation
is fed up with the government's usurpation of our constitutional
rights. It reminds me of what Gandhi said, "First they
ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then
you win." Well, McCain is laughing now, but soon he will
be fighting for precious delegates against us at the Republican
National Convention. I hope to be there to see McCain sweat.
Between now and then, I'm going to work to rally supporters
and give our enemies hell.
