"Joe the Plumber's" Mottled Brain

Remember "Joe the Plumber?" He was the guy who lied for John McCain and the Republicans, asking Obama a setup question during the campaign that was filmed for posterity. Turns out he was lying about his personal business and McCain and Palin put him on display as an example of middle America. He made the talk show circuit, and became quite the political celebrity and Republican hero, making uneducated comments about world and U.S. politics.

Joe has been quoted as saying: "McCain "is no public servant." ...McCain was trying to use me. ...I happened to be the face of middle Americans. ...It was a ploy. ...I don’t owe him s—. ...He really screwed my life up, is how I look at it.” Duh, Mr. "Joe the Plumber," it took you over a year to figure that out? To quote my friend and mentor Forrest Gump, "stupid is as stupid does."

The next thing you know Sarah Palin will be saying that she was used...

Once Again McCain Pushes Aside His Principles...Or Does He?

When John McCain ran a tawdry campaign of innuendo and trash talk against President-elect Obama and employed those, who had run such a campaign against him in 2000, it was clear that he had thrown his principles to the wind. He gave up those ideals that he had fought for all of his political life to sell his soul to the far right and, hopefully, get elected. It didn't work, of course, so his image was tainted to say the least. His concession speech led some, including myself, to think that maybe he might return to his days of doing the right thing and being (oh how I hate to write this) a "maverick."

When Georgia Republican Saxeby Chambliss ran against Max Cleland for Cleland's Senate seat six years ago, he ran a typical right wing Republican campaign, smearing Cleland right and left. He pictured him with Bin Laden. He questioned his war record. At the time John McCain said, "I'd never seen anything like that ad. Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield -- it's worse than disgraceful. It's reprehensible."

So where has John McCain been this week? Throwing away his principles once again to try to get a Republican re-elected. He has been campaigning in Georgia for the man he called "reprehensible" and the man we call Saxeby "Shameless." "Shameless is involved in a heated runoff campaign with Jim Martin, another Vietnam veteran. So far, "Shameless" hasn't questioned Martin's Vietnam war record, although I wouldn't be surprised, if in desperation it doesn't come up. By the way, "Shameless" never served, but that doesn't keep him from questioning real veterans' records and easily voting to send more to their death in Iraq.

Next week John McCain will be meeting with President-elect Obama. I hope that the President-elect has someone to watch his back. The McCain that we see now is only a shadow of his former self. It appears that he no longer stands for any real principles. I don't think the country can trust him any longer, and I sure hope Obama takes anything he says with a grain of salt.

Then again...maybe John McCain never had any principles. Maybe his entire political career has been a lie. It certainly appears that way. Given his actions of the last two years, he is simply another guiltless politician, who will say anything and support anything to get elected.