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Dec. 2, 2008

Melanie Phillips: The Mumbai atrocity is a wake-up call for a frighteningly unprepared world

Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Strategic Motivations for the Mumbai Attack

Dec. 1, 2008

Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings

Mark Steyn: Whodunit!?

Nov. 28, 2008

Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be

Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now?

Nov. 26, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership

Andrea Simantov: Shades of life

Nov. 25, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence

The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast!

Nov. 24, 2008

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!'

Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends

Nov. 21, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?

Caroline B. Glick: Civilization walks the plank

Nov. 20, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness

The Kosher Gourmet By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto

Nov, 19, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality

Elliot B. Gertel: 'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?

Nov, 18, 2008

Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason

Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?

Nov, 17, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason

Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?

Nov, 14, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia

Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead

Nov, 13, 2008

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic

The Kosher Gourmet by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla

Nov, 12, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers

Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks

Nov, 11, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?

Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate

Nov, 10, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?

Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist

Nov, 7, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality

Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy

Nov, 6, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism

The Kosher Gourmet By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes

Nov, 5, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors

Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie

Nov, 4, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law

Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East

Nov, 3, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?

Jonathan Tobin: Was He Wrong About Everything?

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review August 25, 2006 / 1 Elul, 5766

McCain's Machiavellian miscalculation

By David Limbaugh


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Liberals claim to hold Sen. John McCain in high regard because he is supposedly a straight talker. He tells it like it is. Wednesday evening, MSNBC's Chris Matthews asked on "Hardball," "Is John McCain back on that straight talk express? We actually like him there."


Whether or not Matthews intended this, his question reveals his opinion that McCain, at best, only talks straight part of the time. If he had to come "back" to the truth, he must have been dwelling before in "untruth," which means he is hardly to be revered as a reliably honest person. But liberals are so ends-oriented they apparently miss the self-defeating nature of their praise for McCain.


Liberals are obviously also clueless that McCain is not talking straight on the very occasions they say he is. They laud him for accusing Bush of not leveling with Americans about the difficulties we would face in Iraq. But despite daily opportunities for more than three years, McCain has never made this bogus charge before. The smell of the presidential roses, though, must have overpowered him this week and compelled him to kick the president when he is down.


McCain said, "It grieves me so much that we have not told the American people how tough and difficult this task [Iraq] would be. … It has contributed enormously to the frustration that Americans feel today, because they were led to believe that this would be some kind of a day at the beach, which many of us fully understood from the beginning would be a very, very difficult undertaking."


What? This is straight talk? Instead of falling all over themselves in awe of McCain, Matthews and his fellow liberals should be registering utter disgust with McCain for his patent opportunism in concocting this canard.


Matthews could just as easily have phrased his opening question: "Is John McCain, the fair-weather conservative, back on board for now, promoting liberal ideas and trashing President Bush again? We like him there." Matthews and his Old Media colleagues swoon over Sen. McCain every time he says something pleasing to the liberal ear, whether it's criticism of President Bush, denigration of Christian conservatives or praise of campaign finance reform. To liberals, straight talk from Republicans is not telling the truth, but touting the liberal line.


McCain has won the hearts of liberals everywhere by attacking conservatives and Republicans because they believe he does so with particular credibility — as a Republican, a war hero and war hawk — and thus with particular effectiveness. McCain's betrayal of Republicans is so delicious to liberals that they're willing to forgive him for his frequent transgressions, such as his sometimes vocal support for President Bush's handling of the Iraq War.


If they weren't self-deluded, liberals would understand that it isn't just McCain's failure to make this criticism before that reveals his dishonesty on the subject. His gratuitous, convenient Bush-bashing statement also doesn't square with the truth.


From the very beginning President Bush has warned that the hurdles in Iraq would be difficult and burdensome. He never promised a quick ending for this global war, or for the struggle in Iraq, but precisely the opposite.


Likewise, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld incurred the everlasting enmity of the press for refusing to fall into its trap of providing concrete answers on the projected costs and duration of the war. These things, he said defiantly, are "unknowable."


He told one reporter, "There's never been a war that was predictable as to length, casualty, or cost in the history of mankind."


It appears McCain is "back" on the forked-tongue express, claiming the administration didn't level with the American people on the difficulties in Iraq, when it most certainly did — in explicit terms.


Regardless of whether liberals are willing to jump back in bed with McCain, it's doubtful sufficient Republicans will fall for his act again. He was always at best a long shot for the GOP presidential nomination because of his regrettable advocacy of campaign finance reform, his unpredictable temperament, his social liberalism and his pronounced disdain for Christian conservatives, which he reaffirmed quite recently.


The only chance he had hinged on his steadfast support for the war effort and his refusal to side with partisan Democrats who have born false witness against President Bush in saying he lied about Iraq. With his latest shameless utterance, McCain has virtually sabotaged his already dim chances for the Republican nomination — and rightly so.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

David Limbaugh, a columnist and attorney practicing in Cape Girardeau, Mo., is the author of, most recently, "Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.) Comment by clicking here.

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