While President George W. Bush is already regarded by a majority of historians as the worst president in our history[2], is it possible the Senator John McCain could be a worse president than Bush?  If the 70% - 80% of the Democrats, Republicans, and Independents think the Iraq war was a mistake and the country is going in the wrong direction, could they vote for McCain if they knew he was worse than Bush?

The Iraq war is the true Bush legacy, but even before Bush was for the Iraq war, John McCain became involved with neocons who were proponents of the Iraq war in the 90s.  In the fall of 1997 on Fox News, McCain complained that George H.W. Bush hadn't overthrown Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War, embracing a key neocon idea.  McCain first explained his thinking in a March 15, 1999 speech at Kansas State University - "call it rogue-state rollback if you will" of "supporting indigenous and outside forces that desire to overthrow the odious regimes that rule these states."[15]  McCain and associate Senator Joe Lieberman were honorary co-chairs of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq that included neocons like Robert Kagan, William Kristol, Randy Scheunemann, James Woosley, John Bolton, and others.  In 1998, McCain and Lieberman sponsored the senate version of the Iraq Liberation Act[1] drafted by Randy Scheunemann later signed by President Clinton.  Neocons initially supported McCain in the 2000 presidential election prior to his defeat by Bush in the primary.

McCain continued his advocacy for the neocon's war in Iraq with the Bush administration.  When asked if he had any major disagreements with Kristol and Kagan or their magazine,  McCain's response was "I am sure there have been issues that we have disagreed on," he said, "but I think, generally speaking, I agree with and respect them enormously."[8]  The March 2002 Economist discusses John McCain as the source of George Bush's foreign policy.  The article is titled "George Bush: McCainiac - How the President has Almost Become the Man he Trounced in the Primaries" and goes on to  say "It is almost as if the Arizona senator had won the election" and "Despite his defeat, he laid much of the groundwork for Mr Bush's post-September presidency."[22]  A year later, just before the invasion of Iraq, when asked if Iraqis would treat Americans as liberators, McCain continued the pre-war spin, "Absolutely, absolutely." McCain insisted "Saddam Hussein is on a crash course to construct a nuclear weapon" and that "the interaction we know to have occurred between members of Al Qaeda and Saddam's regime may increasingly take the form of active cooperation to target the United States." McCain believed "regime change in Iraq" could result in "demand for self-determination" throughout the Middle East.[8]  

Four years into the Iraq war and McCain was undaunted, becoming a principal supporter of the surge. An American Enterprise Institute (AEI) event in January 2007 brought together Fred Kagan, retired General Jack Keane and Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman. The focus was on how to escalate the war in Iraq. "The surge must be substantial and it must be sustained," McCain told a packed room. That meant keeping an additional 20,000 to 35,000 troops in Iraq for 18 to 24 months.[16]  At the AEI, McCain and Lieberman worked closely with Robert and Fred Kagan, who authored the report leading to the surge. They then worked with Cheney to convince President Bush to go with the escalation.  But it was not just Iraq.  Randy Scheunemann expressed the need to stay in Iraq for a long time, not just to stabilize Iraq, but because the U.S. may have to deal with many threats from the region. And of course you have to include Iran as among the possible threats that we’d have to deal with, according to McCain.[11]

McCain continued his support for aggressive international expansionism.  In a May 2007 speech to the Hoover Institution, McCain explained the war on terror is part of a "worldwide political, economic, and philosophical struggle between the future and the past, between progress and reaction, and between liberty and despotism." According to McCain, the despotism problem requires us to "put pressure on dictators in Iran, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Burma, and other pariah states" but also to worry that Russia and China have joined to block pressure on these dictators.  "Iran is able to aggressively pursue nuclear weapons and hegemony in the Persian Gulf," McCain said, "in part, because it has been shielded by the world's powerful autocracies."  To combat a conspiracy of dictatorships, McCain proposed creating a "worldwide League of Democracies," whose role would be to create an alternative mechanism to the United Nations that could facilitate coercive action "with or without Moscow's and Beijing's approval."  McCain added "there's only one thing worse than the United States exercising the military option; that is a nuclear-armed Iran."[15]  A YouTube video catches McCain saying at a campaign stop in Florida "There are going to be other wars.  I am sorry to tell you this.  There are going to be other wars.  We will never surrender but there will be other wars."[24]  In a another recent campaign speech, McCain said that by 2013 "the size of the Army and Marine Corps has been significantly increased and are now better equipped." [23]  "He's the true neocon," said Ivo Daalder of the Brookings Institution.  "He does believe, in a way that George W. Bush never really did, in the use of power, military power above all, to change the world in America's image. If you thought George Bush was bad when it comes to the use of military force, wait till you see John McCain."[17]  McCain's only political philosophy that comes out in his five books is to restore executive power at the expense of Congress, especially when it comes to foreign policy and war.[19]

McCain's 2008 presidential campaign has him rejoined with the neocons, with Scheunemann, Kagan, Kristol, Bolton, and Lieberman as his top foreign policy advisors.[13]  Some have McCain picking John Bolton as Secretary of State; McCain was a leading Republican supporter of Bolton's nomination as United Nations ambassador.[7]  Even the Saudis are rooting for McCain because he promises to keep U.S. troops in Iraq and to deter Iran.  "The royal family and other elites would like to see McCain," said Mai Yamani, a scholar with the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. "He would keep the troops in Iraq, and that is their main worry, that the U.S. may withdraw or minimize its presence," said Yamani. U.S. forces are needed to counter the spread of Iranian influence from Iraq, which many Saudis believe "now is ruled by Iran."[28]  Lawrence Kaplan, former neocon, said in a May 2008 interview "The near-term argument here is that if John McCain wins the presidential election, neoconservatism will have been vindicated. Because by voting him into office, people will have tacitly given their endorsement to that sort of foreign policy. His advisers are the very people we are arguing about."[25]

How does McCain's economic plan compare to Bush? In a study of McCain’s economic plan, he proposes a corporate tax cut, repeal of the AMT, and an extension of the Bush tax cuts that would result in debt of $12.7 trillion,  the highest since America's 1951 World War II debt.  McCain's debt is $3.5 trillion greater than Bush's $9.2 trillion.  McCain's budget reduces government revenues to 16.3% of GDP, the lowest levels since 1962 where spending averaged 18.3% of GDP the past 25 years.  This study assumes McCain's most optimistic spending savings: $18 billion cut of earmarks and a $15 billion freeze in wasteful spending. Impacts from McCain's optional simple alternative tax are unknown.[26] Given McCain's previously stated intention to grow the military, additional budget cuts must come from domestic spending.

A vote for McCain is a vote for wars and an overreaching foreign policy and a fiscally irresponsible imperial presidency more extreme than George W. Bush.  Yet McCain is a man with an explosive temper that Republican and Democratic senators and senior military leaders do not trust as commander in chief.  The consequences of a McCain presidency are too dire to not vote for the Democratic candidate, or abstain from voting, for reasons of race, gender, or campaign bitterness.  The lives of our sons and daughters and the future for our grandchildren depend on it.  After ten years of transformation, the John McCain of 2008 is no maverick; he is indeed, worse than Bush.

Sources:

[1]http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:H.R.4655.ENR:Iraq Liberation ActOctober, 1998

[2]http://harpers.org/archive/2008/04/hbc-90002804Worst. President. Ever.Scott HortonApril 5, 2008 

[3]http://www.antiwar.com/orig/lind1.htmlHow Neoconservatives Conquered Washington – and Launched a War
Michael Lind
April 10, 2003

[4]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-heilbrunn/john-mccain-neocon_b_82530.htmlJohn McCain, NeoconJacob HeilbrunnJanuary 21, 2008

[5]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-heilbrunn/mccain-camp-is-neocon-red_b_99046.htmlMcCain Camp Is Neocon Redux: It's OfficialJacob HeilbrunnApril 28, 2008 

[6]http://www.antiwar.com/orig/giraldi.php?articleid=12345John McCain and the Neocon ResurgencePhilip GiraldiFebruary 12, 2008

[7]http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/2008/02/09/john-mccain-might-pick-top-neocon-as-secretary-of-state/John McCain Might Pick Top Neocon as Secretary of StateCenk UygurFebruary 9, 2008 

[8]http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=18768&prog=zgp&proj=zusrNeo-McCainJohn JudisThe New RepublicOctober 16, 2006

[9]http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/3890.htmlJohn McCain

[10]http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=53694&sectionid=3510203McCain presidency, 'neocon redux' April 29, 2008

[11]http://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/26/a_century_in_iraq_replacing_unA Century in Iraq, Replacing UN with “League of Democracies,” Rogue State Rollback? A Look at John McCain’s Foreign Policy VisionAmy Goodman with Robert DreyfussMarch 26, 2008

[12]http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/28/politics/28bolton.htmlMcCain Urging Accord on Bolton and Secret DocumentsDouglas Jehl and Carl HulseMay 28, 2005

[13]http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/03/17/mccain-advisers/John McCain's War CabinetM. DussMarch 7, 2008

[14]http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/us/politics/10mccain.html2 Camps Trying to Influence McCain on Foreign PolicyElisabeth Bumiller and Larry RohterApril 10, 2008

[15]http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_militaristThe MilitaristMatthew YglesiasApril 28, 2008

[16]http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/08/opinion/main2336887.shtmlHow To Further The Neocon Mess In Iraq Nation: Those Who Sold War On False Pretenses Want EscalationAri BermanJanuary 8, 2007

[17]http://www.prospect.org//cs/articles;jsessionid=aMB8pp4oa-a8De9IKI?article=more_bellicose_than_bushMore Bellicose Than Bush? Paul WaldmanMarch 11, 2008 

[18]http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/fareed_zakaria/2008/04/mccains_radical_foreign_policy.htmlMcCain's Radical Foreign PolicyFareed ZakariaApril 28, 2008

[19]http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03072008/transcript2.htmlBill Moyers JournalMarch 7, 2008

[20]http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_196286.htmlSo, what is a 'neocon'?Bill SteigerwaldMay 29, 2004

[21]http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.25086/pub_detail.aspOperation Comeback Joshua MuravchikNovember 1, 2006

[22]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-bergmann/economist-in-2002-john-mc_b_101891.htmlJohn McCain "Laid the Groundwork" for George Bush's Post 9-11 Foreign PolicyMax BergmannMay 15, 2008

[23]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/john-mccain-trades-straig_b_101961.htmlJohn McCain Trades Straight Talk for Unadulterated FantasyArianna HuffingtonMay 15, 2008

[24]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-caYFdnUCYPolk City, FL CampaignJohn McCain  January 2008

[25]http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,551828,00.htmlI Don't See Anything Good That Has Come from this WarYassin MusharbashMay 6, 2008

[26]http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/budget.pdfMcCain’s Deficit ProblemMay 2008

[27]http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/10/lieberman-bennett-kristol-iran/Lieberman, Bennett, And Kristol See Petraeus Hearing As ‘An Argument’ For ‘Going Into Iran’»MattApr 10, 2008

[28]http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aTPOwyOePvy8&refer=politicsMcCain Iraq, Iran Policies Make Him Favored Candidate to Saudis Hans Nichols and Janine ZachariaMay 16, 2008

[29]http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/05/26/080526taco_talk_toobinIn McCain's CourtJeffrey ToobinMay 26, 2008