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Local Columnist: Where has McCain's Honor Gone
OK, it's only Seattle, but a local columnist Danny Westneat who had been a big McCain fan just wrote an article titled Where has McCain's Honor Gone.
Some excerpts
It was 1997 when I had my John McCain moment.
That's when as a member of the press you swoon a bit as you realize this guy is different from the rest.
...
I ran into McCain heading to the meeting [with Indian tribes]. He had no aides with him. He was off to "go stand with the tribes," he said.
Go back and read the treaties, McCain said. It's obvious what we
agreed to. We took millions of acres of their land and, in turn, signed
these deals. To unilaterally rewrite the terms now is another act of
deception, betrayal, bad faith.Our honor is at stake, he said. Not theirs. Ours.
I've been a McCain fan ever since. The tribes had no clout then, and
there were no TV cameras around. Here was a politician doing something
not for his own benefit, but because it was right.Which makes the detestable campaign he's now running difficult for me to come to grips with.
A number of readers have chided me for it. How can I keep calling McCain honorable?
I can't anymore. Not after last week.
...This is the presidency. And this time it isn't lies from an independent group or anonymous blog. It's from the candidate himself.
What happened to McCain? Maybe he has many sides. Or maybe I judged him wrong. But I remember the reason he impressed me was because he showed me, in person, how he believed in something intangible, a principle beyond the game of politics.
Now I can't tell what he believes in. Beyond winning. Any sleazy way he can.
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