My first blog entry (on TPM or otherwise) so please be gentle, and you will still respect me, right?

John McCain from last night's debate:

"Yes. Sen. Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago. I'm going to give a new direction to this economy in this country."

Dear Senator McCain,

You have made a lot of noise about how you are not President Bush, and how it is time to change the way things are done in Washington.  Senator McCain YOU are not running against President Bush, OR the way things are done in Washington.  You are running against Senator Obama, who has seldom if ever agreed with President Bush, and does not represent the beltway establishment.

Eight years ago YOU ran against president Bush.  Four years ago, you were in a position to run against him again.  Considering the mess he'd made of Iraq, even a better position than in 2000.  You chose instead to take the stage beside him, endorse his bid for reelection, and endorse his foriegn policy, his domestic policy, and his economic policy. You became his houseboy in the Senate chamber, voting overwhelmingly to support the Bush agenda, and working to convince other senators to do likewise.

Of course it is understandable that you failed to challenge a siting president of your own party in time of war. It simply isn't done. The good of the country be damned, only a maverick would have challenged George Bush for the 2004 Republican nomination.

A maverick would have spared us the last four years of the Bush administration.  Would have spared the lives of hundreds if not thousands of our brave soldiers. Would have spared the human rights of the prisoners we still hold without hope of trial, and those we have tortured. Pity that the Republican party contained no mavericks in 2004.

Regards, and good luck during the remaining years of your Senate term.

Kevbo