Star One Smart Blog's

I still read the White Mountain Independent, by subscription, because I'll always consider that corner of the world to be my original and true home. I spent a lot of time on the Rez, got to know a lot of the people there. I would go back in a heartbeat...but that's for later.

This story is one I know is from the heart, a story that belies the lousy Democrats who say 'McSame' and try to paint John McCain as simply an extension of George Bush; as Bush's third term.

John McCain may be a lot of things, but one thing for certain: he ain't no George Bush.

The day McCain showed his colors

By: Jo Baeza, The Independent

WHITERIVER - It's been nearly 20 years since I sat next to Sen. John McCain in a helicopter flying over the White Mountains, but I remember my impression of the man: a steady gaze, keen intellect and a passion to do what is right.

On March 29, 1989, the White Mountain Apache Tribe honored McCain as a warrior and as a United States senator. At the time, I was editor of the tribal newspaper, the Fort Apache Scout.

...

Fittingly, VFW Post 2364 and Whiteriver American Legion Post 60 posted the Colors. There were the usual speeches, then Tribal Chairman Reno Johnson presented McCain with the White Mountain Apache Medal of Valor. McCain is a tough battle-forged man, but he was visibly moved when he said, "The highest percentage of casualties in the Vietnam War of any ethnic group was from Native Americans."

He told the audience he would keep the Apache Medal of Valor in his Washington, D.C., office with the photos of his father and grandfather, both of whom were four-star admirals in the U.S. Navy. He pledged to try to make his colleagues in the Senate more aware of the issues facing tribes. He said, "Over the past eight years, the nation has experienced unprecedented growth and prosperity from which the majority of Americans have profited, but there have been pockets of Americans left behind . . . We must give them the same opportunities other Americans have. We can no longer ignore our Native Americans."

...

McCain stated his philosophy, one that hasn't changed significantly to this day. He said, "I believe the role of the federal government is to encourage self-sufficiency, and work toward the goal of Indian self-government without federal interference."

He said, "Many of the things I've seen here could be a model for other reservations." He suggested the formation of "economic enterprise zones" and actively seeking out corporations to locate on reservations instead of going overseas.

...

As we were coming into Whiteriver, I asked him why he cared about Native issues when their voting power is relatively insignificant. "Your involvement in Indian affairs is probably going to cost you votes in Arizona," I said.

He looked at me with that now-famous frown and said, "You do some things just because they are the right thing to do."

The right thing to do. Sometimes, that 'right thing' is askance to one's own party, and there's some backlash. But we have to look at not just John McCain, but also his adversary.

Running for President, we have two men; John McCain, a veteran and war hero who's fought for his country and suffered in the 'Hanoi Hilton' while others grew long hair, stunk, and protested the war. A man who's called a 'Maverick' because he won't hedge on his beliefs. A tough, wizened old warrior who would put America first every time.

Compared to... Barack Obama. The slippery lawyer who's famous now more for his past associations and mouthy oratory than for any actual performances or deeds that truly define a man. A Chicago politician who seeks to watch and police the internet and e-mails for 'inaccuracies' that might give people the wrong impression. I suppose when all you have to run on is polish and prose, anything that might take the sheen off that artificial glow needs to be investigated.

Let's not forget how he turns his back on his 'friends' and mentors for political expediency.

How about looking at one of the actual quotes from the actual radical himself, as written in his first book, from a page designed to 'straighten out' misconceptions...

Actual quote from "Dreams from My Father" [pg. 100-101]:

"To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets. We smoked cigarettes and wore leather jackets. At night, in the dorms, we discussed necolonialism, Franz Fanon, Eurocentrism, and patriarchy. When we ground out our cigarettes in the hallway carpet or set our stereos so loud that the walls began to shake, we were resisting bourgeois society's stifling constraints. We weren't indifferent or careless or insecure. We were alienated. But this strategy alone couldn't provide the distance I wanted, from Joyce or my past. After all, there were thousands of so-called campus radicals, most of them white and tenured and happily tolerated. No, it remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names."

Alienated, and striking out against...America? Naming names...William Ayers?

All of that's fine, Barack, but hanging out with Marxist professors and absorbing the leftist narrative on 'patriarchy' really hasn't set you on much of a pedestal as far as I'm concerned. I'm much more enthused by the guy who put on a uniform and served his country than by the punk in the leather jacket and the blasting stereo hanging out with neo-marxists and radicals. And...what's that burning smell? The carpet? Or the dope?

Jo, I'll bet that John McCain is the same guy you remember from '89. In a flannel shirt, ready to get busy, and always true to his word. A stand-up sort of man.

And I'll bet Baracky is the same guy, inside, as he was in his alienated, leftist-leaning, carpet-smoking, Trinity United Church of Christ-attending heyday. Just he's hidden some of that away until he gets in office. Then, he'll sell out this country just like he's done to his friends.

That's when we would all pay for electing the punk alienated campus radical instead of The Man.

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