Who would have thought that the most egregious use of the P.O.W. card would come not from John McCain, but from George W. Bush?
Fellow citizens: If the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain's resolve to do what is best for his country, you can be sure the angry left never will.
McCain is above criticism because he was a P.O.W. McCain campaign spokesman Carly Fiorina tells us that any criticism of Governor Palin's record is sexist. The Republican Party, after whining for years about "political correctness" now enforces it with an iron fist. It makes sense: since there was no policy agenda to speak of at the convention last night, the only thing the candidates have to run on is their "brands," which they then have to protect at all costs. After all, from their perspective, this election "isn't about issues", it's about "a composite view of what people take away from these candidates," or in other words, it's about how voting for a particular candidate makes you feel, kinda like picking out a fly outfit. It's about a product. We're not voters, we're consumers. So why bother addressing any issues at all?
More absurd is the president who brought you warrantless wiretapping, search and seizure of property without probable cause and borrowed interrogation techniques from the Soviets implying that criticism of John McCain is tantamount to torture. After all, what's waterboarding or being forced to hold a stress position compared to a strongly worded admonition about constitutional liberties or a snarky blog post?
--A. Serwer
