John McCain has a reputation as a maverick and an independent. But in reality, he’s more of the same: An anti-woman, anti-choice, anti-immigrant, pro-war, same-old candidate. What’s truly pathetic is that he’s only considered “moderate” because he thinks we should maybe consider doing something about climate change, and he doesn’t think we should be able to torture with impunity. When that makes someone a “maverick,” we have a problem.
But a lot of voters have bought into the lie that McCain is a friendlier type of Republican. I’ve certainly heard a fair share of feminist-minded people arguing that he isn’t so bad on women’s rights.
That isn’t true.
McCain is anti-choice — strongly anti-choice. He supports overturning Roe. He has a 0 percent rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Since 1983, in votes in the House and the Senate (where he has served since 1987), McCain has cast 130 votes on abortion and other reproductive-rights issues. 125 of those votes were anti-choice [pdf]. Among his voting lowlights:
He has repeatedly voted to deny low-income women access to abortion care except in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother’s life (although McCain is now wavering on trying to put these exceptions into the party platform).
He voted to shut down the Title X family-planning program, which provides millions of women with health care services ranging from birth control to breast cancer screenings.
He voted against legislation that established criminal and civil penalties for those who use threats and violence to keep women from gaining access to reproductive health clinics.
He voted to uphold the policy that bans overseas health clinics from receiving aid from America if they use their own funds to provide legal abortion services or even adopt a pro-choice position.
Of his anti-choice voting record, McCain has said, “I have many, many votes and it’s been consistent,” proudly adding: “And I’ve got a consistent zero from NARAL” through the years. And last month he told Chris Matthews: “The rights of the unborn is one of my most important values.”
What’s more, McCain has made it very clear that if he becomes president he will appoint judges in the Scalia, Roberts, Alito mold. His big judicial speech earlier this month was filled with coded buzz words that make it clear that, if given the chance, he’d replace 88-year-old Justice John Paul Stevens with an anti-choice Justice who would tip the scales against Roe v Wade. Throw in an additional anti-choice replacement for the 75-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and you can kiss the right to choose good-bye for a long, long time.
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But he’s a mavericky maverick of maverickness, he must not be so bad, right?
McCain is seriously insane, needs help, and will make America worse when Bush leaves office.
I thought this country is all about freedom of choices? Choices to make for your own body? But no! That’s “un-American” !!!!!
*sigh*
I wrote a simliar post on my blog last week. I was well aware of McCain’s stance, but I wasn’t tuned into just how extreme it was.
I wrote a similar post on my blog last week. I was well aware of McCain’s stance, but I wasn’t tuned into just how extreme it was.
Thanks for the links, Jill. We need lots of proof like this, proof that he’s not as “moderate” as he’s generally perceived to be. He’s got anti-torture and pro-campaign-finance-reform as his plusses. Once the word gets out about his minuses, I think we’ve got a good chance of turning the center off him.
He’s not as bad in this regard as some of the other Rethug candidates.
Of course, that’s like receiving 20 lashes and saying, “Hmmm, numbers three, eight and fourteen weren’t so bad.”
Bitter Scribe, that’s good.
I wanted McCain to win the nomination because he was the most moderate of those running, which is akin to Bitter Scribe’s remark about lash number eight. He does acknowledge the human role in climate change, and is — for now, but I anticipate a flip flop — opposed to drilling in ANWR. He wants to close Gitmo too, and that made him better than Romney or Thompson or Giuliani. He wasn’t as good as the last of these on women’s issues of course.
One mistake we sometimes make: that it is only candidates strongly tied to the religious right who are disastrous for women. McCain, whose bona fides with the Focus on the Family crowd are weak, is nonetheless just as bad on women’s issues as a W. or a Thompson.
Unfortunatly he’s voted against banning waterboarding by the Cia, not to mention breaking his own campaign finance law.
Whatever McCain might have believed, he’s perfectly willing to sell it all out for the presidential race.
And he voted for the MCA which retroactively narrowed the definition of war crimes and who could be held responsible for them. (Among other things)
He is the worst of the worst if you ask me… “moderate” or not. Over the years he has constantly acted as an authoritative type figure on subjects that he will never have any true insight on. Has he ever needed welfare? Has he ever had to go through life as a minorty? I know that he has had so much experience in being a woman that we should definitely bow down and give him control of our bodies…
I think we have to emphasize it’s not just the Supreme Court. I’ve heard people argue that a Democratic Congress will keep him in check on SC justices. Yeah, tell that to Anita Hill.
But at any rate, there’s a lot more at stake than just the Supreme Court and Roe. There’s the ability to obtain birth control for federal employees — Bush made it optional for insurance companies covering the federal employees to cover. It’s the Women’s Health unit in HHS, which has been cut to a small shadow of itself. It’s the women overseas who no longer receive serious birth control advice because Bush — and McCain if he gets the job — puts emphasis on abstinence only and refuses to provide funding to groups that will offer advice to women seeking abortions. Or the increasing AIDS rates in Africa and elsewhere because of the ludicrous abstinence only position. It’s the ridiculous abstinence only programs in our schools that McCain will continue. It’s the lack of access to abortions for women soldiers stationed overseas.
The list could go on and on. McCain says he’ll also continue Bush’s policy on signing statements. So if Congress tries to curb such activity, he’ll work his way around them.
We need more resources for getting the facts out to the mainstream voter. There might have once been a day when CNN and other evening news programs would discuss differences between a candidate’s stated policies (anti-torture) and their voting records (voted against banning water boarding). Now, voters simply hear the talking heads banter about manufactured issues, like whose wife used the word ‘patriotic’ in a way they most approve of. How do we make the real facts known to a broader audience?
… and as for ‘compassionate conservatism,’ the nation has been duped by that one before…
Spread the word, boys and girls!
(Ever since this article I’ve never thought of him as anything but against everything we stand for.)
He doesn’t give a SHIT about the environment. Look at what he DOES, not what he SAYS.
He’s a worthless, senile idiot fuck.
I don’t understand how he is anti-immigrant when [conservative] people complain that he favors amnesty.
Last week, NPR’s All Things Considered had a piece where they introduced McCain as the “maverick Senator McCain” – disgusting! Needless to say, I wrote in a complaint.
McCain “anti-immigrant”? Would it be that he were. McCain and Bush have been the 2 most pro-immigrant politicians of the past 20 years. McCain teamed with Kennedy to get the Senate to pass last year’s comphrehensive immigration reform bill through the senate. A bill that Bush promised to sign. A bill that would have effectively amnestied every illeagal alien in the country, even those who arrived 10 minutes ago. A bill, furthermore, that would have brought in 50 million additionall immigrants over the next 20 years, with no real end of immigration in sight, ever. McCain has vowed to make passage of this bill his number 1 priority if he is elected.
What other facts and analysis are you sloppy with?
Just asking, but do you think that you or your children and grandchildren will feel comfortable in an America of 500 million, 1 billion, maybe 2 billion people? Don’t think it will go that high? Just do some simple calculus, with a growth rate of 1-2% per year (which will be the low end of growth if immigration is not curtailed). See how soon it will take.
McCain opposes birth control…because he’s worried about overpopulation? Makes sense. *nodnod*
P.S: “calculus” != “calculations”…
Though that *does* make me want to talk about integration and immigration… maybe Daniel is secretly brilliant, and intended for that clever play on integers when he posted?
Thank you so much for this post. We need more like these to expose how non ‘moderate’ he actually is! Much appreciated, I love your blog!
He’s a creep.
That said, he’s also a humongous flip-flopper and opportunist. That should be especially interesting given that the accusation of *flip-flopping* was a major factor in killing Kerry’s chances. A few years back, Mccain called evangelicals the greatest threat to America – or similar words. Later on, he secure their support to run. War, torture, choice, gay marriage, all subjects in which he changed his tune according to political convenience. Nice example of such.
We need to emphasize this message as much as possible and as often as possible. It’s not just about Roe V. Wade either, he’s got a bad track record for legislation for women’s and children’s health as well.
I’ve started calling Sen. McCain “McBush” because of his misogynist record.
Wait, aren’t you the same people who keep screaming that Social Security is doomed and we have to privatize it because we don’t have a large enough working population to support all of the Baby Boomers in their declining years? So how can we simultaneously have a too-small and a too-big population?
Roe v Wade, which has been chipped away for so long it barely even exists anymore, is not the only women’s issue out there, and it’s not the only one McCain is terrible on. He’s also against fair-pay legislation, he’s against rethinking “don’t ask don’t tell,” he has no problem with public schools teaching creationism, he opposes restrictions on assault weapons and background checks at gun shows, he seems to think “free-market competition” will reform our health care system…
He has an anti-public health voting record, an anti-union voting record, an anti-energy-independence voting record, a weak public-education voting record, an anti-affirmative-action voting record, a weak record on senior citizen issues, and a weak voting record on church-and-state separation.
He doesn’t even have a very good business and taxation voting record.
Typical smears from the Liberal Elite Bias Media. John McCain has LOTS of experience with women, and if you’re looking for women’s issues, John McCain has got TONS of issues! John McCain will win when voters go to the polls in January. Never surrender!
http://www.womenforjohnmccain.com/
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