John McCain; Meghan McCain's Kid's Book Bio of Her Hero Dad

Meghan McCain is coming out with a illustrated book for kids - illustratred graphic novel for Obama supporters soon to follow?( 'Mom! It's not s stupid Comic Book! It's Novel! Illustrated. Get Off my back! Vote for that Old Man - go ahead. Obama understands me. Is my Pop Tart ready yet?') Meghan McCain's book is aimed at 5-10 year old citizens voters to be.

Speaking of books and Libraries - I wonder how long it will take for the Tribune to issue a suit against UICC- to free up the Annenberg Chicago Challenge Papers. They had no such tardiness getting Obama's Senate rival GOPer Jack Ryan tuned up over his divorce papers and UICC is a tax-payer funded institution. I have had plantar's warts go away quicker.

Well done

http://www.amazon.com/My-Dad-John-McCain-Meghan/dp/1416975284

John McCain: Commander in Chef!

This is the person that I want answering the phone at anytime. The Commander in Chief knows dry rub and meat placement. I feel safer already.

Hat Tip to Meghan McCain and Heather Brand. Photos by Heather Brand. Click my post title for more from www.mccainblogette.com

John McCain: Clark Hoyt NYT's Public Editor Throwing to Jim Thome!

John McCain is a Super-Regular Guy - He Don't Worry about Appearances - or needs to.





New York Times has Gotten it wrong Before. BTW -that is not a real Front Page - could have been; but it ain't.



Clark Hoyt comes off as a pretty good guy. Most people who take on the task of listening to the public are just that - good people. They catch the flak for the mistakes, insults, thievery, laziness and mean-spiritedness of people within an institution, or the institution itself.

'Let me speak with you manager!' is about as polite as the howling public gets when something goes wrong or is perceived to be wrong. The very worst people in our litigious society usually have some ambulance chaser in their back pockets when they get to venting as well. 'I'll sue!' has taken the place of 'I am going to give you the beating of the New Millennium' in our politically correct day and age - sadly.

Public editors for newspapers, like assistant managers of Denny's Worldwide, meet the eyeball popped public with good grace and genuine concern. Clark Hoyt issued a pretty fair assessment of the New York Times's pooch-screwing of the John McCain non-story:

The pity of it is that, without the sex, The Times was on to a good story. McCain, who was reprimanded by the Senate Ethics Committee in 1991 for exercising “poor judgment” by intervening with federal regulators on behalf of a corrupt savings and loan executive, recast himself as a crusader against special interests and the corrupting influence of money in politics. Yet he has continued to maintain complex relationships with lobbyists like Iseman, at whose request he wrote to the Federal Communications Commission to urge a speed-up on a decision affecting one of her clients.

Much of that story has been reported over the years, but it was still worth pulling together to help voters in 2008 better understand the John McCain who might be their next president.

I asked Jill Abramson, the managing editor for news, if The Times could have done the story and left out the allegation about an affair. “That would not have reflected the essential truth of why the aides were alarmed,” she said.

But what the aides believed might not have been the real truth. And if you cannot provide readers with some independent evidence, I think it is wrong to report the suppositions or concerns of anonymous aides about whether the boss is getting into the wrong bed.

«

Clark Hoyt burned one past the batter admitting that 'sex' had no place in the story. No matter what! Swing and miss. Ok that gets Jim Thome's attention and he digs in his cleats for the next one.

Clark Hoyt wizards a change up admitting that the material is in fact eight and nine years old. Thome windmilled that one.

Hoyt's use of Managing Editor's low and outside '“But that was not the point of the story. The point of the story was that he behaved in such a way that his close aides felt the relationship constituted reckless behavior and feared it would ruin his career.” is what gave Mr. Incredible the beach ball that goes sailing over the Center Field Wall at Comiskey Park ( Cellular Field to Infidels).

Clark Hoyt should get a couple of more zeros before the decimal point on his next paycheck. Since the New York Times will be bleeding cash in the next few months do it soon bean counters. Clark Hoyt did some tough pitching today

That is some pretty solid relief pitching, but with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and three men on two strikes are not enough.

A guy like John McCain, who seems indifferent to what people like "investigative reporters" Think and 'aides' want to use against him, appears even more honest to an uncomplex guy like me. Who cares about appearances? Jesus hung out with hookers, tax-collectors, drunken fishermen, Roman gamblers, wine guzzlers, and had an aide who sold him out for appearances sake. John McCain is no Jesus - miles fromit and he is only to glad to admit it, but McCain went through a pretty long Gethsemane.

If a guy worries about appearances, it is time to really worry about the guy and give him a long stare. John McCain is Ok by me.


Click my title for Clark Hoyt's NYT piece. HT to Meghan Mccain for her button photo!

John McCain: Midshipman Jack McCain -The Audacity of Honor

USNA Midshipman Jack McCain
Senator John McCain and his Son Jack.


Meghan McCain has chronicled the Campaign of John McCain through the Valley of Darkness and into the Spotlight of History as John McCain moves to the Republican Nomination for President of the United States. Ms.McCain's blog McCainbloggette has been my personal poaching ground for photos which I applied to my insightful and poignantly poetic musings on John McCain's impact on American History.

Meghan's work has captured the nature of the McCain Family scrumming together in an uphill battle to bring straight talk to the American voters. That struggle , Boys and Girls, is not only Sisyphean in its exertions, but positively Augean as well.

I am really waxing Attic here ( Kean Gas coffee is full octane this AM). Sisyphus was a Titan in Old Greece who was condemned to roll a huge boulder up a steep slope only to be overcome by its weight and the un-Polled Laws of Gravity and be forced to shoulder the rock up all over again. The other allusion is to one of the many tasks of Hercules. He needed to clean the stables of Augeus which required Hecules to divert a river in order to clean out the mountains horse manure. I get the same feeling of exhaustion after listening to Limbaugh, Bones Coulter, Smarmy Maher, Joe 'Where You Goin' With That Gun in Yo' Hand' Scarborough and the Rev. Al' Pin Back them Yarmulkes and Let's Get it On' Sharpton.

McCain struggled to be heard and kept pushing his message with stoic consistancy; in the mean time goof-ball loud-mouths who shill for big money on AM Talk Radio threw out every calumny, traducement, and aversion that they could toss from their cages.

It takes a river of Straight Talk to clean out that mess, but the American people have heard the message of Service, Honor, Faith, Commitment, Courage, and Pride. Americans are good people - goofy at times, but willing to sacrifice self-interest for the common good.

John McCain's Family reflects that American Goodness.

Today, I noticed Meghan McCain's tribute to her little brother Jack, a Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy and another brother is a Marine rifleman in Iraq. Click on my post title for Meghan McCain's tribute to her brother climbing the gradus
of Honor in the service of his country. Now there is the audacity of Hope citizens - no rhetoric just deeds.

John McCain: Illinois Shows the Love!

Leo Boxing Coach/attorney/legendary philanthropist Mike Joyce and President McCain
( Mike's in the sharp grey wool sportcoat)




Illinois Rep. Jim Durkin with John McCain's much better looking half.

















Illinois shows John McCain some of its support and a healthy heaping of its love!

Last Night Illinois got behind Illinois State Representative Jim Durkin to show Senator John McCain their support! Big crowd and bigger hearts and hands!



Photos Copyright Heather Brand

John McCain - This is what it's all about

John McCain hooked me in his 2000 go around. After being torn apart in South Carolina in the one of nastiest Primary fights in memory ( Aside from this year's Democratic race - wait until it really takes off, Kids), John McCain dusted himself off and returned to service.

In this race, assailed by the Disney Channel Rejects spinning the news at MSNBC - clowns like the most fatuous blowhard in short-pants - Keith Olbermann and switch-hitting sycophants like Chris 'Milkey' Matthews -or Ross Perot the Jug Eared Midget Millionaire who bored a hole through America for President, Rambis ( Rambos without the resume), John McCain has connected with Americans.
In South Carolina, when others are frying squirrels on hot-plates, tossing snowballs like they were boulders, or cozying up to goofs like Hannity and Colmes, John McCain remains dignified, honorable, tough-minded and human. Like the little girl above with the tricycle - she can't vote, but McCain has time for her.

Asked about the POW Smear from the Rambis, McCain offered - 'it hurts a bit.'

The Hanoi Hilton was not the Peninsula or the Four Seasons, either.

Click my post title for John McCain's understated heroism.

John McCain Straps it On for the Bigs

The Iowa Caucuses Have ended - the musical chairs of Democracy- the pre-season exhibition game. Now it's time for the regular season play to begin. After the pre-season in Iowa, Senator McCain thanked the Hawkeyes and the Team!

STATEMENT FROM JOHN MCCAIN ON THE IOWA CAUCUS

For Immediate Release
Contact: Press Office

Thursday, January 3, 2008
703-650-5550



ARLINGTON , VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain today issued the following statement regarding the results of the Iowa Caucus:



"I thank each and every Iowan who braved the cold to caucus tonight, as well as my tremendous Iowa staff and leadership for all of their hard work over the past year. They worked wonders with far fewer resources than their competitors. I also congratulate Governor Huckabee on his victory tonight.



"Now the campaign turns to New Hampshire for the first-in-the-nation primary. As Granite State voters know best, I will continue to deliver straight talk about the critical issues facing our country. I will talk about the unique experience that prepares me to lead as commander in chief from day one, and makes me the only Republican who can win the White House in 2008.



"We started this together, New Hampshire , eight years ago. In five days, we're going to send the same message we did then: change is coming."

Get Ready for some Game! Watch John McCain's speech on January 9th - Live Love from New Hampshire afte the Season Kickoff Victory! We will be with John McCain's Team here in Chicago on New Hampshire Primary Night -McCain's Got Game!



Meghan McCain's great Photos from
http://www.mccainblogette.com/

John McCain - Running The Table in New Hampshire!

The only candidate with the integrity, experience, grit and sense of self to lead America in time of War on Islamist Terror has 'run the table in New Hampshire,' like Willie Mosconi (During the 1940s and 1950s, the pocket billiards game most often played in competition was called straight pool, or 14.1 continuous, a form of billiards considered by most top players to be more difficult than today's championship pool game 9-ball. Willie Mosconi still holds the officially recognized high run record of 526 consecutive balls - Wikpedia)- grabbing every media endorsement in the deep snows of New England and he's showing muscle among frozen corn stalks of Iowa without spending nickle one on ADS.

John McCain has given the American People a Candidate around whom they can unify the Republic and set the country's course with his Straight Talk and confident stewardship.

Here's the
Franklin Pierce/WBZ Poll: New Hampshire Presidential Primary



December 27-31



Sen. John McCain 37

Mitt Romney 31

Rudy Giuliani 10

Mike Huckabee 5

Rep. Ron Paul 6

Fred Thompson 2



Spread: McCain +6.0



Rack 'em!

Remember to Go Live on the Web Chat with Brad Marston on Staurday January 5th. Log on to the Spin Room at the upcoming ABC News/Facebook Debate. Brad Marston will be Live Blogging/Webcasting live from 6pm until Midnight on Saturday January 5th from the Spin Room at St. Anselms College in Manchester NH.

It will be at the live chat at www.azamatterofact.com



Giant Hat Tip to Meghan McCain and her cute Pal Shannon for their great Photos of Senator McCain's Historic Run of the Tables!

McCain is a GO!

Last night while the New England Patriots were sweating it out, I got a call from a Chicago-born McCainiac in Florida. 'Hickey, I just talked with Jim Durkin ( Illinois McCain Chairman and Illnois State Representative(R-IL 82nd) we're getting our people together for McCain's Victory in New Hampshire and I'm coming home to Chi' to help scare up a crowd for John McCain. Get the three people who still like you to show up.'

'Nuff said. Did he mean besides my three kids? Think, Boy, Think!

Then this morning I got a e-mail from Brad Marston - the hardest working man in cyber-politics, and I linked his message to my post title. It is a call to action! That's all! More work for all of us! Americans love to work!

John McCain is a Go - all the way to the Oval Office! The American People are hearing Straight Talk and responding to it! Straight Talk is always truth, but sometimes it includes home truths about our own personal short-comings. We do not want to hear that we need to make more sacrifices and maybe put aside a special interest or a scheme for the good of the whole country. That is why straight talk, like hard work, is good or us.
It knocks us out of our belly-button staring self-absorbtions.

If we want feel good messages or announcements that someone else will carry our burdens -ooze on over to the other candidates. John McCain is calling Pat Hickey to get off his fat ass and get to work! I'm up and moving Senator!


Above are some great Meghan McCain photos of the hard-working voters of Iowa on the GO for Senator John McCain. Click on my post title and on with Brad Marston and get to work!

McCain: 'I am Legend - Here's the Truth and it Ain't Happy Talk!'

More Great Meghan McCain Photos!

In Iowa, concerned about the cost of the war on Islamist Terror, a voter asked Senator John McCain,'Are you going to cut student loans?" she asked. "Are you going to cut Social Security? Are you going to raise taxes?'

Expecting the usual Pious Pies and empty calorie Spin Salad, the voter was treated to classic McCain Straight Talk Steak and Spuds:

"It's going to be a heavy tax burden, but not nearly the burden we'd be paying in American blood had we surrendered in Iraq," McCain said. He added that he would not raise taxes but would eliminate wasteful spending.

Ron Paul's Video Rangers are choking web sites with all kinds of economic graphs and ledgers of Trillions of dollars not lining their pockets and lubricating their lifestyles; Rudy is working the 9/11 Greatest Generation's kids response, Mitt is Rope-a-Doping; Huckabee sings; and the Democrats play the Kos Cards.

John McCain proves that he is the only candidate of any Party with the character, experience, know-how, courage, and conviction to lead America in time of War on Islamist terror.

Ask John McCain questions! He'll give you the Straight Talk! You might not care for answer but his response is one you need to hear.


Click on post title for the answer to John McCain's continued surge in the confidence of the American People!

McCain Leads from out Front!

Meghan McCain's great photo of two Great Americans!


“It has very little to do with national security issues,” Mr. McCain said. “It has a lot to do with handling a post-crisis. As far as I know, Mayor Giuliani has never been to Iraq.”


The assassination of former Prime Minister Benizar Bhutto, a courageous and thoughtful woman, by Islamist Terrorists brought home to America the very real need for a leader steeped in awareness of global threats- A Leader who prepares for the threats to come and prepared to react to crises before they impact on American Interests and safety. John McCain has his Straight Talk to Iowa, where on weeks ago he had been written off.

Senator Joe Lieberman had this to say about John McCain's ability to the American People:

As President, John McCain will bring America together again. He will inspire a new American unity and a new American patriotism. He will push all of us to work together to solve our biggest problems, and defeat our most dangerous enemies.

Throughout our history, succeeding generations of brave Americans have risked their lives for the cause of freedom -- which is America's cause. Throughout his career, from the ranks of the military to halls of the Congress, John McCain has made freedom's cause his own. He learned the ideals of patriotism and service from his father, he taught them to his sons, and he will hold those ideals high as an inspiration for all Americans.

When others were silent, and it was thought politically unpopular, John had the courage and common sense to sound the alarm about the mistakes we were making in Iraq and to call for more troops and a new strategy there. And when others wavered, when others wanted to retreat from the field of battle, John had the courage and the common sense to stand against the tide of public opinion and support the surge in Iraq, where we are at last winning.

There are many fine people running for President. Many of them are good friends of mine. But I have concluded -- and I hope you will, as well -- that John McCain is the candidate who can best reunite our country and lead us to victory.

https://secure.donationreport.com/donation.html;jsessionid=0FBAEB2EB62135EE1A302BE1535D8C95
Every candidate is a public service Patriot. Every person in the mix for the votes of American People for the Office of President has the will to lead, but only John McCain has the qualifications to 'protect, preserve and defend' ur American Republic.

Click on my post title for the New York Times report the opening of John McCain's Iowa run.

Maverick McCain Pulling in the Chips in Iowa

The Maverick Brothers were all 'tall dark strangers there' but John McCain is one of the neighbors and he's pulling in piles of chips in the No Limit Game in Iowa!

I hope all of you had a Blessed and wonderful Christmas! John McCain appears to be pulling in numbers in Iowa.

Here in Illinois State Representative Jim Durkin is getting the McCain Team limbered up for a bi-partisan push that will stun the Daily Kososovans who continue to natter on about Gen. Petreaus and the cut-and-run strategy for Iraq.

Sorry kids, that dog won't bark, let alone get off the rug, or much less hunt.

It seems that the 'white shoes after Labor day' GOP are yet betrothed to Rudy and truly extreme are following Ron Paul's Blimp to the cliff. Fred gets a shout; Mitt has some loyal followers; Rev. Huckabee a loyal circle of disciples, but John McCain is recognized as the Real Deal.

The folks west of the Mississippi are waking up to John McCain's honest, tough and straight talking message! Click on my post title for the latest UPI story on McCain gains in Iowa!

Great photo from Meghan McCain!

McCain Plants Himself in Townhall Meetings - Greets the Opposition with Candor!

HT -to Meghan McCain for her great photos of the McCain Campaign. Check out Meghan's great site at


http://www.mccainblogette.com/


While other candidates are planting shills in the audience or lighting up blimps, John McCain takes to the people. In a wondeful Boston Globe article John McCain reveals his true nature to those who would oppose him -'You might not like what I have to say but here it is!'

John McCain tells folks who detest his stand on immigration reform and other weighty issues to fa candidate to back - this is America!

"The McCain town-hall meeting sets the standard," said Fergus Cullen, the state Republican party chairman, who is remaining neutral in the primary. "Any candidate who wants to be successful in New Hampshire should do exactly what he does."

Other candidates would find the experience hard to replicate. The only certainty at a McCain event is that the candidate will begin with some familiar jokes - in Bedford, he began with a full seven minutes of comic material, touching on identity theft and drunk Irish twins - and end, sometimes as long as 90 minutes later, with the piano chords of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'."

In between, McCain does all he can to manufacture dramatic tension from what could become a prosaic exchange over policy. Even though most of the questions fall into predictable categories for which he has standard answers - Iraq, terrorism, immigration, the economy, global warming - McCain invites his interlocutors to follow up after he has answered their questions, elevating innocent queries into robust debates.Continued...

McCain appears to gain more strength from confronting attendees of these meetings than locating areas of agreement. When environmentally minded voters ask about climate change, McCain will usually go out of his way to tell them he supports the expanded use of nuclear power. After a young woman in Bedford cited a poll that said military families were unhappy with the direction of the war in Iraq, McCain disputed the question's premise and berated her for believing the survey's results.

It does not take much for McCain to tell voters who disagree with his positions that they should back another candidate. When a man rose in Raymond and contested the right of Mexican immigrants to receive emergency medical care, McCain said, "It's that option or let them die." This did not seem to move the man, who added that those who die crossing a border "take their chances."

"I guess that's one way of looking at it," McCain responded calmly. "And I understand why you wouldn't support me."

McCain tries to keep his act fresh, relying on opening remarks he adjusts to the news with an anchorman's sense of timing, from constitutional turmoil in Pakistan one day to the debate in Washington over torture the next.

"I think it's very important to be talking about the issue of the day," McCain explained. "The people would be badly served if I started a town hall meeting without talking about Pakistan."

Among McCain's Republican rivals, only Mitt Romney has done a large number of similar open-invitation meetings in New Hampshire, with Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson preferring quick visits to restaurants or friendly venues like house parties or businesses. "You're never going to be asked an awkward question at a house party because the guests all know the hosts and aren't going to embarrass their friend," said Cullen.

Where some other candidates steer clear of gadflies for organized causes, McCain preemptively calls on those wearing "I Am a Health Care Voter" or "Stop Global Warming" stickers to give them a platform. In Bedford, McCain pointed to Melissa Skinner, a volunteer for the One anti-poverty moment standing in the back of a crowded room in a black T-shirt with the group's logo. Skinner said afterward that she has attended many candidate events but that "McCain is the first to call on me."

"These are the kind of people we ought to recognize as the outstanding citizens in our community," McCain said in an interview, although his policy of offering the mike to anyone who shows up to an event in costume seems to promote theatrics as much as civics. McCain recently informed a snowman making a point about global warming that he resembled a "chicken" and a teenager wearing a Santa Claus hat that he looked "kind of dorky."

The composition of crowds - which are raised by phone and mail invitations to both Republicans and independents within driving distance - has shifted in recent months, from a concentration of McCain loyalists to a mix of supporters and undecided voters.

The events' unpredictability helps lure independents, a key McCain constituency, according to the campaign's media consultant Mark McKinnon. "People enjoy it because it's a high-wire act and because you never know what will happen. There's always a chance of a car wreck. That's why people go to the Indy 500," McKinnon said, citing such unscripted moments as McCain's notorious rendition of the Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann" with lyrics altered to "bomb Iran."

Indeed, McCain, too, is drawn to the spectacle, often retreating to his bus and reviewing a previous town hall with a theatre critic's focus on the moments of tension and unease.

"In politics, so much is just predictable, totally scripted," said Meghan McCain, the candidate's daughter. "That's why he loves the town hall, because anything can happen."

In Portsmouth, a veteran named Greg Majors rose to say that a motorcycle accident had left him living for the past 22 years with a traumatic brain injury. Majors, in halting speech, said he was "taking up valuable space" and found his existence "pointless."

Unlike other tales of personal despair candidates face - about a sick relative facing rising health-care costs, or from a worker laid off due to outsourcing - there was no policy corner where McCain could find refuge, just one man asking another why he should continue to live.

"Why don't I just pass it off to someone else and just exterminate my life?" Majors asked.

McCain turned away from Majors as he grasped for a response. "Greg, we want you and we love you and we need you, and you will be our inspiration with your courage," McCain told him.

"I've never seen anything like that," McCain said later on, lamenting the "inadequacy" he felt in being unable to comfort Majors, as well as a man at a town hall the previous evening who stood up to talk about his ongoing struggle with Alzheimer's disease.

"When everybody says, 'Oh, don't you get tired of it? Don't you dislike it? Isn't it a drag?' all that, you have experiences like the last two we had within the last sixteen hours," McCain said. "And it's incredible."

McCain appears to gain more strength from confronting attendees of these meetings than locating areas of agreement. When environmentally minded voters ask about climate change, McCain will usually go out of his way to tell them he supports the expanded use of nuclear power. After a young woman in Bedford cited a poll that said military families were unhappy with the direction of the war in Iraq, McCain disputed the question's premise and berated her for believing the survey's results.

Related political coverage:
McCain, Obama see gains in N.H. poll
Globe graphic Boston Globe poll on the New Hampshire primary
PDF Boston Globe poll of the New Hampshire primary
McCain's town hall events hit home in N.H.
Symbolism of immigration drives economic fears in Iowa prairie town
Obama and Clinton each claim greater backing from foreign policy specialists
Campaign Notebook Giuliani says he got checked out for headache in St. Louis
More coverage of Campaign '08 more stories like thisIt does not take much for McCain to tell voters who disagree with his positions that they should back another candidate. When a man rose in Raymond and contested the right of Mexican immigrants to receive emergency medical care, McCain said, "It's that option or let them die." This did not seem to move the man, who added that those who die crossing a border "take their chances."

"I guess that's one way of looking at it," McCain responded calmly. "And I understand why you wouldn't support me."

Boston Globe
Click on my post title for the great Boston Globe article - especially the poignant exchange between John McCain and the troubled Veteran. How someone could not understand that John McCain is the Real Deal is beyond me - but, so is the New York Times.

Last night, I participated in a national conference chat with McCain Bloggers orchestrated by Brad Marston. It was great to experience the energy and enthusiam Americans from all over the country in supporting the only candidate of any Party who can lead America in time of war with Islamist terror. Well done, Brad, Vicki, Michael, Jeff, Eric, Sheridan, and JM!

John McCain - The Dad of Our Country

Susan Estrich has a great article asking the question of 'Who is the Real John McCain?' Is John McCain too conservative; too liberal; too crabby; too impolitic; not smooth enough; too old? Click on my post title for the article itself.

Some months ago when 'John McCain is Toast' was the mantra of REDSTATE and Redstaters during the votes on immigration reform. I argued that John McCain was the only candidate of any Party capable of Leading America in Time of War on Islamist Terror. I had an exchange with some Redstaters and was summarily banned from posting there.

Here is the link of that exchange with some RedStater McCain Haters that got me the bum's rush.

http://www.redstate.com/blogs/pat_hickey/2007/jul/07/john_mccain_staright_talk_requires_no_subtitles

John McCain might not be the Father of Our Country - biologically, there can be only one father, but too many fathers hit the silk on their kids - leaving them to be raised by a Dad: The Man who sets the limits for behavior; provides the comfort and security of a Home; fixes what is broken; steps up for the children; and sets an example to emulate. He's the guy who makes you boil with anger, embarrasment and often envy when it seems that his behavior is too tough a pattern for us to follow. We think - 'how dare HE judge us?' Dad is often the very last person on earth we want to see or hear from - until we are in the jackpot and only he can get us out of it. Boy, I can hear the Progressive Pecksniffery snortin up - 'Are we Children, People ( pronounced Papal in Progressive)? My Baldwin! Relax, cupcakes. Everyone has a Father - no real trick to that - pure Darwinism. The very lucky have a Dad and they understand what it takes to be a good one.

George Washington metaphorically fathered our nation, but John McCain just might be the Dad. The economy, immigration, entitlements, political pork feasts, ox gorings and moral soap boxing are over-shadowed by a very real threat -Islamist terror. We have been at War with Islamist Terror the day that the Twin Towers went down. Everything else went by the board - rather it should have gone by the board.

John McCain is like a good Dad - in past posts I have argued that he is like all of our neighbors -

http://hickeysite.blogspot.com/2007/09/john-mccain-from-your-neighborhood.html

- but here I would answer Susan Estrich's question with John McCain is the Dad of Our Nation.

John McCain went to War. He wears his heart on his sleeve for his Country, Faith, Wife and Family. He learns from his mistakes and teaches us not to make the same mistakes. John McCain, like a good Dad, will not cut and run when things get too tough.

I was never more Proud of my Father than this moment in the late 1950's -

When I was about six or seven, my mother had severe renal failure after giving birth to my little sister. My Mom nearly died and was hospitalized for weeks. The Old Man worked three jobs and took care of two little guys and an infant; made the meals - He was always a better cook than Mom; did the laundry.

One day- Dad was out hanging the sheets in the yard and my brother and I heard the next door truck driver and the Peoples Gas executive on the other side of him giving out at the Old Man - 'Hey Prudence, when you're done with that how about having tea with the little girls too?' The Old Man took it and kept taking care of us.

John McCain and my Dad are very much alike.


Hat Tip to Meghan McCain's Great Blog ! Photos by Meghan McCain!

http://www.mccainblogette.com/