Political Irony

An ironic thing about McCain talking so much about how he was tortured as a POW during the Vietnam War, is that we have learned all the techniques that were used against him. As Andrew Sullivan brilliantly points out, the techniques we called torture when they were used against McCain 40 years ago are no longer “torture”. According to Bush, Cheney, Yoo, Addington, and Tenet, they are merely “enhanced interrogation techniques”. Consequently, by definition McCain was never tortured.

The next irony is that much is made of how 40 years ago, all this (non)torture reportedly elicited false confessions from McCain — including (famously) giving the names of professional football players as members of his squadron. Today, we are assured that these same “enhanced interrogation techniques” are used by us to elicit valuable “intelligence”.

It is also ironic that when McCain was tortured, he was able to console himself with the moral righteousness of someone whose country didn’t practice such barbaric acts (well, at least not publicly). Today, we have lost the moral standing to complain when others torture, just as we have lost the moral standing to complain when another nation preemptively invades one of our allies.

But the ultimate irony is that McCain, who offers his sufferance of torture as his qualification to be president of the most powerful nation on earth, voted to allow the CIA to use these same techniques, thus endowing on our enemies that which he previously reserved for himself.

A week ago, NPR did a story on Cindy McCain, describing her as the only child of wealthy Arizona businessman Jim Hensley. No big surprise, as the same thing has been said of her by other media, including ABC, Newsweek, and The New York Times. Cindy herself routinely describes herself as an “only child”, as she did on CNN a month ago.

The only problem is it isn’t true. Jim Hensley has another daughter, Kathleen, from his first marriage.

Curiously, the story of Jim Hensley’s two marriages has some ironic parallels to the story of his second daughter’s husband, John McCain. Jim Hensley was also a flier and was injured in WWII. While recuperating (and still married to his first wife), he met another woman, who became his second wife.

And, of course, this isn’t the first time Cindy McCain has lied.

When Jim Hensley died, he left the bulk of his estate (worth tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars) to Cindy, the daughter from his second wife. As for his first daughter, her son puts it this way when explaining why he contacted NPR over the story:

The fact that we don’t exist. The fact that we’ve never been recognized, and then Cindy has to put such a fine point on it by saying something that’s not true. Recently, again and again. It’s just very, very hurtful.

NPR contacted the McCain campaign (and Cindy McCain) to comment or respond. Neither replied.

UPDATE: Turns out that Cindy has yet another half sister. I guess ol’ Jim had lots of “family values” as this one appears to have been born out of wedlock.

Cindy McCain also lied about talking to Mother Teresa during a trip to Bangladesh. According to the Christian Science Monitor she never met or talked to Mother Teresa.

When asked by pastor Rick Warren at what point does a human being get full human rights, McCain immediately answered “At the moment of conception.”

Sounds like a clear answer, but as Time Magazine points out, this quickly gets you into very murky water. About half of all embryos (fertilized eggs) miscarry naturally before they are able to implant, before the mother is even aware that she might be pregnant.

Even if the egg is successfully implanted, if it has full human rights, does this mean that an embryo will need a passport to travel to other countries? Or do embryos only get certain human rights? Breast feeding can interfere with implantation of fertilized eggs — does this mean that breast feeding should be illegal since it can kill an embryo?  And drinking coffee can increase the chance of miscarriage, as can exercise in general, often even before a woman knows she is pregnant.  But if an embryo has full human rights, shouldn’t such harmful activities be outlawed? What restrictions are we willing to place upon women in order to give embryos full human rights?

Even with life, some things can be as clear as mud.

Republican strategist John Feehery is shown on Hardball, making fun of Obama’s call for a UN Security Council resolution on the conflict between Russia and Georgia, saying that Obama looks weak for calling for a resolution rather than acting tough. Ironically, he doesn’t realize McCain is calling for the same Security Council resolution. Watch the video to see Feehery put his foot in his mouth:

From the Jed Report.