GRAFTON, N.D. -- Sarah Palin is made of sugar and spice, and all things nice. John McCain is made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails. They're an odd couple, but they just might win the November election for the Republican Party. That would be a shame. It would extend to 2012 the "dance macabre" the Bush presidency has been.
Comparing McCain to Bush may seem unfair, but we shouldn't overlook two disturbing similarities. McCain, like Bush, would cut taxes but not spending. To make up the revenue shortfall, he would borrow from Asian investors, putting our financial system at greater risk.
Here's another similarity: McCain supports the Bush Doctrine -- the notion that we can launch preventive attacks, even in the absence of imminent threat. The invasion of Iraq illustrates the Bush Doctrine. When McCain voted to attack Iraq, he joined Bush in showing contempt for national and international law. Historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. says the administration's war on terror is the most subversive threat to the rule of law in American history.
Even our friends have noticed. A third of the populations in Britain and Canada say America is a force for evil. Global confidence in American leadership has collapsed.
Traditional Republicans must be aghast as they witness the party they once loved cynically embrace debt, law by executive decree, torture and war without end.
ADVERTISEMENT
This is the Bush legacy. McCain is part of it. So, when he asks for your vote, just tell him, "Sorry, McCain, you're too much like Bush."
Richard Hanson
