Political Correctness: No Such Thing
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The latest news-grabbing political correctness scandal involves John McCain, Sarah Palin, Kelly Sadler, and Thomas McInerney. The PC police are outraged by Sadler and McInerney, while giving McCain verbal hugs and ignoring Palin. This very incident is an educational moment for the USA, especially for the so-called liberals that rush to subjective judgement every time a Republican offends their ears. These four individuals are a lesson in manners - if not in political correctness.
I have actually dined with John McCain, donated to his campaigns, and voted for him. I consider him a true war hero and respect his bipartisanship in the senate. I believe history will reflect kindly on him as a true patriot, but it will also report his comfort in the sharp-elbowed salons of political power. In short, McCain is no thin-skinned layman. He speaks in blunt – often barbed – words and is the last man in need of a protective bubble – even as he faces his end of days. McCain invited this entire PC kerfuffle.
McCain politicized his dying days by telling the nation what he really thought about other political figures. He made a point to publicly dismiss President Trump: you are not invited to my funeral. This is curious guidance, considering church services are open to all mourners. McCain also made a point to call out Sarah Palin: I regret choosing you as my running mate. In my opinion, these patently political gestures make McCain fair political game - and his family knows this as much as anyone. Helpful Hint: lose the crocodile tears.
Sarah Palin is the PC poster girl for political incorrectness, but she was honest and kind in her response: “Hearing John McCain regrets choosing [me] as his 2008 running mate is like a perpetual gut-punch every time I hear about it. That’s not what Senator McCain has told me all these years, as he’s apologized repeatedly for the people who ran his campaign.” Perhaps Palin was a bad choice, but does that exempt an honorable man from respecting the woman he once asked to attract conservative Republicans to his bandwagon? I think McCain looked petty when, no longer in need of conservative support, he used Palin as a prop to present himself as moderate and bipartisan.
Kelly Sadler is a mere staffer in the White House, but the PC police insist her clumsy bit of syntax was “derisive” and “insulting” and “discomforting” and “awful” and “a degradation of our political discourse” and “dismissive.” Actually, Sadler did dismiss John McCain's opposition to Gina Haspel when she told her co-workers “it doesn’t matter [because] he’s dying anyway.” The PC police insist Kelly is an insensitive woman that joked about a dying man, when her comments might have been portrayed out of context by the anonymous leaker.
Put into context, Sadler was in a meeting to push a nomination (Gina Haspel for CIA director) through senate confirmation when she commented on the senator's opposition to the nominee because Haspel refused “to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying.” Sadler was stating the obvious: (1) the White House could not change McCain’s vote, and (2) the president could not threaten or entice a dying senator. White House vote-counters have forever dismissed senators that oppose their nominees, and the meeting's subject was not McCain’s memorial service. It really is possible Sadler was all business – and not the insensitive woman alleged by Joe Biden.
Thomas McInerney, the retired three-star general, is the Republican who should be ashamed of himself because he knows McCain's opposition to CIA torture is based on the senator's personal experience. It is so unbecoming when an air force general belittles the personal sacrifice of a naval officer. In order to rebut Senator McCain's political position that torture does not work, General McInerney attacked Captain John McCain's military service record to suggest torture does work: “It worked on John. That’s why they call him Songbird John.” If liberals want a PC whipping boy, let it be McInerney.
It is doubtful McInerney’s claim is even true. McCain suffered through five years of torture with no evidence that he ever gave up information (the senator wrote that he named Green Bay Packers players as squadron members). His words were certainly not kind because McCain returned to civilian life physically impaired by his torturers. It is doubtful McCain's history should even enter the debate over Gina Haspel’s ability to lead the CIA: interrogation torture is now prohibited by US law.
McInerney's words on Fox Business are not exceptional for any cable news network. News panels spew despicable falsehoods left and right. Big issues confront the USA, and White House meeting etiquette is just not that important in the process to install a new CIA director. Most government employees – regardless of political stripe – speak casually and candidly amongst their like-minded colleagues. No Republican or Democrat should be fired because of a single sentence, because that will undermine the open and honest conversations needed in Washington.
This incident portrays the problem with political correctness. When people don't say exactly what they mean all the time, and words are too easily quoted out of context, it is absurd to get all geeked out about leaked comments to the press. Unlike an in-bound Iranian nuclear missile, words can be rescinded and re-stated to set the record straight, which is precisely what the White House did. That works for me.