The 12 Steps of Highly Annoying Senators
Over at Politico, former reason intern Jeremy Lott writes up former reason staffer Matt Welch's new book, McCain: The Myth of a Maverick. A snippet:
The new 12-step McCain became an advocate of invading countries for looking at us funny. He supported going into Iraq during the 2000 primaries, was the chief advocate for the troop surge in Iraq and is itching for a fight with Iran.
On the domestic front, Welch pointed out that "McCain is now one of the most robust regulators in the Senate." Car emissions, Major League Baseball, cable television, boxing, ultimate fighting—you name it, McCain wants to control it, ban it or, at the very least, fret about it.
"One of the ironies of this book," Welch said, is that it began out of his fondness for McCain. "He really is a charismatic fellow, he has a strange sense of humor and he's an American hero." However, Welch finds McCain's vision for where to lead the country to be deeply troubling.
"He has a militaristic conception of citizenship, inadequate respect for the Constitution and, most importantly, during a time when the military is overstretched and the world has painted a giant red target on our backs, his threatens to be the most interventionist presidency since his idol, Teddy Roosevelt. I don't think we can afford that right now."