Is McCain Trying to Get Us All Killed?

John Amato at C&L reckons that a "cold war is exactly what the neocons want." http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/15/cafferty-to-mccain-say-what-in-the-21st-century-nations-dont-invade-other-nations/ I reckon he's right. The fall of the Soviet Union was a disaster for them, and folks were talking about "peace dividends" and other crazy things back in the 90s. They needed an existential threat to justify a massive national security and surveillance apparatus and an ever growing government. "Islamofascism" worked for a few years but has begun to wear thin, especially since they weren't able to deal with it competently while they were in power. It didn't help that the threat was largely illusory, either.

Now if they can ramp up some hate on the Russkies, they've got it made. Just dust off the old existential threat that worked so well for decades, and you can sail right into a fascist dictatorship before you know it.

Of course, this leaves McCain open to the "how can you trust that crazy old warmonger" and the "that crazy old coot's liable to get us all killed" memes. O'Bama could run LBJ's ad from 1964, the one with the mushroom cloud that was unfairly used against Barry Goldwater, only this time nobody can seriously argue that it's an unfair ad. Isn't it bad enough that the GOP has gotten the US bogged down in two land wars in Asia and is itching for a third without exposing us to the potentially very real menace of Russian missiles aimed at our heads? McCain's sabre rattling is irresponsible, and he actually makes Condi Rice look coolheaded and competent in comparison.

The Songbird should zip it. Maybe he figures that a nuclear strile would mainly hit urban areas where Democrats are stronger and that he can only win the election with the surviving mutants in flover country.