John McCain – The Neocons Preferred Candidate

In April 2005, Media Transparency reported that the neocons bet wrong in the 2000 presidential election by “excitedly preferring John McCain to George W. Bush.” Now, eight years later, John McCain is the heir apparent to the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States and, according to an MSNBC article, there is again a struggle heating up between Republicans with a conscience, the “pragmatists” or “realists” like Henry Kissinger, and those without a conscience and experts in the use of “Noble Lies,” the neoconservatives. Some of these neocons, who are providing foreign policy guidance for Senator McCain, are discussed below.

In a Newsmax.com article, there is the following statement, “Kissinger was one of several people McCain said he calls seeking advice on foreign policy, including Brent Scowcroft, George P. Shultz, Lawrence Eagleburger, Robert Kagan and William Kristol.”

On March 26, 2008, McCain delivered a foreign policy speech in Los Angeles. Robert Kagan helped write much of this speech.

Robert Kagan, along with William Kristol, co-founded the neocon group Project for the New American Century (PNAC). “PNAC, working with a compliant news media, developed, sold, enacted, and justified a war with Iraq.” Kagan’s father and brother, Frederick, are neocon historians and have rationalized on why this country needs a more interventionist military. Frederick wrote the American Enterprise (AEI) report, Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq, which was initially presented to President Bush on December 14, 2006, just prior to the surge they are now bringing to an end.

At the end of Kagan’s Washington Post April 2007 column, where Kagan accuses Barack Obama of being an “interventionist,” another Noble Lie, his short bio states, “He has been advising John McCain’s presidential campaign on an informal and unpaid basis.”

In a BBC profile, Kagan is credited for saying, “American power, even deployed under a double standard, may be the best means of advancing progress.”

According to the MSNBC article referenced at the beginning of this posting, Max Boot is another neocon advisor which John McCain relies on for foriegn policy advice. Like Robert Kagan, Boot is a contributor to William Kristol’s Weekly Standard, which, remember, is owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Boot made the following statement on February 12, 2008, in the Opinion section of the Los Angeles Times, “In my (admittedly biased) opinion, the leading candidate to scare the snot out of our enemies is a certain former aviator who has been noted for his pugnacity and his unwavering support of the American war effort in Iraq. Ironically, John McCain’s bellicose aura could allow us to achieve more of our objectives peacefully because other countries would be more afraid to mess with him than with most other potential occupants of the Oval Office — or the current one.” The bio at the end of this column states, “Max Boot is … an unpaid foreign policy advisor to the McCain campaign.”

While other neocons like Irving Kristol, father of William Kristol, have argued caution about the U.S. being the world’s sheriff, Boot has argued that the U.S should “embrace its imperial role.” He says, in the Weekly Standard, that “the solution is to be more expansive in our goals and more assertive in their implementation.”

In Jewish World Review and his discussion on Iran, Boot states, “Only if the Iranians fear the US are they likely to make major concessions.” Remember, fear mongering is the neocons favorite tool of manipulation, no matter who the enemy is – Iraq, Iran or our fellow citizens.

The MSNBC article also mentions John Bolton, Bush’s former ambassador to the UN.

In a recent address by Bolton to the Conservative Political Action Conference, he discussed how John McCain “was very active behind the scenes” in helping Bolton get the ambassadorship.

On February 9, 2008, the National Review Online reported John Bolton’s endorsement of John McCain and alludes to naming Bolton his Secretary of State.

On February 8, 2008, McClatchy Newspapers wrote that McCain’s “team is sprinkled with people, including Scheunemann, who were ardent backers of the 2003 Iraq invasion and who dismissed critics who warned of unintended consequences. They include former CIA Director James Woolsey … and William Kristol ….”

If GWB was not the first choice of the neocons in 2000 and they were still successful in gaining a significant foot hold in the Bush Administration, pushing for the Iraq invasion and the surge, then can you even imagine what they could accomplish with their number 1 choice, John McCain?