Of course. Let's talk about John McCain. John McCain is apparently determined to be remembered
as the angry guy who is, I don't even know, just he's basically going to be remembered
as a curmudgeon at this point, is he not?
Louis: Could be.
David: He-- the latest thing with him, he's basically just yelling at clouds. Now he's
saying, we're hearing that he's against the suicide prevention bill that was proposed.
This is according to, well, I'll just play it for you. This is pretty fascinating to
me, because you would think, McCain is a Republican, he is a war veteran, very well-respected,
he is known to be some kind of supposed expert when it comes to issues of the troops and
he's very well-respected, why wouldn't he want to go, we're not talking about a lot
of money here, just a little bit far enough to prevent suicides among people who may have
been in incredible situations of war, PTSD, so on? Well, apparently he doesn't want that.
Rush Holt: ... fairly straightforward, common-sense approach. And as I say, it passed the House
twice, it disappeared in the House/Senate conference, and last year, it was because
of objections by unnamed senators for unspecified reasons. Well, the same thing happened this
time, except that I began to suspect that Senator McCain had something to do with it.
So I spoke with him, and indeed, he said, 'Well, this is an overreach.' In order to--
this proactive approach is really unnecessary. And you know, I... you have said, and I, and
people are now very much aware that the rate of suicides among... in the...
David: All right, we know all about the rate of suicide, and it's disturbing. So why is
John McCain doing this? You know, some people are saying McCain, insiders are saying John
McCain is still very angry that he lost to Barack Obama in 2008, a guy who McCain allegedly
considers to be completely unqualified to be president of the United States. Some people
are saying that's just it, he's angry about that.
And in a way, I kind of feel bad for him. I mean, he picked Sarah Palin. Can you imagine
a worse move if you want to be president? He... and Louis's...
Louis: That could've been what cost him the election.
David: Louis is keeping his mic off today. He is involved in a different show; he's just
talking on the phone with people while I do the show here. He doesn't need his mic to
be on.
He wants studies on the studies about Don't Ask, Don't Tell. He's making it very clear
he just doesn't want gay people in the military. He is flipping out on reporters when he doesn't
think cameras are on. And in conversations with a lot of friends, people are saying he's
not really out of step with the American people, he's just angry with Barack Obama, and anything...
Louis: So he's just going against the grain because he's bitter?
David: That's right. That's what many are saying. Now, not everybody is saying this.
David Berman, who's a political science professor at Arizona State, he says this is not about...
this is not about Barack Obama. But it is true that he can't let go of things like Don't
Ask, Don't Tell, START, so on and so forth.
I used to think John McCain was somewhat reasonable, I'll be honest, and I was talking to a friend
the other day and they said you know, it's not John McCain that has become unreasonable,
it's that he used to appear reasonable because we were comparing him to George W. Bush. That
was the comparison. McCain's always been a nut.
Louis: Interesting point.
David: And now it's just becoming clear because he really is, you know, bitter and angry and
just standing in the way, and he's going to go down as the old guy who, "Get off my lawn!"
type of thing. And we'll see. We'll be sad if that happens, but it very well may be.
We'll take a break. We'll talk to Alan Nathan in a couple minutes. Make sure to visit us
on Twitter and on Facebook. It's... just big things happening on there. We'll be back after
this.
Announcer: The David Pakman Show at www.DavidPakman.com.
Transcript provided by Alex Wickersham. For transcription, translation, captions, and
subtitles, contact Alex at directtranslation@gmail.com.