Maverick or Misfit? John McCain's Legacy In A Neoliberal Context

Yesterday, John McCain succumbed to brain cancer. In this video, I examine his legacy and show that far from being a maverick, he was quite at home in the establishment during the Neoliberal era and was perfectly happy with the direction of the country's economic and foreign policy.

[Bluebelle]

John McCain will be remembered by the Navajo as the man who poisoned their drinking water and was chased off the reservation with rocks

[lawrence]

He only voted right on health care because he hated Trump. The hero story on that vote is just ridiculous. An excellent analysis.

[olefredrikskjegstad]

It seems to be a pretty consistent trend in human history that the lower the stakes are the fiercer the fighting is, when speaking about opposing groups. The amount of violence and war between different branches of the same religion is an obvious example of this, and so is the constant infighting between factions of a general political idea, like with the Dems and Reps here.

[lawrence]

That’s right, Obama signed off on privatizing social security. It’s hard to believe even at the time I thought I was hallucinating, Me and my wife got our SS and without it, it would be very hard times, and for a lot of people. Unbelievable.

[henrikg]

They say that a brain tumor can change a man's personality quite heavily. Well, that may be an excuse for his later, bitter and most warmongering years. But not for all the years before that. So, no excuse, and the glorification in media right now is pathetic.

[tacocruiser]

The "Maverick" label only makes sense because he was a fighter pilot.

[antiochusiiithegreat]

Trump should definitely go to his funeral.

[billwheeler]

Excellent analysis overall, Thersites, but I remain more sympathetic to Senator McCain than you are. I agree that he he was ultimately ineffective of holding up standards of civility, but he seemed authentic in many of those attempts, such as his defense of Huma Abedin after she was smeared by Tea Party ideologues such as Michele Bachmann and Steve King. To me, the question would be how much was he a Reaganaut poseur and how much a Don Quixote of his time. The best evaluation of McCain would somewhere lay in between those poles.

I am looking forward to your coming series on the neoliberal era. I prefer the term "trickle down" to neoliberalism, sinnce trickle down is called "supply side" when the Republicans do it and "neoliberalism" when the Democrats do it, but is otherwise the same thing and We, the People, need to find a way to bury it with a stake through its heart.