…I agree with Allahpundit’s reaction to John McCain’s / Lindsey Graham’s reaction to said filibuster:
You would think Maverick might at least seize the opportunity to note that the guy who beat him five years ago did so in part by campaigning on a lie, but that would mean giving an inch of ground to the isolationists on his own side. So instead he sides with O even though everyone from Reince Priebus to Fox News to the Ron Paul fan base to Jon Stewart is patting Paul on the back, and inexplicably he insists on being nasty about it just in case anyone who enjoyed Paul’s performance hasn’t been completely alienated by McCain yet. Question for my fellow hawks: Is this really the hill to die on vis-a-vis paleocon/libertarian foreign policy? Arguing in favor of a president’s power to fire missiles at an enemy combatant on U.S. soil even if he’s a U.S. citizen and isn’t engaged in terrorism at the time when the FBI could just as easily go in and grab him? If that’s a “wacko bird” position, then a lot of people who agree with it will be left wondering whether the entire mainstream rap on libertarians and paleocons as being “fringe” and “extreme” is a lie. Maverick and Graham need to learn to pick their battles.
John McCain is perfectly welcome to die on this hill, and I do not wish him particular ill – but it’s time that the man start thinking about his plans for his sunset years. As in, does he really want to spend the remaining years of his life chained to a job where he’s angry all the time? I can’t imagine that this is helping the Senator’s health any.
Moe Lane
PS: Word of warning for the non-neocons: as the above notes, Senator Paul gave defense hawks a good deal of wiggle room when it came to whether we could honorably support his filibuster. Don’t get greedy.