That’s exactly what I’m talking about. People are mad at this guy for still being a Republican. He’s super conservative. He’s never becoming a Democrat. Even if he left the party, he wouldn’t caucus with the Dems. The thing people here are saying is that you can never praise a Republican. You have to still hate them,…

That’s a fair point, but even if he left the party, he would still caucus with them. Plus, he would give the Republican pundiocracy more ammunition to say they should resign instead of just not running again.

He’s speaking out against Trump. Why doesn’t it work that way? Isn’t that something good? It seems to me that this site is just full of hate. I’m liberal as hell, but I don’t hate Republicans. And I don’t want my party to be taken over by hatred like the GOP has. It seems like this is a little pocket of the liberal…

That’s something, but he’s super conservative, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense for him. He’s not politically close to the Democrats. And that’s my point. People here are basically mad at him for not being a Democrat. They think he is full of shit if he speaks out but doesn’t try to stop the Republican agenda. He…

Now I’m wondering if you read my comment. My point is that they are Republicans. He is a Republican, kind of. They are close on policy. They vote for things they believe in, which is close to what he wants. No one should expect anything else.

I read it. What I’m seeing is that the author of the article thinks that if he was serious about resisting Trump, he would resist the whole GOP and make it hard for them to get anything done. Guess what, he’s still a Republican. Voting for the crazy shit he believes in doesn’t mean he’s a hypocrite, though.

Most of the stuff you cited was just things they believe in. I remember when people called the Republicans lackeys for voting for DeVos, who is clearly unqualified. But they voted for her because they like her. The same with the other nominees they accepted. They were people the Republicans wanted in those positions.

What’s an example of something he could have done to resist other than speaking out? They don’t have really any legislation. If he proposed anti-Trump legislation, McConnell wouldn’t put it to a vote.

I don’t think it was nobility. I think it was politics. I think the message was better if everyone else attacked Trump for the statement and McCain said he was worried about substantive issues. It’s just the smart move. If he attacks back, it’s a fight between two people. If he doesn’t, it’s one guy being an asshole…

Yeah, I’m guessing you only get a number this high when you are very clear that you are including sketchy news sources. I would bet it’s more like a quarter of Americans (mostly Republican) if you asked if the main stream media makes stuff up.

The reason he didn’t hit back was not because he was spineless. It was because responding gives him legitimacy, and because you can look petty if you fight back. If you refuse to comment while everyone else comes to your defense, you don’t risk making it look like it’s just a feud.

I completely disagree. First of all, the controversy didn’t putter out. They talked about that for months. It came up again and again. Second, I don’t know why he would have made it bigger. The only way he could have done so if he upped the drama by hitting back hard, and he was never going to do that. The response he…

Several prominent Republicans did, including every person he was running against, including Lindsey Graham who is also “an extremely well-established and largely liked GOP senator.” McCain did eventually speak out about it, as well. It didn’t stop Trump. The idea that adding his voice to the chorus at that moment…

Yeah, he made a really stupid joke about an enemy that was developing nuclear weapons, at the time. I’m not sure that makes him deranged.

Do you really think if John McCain had denounced Trump then in harsher terms, it would have ended Trump’s rise? That seems a little crazy to me. Most of the party denounced him, and it didn’t do anything.

I will give McCain a little credit. I think he deserves it. But he has only been slightly less cowardly than the rest.

So true. There is an irony in the fact that when Trump shouts “LIES!” the other person is usually telling the truth about his lies.

She is pretty terrible. It’s bad enough that she lies constantly, but when she attacked the media for “unfair personal attacks” because they correctly pointed out that she is a liar, I got to a point where there was no chance I could ever respect her. She acted so hurt when she did it, too. Like the media was beating…

Agreed. This is the kind of thing we on the left need to avoid. If someone has done something good, let them have it. Don’t find a reason to attack them for it. It leaves them with the impression that nothing is every good enough.

I’m trying to follow your logic here. We should keep them in second class status because it would make our budget worse to admit them? Can we also kick out some states for that? Because I live in Minnesota, and only Delaware gives more money, compared to what they take from the federal government. If this is becoming…