by Jeffery Rendall
Every company, organization and family has one – a so-called “Devil’s advocate.” Wikipedia defines “Devil’s advocate” as “someone who, given a certain point of view, takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with (or simply an alternative position from the accepted norm), for the sake of debate or to explore the thought further.”
Needless to say American politics is full of loathsome “Devil’s advocate” troublemakers. These naysayers take cover behind self-styled “principled” objections to deserving actions when they’re really just seeking sympathetic media attention for themselves – or even worse, they have an axe to grind against rivals in the party. Sometimes they’re known as “independents” or “mavericks” but they’re not individualistic at all – they’re agitators.
Senator John McCain played “Devil’s advocate” last week after the newly released House Intelligence Committee memo detailed multiple abuses by FBI officials in pursuit of a vendetta against then candidate and now President Donald Trump. While conservatives and Republicans reacted with stunned horror to the notion of government officers deliberately employing surveillance powers to play politics, “D.A. McCain” took the opposite approach.
Elena Schor of Politico reported, “The statement from McCain, who is away from Washington undergoing treatment for brain cancer, came minutes after Trump signed off on the release of the memo crafted by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee. McCain directly connected his fellow Republicans’ campaign to undercut the FBI with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meddling in the 2016 election.
“’The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests — no party’s, no president’s, only Putin’s,’ McCain said.
“A longtime Russia hawk who helped shape a bipartisan package of sanctions against Moscow last year, McCain added that ‘Special Counsel [Robert] Mueller’s investigation must proceed unimpeded.’”
Investigation of what, Senator McCain? If the House memo didn’t clarify things for you certainly all of last year’s witness testimony combined with the utter absence of evidence against any Trump campaign “collusion” with the Russians should make it plain the Mueller investigation is a pure partisan witch hunt dreamed up by people who hated Trump and sought to bring him down through any means available – which we now know includes the Hillary-sponsored dirty Steele dossier packed full of lies and innuendo.
It’s clear the “Russian collusion” theory is a fantasy dreamed up by leftists and Democrats to depict Trump as a Mafioso-like sleazebag who would stop at nothing to steal the election and deprive Crooked Hillary of her chance to transform/finish off America after eight years of the ideologically driven Obama junta.
One can only surmise what motivated McCain to join Trump’s enemies’ side in this matter. Any objective observer (if there are any left) would recognize Vladimir Putin didn’t sabotage the outcome of the 2016 election. Why McCain and his ilk continue holding a grudge against the Russians is beyond me – in comparison to the Cold War days of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s the formerly fierce Soviet bear has withered to a pathetic cub.
Russia’s nuclear arsenal remains formidable and its military capable of offensive movements against geographic neighbors but there’s zero indication Putin plans to prosecute a war against American or western interests (if there is evidence, what is it?). McCain’s anti-Russian tirade makes it seem like he and his neoconservative pals are still relevant. They’re not.
While it’s still believed the Russians “meddled” in the election in some fashion they certainly didn’t do it for Trump’s benefit. There’s a simple explanation for their behavior, too.
Roger L. Simon wrote at PJ Media, “Regarding the question of what the Russians were up to in 2016, it seems many of our friends at the FBI never read Ion Pacepa’s Disinformation. This is rather surprising considering Pacepa is the highest-ranking Soviet bloc intelligence official ever to defect to the West.
“But never mind, the substance of what Pacepa, chief intel officer to Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, tells us is that what the KGB (and now the FSB) is almost always up to is disinformation. Spying is too difficult, time consuming and often inaccurate. Disinformation is simple. So that’s what they have given us and always will.
“Did they want Trump to win? Absurd. Like everyone else — except me and Scott Adams — they thought Hillary was going to win. They just wanted to sow discord. This is so obvious a third grader should be able to figure it out. The whole Trump Russia Collusion story is, to put it simply, bananas. Not even Adam Schiff could reallybelieve it — at least I hope not, in which case he would have to be a lunatic.”
No one really knows what Adam “shifty” Schiff truly believes; any original thoughts the California congressman might have are buried so deep behind his truth-contorting lips they’ll never see the light of day. Schiff isn’t really a “Devil’s advocate” in the classic sense – instead he’s a partisan hack who craves to propagate the farce that candidate Trump was in cahoots with the Russians despite the establishment of no connection whatsoever between the Republican nominee and the foreign enemy.
If anything it appears the Clinton campaign was the one colluding with the Russians through the Steele dossier. How’s that for turning the tables?
If — as liberals maintain — there was cooperation by Trump’s people, who carried it out? The best the Democrats could produce are a hapless and strategically insignificant duo of Trump aides (Carter Page and George Papadopoulos) as the supposed links between the two entities. It goes without saying the Democrats need faces and names behind their crackpot conspiracy theories — otherwise it’s a collection of untied conjecture knots and fruitless data searches for something that isn’t there.
The media perpetuates and spreads the Democrats’ lies to generate readership and ratings from the “#resistance” crowd. If leftist journalists and pundits didn’t have Russia to talk about they’d be forced to report on the real happenings in America today (like economic growth and a falling unemployment rate). They’d also need to mention exploding consumer confidence and the Republicans’ sustained drive to foster job growth through tax reform and energy development.
If that were the case no one would lend any credence to the Democrats’ griping about how bad things are in the economy today and Trump’s alleged racism. Democrats’ brand is in the garbage can and there’s not much they can do about it other than bellyache about Russia.
Even their messengers are pathetic. Emily Jashinsky of the Washington Examiner wrote over the weekend, “It seemed after President Trump secured an upset victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016, there was a measure of agreement that his win was wake-up call for Democrats. But as the party gradually configures its strategy in the era of Trump, that lesson appears to have been lost.
“Maybe ‘lost’ isn’t the right word.
“Take the State of the Union response Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., delivered on Tuesday … there’s the inescapable reality that Democrats chose a Kennedy – a member of one of the country’s most elite political dynasties – to appeal to the working class, and at a time when anti-establishment sentiments are running high on both sides of the aisle and everywhere in between. Clinton learned that particular lesson the hard way.”
What brainless Democrat poohbah chose the snot-nosed red-haired 37 year-old Kennedy to deliver their official response to Trump’s SOTU address? Maybe it was the party’s “Devil’s advocate” as it would take someone on the inside working against the Democrats’ interests to parade out the poster boy of liberal excess to speak on the record about their platform and goals.
Tell me the car in Kennedy’s background didn’t make you think of the late Teddy Kennedy’s (Joe III’s great uncle) sordid history with scuttled automobiles and lifeless bodies…?
It could be Democrats have run out of reasonable spokespeople to represent them in front of national audiences. It’s a well-known fact most recognizable Democrats these days are pasty white and long past the retirement age. Obama fooled people into thinking Democrats are post-baby boomers carrying a full sack of “Hope and Change” ideas and shtick in contrast to the Republicans’ stuffy white shirts with over-starched collars.
Instead screechy old crones like Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi are the real core of the party as are senile old coot Bernie Sanders and back slappin’ and nude swimmin’ Joe Biden.
Kennedy didn’t do anything to improve the Democrats’ brand, put it that way. It’s almost sad to watch.
Not to be outdone, in addition to McCain Republicans have other “Devil’s advocates” (a.k.a. #NeverTrumpers). Trump singled one out for special ridicule the other night. Alex Isenstadt of Politico reported, “Appearing before a Republican National Committee dinner at his downtown Washington hotel, the president went after the Ohio governor several times by name, according to three people who were present. The president mocked [John] Kasich, who is being termed-out of office and fell short in the 2016 GOP primary, and described him as one of his loudest and most relentless critics…
“Kasich adviser John Weaver on Friday tweeted a response to the president, saying Trump could learn a few things from the Ohio governor.
“’54% percent of Ohioans think Ohio is on the right track and 59% of Americans think the nation is on the wrong track. 57% of Ohioans approve of Kasich, 59% of Americans disapprove of Trump,’ Weaver tweeted. ‘Ultimately, there are #TwoPaths leaders can take: the higher path leads to better results for more people; the lower path leads to dysfunction, more resentment, indictments & prison. Both @JohnKasich & @realDonaldTrump have selected their respective path & expected outcome.’”
One wouldn’t expect John Kasich or his tiny band of pitiful establishment cronies to be any more adept at acknowledging reality today than they were in 2016, but nonetheless their enduring focus on Trump’s “tone” is a loser. The American people chose Trump in the GOP primaries and general election, not the wimpy “#TwoPaths” guy. Kasich and crew sound like Democrats – sore losers without a platform to stand on.
Sooner or later the “Devil’s advocates” in each party become recognizable for what they are: contrarian voices that people more or less ignore. All the pseudo-Russia scandals in the world won’t make a difference in the long run because one way or another truth always comes to light.
Reprinted with permission from ConservativeHQ.com
John McCain, one of the “Keating Five” involved in a major political and economic corruption scandal during a savings and loan crisis in the 1990″s who should have gone to jail but didn’t.
Yes he was a POW in the Viet Nam war but why is that a reason to give him a pass for wrong-doing and sheer stupidity? Like meeting going to Syria when it was against the law and going to a meeting attended by the leader of ISIS?
He was a democrat before he was a republican and changed parties so he could get elected. He’s only been reelected due to the huge number of illegal alien votes cast in Arizona. Personally I think he’s a Manchurian candidate.
Very much involved in Syria/Isis…
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/07/19/president-trump-cancels-obamakerry-cia-program-arming-isis-and-al-qaeda-in-syria/
McCain is a grumpy old man who is out of touch with the vision of his own political party and he has been for years. Once called a “maverick” he has proven to be the contrarian as described in this article. I have to wonder if this is just his way of trying to be considered headline news when in fact he is just an old burnt out traitor.