He is no Teddy Roosevelt, for sure INSIGHTS: by Joe Howard Crews - Aug. 5, 2008 McCain keeps trying to recast himself as a different kind of Republican from that of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, who have both become radioactive for all Republican candidates everywhere. How things have changed. On May 22, 2006, Dick Cheney flew into San Diego at the invitation of Brian Bilbrary, to campaign for him in his race against Francine Busby. Today, not even Bilbray wants Bush or Cheney anywhere around him. In an attempt to recast his image, McCain keeps calling himself a Roosevelt Republican, as in TEDDY Roosevelt, not FDR. Time after time McCain has proclaimed "I am a Teddy Roosevelt Republican." American voters are so abysmally ignorant of their own history, only those Americans who are students of history or those close to 100 years old could make some valid judgments about Theodore Roosevelt. Who was this man? What did he do to deserve having his noble face carved in granite at Mount Rushmore A Nobel Peace Prize winner, an accomplished author, hunter and explorer, Teddy Roosevelt mastered many arts during his lifetime. Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese war. Although an aggressive president when it came to military matters, he is the only president to have been awarded the honor while President of the United States. Roosevelt authored over 25 books. Few of our presidents make as interesting a study as Teddy Roosevelt, who left us with innumerable gifts to remember him by: Most of the original National Parks and the National Park system were created by Roosevelt. Our 26th president, he certainly deserves being one of those four carved in granite. He was the first rock solid environmentalist president. Few presidents were so beloved while they were in office, and he entered as the youngest of all American presidents, at age 42. If McCain thinks Obama is a “charismatic rock star celebrity”, he doesn’t know about Teddy Roosevelt. John F. Kennedy was 43 when he took the oath of office. Barack Obama’s birthday was yesterday (Aug. 4, 1961), which will make him an old man of 47 when he takes office -- but not as old as John McCain, who would be the oldest man ever to enter the White House at age 72. Certainly McCain bears no resemblance to the young swashbuckling Roughrider adventurer Roosevelt entering the White House at age 42. While McCain was frittering his youth away drinking and nearly flunking out of Annapolis, Roosevelt began his illustrious career with his election as an Assemblyman in New York at the age of 23. At this age, McCain’s life took a sharp turn, as he was shipped as a naval pilot to the war in Vietnam and became a prisoner of war for five and a half years. McCain paints himself as a “maverick”, like Teddy Roosevelt. McCain’s political life and philosophy are sharply different from that of Roosevelt, who was a REAL maverick: a man that had an annoying tendency to do what he felt was right rather than heedlessly protect powerful business interests. As you read the following short history of Roosevelt, ask yourself “Is John McCain a maverick like Teddy Roosevelt, or is he a loose cannon, gyrating back and forth from left to right to further right. In fact, ask yourself if McCain is in any way like Roosevelt: SOURCE: ushistory.net/roosevelt.html When Roosevelt became governor of New York in January of 1899 he fulfilled the worst expectations of NY Republican party boss, Tom Platt. He would not let Platt dominate his term or his decision making. In particularly he angered and defied Platt on the biggest issue of his term - utility franchise taxes. At that time public service corporations did not pay taxes on their franchises. They did pay Platt to make sure it stayed that way. Roosevelt felt that government should n See more like this at www.ProgressivePost.com |
