An Open Letter To Senator McCain

Dear Senator,

I know you won’t ever see this.  But I am going to ask this anyways.

What happened?

Back in 2000, I thought it was criminal that Bush managed to pull the rug out and walk away with the nomination.  To this day, I firmly believe that we would be looking at a better landscape had you been in his place.  And through the years, I found myself continuing to feel positive about your presence in politics.  You weren’t worried about making your party happy.  Or the other party, for that matter.  You seemed to be concerned about the citizens and were willing to work with the other side of the aisle to achieve that.

You made some missteps towards the election, but I was contemplating your vote.  And honestly, I felt like, no matter what, America would be okay in your hands or Obama’s.  Then you went and picked Sarah Palin.  At first, I didn’t know what to think.  I was a bit annoyed by the reliance on winking, but it seemed highly effective for wooing the right.  You had your rock star to compete with Obama.  And, okay, you flipped out when the economy tanked.  That could have been handled better.

And to your credit, when it was clear she had whipped up a scary frenzy of misinformation resulting in people believing any crazy conspiracy, you tried to stem the tide and tell people Obama was not evil, even though it got you booed.  When you lost?  It was the epitome of class.  And I was so pleased knowing that you were still going to be there.

But almost right after January 20th, 2009?  You morphed into this hard core right wing hack.  You suddenly were talking like a Tea Party guy.  It was as if you had given up hope and your values.  It seems as if you decided you might as well just go all out and jump off the ledge.

Just the other day, you said:

“There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year.  They have poisoned the well in what they’ve done and how they’ve done it.”

With all due respect, “they” did not poison the well, Senator.  Your side did.  Your side that wanted to participate, but never compromise.  Your side that wanted photo ops with the President-yet question if he is even an American citizen.  Your side, which contributed little to the actual debate-but contributed a lot of vitriol to the fringe right, who now speak of taking up arms and assassinating the President.  You turned your back on your virtues to pander to the John Boehners and Michelle Bachmanns of your party…people who should be ashamed that they fed vandals and thugs lies and deception, to the result that people are making death treats to congressman and women.  Yet, many in your party are just writing these terrible actions off as “Well, you gotta understand people are frustrated.”  The John McCain I respected never would have accepted any of this.  He would never promise that there will be no cooperation.  What did you do to him?  Is he a still small voice waiting to be heard again?

I miss John McCain.  I hate to see you taint your own history at this point.

Come Back to the light, Senator.  It misses you.