McCain is Too Macho for Secret Service

Senator McCain says that the Secret Service is an inconvenience for himself and others and that it costs too much for too little protection.

"It's my intention, if we win this nomination, to reject Secret Service," he said during one of his many conversations with reporters on his Straight Talk Express this weekend. "Why do I need it?"

[...]

McCain admitted that a modern American president can't live without Secret Service protection. But he said presidents have let the protection get out of hand.

You get that? McCain is so concerned about your taxed dollars that he's willing to give up his own protection. I'm not comforted by this. Nor am I impressed. In fact, I'm questioning his judgment.

The Secret Service exists for a reason. Presidents have extraordinary authority and possess important secrets. Keeping them alive and unhurt isn't something to be shrugged at. And it's not like murder attempts on presidents are unheard of.

McCain knows this, so I have to wonder if he's really thought this through or if he's relying on the fact that, if he were president, the Secret Service would disobey him in order to protect him. If it's the first one, then he's totally unfit for higher office; we need leaders less likely to endanger national security. If it's the second one, then it's just bravado. It's just as unattractive in a septuagenarian as it is an an adolescent and as likely to result in the same thing.

Either way, it's disappointing to see in a presidential candidate. What do you think?

posted by Gabriel Malor at 02:00 AM

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