Senator McCain calls anti-Kissinger protesters low life scum

[Organized States]

Not as fun as beating them with nightsticks. Though that would look bad on C-SPAN.

Get those hecklers out of the building. Disrespect and Debate like that have no place in the halls of democracy.

[Connori Pilgrims]

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain has kicked protesters out of a budget hearing, calling them “low-life scum.”

The upheaval came Thursday on Capitol Hill after members of an anti-war group calling itself Code Pink approached a witness table where former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright and George P. Shultz were testifying. The protesters carried signs calling the 91-year-old Kissinger a war criminal.

“Arrest Henry Kissinger for war crimes!” the protesters chanted.

McCain shot back, “Get out of here, you low-life scum.”

Capitol Police removed the protesters from the room.

Source as well as video of event

This is absolutely disgraceful of McCain for defending a war criminal. I've lost the tiny amount of respect I've had for McCain, which wasn't very much.

Some background info on Kissinger's crimes if those are unaware: In Chile, Kissinger helped Augusto Pinochet overthrow the democratically elected Socialist government of Salvador Allende, sent thousands of political dissidents to their deaths, and installed a military dictatorship (fascism). From 1969 through 1973, Kissinger, working for Richard Nixon, oversaw the slaughter in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, which led to the deaths of millions of people. Many thousands more died from the affects of massive doses of Agent Orange and from unexploded US bombs that cover the countryside. Later, in 1975, while working for President Gerald Ford, Kissinger pre-approved the Indonesian dictator Suharto’s bloody invasion of the small island of East Timor. This illegal act of aggression was carried out with weapons furnished by the US. By the time the Indonesian occupation finally ended in 1999, 200,000 Timorese – 30 percent of the population – had been wiped out (in other words, genocide).

Kissinger is a war criminal, for starting illegal wars, overthrowing elected leaders, dropping chemical weapons, or committing slaughter and genocide against those helpless. Sadly, he will most likely not be charged, and history, at least in America, will forget his heinous war crimes and crimes against Humanity.

What are your thoughts on McCain calling the protesters "low life scum"? Also, what are your thoughts on Henry Kissinger?

I think both are scum, personally.

The execution of foreign policy has always been and will forever be a horrible but necessary business as long as a nation has any pretensions to global or great power status, or even more simply as long as a nation gives a damn about its own national interests, whatever those may be and whoever pushes them.

Attempting to judge the past actions of a 91-year old man by moralistic standards, especially in the typically amateur and politically biased ways that people like Code Pink does, serves no meaningful purpose except for pat-in-the-back feel-good self-righteousness which frankly characterizes most of these boring Western middle-class political protest movements. I facepalm at these people because there are many bad politicians who are relevant NOW that they can and should go after... not this 91-year old chap who I thought was dead already in all honesty, seeing as he rarely does anything noteworthy these days.

Kissinger merely did what he thought would advance US interests regardless of the dubious morality of several of his decisions and advocacies. Whether they were necessary or if they could have been avoided is for alternate history buffs to speculate on. Calling him a war criminal (or scum, as the OP believes) is just another example of base political sloganeering to advance whatever ultimate goal these Code Pink fellas think to gain from calling him such.

As for McCain, he should really retire. Politics is a young man's game.

[Tsaraine]

McCain, like Kissinger, is a Cold War fossil, unearthed from some argon-filled time capsule in a bunker sealed since the 1960s. This was the era of the House Un-American Activities Committee, a rather different age, when dissent against the USA was even more frowned upon than it is today. It's not surprising that McCain would despise what are, in his eyes, pinko liberal traitors to the Republic bent on installing Communism.

Kissinger ... is probably not strictly a war criminal. I think it'd be very hard to prove any sort of ordering of or carrying out of war crimes by Kissinger. Kissinger's fault is rather in the promulgation of a particularly ruthless and bellicose approach to foreign policy and nuclear annihilation - playing with fire in the hopes that the other guy would get burned more than you did. This is not a responsible approach to nuclear power. So Kissinger is at least partially responsible for MAD and the Cold War in general.

To be honest I had no idea Kissinger was still alive, I thought he must have died off sometime in the late eighties or early nineties. I don't think accusing him of war crimes has much point these days - he'll die soon enough and be completely irrelevant to politics, not just mostly. McCain, on the other hand, really ought to retire; this isn't his millennium.

[Alyakia]

He's right.

Kissinger was and is a brilliant statesman and foreign policy genius. The real shame is his mind wasn't utilized more.

is there any war criminal or mass murderer, anywhere, that you won't defend?

well, specifically ones that are on your side. is that the key issue? whether they're on your side, or at least say they are?

[The Greater Aryan Race]

He's right.

Kissinger was and is a brilliant statesman and foreign policy genius. The real shame is his mind wasn't utilized more.

is there any war criminal or mass murderer, anywhere, that you won't defend?

well, specifically ones that are on your side. is that the key issue? whether they're on your side, or at least say they are?

>implying Kissinger is a war criminal/mass murderer.

Evidence to back up that little conjecture of yours?

[Imperialpowersofkorea]

Kissinger got destroyers in the bay of bengal and ignored the blood telegram, I hate him.

[Mike the Progressive]

He's right.

Kissinger was and is a brilliant statesman and foreign policy genius. The real shame is his mind wasn't utilized more.

is there any war criminal or mass murderer, anywhere, that you won't defend?

well, specifically ones that are on your side. is that the key issue? whether they're on your side, or at least say they are?

War criminal or mass murderer are terms that can be (and are) thrown around so liberally, so loosely that technically every leader of every nation who has overseen military action is one.

[Ifreann]

Do you kiss your picture of St. Reagan with that mouth, Senator?

---

is there any war criminal or mass murderer, anywhere, that you won't defend?

well, specifically ones that are on your side. is that the key issue? whether they're on your side, or at least say they are?

War criminal or mass murderer are terms that can be (and are) thrown around so liberally, so loosely that technically every leader of every nation who has overseen military action is one.

Probably not really, though.

[Alyakia]

is there any war criminal or mass murderer, anywhere, that you won't defend?

well, specifically ones that are on your side. is that the key issue? whether they're on your side, or at least say they are?

War criminal or mass murderer are terms that can be (and are) thrown around so liberally, so loosely that technically every leader of every nation who has overseen military action is one.

do you think every leader had rape dogs and openly wiped entire villages off the map (there's a reason it's often refereed to as a genocide). it can be vague sometimes but there's also pretty clear lines.

war crimes are just like your opinion man

e and yes before someone asks, kissinger is directly connected to the guy that brought us the wonder of rape dogs. this is why we kinda don't like him.

[Earl of Sandwich IV]

Despite being an strong supporter of the vietnam war, I agree that Kissinger is the tremendously overrated. His results aren't impressive, his books suck and his methods warrant the war criminal label. His popularity is and was based on his pop icon image. Swinger & playboy, fucked all the ladies, close friends various popstars and so on. Kind of like the che of USA or something.
Still love MCCain though

[Apparatchikstan]

John McCain is an ass, Henry Kissinger is an asshole, and Code Pink are self-righteous prigs representing an internal genetalia. If it were me, they'd get tear gas and dogs everywhere they went just on general principle till they experience an epiphany, and find something useful to do with their lives. Like helping distribute aid amongst an African refugee group, people who truly understand war crimes.

[Kelinfort]

Kissenger was a fine diplomat.

That being said, if he was a commie, he'd be in The Hague in a heartbeat.

[Robert Magoo]

By definition, they are collateral.



Except it wasn't thought of as wrong then.

Indeed. It's like the people who want Jefferson hated because he owned slaves. His time; you would have been strange to not have some. Now we believe that's a bad thing......

Slavery was always wrong. The thing is that Jefferson treated his slaves relatively well, and if he hadn't kept them, they would have likely ended up in worse hands elsewhere.

[Divitaen]

Kissinger was honestly a terrible Secretary of State and advisor. He is arguably responsible, at least in part, for many of the US's worst foreign policy moves, including letting in the Shah that started the Iran hostage crisis, and of course who can forget the Vietnam War. And of course the intervention in Chile that installed right-wing dictator Augusto Pinochet. The protestors were right, Kissinger is a terrible leader and like most US foreign policy officials has blood on his hands. McCain was being a usual jingoistic idiot.

[The United Colonies of Earth]

Disturbing man. As for the protestors, well, they are a part of the American psyche and as such, unless John can come up with a way to justify it, they're hardly scum.

[Risottia]

This doesn't imply he's not a war criminal, though.

We've not really been presented with something that would imply he is either.

So? My point stands anyway.

[Margno]

Defending war criminals and mass murderers are we now, McCain? I always knew your presidency would've been fascist, but I didn't know how literally.

[Saiwania]

As for McCain, he should really retire. Politics is a young man's game.

Heh, that must be why the US presidency has a minimum age requirement of 35 years of age, the US Senate- 30 years of age, and why all the oldest incumbents have an edge and tend to be reelected? If anything, politics is an elder person's game.

[Kaylea]

Saw this on the news, was hilarious. Another American war criminal scumbag who's escaped justice. Lock up his murderous hawkish ass.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Yes, Kissinger was a prick.

Yes, Kissinger's views influence modern U.S. Foreign Policy.

As long as we act upon our interests as a nation the legacy of Kissinger is going to live in our Foreign Policy, and that's not necessarily a bad thing for our nation, but we shouldn't complain about criticism either.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Kissinger was honestly a terrible Secretary of State and advisor. He is arguably responsible, at least in part, for many of the US's worst foreign policy moves, including letting in the Shah that started the Iran hostage crisis, and of course who can forget the Vietnam War. And of course the intervention in Chile that installed right-wing dictator Augusto Pinochet. The protestors were right, Kissinger is a terrible leader and like most US foreign policy officials has blood on his hands. McCain was being a usual jingoistic idiot.

Every Secretary of State after Kissinger has bloodstains in their closets of skeletons.

The fact you just mention Kissinger doesn't suggest a whole lot.

[Hanzhong (Ancient)]

Cavorting with Ukrainian neo-Nazis, and now this. McCain should salvage what remains of his dignity and retire to the Old Senator's Home.

Kissinger of course, should appear before an international tribunal for war crimes.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Indeed. It's like the people who want Jefferson hated because he owned slaves. His time; you would have been strange to not have some. Now we believe that's a bad thing......

Slavery was always wrong. The thing is that Jefferson treated his slaves relatively well, and if he hadn't kept them, they would have likely ended up in worse hands elsewhere.

That doesn't deny the fact that we cannot apply current morality to the past.

Historians often refrain from it. You cannot judge a person's actions once they are gone and declare them evil scum. You can, however, give honest disapproval of such actions and ensure people remember these things so it never happens again.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Cavorting with Ukrainian neo-Nazis, and now this. McCain should salvage what remains of his dignity and retire to the Old Senator's Home.

Kissinger of course, should appear before an international tribunal for war crimes.

And destroy our international standing that we're right in what we're doing?

Pffft. You got too much faith.

[Alyakia]

Slavery was always wrong. The thing is that Jefferson treated his slaves relatively well, and if he hadn't kept them, they would have likely ended up in worse hands elsewhere.

That doesn't deny the fact that we cannot apply current morality to the past.

Historians often refrain from it. You cannot judge a person's actions once they are gone and declare them evil scum. You can, however, give honest disapproval of such actions and ensure people remember these things so it never happens again.

let's apply the morality of the day then! what's that? there were still many abolitionists and even abolitionist nations who clearly knew it was wrong, and hell even jefferson said it was wrong, but they did it anyway because it's too much effort to change and it benefits then and justified it with "w-well everyone does it"? basically the same arguments you are almost going to definitely use in defence of U.S. foreign policy and kissinger? lol.