In 2002, Will Pitt wrote a book that completely exposed the run up to the Iraq war.....

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79. There were a few of them - reporters who got fired because they dared to question the war.

If one valued one's job and paycheck, one didn't make waves. It still makes me feel sick to my stomach. And DAMN we here tried so hard to warn people! SO HARD!!! And nobody wanted to listen. No one was paying any attention. Your patriotism was questioned immediately if you weren't in lockstep support of the bushies. I used to get mean, angry, menacing looks from pickup truck drivers on the Ventura Freeway because I dared to have bumper stickers in the rear window of my car that read "War is Not the Answer," "Dean for America, and "bush KNEW." Once my car was even keyed. And one of my tires was slashed. And that was the night my daughter borrowed my car. Only then did I take those bumper stickers off because I was afraid for her. Not so much for me, but if something happened to her at the hand of some knuckledragger, I'd never have forgiven myself.

It was such a bad time. I remember arguing with another one of the "karate moms" in the neighborhood, who just rock-solid insisted that cheney had served. I just-as-rock-solidly insisted otherwise. She refused to believe me - she was what you'd regard as a 1%er and she and her husband were CONservative and voted straight GOP, and I think she thought I was some hippie nut (even though she did like my art - and me too, when we weren't talking politics). It was only when a third neighborhood mom stepped in - a not-so-CONservative 1%er - who verified that I was correct, that cheney never served. And the first woman was visibly shaken, and suddenly started stammering "well, I'm being given wrong information. I'm getting wrong information." Referring to her brother-in-law or some other fellow limbaugh disciple who'd reassured her that yes, cheney had served. It reminded me of one of those old cartoons where the robot shorts out and goes "Tilt!" But did it change anything about her attitude? Did it give her a pause - to think and rethink what she'd been led to believe? Naaah. Not a chance. Wasn't moved to start questioning anything else. She was as relentlessly republi-CON as ever. And since I was one of those silly ol' tax-'n'-spend libruls, she certainly wasn't willing to take my word for it. It took a third person stepping in, independently, to set her straight.

BY THE WAAAAAY - keep in mind that we also have not just the willfully thick-headed but those, like I suspect john mccain is, who are too proud to get real for a moment and admit they were wrong. OH DEAR GOD NO! We can't POSSIBLY have that!!!!!! Must NOT be!!!!

NOBODY likes admitting they were wrong. It takes courage to do that. It takes courage to admit you swallowed the bullshit whole and did not consider raising a single question. It takes a lot of self-examination and honesty and very adult behavior to admit you fell for something without even considering ANY opposing views. Nobody wants to admit, or own up to the fact that they've been had. Which is exactly the case here. I suspect there's some manhood thing going on here with a lot of 'em. The whole Who's-the-Alpha-Male thing. This is a struggle I suspect john mccain has had for most of his life. He's the son and grandson of admirals and he was something like fifth from the BOTTOM in his own Annapolis Naval Academy graduating class. He cost the Navy (and us taxpayers) several jet fighters with his sloppy airmanship. And in one case, he damn near took out the whole carrier on which he blew a landing. Seems to me he had the same father complex dubya had - straining under the weight of a type-A high-achiever dad and the fear that li'l junior just didn't have what it took to fit into the old man's shoes and make them his own, and take his "rightful" place as the alpha male of the whole family. And as we've seen and had to suffer through - that makes for some screwy decisions and reckless behavior and costly waste and ill-advised actions and statements and cockiness that goes straight up the ass.

I think we're gonna see an even pricklier john mccain once this documentary airs. It'll just remind quite a few people across the country where he stood on Iraq, and how nobody with a shred of a brain can say that war was anything but a shitty idea and a lie.