Love & War: McCain and the Media

I really do think sometimes that I'm kind of a born sucker for poli-blogging--I'm not into sports, most tv bores me--national elections are like my Super Bowl. So I find I read election-related articles obsessively, clicking on links with the eagerness of a lab rat trained to push a lever for some sweet, sweet crack. I'm hooked. But I was a bit underwhelmed by the recent New York Times story regarding GOP candidate John McCain's possible (that's--possible) inappropriate relationship with an attractive lobbyist. Although, superficially, there's a whiff of a story, maybe two (the first being, why is he so tight with a lobbyist, anyway? The second being, she sure is blonde and pretty), but the article doesn't deliver for me.

I find I'm more interested in the less suggestive, and more substantive and germaine to what we'd expect from a McCain presidency, article I read recently from Jeff Huber from military.com, John McCain and the Forever War. I found it a useful analysis of the candidate's outlook. His apparent willingness to employ the military indefinitely and anywhere--when our military has already been stretched "dangerously thin" is a potential cause for alarm.

When I say "anywhere", I mean, check out this link. Granted, the US has had a presence any number of places since, say, WWII--but this was a mighty matter-of-fact way of putting it. Ultimately--can the US be everywhere? Fight on many fronts? How global can we afford the global war on terror to be? We are a superpower, that much is true. But even our resources, particularly regarding man-power, are finite.

I can't exactly say I have an answer--I'm just a blogger whose experience only extends to reading military sf. But what I'm hearing does concern me from a rational viewpoint.

And from an irrational viewpoint, too.