Hey, McCain, Give Trump A Chance

Foreign policy under Obama has been a disaster.  Okay, Republicans, we all agree.  So, let's not act stupid now -- especially you, John McCain.  And, yes, you too Lindsey Graham.

So you guys now want to punish Putin for hacking the Democratic National Committee.  And, horror of horrors, for using the information they collected to embarrass Hillary, thereby tilting the election  in Trump's favor?

If Putin actually did what they say -- and as far as I'm concerned, that's still an open question -- Putin was being even more stupid than you guys.  Not because Putin should have foreseen that he might get caught, but because he should have seen that he was acting against Russia's own best interests.  As I see it, trying to look at the matter from Russia's point of view, it would be in Russia's interest to try to weaken the U.S. as much as possible.  That, as I see it, would have meant tilting the election over to Hillary.

Had she won, the division between blacks and whites, Latinos, the young, the police, etc. etc. would have been exacerbated.  Our military would continue to have been weakened.  Her social programs, not to mention her environmental policies, would have gutted our economy, and on, and on, and on. If Putin really did succeed in tilting the election in Trump's favor, we should applaud him not punish him.

I am being facetious -- but only a little bit.  The larger lesson is that it's time to face the realities of cyberspace.  We have to grow up.  Cyberspace can do a whole lot of good.  But, it can also be used in hurtful ways.  Why punish Russia?  Nations, to the extent they were able to get away with it, bugged one another.  That's common knowledge.  Why does anyone think that nations won't hack one another?

That doesn't have to prove fatal.  There are safety measures that can be taken.  And, that too is something that all nations know.  Out military knows it.  Other departments within the government know it.  (Or, they damn well ought to know it.)  To their own regret, it is something that the DNC overlooked and it appears the chief dummy, among many, was Hillary herself.  Indeed, if we don't try to hack our enemies there is something clearly wrong with us.

And so now McCain and Graham want to punish Russia!   To what end?   Is there the remotest possibility that this will alter Russia's behavior, or, for that matter, the behavior of any other nation that thinks it will serve their purpose to hack?   If you can tilt another nation's elections in your favor aren't you going to do it, or at least try?  Didn't Obama try to have Netanyahu defeated in elections over in Israel?

McCain is showing now the same kind of flawed judgement he showed when he accepted Sarah Palin as a running mate.  And, hey, McCain, I'm a Republican who once voted for you.