Wishing death to an American hero.

John McCain is an American hero.  That is not in question, in spite of the scurrilous attacks made on Senator McCain by the Liar-in-Chief when he was still a candidate.  He spent 23 years of his adult life as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy.  Nearly six of those years were endured as a POW in North Vietnam after he was shot down. 

Recently, a self-described rogue journalist from Australia, Caitlyn Johnstone, wrote a piece calling for the death of Senator McCain.  Its title "Please Just F*****g Die Already" is catchy as well as disgusting.  I found this passage particularly instructive:

"If you’re waiting for the part where I say I’m just kidding and would never wish death on anybody, please allow me to make myself clear: I sincerely, genuinely hope that Arizona Senator John McCain’s heart stops beating, and that he is subsequently declared dead by qualified medical professionals very soon."

It is instructive because it makes it clear it is not a joke or satire.  She honestly wishes this man death, and immediately.  Why? 

"This evil man has supported every US military bloodbath in his obscenely long lifetime, and has been actively involved in both promoting and manufacturing support for every single despicable act of military invention throughout his entire career."

That is not entirely true, which should not come as a surprise since Ms Johnstone was one of the primary proponents of the debunked claims regarding the killing of Seth Rich was done because he had been involved in the leaking of DNC emails.  She also appears to be a firm believer in debunked 9/11 Conspiracy Theories.

Senator McCain called for the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Lebanon before the bombing of the Marine Barracks, withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Somalia in 1993 and from Haiti in 1994.  Guess he didn't support every military operation, eh?

* * *

The reason this non-story flared up into a big story is because a Republican National Committee member from Nevada shared a link to this story with the word "Amen."  Meet Diana Orrock.  She ran against the incumbent in Nevada's 9th Assembly District primary last year and lost.

Apparently she did not grasp that adding just the word amen to a share of a tweet with a link to an article calling for the death of a hero would not be seen as an endorsement of that call.

So was she wishing the man an immediate death, as Ms Johnstone was, or was Mrs. Orrock merely incredibly clueless?  Her subsequent deletion of that tweet and the posting of the following may be a clue.

"My apologies to @SenJohnMcCain, @NVGOP & @GOP. Today's retweet was disrespectful. Sen. McCain is an American hero. I don't wish anyone harm."

But that's is what Mrs. Orrock did.  She endorsed the article without clarifying her intent.  Then she went even further down the road of idiocy by saying she was "...just agreeing with the sentiments of the article."

The sentiment, hell the entire article was a call for Senator McCain to die.  And she agreed.

From the FWIW file, she had no problem with the remarks of the Liar-in-Chief during his "locker room talk" with Billy Bush.  She withdrew her endorsement of the candidacy for U.S. Senate of Joe Heck in 2016.  Mr. Heck lost the seat to his Democratic opponent by less than 2.5% of the vote.

Why did she pull her endorsement?  Because Joe Heck would not support Agent Orange after those Access Hollywood tapes were released.

And she managed to give someone who doesn't need any more attention, a lot of it.