James Woods Delivers Reality Check to McCain Funeral & Trump Haters
John McCain’s funeral turned into a political affair, because of course it did.
We’re not going to go through all of the various political statements made during the obsequies for the late war hero and Arizona senator.
Suffice it to say we all know that McCain was used as a stand-in for a kind of “bipartisanship,” even though most of those who spent last week singing McCain’s praises were more than happy to paint the same man as a far-right reactionary unless he was disagreeing with President Donald Trump. Then McCain was diagnosed with cancer and became a full-time bipartisan hero to this section of the peanut gallery.
Now, it’s worth pointing out that Jeff Flake, Arizona’s other senator, isn’t necessarily one of those individuals. Still, the NeverTrump Republican was willing to use McCain as a proxy in his battle against the White House — and conservative actor James Woods was just as willing to point out his hypocrisy.
First, this was the tweet that Flake sent out in the wake of McCain’s funeral, which wasn’t exactly subtle:
Decency Wins pic.twitter.com/7DkX1vNG4i
— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) September 1, 2018
The message was clear: The Trumps weren’t invited. The other first families were. They were decent. Therefore, decency wins out.
Except there was one little problem, as Woods pointed out:
There is a literally a rapist in this picture. Are you insane? #DecencyMyAss https://t.co/6WsN6pxTri
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) September 2, 2018
Now, it’s worth noting that Bill Clinton is an alleged rapist. However, there are plenty of people who believe there’s a pretty strong case for it, and not all of them are Republicans.
Take, for instance, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes:
Read this account, in light of all we've been hearing and reading this last month, and ask yourself if it's credible. https://t.co/8jymWjFpiF
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 10, 2017
Does this sound familiar? pic.twitter.com/eCby6bxsGS
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 10, 2017
Sure, Hayes may think that the right’s belief that Bill Clinton ought to be held to account for real rape allegations that have been levied against for many years (as opposed to a raft of specious allegations that emerged right around election time for Donald Trump) is “cynical and hypocritical,” but he believes that, yes, maybe we ought to consider the possibility that Clinton is a rapist.
Oh, and just in case you were still on the fence here, decency didn’t win at another funeral the former president attended last week:
Gross… Watch Bill Clinton look Ariana Grande up and down when she sings at #ArethaFranklinFuneral and try not to throw up in your mouth. 🤮 pic.twitter.com/aXQvcBmW2Y
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) August 31, 2018
If you’re going to politicize John McCain’s funeral, using William Jefferson Clinton as a paragon of decency proves how bankrupt this entire “bipartisanship” argument was.
There was no bipartisanship when Juanita Broaddrick or Kathleen Willey came forward with accusations against Bill Clinton.
Both of these women were smeared as star-struck fabulists — as was Monica Lewinsky, until the White House realized she had a certain blue dress. And the swamp-dwellers in Washington considered this guy’s presence preferable to that of Donald J. Trump because, you know, “decency.”
If decency and bipartisanship ever won in the Washington establishment, Clinton would have been sitting in the Richard Nixon section for disgraced former presidents forced to leave office. Funny how that didn’t work back in 1998 — or really, any time McCain or other Republicans weren’t doing the Democrats’ bidding.
Thankfully, James Woods gave the media (and Jeff Flake) a bit of a reality check.
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