Low Points

"He's dying anyway."

   So said a White House staffer on Sen. John McCain's opposition to the administration's nominee to head the CIA.
   As if the approaching death from brain cancer of the senior senator from Arizona, a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War who was shot down, captured, held prisoner for five years and tortured, doesn't matter.
   As if the opinions of a former Republican candidate for president are of little consequence.
   As if the attitudes of a former prisoner of war who turned down an offer to be sent home because there were others who had been held longer should not be considered.
   As if the thinking of someone who survived torture is not relevant to the nomination of a CIA official who supervised the torture of prisoners held by Americans. Oh, right, it wasn't "torture," it was "enhanced interrogation."
   
   There was near universal anger and outrage when news of the comment broke, but many hours have gone by with no reaction from the Oval Office. Perhaps the president is standing by his words during the campaign when he dismissed Sen. McCain's status as a war hero, saying, "He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured."
   This from the same person who got several deferments to avoid military service during the Vietnam War era, including two deferments for a bone spur in his foot, but later could not remember which foot.
   As  for the White House staffer who dismissed Sen. McCain's comments as irrelevant to the nomination of the CIA chief, she apparently still has her job.
   And whenever, or if, the president decides to say something about the issue, many have already decided that his lack of response indicates approval of the staffer's comments.
   Sen. McCain is dying anyway, so his opinion doesn't matter. At least, that's the attitude inside this White House.