John McCain gives anti-Communists a reason to vote for him

At long last, we see some difference between the major party candidates on an issue near and dear to anti-Communists, as Senator John McCain took aim at the Bush Administration's North Korea debacle (Weekly Standard Blog):

"I don't agree with it, and I think we have basically contradicted Ronald Reagan's great dictum of trust but verify. And particularly--many aspects of this are disturbing--but we told the South Koreans and the Japanese after we had made the decision. That's not a partnership with the allies."

McCain livened up a bit as he talked about the North Korea deal, at one point comparing the Bush administration's efforts on North Korea with the Clinton Administration's failed diplomacy. "It's a decision that I hope we don't regret over time because the North Koreans have a long pattern of breaking--a long history of breaking agreements that are not verifiable. I was very critical of the Clinton agreement--the Agreed Framework as I recall--because I didn't think that one was
verifiable and I don't think this one is verifiable."

Engaging the North Koreans in face-to-face talks at the presidential level as Obama has promised to do would present serious risks, McCain argued, with the potential not only for bad deals but embarrassment. He pointed once again to the Clinton
administration, citing Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's meetings in Pyongyang. "She had a very nice experience with children dancing while the gulag--the largest gulag in the world continued to function," he said with obvious contempt.

Despite the two candidates painfully similar blindness on Communist China, McCain's clarity on the Korean colony is very, very welcome, especially given that Pyongyang is once again resorting to old tricks against its own people (Agence France Presse) and its neighbors (BBC).

One should not underestimate the importance of the Korean colony in the Communists' plans. What with an ailing economy, an angrier peasantry (Epoch Times), and more attention being paid to its police-state tactics (Epoch Times), Beijing will be needing North Korea as a distraction to the free world even more than in the past.

This is an unusual election in that several third-party candidates have arisen to lay claim to their piece of the debate. That's fair enough, but they have all been terribly disappointing, in particular two tickets (Libertarian and Constitution) that have been silent on East Asia despite the potential of either to advance anti-Communism. Bob Barr (Libertarian nominee) had a tremendous anti-Communist record that went down the memory hole the moment he was nominated. Meanwhile, the Constitution Party as a whole seems to have forgotten the anti-Communism of its founder, Howard Phillips.

Many had hoped that Nancy Pelosi's anti-Communist history would mean a different direction for the House of Representatives once she became Speaker, even if she never addressed the issue in 2006. We should know better now. What isn't an issue in the campaign is clearly not a priority in victory.

Thus, John McCain - however unintentionally or accidentally - has become the only candidate willing to address any issue of concern to anti-Communists during this campaign. For that reason, anti-Communists should support him on November 4, as I do.