Skanderbeg & McCain

When I was studying Russian at Rutgers in 1959 we had to attend a Russian language film series which included a film titled "Skanderbeg, Hero of Albania." It was about the battles of Skanderbeg who held the Ottoman Turks out of Albania for over 20 years in the 15th century.

Today John McCain rushed to Washington to bask in the glory of a compromise victory on financial bailout legislation that he made no contribution to and almost jeopardized in hope of lionizing himself. This was a repeat performance of his grandstanding in May, 2007, at the last minute of sensitive immigration legislation negotiations which led to a shouting McCain cursing John Cornyn (R-TX).

At the end of the Russian movie, in a scene after the victorious battles led by Skanderbeg against the Turks, Skanderbeg overhears a warrior who played some minor role in a battle, bragging about how heroic he was and Skanderbeg says of him, "He is like the mouse who pissed in the ocean and then roared he helped to make it."

I wonder what he might have said today about McCain in an interview on, say, "The Daily Show" tonight if he'd seen McCon's latest grandstanding?

The grandstanding was for naught, though, as McCain's party killed the agreement because they want welfare for the Wall Street tycoons, but no help for those losing their homes.