The Extreme RightEmbarrasses McCain

Things are not improving for John McCain. While he is slipping even farther down in the polls, the republican candidate now has to face accusations over his contacts with the extreme right. The Arizona senator has, in effect, sat on the US Council for World Freedom in the early 1980s, an organization close to former Nazis.

This is a new blow to John McCain’s already difficult campaign. Largely behind in the polls, the Republican candidate now must face accusations of collusion with the American extreme right. When he began his political career in the 1980s, the Arizona senator had in fact sat on the board for the US Council for World Freedom. The organization was first a member of the World Anti-Communist League (now the World League for Freedom and Democracy), but is mostly was tied to former Nazi collaborators and the death squads in South America.

The “US Council for World Freedom” was implicated in a scandal over the supply of arms to opposition extreme right movements in Central America, which were partly financed by the secret sales of illegal arms to Iran. Elected to the House of Representatives while he was still a member of the organization, John McCain voted in 1982 in favor of military aid destined to support the Contras, a paramilitary group supported by the CIA, in their struggle against the left wing Sandinista government of Nicaragua.

The polls are unfavorable towards McCain

John McCain defended himself by indicating he had sent his resignation to the sulfurous organization in 1984. The Arizona senator also pointed out that he sent a letter in 1986 requesting that his name be removed from the extreme organization’s letterhead. The committee of the Republican campaign hastened to publicly disclose the two letters. Additionally, the former general John Singlaub, founder of the US Council for World Freedom, said that the Republican candidate had never been an active member of the association, just a sympathizer.

Still, in a country that hates the extremes (of either side), this information risks making John McCain look bad. And this as the polls are now somewhat alarming for the Republican. According to all the polling institutes, Barack Obama is leading with less than a month to go. Even if the Diageo/Hotline Institute only gives a one point advantage to the Democratic candidate (45% to 44%), results from others studies are more bleak for John McCain. The Gallup poll says 52% intend to vote for the Illinois senator against 41% for John McCain; an 11 point lead. This is a lead that could well be an insurmountable challenge for John McCain.