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| Home Front: Politix |
| The death of McCain's integrity - MSM turns on it's favorite Trunk |
| 2010-04-20 |
| We are gathered here today to pay our final respects to John McCain's integrity. It died recently — turned a triple somersault, stiffened like an exclamation point, fell to the floor with its tongue hanging out — when the senator told Newsweek magazine, “I never considered myself a maverick.' This, after the hard-fought presidential campaign of 2008 in which McCain, his advertising team, his surrogates and his running mate all but tattooed the “M' word on their foreheads. Indeed, not only did they call McCain a maverick, but so did the subtitle of his 2003 memoir. Heck, his campaign plane when he ran for president back in 1999 was dubbed Maverick One. Yet there he is in the April 12, 2010, edition of Newsweek, page 29, top of the center column: “I never considered myself a maverick.' And his integrity kicked twice and was still. The death was not unexpected. McCain's integrity had been in ill health for a long time. Once, it had been his most attractive political trait, drawing smitten prose from political reporters and intrigued attention from voters sick of the same old, same old from politicians who would bend like Gumby for the electorate's approval. McCain's integrity wouldn't allow him to be that guy. He was this hard-bitten former Navy flier and heroic POW, impatient with the belittling demands of politics as usual, a fellow who would speak an impolitic truth or cross the aisle to work with the opposition because he had this quaint idea that the needs of the country superseded the needs of his party. Then came the GOP presidential primary of 2000 in which McCain was bested by one George Walker Bush and a load of dirty tricks. McCain took note. And his integrity took sick. The illness began in that selfsame campaign. By his own admission, McCain lied to voters about his opinion of the Confederate battle flag, fearing that calling it what it is — a flag of treason, racism and slavery — would cost him votes in flag-worshipping South Carolina. In later years, he embraced right-wing religious extremists he had once condemned. And reneged on a promise that he'd be open to repealing “Don't Ask, Don't Tell' if military leaders advised it. And went from opposition of offshore oil drilling to “Drill, baby, drill!' And et cetera. Two things here: One, all the nattering about flip-flops aside, there is nothing wrong with changing one's opinion. It indicates a thinking mind. Two, McCain is hardly unique. Indeed, they have a name for people who change their opinions in order to win votes: politicians. But these are not just changes of opinion we're talking about. Rather, they are betrayals of core principle. And while that might be politics as usual, there is a higher standard for the politician who has positioned himself as a man of uncommon integrity, a purveyor of straight talk in a nation hungry for same. So it stings to see McCain knuckle under to the ideological rigidity that makes it heresy to cross the aisle, question the orthodoxy or have an independent thought. There's a sense of loss for those who ask of leaders, leadership. One is reminded of that poignant scene in The Truman Show where Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank has just discovered his entire life was a made-for-TV fiction. “Was nothing real?' he asks. A voter who believed in John McCain, who regarded his iconoclastic singularity as a stirring example, might be forgiven for asking the very same thing. “I never considered myself a maverick'?! Wow. With those words, McCain completes his transmutation into an avatar of all that is wrong in American politics. May his integrity rest in peace. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #14 My personal opinion of McCain aside, the last place I'd look to as a judge of integrity is the San Francisco Chronicle |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-04-20 21:03 |
| #13 Bingo borgboy. It allowed so many high profile Dems to say "...he did it too!" |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2010-04-20 18:59 |
| #12 Lest we forget: integrity thrown ou withe Keating financial affair... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2010-04-20 18:55 |
| #11 Palin prevented McLame from losing by double digits. I think his "principles", ie his "maverick" image, was simply a reflection of his vindictiveness towards W and the Trunk base that rejected him. He is not a conservative. He needs to retire. |
| Posted by: SR-71 2010-04-20 18:19 |
| #10 My recollection 746 is that McCain started to pick up in the polls once he added Palin to the ticket. One can argue whether or not Palin was the best VP for the ticket but it seemed she breathed some life into his moribund campaign. I wondered when he was going to wake up and campaign. When she came on the ticket he seemed to wake up some. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-04-20 17:06 |
| #9 I find it strange that Obama is so incurious about how the US financial system could be wrecked so quickly and from outside the country, especially given his interest in "reforming" the entire financial system. I'm certain that once Mr Soros gives his ok, he'll get right on that. |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2010-04-20 15:51 |
| #8 Coming from behind, the McCain-Palin team had built up it's first sustained lead over Obama-Biden. Then someone or government took $500 billion out of the US financial system in one hour. The thing is it isn't that hard to do for unfriendly governments who have built up huge cash reserves or certain billionaires who can use the 300-400X leverage available to currency speculators. I find it strange that Obama is so incurious about how the US financial system could be wrecked so quickly and from outside the country, especially given his interest in "reforming" the entire financial system. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-04-20 15:37 |
| #7 'Twas the financial meltdown killed McCain. Barry was trailing McC before October. He surged past McC after the system was shown to have utterly failed. When the whole foundation of our economy blew up, independents and nat'l-security Dems decided to ditch the incumbent party and roll the dice with a newbie. Wall St in its own way elected Barry, and is doing its damnedest to re-elect the joker. |
| Posted by: lex 2010-04-20 15:31 |
| #6 If it was the choice of VP that lost the election for him, he was a weaker candidate than he appeared, 746. Mr. Wife pronounced him lost the day he flew back to Washington to deal with the TARP bill instead of continuing the campaign. "He was thinking like a senator instead of a president, and doesn't deserve to win," quoth Mr. Wife. I have no idea whether or not that's so, or if it was Gov. Palin, or the campaign team was weak in critical ways, whether no Republican could have won against the traditional media, or whether the electorate was tired of a Republican in the White House -- the Taking Turns hypothesis. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-04-20 15:24 |
| #5 Time for maverick to retire. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2010-04-20 15:24 |
| #4 McCain lost because he picked the wrong VP candidate. |
| Posted by: 746 2010-04-20 15:02 |
| #3 Mccain sucks. Next. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2010-04-20 14:46 |
| #2 McCain lost me during the Abu Ghraib media event, when he could have stood, pointed to the panty clad Iraqi prisoner and stated "That is not torture". That he didn't say a damn thing showed me he was more interested in seeing the media twist the current President into knots. John let his own ego override his respect and love of this country and her institutions. It is sad that some heroes live long enough (or remain in the public eye enough)to wither in front of their once adoring public. Maverick or not, John is a plain old politician - one step up from a child molester. |
| Posted by: Rob06 2010-04-20 13:29 |
| #1 The country needs to forget McCain and move on. He's not to be trusted; he has a problem with principles. He for amnesty and then he's against it. Seems like it depends upon whether it's election time or not. I thank him for his service to the country--he did serve his country in the military. His record in the Senate is questionable. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-04-20 12:49 |