Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Campaign First

John McCain likes to run around crying, “Country first,” but this week showed us what he instinctively puts first.  There are several accounts now circulating across the web that tell us quite frankly what we had suspected from the first, that John McCain’s quixotic antics last week displayed a willingness to try and save his campaign in the face of crashing poll numbers even if it meant wrecking the country.

Frank Rich yesterday wrote a searing article that describes the events that surrounded McCain’s decision to “suspend” his campaign, trying both to reverse his terrible poll numbers and cover up Sarah Palin’s disastrous interview with Katie Couric.  Frank commences his must-read piece with the observation:

What we learned last week is that the man who always puts his “country first” will take the country down with him if that’s what it takes to get to the White House.

The Washington Post today in a piece aptly titled, Days of Chaos, Improvisation and Drama, chronicles how McCain last week lurched “from one strategy to the next, defensively reacting to events while trying to regain his footing.”  The article repeats the word, “lurch,” over and over, and time and again refers to McCain’s “disasters,” born as the outcomes of his impetuous and imprudent improvisations.  McCain did this apparently despite repeated requests that he butt out of the process.  Markos this evening has a long post that describes how McCain was asked to refrain from interfering in the negotiation over the Bailout Bill but still ran through the process like a bull in a china closet.

I mean, really.  The last eight years have been horrible.  I truly believe the dictum that you will know a tree by the fruit it bears.  We need to put this country back together again.  If we somehow mysteriously elect John McCain our president, get ready for Mr. Toad’s wild ride.  This guy is erratic and will lurch from one disaster to the next without regard to anyone’s interests but his own.  Last week was his, “Alright, Mr. Demille, I’m ready for close-up,” moment.

You want to know what a McCain presidency would be like?  Just study his behavior last week.


7 comments

  1. and the only possible defense could be that he really believes he is the only person who can save the country.

    If he really thinks that we need to start getting tough with the rest of the world, then maybe that’s the way he feels.

    Of course, the flies in the face of his “I’d rather lose a political campaign” jargon, but it’s the only thing that makes it less than sheer power mongering…

  2. GrassrootsOrganizer

    heh.  I like that alot.

    I don’t think this is about McCain’s belief in himself.  After  the debate I believe it’s really about his hatred for Barack Obama.

    If I might crawl inside McCain’s head and make shit up — here’s a guy who had to have developed a deep and sustaining hatred for “liberals” during Vietnam.  “Liberals” were his real enemy,the people who denied him and his comrades victory in Vietnam.  (he does seem rather obsessed with “victory” at all cost)

    He’s spent three decades in the Senate positioning himself for a Whitehouse run only to be seriously screwed by his own party.  And along comes this “college boy”, with less than one term in the Senate, enjoying the overwhelming support of the Democratic party without much pandering to them.  

    McCain and his buddy Libermann had carved out a little niche for themselves — the party “mavericks” willing to reach accross the aisle — and along comes Obama, rewriting the rules for that and stealing his thunder.

    Eight years ago McCain was the most popular “non-political politician” out there and Obama pushed him off that pedestal.  

    Again, I don’t think McCain sees himself as being uniquely qualified (which would explain his floundering on policy positions) — he sees himself as uniquely deserving.  

    (a tough position to argue for) He could perhaps see Obama as qualified but uniquely UNdeserving.  Thus, I believe McCain is fighting his own private battle here, one damn near impossible to articulate to the American public without looking like a douche.  

    So he tries to prove the unprovable — Obama is an empty suit celebrity — remember me?  The real “maverick”? — you want an undeserving celebrity, mother fuckers?  I give you Sarah Palin — I’m going back to Washington where being around forever counts for something, sort of.  I deserve, I deserve, I deserve, he does not.  

    When you can’t argue fact you lie and distract.  Simple as that.  

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