I’ve stopped reading news about John McCain for the same reason I tune out the daily updates on Afghanistan and the BP oil spill: It’s just too damned depressing. Well into the 2008 primary season, McCain still showed glimmers of a gutsy, independent spirit, speaking out of turn and bucking his party on issues of conscience, like the use of torture. Since losing to Barack Obama, however, he’s turned into the kind of party hack he used to live to mess with.
In the last few months, McCain has flipped his position on dropping the military’s anti-gay “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, soft-pedaled his support for climate-change legislation, and dropped his support for humane, comprehensive immigration reform. In just the past week, he has come out against Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court nomination on the lamest of grounds and defended Arizona’s ugly anti-immigrant law against challenge by the Justice Department.
It’s hard to believe that this is the same guy who, a decade ago, was denouncing Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson as “agents of intolerance,” who reduced Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to a sputtering rage with his efforts to ban soft money, who opposed Bush’s tax cuts, and who stood up to Dick Cheney on the treatment of accused terrorists. When McCain told Newsweek earlier this year that he has never considered himself a “maverick,” it sounded like another confession under duress, with the Tea Party standing in for the Viet Cong.
[...]
Part of the reason is that a politician can only shift on his axis so many times and be taken seriously. And part is that McCain’s personality does, unfortunately, seem to have changed in a more fundamental way. Running for president in 2008 was as bad for McCain as running in 2000 was good for him. Playing the rebel against the Republican establishment made him young again. Running as his party’s standard-bearer turned him into a grumpy old man.
In other words, we would be just as bad off had he won, in different ways perhaps, than what we got with Obama. We can’t win for losing anymore.
And perhaps it just doesn’t matter who is president anymore both because of corruption and because the country, like this article suggests Japan may have become, is ungovernable.
#16
> I’m happy that he getting
> us out of Iraq.
Obama had nothing to do with us getting out of Iraq other than following Bush’s plan.
> I’m happy that, after decades of others
> trying, he finally got some decent
> healthcare reform.
Riiiiiiight. That 2000 page load of crap that no one has read and no one has any idea as to the consequences?
> I’m happy that he got
> BP to put-up some decent
> money for victims of their
> disaster. (as opposed to
> McCain who would be PAYING BP for this.)
I’m curious what you will think if BP simply declares bankruptcy?
> I’m happy that he’s
> ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell.)
Which a Democrat put into place to begin with.
>I’m happy that he passed equal pay for women.
Which will be completely unenforceable.
> I’m happy that he has ended torture.
Has he? Or is it it that he is simply covering it up better?
> I’m happy that he stopped
> Bush’s MASSIVE BLEEDING
> OF JOBS (750,000 a month!) and
> has turned the
> trend-around. http://tinyurl.com/25wwkx7
Except that he hasn’t: Obama has made it worse. The job situation is worse than it has been in decades. Your shiny graph does not exclude Federal government jobs (like Census jobs). It doesn’t exclude short-term jobs like highway improvement. We have anywhere from 9% to 16% unemployment. When it comes to jobs, so far Obama has been a failure.
> I’m happy that Obama has restored
> some healthy relationships with our allies.
Fail. Our allies, including the French of all people, think Obama is a incredibly weak and incompetent President. Sure, they think he’s a nice guy. They though Bush was a nice guy. However, when it comes to leadership, Obama is clueless and our allies know it.
> I’m happy that Obama has stop
> America’s threat to bomb Iran every week.
Yes, instead he chums up to terrorists. Instead, Obama does nothing but let Iran continue its march to having nuclear weapons and eventually doling them out to terrorists.
> I’m happy he passed credit card reform.
Yep. Small victory we’ll see if it makes any difference.
> I’m happy he brought respect for
> science back into
> the government — including stem
> cell research
> and global warming.
A win and a fail. Stem cell research: a win. Global warming: a fail. It is not clear from the scientific community that we should drop everything we’re doing with respect global warming. His cap and tax could very likely send the country into a depression.
> I’m happy that he is bringing
> reasonable regulation back
> into government.
That all depends on what one defines as “reasonable.” With respect to the BP disaster, the problem wasn’t regulation but enforcement.
> I’m happy he supports the
> vets (glaringly different than Bush.)
Let’s take a survey of vets and see who were happy with Bush and who are happy with Obama?
> I’m happy he is successfully using
> LAW ENFORCEMENT against potential terrorists
> rather than invading or bombing
> anymore countries.
You cannot treat terrorists like common criminals. This is more of Obama’s failed, “sit-around-the-campfire-singing-kumbayah” foreign policy. You must treat them like war criminals. Changing this mindset was one of Bush’s accomplishments IMO. We had tried for years to treat terrorists like common criminals and it simply does not work. If countries do not actively work to root out terrorists, then they need to be convinced to change or compelled to change. It was only when we invaded Iraq than many other countries in the Middle-East began to cooperate with us.
I have definite opinions on Obama, and I voted for McCain. Regarding this post, I must ask, “WHO GIVES A FUCK?” Your stupid, pointless observation is MEANINGLESS.
How about discussing the prick in the Oval Office NOW?
I may not have liked McCain that much, but he would have been much better economically than Obama.
Why? Obama is obviously anti-private business, this alone runs his policies, McCain for his crappy policies in the past would have not made a climate where government is out to kill as much private industry as it can.
Uncle Dave’s next submissions should feature Gary Hart and Michael Dukakis, in keeping with coverage of modern, dynamic, relevant politicians.
GregAllen – man you are delusional. I have no idea where you are getting any of this.
Must be drugs.
take a look at the guy writing the article. he doesnt care about the war in Afghanistan where our troops openly grow the poppies and guard the opium. look it up!
He doesn’t care about the oil spill in the gulf, where his master Obama who is in bed with BP.
accepted no help for four weeks.
He is another socialist mouth piece trying to destroy our country for his banking elitist masters. I am sad to see this article on dvorak
I have my violin out playing the sad music for you all bemoaning the system in The United States.
Perhaps you will finally put away your nonsense of voting out people or term limits and start actually waking up to the reality of making a new constitution.
I doubt it because it means you have to put down your drugs and only seeking entertainment.
You have what you have because you have not taking matters into your own hands.
Cursor_
McCain is old school. By definition, he is part of the problem. We need new blood.
We got new blood. Same as the old blood.
Who knows how good or bad McCain would have been. It’s all speculation. Utterly worthless except for entertainment value.
The real shame is there were much better candidates from both sides of the isle which would have actually been good for the country.
We need to redo the system so those who are really best for the job get the job.
The thing about McCain that no one seems to be acknowledging (or maybe they have and I missed it), is that he is facing a primary challenger. That is why he is taking positions that are more right-wing than usual.
If McCain manages to get himself re-elected, I will promise you that he will revert to type. He will become “The Artist Once Again Known As Maverick.”
Anybody who is ignorant and biased enough to think the law in Arizona is anti immigrant ought to have to live in a neighborhood over run by drug pushers and other criminals.
It is obviously going to take something at least that drastic for such people to extract their heads from the fantasy world they lost it in.
You don’t get it. My nephew is on the border patrol. He has two kids by one naturalized citizen and another on the way by another naturalized citizen. He obviously doesn’t have anything against Spanish speaking females but he says the boarder is a danger zone and I have a picture of him setting beside a million dollars in drugs from one bust they made. Armed criminals are pretty much turning the boarder into a war zone. It isn’t a free fire zone yet but it is heading that way.
If the Taliban wanted to march a bloody army across the boarder could we actually stop it? Its doubtful at best. Our best bet would be they would get cross ways with the drug dealers who would take them out.
Why is it I often think the progressive PC crowd are delusional? Oh yeah, they use free speech to demonstrate they lack the common sense of a hamster and know less about the subject under discussion than a hamster who at least would know nothing about the topic rather than spouting total balderdash.
Yes, its true we will never know how President McCain would have acted==even though he sold his soul (out) when selecting Pallin.
But there is a basic truth: the Repukes want to steal from the poor, middle class, and the rich to make the super rich even richer. 75% of the wealth increase in the USA over the past 10 years went to the top 1% stratum of society==the only stratum the Repukes serve.
So the rule applies: both parites rip us off but the Dems will give us a few scraps while the Reukes give nothing. So which do you want?
So–Obama has failed false/manipulated expectations by not stopping the oil flow? But I do see a difference between “insulting BP” and creating a Recovery Fund versus Giving BP a tax break for all the revenue they have lost.
Pull you head out of your ass and recognize IN YOUR OWN SELF INTEREST who hurts you less. Yes Thomas, that is all the choice we ever get AND YET, near 50% of the voters get that wrong. Is it more than guns, god, and gays? A little maso-sadism? A little Rupture??
#32
There are more super wealthy people that are Democrats than Republicans. If the basic truth is that the Republicans want to steal from poor and middle class, then the other truth is that the Democrats want to steal from everyone and could care less whether you are poor or not.
Yes Thomas, that is all the choice we ever get AND YET, near 50% of the voters get that wrong.
That depends on how one defines “right”. I would argue that in the last election, more than 50% were going to get it wrong no matter who won. I bet that the 10%-16% of the people that are out of a job right now wish that we had chosen differently.
I personally find both parties despicable. I think the Democrats are beholden to the unions, trial lawyers and environmental extremists. I think the Republicans are beholden to the religious extremists and I think that both parties are beholden to whomever has a bigger wallet. When either party gets into power, their concept of economics and fiscal conservatism goes out the window.
Thomas==the dark side has you in its grip. Sure you can find a few Dem’s that love their/our money more than anything else, but you show your error when you admit that the Dems are owned by unions/lawyer/environuts===and thats where we get our few scraps.
Pay attention.