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.
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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.
With McCain, we would have been worse off.
With Obama you get the guy who admits he doesn’t know WTF he is doing.
With McCain, his ego would prevent him from such an admission.
I’d rather have the guy who doesn’t know WTF he is doing but realizes it, over the guy who doesn’t WTF he is doing but acts like he does.
For me, the most priceless moment of the McCain campaign was in 2008 when he blew off economic policy questions in June 2008 stating he hadn’t come up with an economic policy yet.
I would have thought someone who had been a Senator for about 20 years would have had plenty of time to develop a philosophy, instead McCain was a policy wonk and most of his high profile work involved “veterans benefits”.
I’m sorry but even an honest conservative has to admit McCain is incompetent — even for a Senator which is a mighty hard achievement considering how incompetent many senators are.
I think the country would cry at night if McCain were president. With Obama it only takes a roll of Tums.
“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.” /// A meaningless statement devoid of analysis, all emotion. I’m with HMyers==we would have been worse off with McCain. Just to start with, we would have had Pallin. A continuing laughingstock among other nations of the world.
Things can always be better. They can always be worse. Just because we don’t know “exactly” how things would be, doesn’t mean we would be just as bad off.
BushCo and the Cheney Corporate Cons dug a hole so deep that no one could have stopped our decline. While its true Obama appears more talk than performance, he is no McCane. Just as AlGore would have been much better than BushCo.
Bush really did set the whole thing up. Think Obama would have passed the Patriot Act all on his own? Tax breaks for the rich? etc.
But, as the world economies flatten out, as the Ring of Fire lights up and has growth rates ((yes, rates–not absolutes)) based on manufacturing moving to the emerging economies, the USA had to suffer. Not as much as we have and are going to though. That is indeed brought to us by our CORRUPT system.
Maybe there should be term limits: one term only. Same effect as “VOTING ALL INCUMBENTS OUT OF OFFICE.” Yep, neither one will ever happen.
Self aware. Caught in a bear trap. Waiting for the pack.
“…defended Arizona’s ugly anti-immigrant law against challenge by the Justice Department.”
I don’t mean to nitpick but I’m getting tired of hearing this meme. The AZ law is anti-ILLEGAL-immigrant. Whether it’s ugly or not, I leave to the courts.
And I’m still wondering why the Feds haven’t done anything about that city in Nebraska or the state of Rhode Island.
The fact is, you don’t know what would happen IF McCain had won. You DO know, for a fact, that Obama is inept and clueless, neck deep in BP money, and no functional plan for the serious problems ahead.
This “would have been worse under McCain” crap is just an attempt to dodge ownership of responsibility.
I’m not shocked at all McCain changes his stripes. After all, it’s election time and he is a Republipuke at heart.
It works because Republisheep have short memories.
If a politician wins we lose, same cat different stripe. No person is ever ready to be president no matter what their background and experiences. Term limits always sounded great, no career politicians. After living in Missouri which does have term limits. I can say that they don’t work. Career politicians have to learn to at least understand if not consistently work together. Without that you have multiple individuals looking for their piece of the pie, with a screw the other guy attitude. One state rep has his own personal problem with a state agency. He specifically screwed around during the budget year to ensure that they did not pass a fee bill funding this agency. The result this agency runs out of funds in January, as a result the federal government may step in to take over the program. The federals have no reason to work with the state residents and will levy fines and administrative actions (they have done it before). This guy got himself elected to “help” the people of Missouri.
There’s no way McCain could have been our president. The Republican party chiefs knew this and made darn sure he was on the ballot.
You lost me at “Arizona’s ugly anti-immigrant law”. Why is it always “ugly” when a constitutionally legal policy that helps citizens of the United States of America improve their lives is mentioned? It wasn’t considered “ugly” when California passed the almost exact same law years ago. Why is it “ugly” to check citizenship and enforce laws?
Personally, I think it’s “ugly” when racist pigs profile USA citizens as racists all the time, and I think it’s wrong for people of another country to expect citizens of the USA to welcome 90 million more immigrants into the USA as citizens.
It’s time to stop the invasion.
Nope it dosen’t matter who is in office anymore. Doesn’t matter if a candidate’s policies are to the left or the right, it’s entirely meaningless.
In this post 9/11 era, it’s all about keeping our homeland secure and save for our kids, and their kids. Which means less choice, less freedoms, less justice, more taxes, fewer jobs, bigger debt, and all of that sounds how makes our lives secure…?
Uncle Dave’s point is well-taken: the country is ungovernable. If Obama, who came into office with Jesus-like levels of support, can’t make a single meaningful change, then be sure no one can — or will. Obama is simply trying to keep the sinking ship afloat for another four years. But it’s essentially a done deal.
@#10
That’s the point of the Constitution – the role of government should not be to govern every little aspect of people’s lives. The government that governs best, governs to the minimum level necessary to protect the country and not get in the way of citizens.
I didn’t vote for either one of these assclowns. As a political aetheist I cannot support this two party bullshit of a system. I know I wasted my vote….or did I? Had I voted for Obama, I would be feeling like a schmuck right about now.
Given a choice of Beavis or Butthead is not much of a choice.
McCain’s fix for joblessness? Tax cuts for the rich.
McCain’s fix for the BP disaster? De-regulation.
McCain’s fix for immigration? The Military.
The conservatives have only three fixes for anything: tax cuts for the rich, de-regulation and the military (preferably bombing.)
… oh, yeah. and a trillion-dollar boondoggle of a wall.
#13. OK, so you hate Republicans…we get it, boy do we get it. So what has Obama done for you lately? Better yet, what has your president done to solve the issues you bring up?
Or do you just want to rail on the right?
Why isn’t the Obama Admin suing Rhode Island which has been doing the same thing on immigration for years, as in the Arizona bill just passed?
>> McCullough said, on July 11th, 2010 at 7:37 am
>> #13. OK, so you hate Republicans…we get it, boy do we get it. So what has Obama done for you lately?
Oh, stop peddling this Right Wing Talking point that Obama is doing nothing.
I’m happy that he getting us out of Iraq.
I’m happy that, after decades of others trying, he finally got some decent healthcare reform.
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 happy that he’s ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell.)
I’m happy that he passed equal pay for women.
I’m happy that he has ended torture.
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
I’m happy that Obama has restored some healthy relationships with our allies.
I’m happy that Obama has stop America’s threat to bomb Iran every week.
I’m happy he passed credit card reform.
I’m happy he brought respect for science back into the government — including stem cell research and global warming.
I’m happy that he is bringing reasonable regulation back into government.
I’m happy he supports the vets (glaringly different than Bush.)
I’m happy he is successfully using LAW ENFORCEMENT against potential terrorists rather than invading or bombing anymore countries.
… and this is just stuff off the top of my head!
Don’t accuse me of worshiping Obama. He’s not perfect and there I things I don’t like about him.
But he is competent president — UNLIKE THE UNMITIGATED DISASTER OF BUSH who the conservatives loved so much.
Obama’s fix for joblessness? Other than the census, nothing.
Obama’s fix for the BP disaster? Shut down the state of Louisiana while stuffing his commission with rabid environmentalist such a Fran Beinecke.
Obama’s fix for immigration? Let them all in and tell them to vote Democrat and they will get amnesty.
The liberals have only three fixes for anything: more taxes and payoff to unions, stifling regulations and gut the military budget and kill the rest off in Afghanistan.
… oh, yeah. and demonizing, lying about, and suing anything not on the his agenda unless it’s a foreign despot in which case he will bow to it.
>> # 16 GregAllen said, on July 11th, 2010 at 7:56 am
>> #13. OK, so you hate Republicans…
I don’t hate Republicans. I never hated Bush.
But I have justified anger that the GOP TRASHED THE HELL out of America for their own narrow self-interests.
… and I’m mad that rank-and-file conservatives cheered them along, every step of the way.
#16
>> I’m happy that he getting us out of Iraq.
He is? Didn’t he just ADD MORE TROOPS to the war? Must be some new way to pull out of a war. We didn’t do that in Vietnam.
>> I’m happy that, after decades of others
>> trying, he finally got some decent healthcare
>> reform.
Reform? You mean people who can’t afford healthcare are now FORCED by law to have healthcare? Yeah that’s reform only an insurance company can love. Oh that’s right, the insurance companies WROTE this law.
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.
Maybe, but I will say that this encapsulates the problems with most of the recent Presidential elections: the choice of less worse. In my history as a voter, I have yet to have a candidate that I actually wanted to endorse as opposed to feeling that temperature of one candidate’s hot poker (which they’d jam up the American hind side) was slightly less than the other.
In this last election, my problem with McCain was his age. There were times when he simply did not appear to be all there and as people get older, the number of consecutive days of really being on the ball get fewer and fewer. My worry was A: that he’d do something stupid in a moment of fogginess and B: die and leave Caribou Barbie in his place. This was despite the fact that I knew Obama would very likely be an economic disaster and had absolutely zero experience as a manager and zero experience as a negotiator.