George Will Has Had Enough: McCain "Arguably Not Suited to the Presidency" (interview, campaign)
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George F Will came out this morning and beat the crap out of John McCain.
Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama.
Following an exasperated WSJ article on McCain's typically impulsive bluster on what should be done about Wall Street, Will evidently was driven to write this piece by McCain's "shallow, fact-free slander" concerning SEC Chairman Cox. However, he gives example after example of McCain's propensity to "act first and think later."
This ADD-ish, irresponsible, spoiled-child behavior is a disturbing flaw that has punctuated McCain's entire life, reaping dire consequences (Keating decisions, etc.), but which he brags about and laughs away as "learning experiences." But among normal people, by the time one is 32, or 42, or 52, or 62, or 72, one can pretty well guess the consequences of a particular action.
Will also notes that McCain, because it would benefit him to do so, is actually trying to find a way around McCain-Feingold. "For McCain, politics is always operatic, pitting people who agree with him against those who are 'corrupt' or 'betray the public's trust,' two categories that seem to be exhaustive -- there are no other people. McCain's Manichaean worldview drove him to his signature legislative achievement, the McCain-Feingold law's restrictions on campaigning. Today, his campaign is creatively finding interstices in laws intended to restrict campaign giving and spending."
"Corrupt"? Check. "Betraying the public trust"? Check. Still trying to do what pleases him at the moment, no matter what the consequences down the road? Ask an ADD doctor, or the Keating prosecutors, or his ex-wife and kids, or even the interviewer in Pittsburgh when McCain smarmily said he recited the Steelers lineup to his captors in Vietnam.
[T]he more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.
Will mentions "patience" and "aptitude" as qualities McCain does not evidence.
Some admire this behavior because it's "shoot from the hip," "shoot first and ask questions later." It's "cowboy" and "macho." ("Maverick" fits right in to this mythos- they didnt pay that PR guy enough, IMO.) This exact same characteristic leaped to the fore in McCain's automatic, Cold War-mode saber rattling during the recent dustup between Russia and Georgia (run by an old friend of Cindy and John).
Do you think it's admirable in a President?
Last edited by delusianne; 09-23-2008 at 05:57 AM..
It's reckless indifferent behavior. Senator McCain's reaction in this campaign are like on giant experiment. Say one thing, gauge reaction, try 180 - gauge reaction, try 90 - gauge reaction, stick with that for a week. Repeat. The Senator doesn't care what happens on mainstreet - he doesn't have to live there. This is a shallow desperate last ditch effort to claim the highest seat on the Planet to offset years of mediocrity. The electorate's watching a clinical display here - we just haven't had a Dr. come out and tell us the acronym yet.
"In a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, the RSC decried the improvised torrent of bailouts as a "dangerous and unmistakable precedent for the federal government both to be looked to and indeed relied upon to save private sector companies from the consequences of their poor economic decisions."
Dangerous and precedent, haven't we lived this movie before? Oh...we're still rolling....CUT!!
I think this is a definate problem for the McCain campaign. He needs to think things through before saying them or taking action. Unfortunately for him, I think that may simply be a part of who he is.
"In a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, the RSC decried the improvised torrent of bailouts as a "dangerous and unmistakable precedent for the federal government both to be looked to and indeed relied upon to save private sector companies from the consequences of their poor economic decisions."
Dangerous and precedent, haven't we lived this movie before? Oh...we're still rolling....CUT!!
I've been looking for where I read this and can't find it: "[These companies] privatize the profit, socialize the risk."
McCain should know all about this, and know the elements of boom-bust regulation cycles, from the Keating days of shame. I guess it was a long time ago...lot of barbecue sauce under the bridge since then.
In Will's article, this disturbed me - that McCain is now looking for ways around McCain-Feingold.
Can you imagine? First the creepy Rove-Bush Stockholm Syndrome, now trying to weasel around his own, and only, significant achievement.
I dont know if he ever really was a principled man to begin with, or if he was once and has massively betrayed himself. Either way....
I think this is a definate problem for the McCain campaign. He needs to think things through before saying them or taking action. Unfortunately for him, I think that may simply be a part of who he is.
George Will has always been a principled conservative instead of a partisan conservative. And notice that I didn't say neo-conservative. I don't agree with everything he says, but he consistently stands on principle.
Last edited by rightofcenter; 09-23-2008 at 06:34 AM..
Reason: left out a word
The actual McCain seems to a lot worse than the "marketed" McCain.
That's what his handlers are trying to do, make him seem more mainstream than he really is.
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