WSJ Columnist: Is McCain Losing It?

Wall Street Journal columnist Daniel Henninger looks at John McCain's tax policy and concludes, "This isn't a flip-flop. It's a sex-change operation." He continues:

What I'm asking is, does John McCain have the mental focus, the intellectual discipline, to avoid being out-slicked by Barack Obama, if he isn't abandoned by his own voters?

...

Why as well shouldn't the Obama camp exploit all of this? If Sen. Obama's "inexperience" is Mr. McCain's ace in the hole, why not trump that by asking, "Does Sen. McCain know his own mind?"

...

Yes, Sen. McCain has honor and country. Another month of illogical, impolitic remarks and Sen. McCain will erase even that. Absent a coherent message for voters, he will be one-on-one with Barack Obama in the fall. He will lose.

The Chicago Tribune's Frank James comments: "More evidence that Sen. John McCain is giving fits to many conservatives, like those who comprise The Wall Street Journal's editorial board: they're asking aloud if he's stupid."

Comments

[Ajegunle]

Losing it? Losing it? The man lost it a long time ago...the medis jus wasn't paying attention.

[coloradosiren]

They were paying attention, they were hoping the rest of us were not.

[casengo]

McCain has become a sad parody of himself. The so-called straight talker who promised a clean campaign is lashing out in racist overtones about Obama's patriotism. You knew it was coming but it gets sicker all the time.

[LAB10]

The only thing that Mac lost was the advantage of smoke and mirrors.

[mnash]

When I heard one of MC' manager say" MC doesn't speak for the campaign" and there was no response from MC about that comment, I really wonder is he is "losing" it. MC was on ABC talking about taxes and said "nothing is off the table" someone is his campaign came back with that statement. So who is actually running that campaign????

[GuyFawkes]

He says he might raise payroll taxes, and the next day his campaign says he doesn't speak for the campaign???

This is the height of illogic, and NOBODY NOT EVEN OBAMA is talking about this.

Meanwhile, we get day after day after day of headlines of how McW is trying to corner Obama's character. Yet ZERO REACTIONI from Obama, except a tepid "low road". Stop trying to defend yourself, and attack this guys' fraudulent "maverick" label, and his ping pong inconsistencies which point to either a lack of conviction, or early senility.

I've been as big a supporter of Obama as you can have, but I'm getting frustrated that they're starting to run the Kerry campaign, of just playing prevent defense, of let's not doing anything stupid and we'll win. But that never wins! Obama promised to be a fighter, that he "doesn't do cowering". But that's what he's doing now by letting McW control the message of his character, as opposed to pointing out the obvious failures in his opponent's. The LATIMES ran an article essentially saying the same thing: It's time for him to attack and take the shine off the "maverick", and not just try to make voters comfortable with him (the Kerry campaign line), or he's going to lose.

[PennP]

From "John McCain, Prisoner of War: A First-Person Account," which appeared in the May 14, 1973 issue of U.S. News & World Report. http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/01/28/john-mccain-prisoner-of-war-a-first-person-account.html

"From that time on it was one round of rough treatment followed by another. Sometimes I got it three or four times a week. Sometimes I'd be off the hook for a few weeks. A lot of it was my own doing, because they realized far better than we did at first the value of communicating with our fellow Americans. When they caught us communicating, they'd take severe reprisals. I was caught a lot of times. One reason was because I'm not too smart, and the other reason was because I lived alone. If you live with somebody else you have somebody helping you out, helping you survive."

He's "not too smart" by his own estimation, and that's 35 years ago.

[sugarmoes]

don't forget... republicans looooooooooooooove them some stupid!!!

they rally around it even! praise it! say it's honor and dignity!

http://www.lazygranch.com/images/nosepic/sosec.jpg

[bryansmith]

Sad but true

[bryansmith]

and they call it COMMON sense

[Grunty1]

They love their stupid and their mentally unfit. Evidence includes:

R'eagan
Q'uayle
D'ole
D'uyba
MC'Cain

[comacoma]

If you're asking that particular question you already know the answer.

[sugarmoes]

if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

[gapanther]

Losing it? He never had anything to offer to begin with. Where would he be without his wife's $$?

[TunaFish]

Absolutly correct. In order to lose something you have to had something to lose in the first place.

[shengirl]

to me, this is painful. He had, I guess, an ok career in the Senate, he did perform bravely as a POW, to now be reduced to being a laughingstock as he fumbles thru his campaign is just sad.

[AxelDC]

I'm beginning to fear that a McCain White House would be less coherent, less logical and more haphazard than even the current Bush fiasco.

The big question this year: can we risk another 4 years of a president with an IQ too low for the office?

I don't think McCain has lost a step; he was always this slow!

[novowel4me]

Three months is a lot of time for McCain to produce a really fatal error. His handlers must cringe every time he opens his mouth.

[ShamusNYC]

"Yes, Sen. McCain has honor and country..."

I'm sorry - you're confusing the McCain of 2000 with the McCain 2008 - not even the same person. In fact, I'd like to see the two of them in a debate!

[walkthewalk]

It isn't ageism to suggest that John McCain does not have the mental capacity to lead this country. There are plenty of very competent seniors. He just isn't one of them. This line of criticism about his mental acumen should be fair game.

[commissaris]

McSurge bit the hand that has fattened him and now hopefully he is paying the price. Can you imagine if the press actually began reporting on his ties to lobbyists, Randy Scheunemann's connection to Chalabi, his waffling, lying, flip-flopping, his serial gaffing, his wife's stealing narcotics from her own charity, his dismal attendence in the Senate, his bad rating with various vets groups, etc?