
I hate to be the one to break up a love affair, especially with Valentine's Day just around the corner, but I can no longer stand idly by and watch the media and independent voters continue to throw themselves at the feet of John McCain.
The John McCain they fell in love with in 2000 -- the straight-shooting, let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may maverick - is no more. He's been replaced by a born-again Bushite willing to say or do anything to win the affection of his newfound object of desire, the radical right.
And we've got the money shot of his betrayal on tape: McCain singing the praises of Karl Rove, calling him "one of the smartest political minds in America," and saying, "I'd be glad to get his advice."
So, please, stop pretending that McCain is still the dashing rebel that made knees buckle back in the day -- and stop referring to him, as the New York Times did this weekend, as "moderate" and a "centrist."
What is it going to take for you guys to face reality? McCain verbally stroking Rove should be the equivalent of that great scene at the end of The Godfather where Diane Keaton's Kay watches in horror as Al Pacino transforms, in the kiss of a ring, from her loving husband Michael into the next Don Corleone. This ain't the same man you married.
I know it's hard. I myself was deeply enamored of the old McCain. In 2000, I invited him to give the keynote address at the Shadow Convention I'd helped organize. He spoke with passion about the need to clean up the "iron triangle of lobbyists, big money, and legislation."
And now he'd be "glad to get" advice from one of the preeminent architects of that triangle?
Of course, McCain's embrace of Rove is just the latest proof that the new McCain bears no relation to the old.
The old John McCain once rightly called Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and like-minded religious bigots "agents of intolerance." The new John McCain now slavishly seeks their endorsement.
The old John McCain talked about trying to do something about global warming and encourage renewable energy. The new John McCain didn't show up for a vote last week on a bill that included tax incentives for clean energy, even though he was in DC. And then his staff misled environmentalists who called to protest by telling them that he had voted for it.
The old John McCain once stood tall as a fearless leader on immigration, co-sponsoring a humane, bipartisan reform bill with Ted Kennedy. The new John McCain, when asked during a recent GOP debate whether he would support his own proposal, replied: "No, I would not." In other words, he was for his core beliefs before he was against them.
What's the opposite of a "maverick?"
So McCain has backed an amendment that would limit the right to habeas corpus, has endorsed an Arizona constitutional amendment that would not only ban gay marriage but deny benefits to unmarried couples of any kind (lest those pesky gay people find some kind of loophole), and has discovered a newfound support for teaching "intelligent design" in schools.
The old John McCain once tried to take the mantle of true conservatism away from George W. Bush. The new John McCain is now essentially running to give America a third Bush term - and, indeed, will even out-Bush Bush when it comes to staying the disastrous course we're on in Iraq.
Right on time, the new McCain got Bush's blessing on Fox News Sunday: "I know his convictions," Bush said. "I know the principles that drive him. And no doubt in my mind he is a true conservative."
There you have it: John McCain, a Bush conservative. If you love George Bush, and all that he's brought you over the last seven years, you're gonna love John McCain.
And though McCain threw the mouthbreathers at CPAC into weeping, lamentation, and gnashing of teeth last week for not being right-wing enough, he is demonstrating every day that he will be more than right-wing enough come November.
As it turns out, the new John McCain doesn't need any advice from Karl Rove. He's already internalized the Boy Genius' lessons.
If you think the problem with the United States right now is that we haven't given Bush enough time to finish his agenda, then John McCain is your man. If not, it's time to stop running on the fumes of romantic notions past and find a good divorce lawyer (and, yes, I'm talking to you in the campaign press corps and to you independents and to you moderates and to you anti-war McCain voters in Florida).
The Thousand Year War Express is careening along the road to the White House, and the new John McCain is gunning the engine. And he has to be stopped.
Image from nytimes.com
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That said I'd be happier if we had more than Hillary/Ba
i'll admit, the thought that we could actually end up with this party completing their mission in another 4 yrs, chills to the core. if that were the apparent outcome, i would expect to see the impeachmen
According to Kristof, McCain can lie to voters and still maintain his principles because he's desperate for the nomination
When journalist
He's my Senator along with Kyl...ther
Shouldn't the close of that sentence be 'Barack Obama'?
Talk about the teflon candidate. Too bad for US that if he wins the nomination
mc cain, in the interest of continuing the destructio
he is making the transition from fully functionin
let us not forget, those invisible people have been awakened. partially by the conditions they have been asked to endure, and partially by a leader that knows how to bring people and ideas together to create the conditions of hope and belief in a broken system. we actually want to engage ourselves once again...bu
anyone for 4 more years of watching our freedoms disinegrat
When someone focuses on a certain subject for a long period of time (playing music, surviving child abuse, architectu
John McCain grew up within a high-power
Way to go.
For all this wringing of hands by some about the love affair with Obama by the media, it's nothing, but a small crush compared to the seeming Fatal Attraction sized love they have for McCain. Well granted outside of Rightwing nutjobs like Coulter and Rush. But then those same people hate on Obama, so they don't count. I mean Ann Coulter would rather vote for Hillary than vote for Obama, or McCain for that matter.
But the slobbering done by Chris Mathews and others on NBC, like Brian Williams, or some on CNN? Is just embarrassi
Hopefully what will take its place will be Obamaism which will say if we want any kind of future for ourselves, our children, our Planet and a peaceful co-existen
You see, it has went like this for the past 8 years. Bush gets into office--Le
2004--Bush stays course--Ke
2006--Bush stays course--De
Do you see where I am going with this?
2007--Bush stays course--Ku
That's why McKinney or Nader must be allowed into the debates and given mainstream media coverage out of simple fairness. If Obama is sincere about being about "Change", then, like the discredite
Like Perot's running in 1992 forced Clinton to balance the Federal Budget, Let McKinney/N
Does this sound like a man in possession of his mind?