McCain's Viagra Problem

Losing the presidency must be pretty tough. It's worse than losing a Super Bowl -- at least then you're a worthy prospect for the following year. It's worse than losing the gold -- at least that gets referred to as "winning the silver." A presidential loss signals the beginning of the end of a career rather than the start of something immense. It's akin to a wedding proposal gone bad, in which a man is left alone on his couch, wondering how the glowing future he pictured just walked out the door.

And everyone's watching.

Impressively, most newly-minted presidential losers have acted more as statesmen than politicians in the aftermath of their losses, seeming wiser, more friendly, more open than they had on the trail. Some have even spurred the occasional "if only I'd known" syndrome in the American public. If only I'd known that Al Gore cared so much about the environment. If only I'd known that Bush Sr. jumped out of airplanes. If only I'd known how much Bob Dole loves Pepsi and Viagra. If only.

Even those whose political credibility were trampled by their campaigns -- the John Kerrys and Michael Dukakises of the bunch -- have managed to mute their partisanship, restrain their desire for vendetta, always avoiding the potential ugliness of being perceived as bitter.

Yet when it comes to this exclusive club, John McCain, it turns out, is quite the maverick.

Not since Ralph Nader has someone so willfully dismantled his own reputation and legacy like John McCain. Once a noble and battered war hero, McCain has morphed from integrity-driven campaign hero of 2000 to right-wing groveling partisan of 2008, to sorely bitter loser of 2009. Instead of trying to repair his badly damaged brand, instead of reciprocating Obama's post-election overtures, McCain chose, after what must have been careful deliberation, to go on an all-out tirade.

During the stimulus debate, McCain was one of the most prominent leaders of the opposition, spending the week producing sound-bite worthy grumbles of anger and bitterness. He aggressively challenged the president as a old-style partisan, accusing him, literally, of "generational theft." He mocked the president's bipartisan efforts, accused him of breaking campaign promises, and suggested Obama start over.

And that's just the first four weeks.

McCain seems unwilling -- perhaps unable -- to shake his latest persona. Even the old McCain could be endearing on late night talk shows and morning news programs. The new McCain prefers blowing off Barbara Walters when she offers him a seat on The View.

McCain thinks he's the victim, of the press, of the Democrats, of Obama's success. In fact, he is the victim of his own blinded judgment, the victim of a decision to scrap any semblance of himself for a long-shot bid at the presidency.

Americans hate kicking a guy when he's down. The public has, by and large, been very kind to its presidential runners-up. But if McCain continues to dabble in over-the-top, in-your-face, logic-be-damned style bloviating, his presence in the history books may well be reduced to a diminishing footnote: John McCain*, bitter old man.

Comments

[RonMar]

At first I thought this article was a spoof. Then I realized Loewe might actually be serious. Serious or only kidding he misses the marks on the most trivial of points. A few examples:
-Runner-up in the Super Bowl puts you just above the winner at the bottom of draft picks so prospect for the following year depends a lot on the ages of the team members who lost the Super Bowl and whether or not the coach, entire staff got fired or not as well as other factors.
- 1) past Presidents, Presidential and Veep candidates have hardly faded into oblivion as evidenced by Carter, Clinton, GHWB, AlGore and Palin; 2) Carter mucking about in North Korea and the Middle East, Clinton in the Middle East with the details revealed about his financial dealings there in Hillary’s confirmation, 3) Likewise AlGore’s, or Kerry’s familiar consorting with enemies of the U.S. now as he did in France vis-à-vis the Southeast Asia War is not statesmanlike but rather political.
-AlGore’s care about the environment was evident in the ozone-layer scare. Bush Sr. jumped out of a WWII airplane in the Pacific. John Kerry is as partisan as they come, vindictive and perceived as bitter – Ohio flap, etc.
-McCain is still a battered war hero.
The dismantling of this fallaciously funny article could go on, but why bother. I just want some of what Mr. Loewe is drinking or smoking.

[den1953]

It is very hard to understand a political candidate when he or she has the drive or desire to succeed as a president McCain never put forth that efford he basically went throught the motions. If he really wanted that postion he would have stopped alot of the mistakes he made for Palin to hireing old Bush croney's he new Bush's image was damaged for good there was to much circus like antics that anyone trying to win the white house would have stopped before they even started. He will just waste away in a dismal retirement that no one cares about his credibility is basically shot from his conduct through out his run for the presidency.

[SonnyBono]

McCain lost his way back in 2000 when he (and he alone) decided to hitch his wagon to the George W. Bush wagon train. He spent the next eight years kissing up to Bush, Cheney, Rove and all the other right wingnuts. Sarah Palin and the economic meltdown were just the last straws. Being a legacy naval officer and former prisoner of war can only take you so far when you spent 2000 thru 2008 destroying every position you had taken in your previous political life. Only Mitt Romney could match him for flip flopping on all the major issues of the day. He flushed the last of his integrity the day he stepped on the Bob Jones University campus.

Gee, John, too bad, you had a lot of us fooled for a while there.

[Arguman]

I endorse Governor Bush.
I endorse Governor Bush.
I endorse Governor Bush.
I endorse Governor Bush.
I endorse Governor Bush.

That was the end of John McCain.

[gnc]

Bible spice for Palin is so funny. I am sorry I am going to use it but I will try to give you credit.

[sheikwil4]

That's exactly what he is, a bitter old man, who still can't get over the fact that he chose Sarah Palin, which is why he got beat so bad. He is mainly bitter because every candidate that ran against President Obama, laughed him off as inexperience, but he beat the Clinton who none is better and playing the campaign game and he beat out McCain, you sold his being a war hero for a cheap trick with that loser Sarah Palin. So he got what he deserves and he will go down in history as a bitter old man.

[helloboyd]

Give the credit to Alec Baldwin

[laksa]

Arizonians, stand up and vote McCain out of the Senate!!!!

[nineteen and eighty four]

I would love to vote McCain and Kyl in to retirement!

[arabella57]

McCain doesn't have to put on his "Candidate Persona" and can now be himself. Not a pretty sight, needless to say, and this makes us all rejoice that he didn't win the election. He will definitely continue to dog Obama on everything he does and be the loud-mouth that he is accustomed to being until he loses re-election to the Senate and is put to pasture. Until then, more of the same.....

[StellaRay]

I think what you're seeing now IS the real McCain, the 2000 "Maverick," was just the winning mask at the time.

Some posts here have already cited the incredible Rolling Stone article that looked deeply into McCain's history. There are many credible sources going back years that show you what kind of man he has always been. The kind of man that calls his wife unprintable names and manhandles colleagues when they disagree with him.

All I can say is it's good news for McCain that most Americans take their news in small bites. For those of us who take bigger helpings the man sickened us long ago.

[djgonebad]

This ending couldn't happen to a "NICER?" guy; he deserves everything he gets. He lost, even with the voting machines being "RIGGED"; that must really burn him.

Just think of him being our president; STOP!!!! I can't, I'm about to throw-up!!! Just thinking about McSame and Bible Spice trying to cure our country's ills gets me sick.

[UpstateNYer]

...
Your voting machine was rigged?

[mindylc77]

Thinking of him being pres(HA! Bible Spice, good one!) -well I don't really, I just thank my lucky stars that the good guys won this time!

[generationyes]

Bible Spice!! HA!

[David Dial]

McCain is just being McCain. He has never been noble or heroic. That is a myth created by his PR people. He has always been self-serving and mendacious. I could say a lot worse but won't.

Well, except for this. John McCain isn't leading the obstructionist right wing of the Republican Party because he is bitter or because he believes what he is saying. He is leading it because he sees the party is totally devoid of leadership and he wants to fill that void. He hasn't given up on runniing for president again in 2012. He is betting that the right wing of the party will decide who the candidate will be and he is doing his typical hypocrital best to get their vote.

He just announced that he will try to retain his Senate seat in the 2010 midterm election and, mark my words, if he does and stays healthy, he will toss his hat into the Republican Presidential primary race shortly thereafter. I encourage any of you who care about the well being of the country to support whoever is his opponent in 2010, even if it is Daffy Duck.

[Dandywalker]

I agree with pretty everything you wrote here. Do you really think McCain will attempt another gop presidential candidate, again?

[Brooke Horne]

No one to blame but himself. Foot shooting is not rare for politicians, but McCain is taking this to all new levels. Has he "gone Blago"?

[Srkdqltr]

I think he got to a point in his campaign for prez and decided he really didn't want it. So.. he did everything in his power to loose.
I can't imagine that he thought he could win with the lackluster and nasty way he went about it.

[SgtMac]

Good point, I suspected his heart really wasn't in the campaign.

[ChiProgressive]

"bomb bomb Iran" and "there are going to be more wars"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAyK-enrF1g

[laocoon]

I remember the McCain ads arguing that Obama's resume was too thin to be President. I thought that was the best and most valid argument and he was making it. Then he picked sarah palin. He also continued to run the Obama has too little experience argument alongside Sarah is well qualified position. undercut his credibility entirely.

[RonMar]

Sarah Palin was more qualified than any of the other three POTUS and Veep candidates by virtue of the actual government executive leadership positions she had held and as Governor of Alaska. McCain had military leadership experience. Obama and Biden had no government executive leadership experience. Obama said he thought about joining the military. Biden, like Cheney, is a five-time draft dodger.
The experience of Obama and Biden in government was campaigning as law-educated legislators, someone writing legislation for them, reading or briefing legislation to them, their discussing legislation, and then voting on the legislation. Fifth graders can do and indeed do all that, and with the help of a junior or high school student do as good or better job than do our Congress members.

[tel8034]

McCain has always been a bitter and vidictive person, who always had to rely on his family and Cindy's family to get him where is is today.

He only got into the Naval academy because of his father and grandfather, and he only was able to graduate from that institution (with bad grades and bad behaviour) because of his family name. He was only able to succeed in politics and live the "good" life because of Cindy's family money, and because of his family's name and Cindy's money he was able to skirt the Keating 5 scandal and also got a pass on crashing 5 naval aircraft worth billions of dollars.

So becoming the POTUS would have been THE FIRST THING he did "mostly" on his own.

What must hurt him the most, is that losing the election RE-confirmed to the world that he is incapable of achieving success on his own accord ..........­.. And that fact has made him even more bitter and more vindictive, and we all know that EMPTY VESSELS MAKE THE MOST NOISE.

[lydiajean]

At least he voted NO on the stimulus.

[CherokeeGirl]

well I can think of a few republicans that are out of work that would have appreciated his support and are thankful for the stimulus. You folks pushing "no" on the stimulus are just pushing talking points given to you without offering any other solution than "do nothing" let them eat cake mentality. Well, we all know what happened to Marie Antoinette. Bet against America and you will lose every time. Doing nothing is not an option. Have an original thought for once!