Scanning various blogs today, I'm amazed at the seething outrage at the McCain campaign's plethora of dishonest tactics, from Sarah Palin's lie about rejecting the Bridge to Nowhere to the ad charging Obama with promoting sex. Josh Marshall, who normally reads political events pretty coolly, has joined Andrew Sullivan in all-out high-dudgeon mode:
[McCain and Palin have] both embraced a level of dishonesty that disqualifies them for high office. Democrats owe it to the country to make clear who these people are. No apologies or excuses. If Democrats can say at the end of this campaign that they made clear exactly how and why these two are unfit for high office they can be satisfied they served their country.
Rather, I'm amazed not at the outrage itself so much as the fact that it seems to have obliterated all sense of proportion. Call it McCain-Palin Derangement Syndrome. Step back a moment: McCain is running for president. Both his place in history and the future of the country are on the line. In the words of George H.W. Bush, he's going to do "what it takes" to become president. John McCain may have once had a reputation as a straight-talking, unconventional politician, and maybe that McCain could have made a go of it -- we'll never know. But now, for obviously well-thought-out strategic reasons, we've got a different McCain.
Certainly, McCain has made moral compromises here, will doubtless make more, and that will undermine if not destroy his stated quest to heal the divisions in Washington. This augers poorly for a McCain presidency, especially following on eight years of George W. Bush.
But do dishonest-but-effective campaign tactics really render McCain "unfit to lead"? No. Voters obviously don't think it disqualifies him either, at least not in great numbers. Maybe they see the lies, but they also see the aggression. This is a guy who really, really wants to win -- and that counts for a lot in a presidential campaign. If McCain wins, most people will quickly forget the campaign's lies, distortions and negative ads, and his fitness will ultimately be tested by what he does in office.
Meanwhile, the howls over McCain's lost "honor" and the appeals to America's sense of fair play are, frankly, ridiculous. The man fights dirty. If you don't like it, find a way fight back.
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Technically, no. McCain is already unfit to lead - he's putting the country and the planet at risk by pretending he is fit to lead when he isn't.
That said, you're right, it's time to roll up the sleeves and start fighting back. Otherwise, he'll ride the Forked Tongue express all the way to the White House.
There once was a man who could tell no lies
His eyes grew fixed on a noble prize
Off he set on an epic quest
While The Other faced a similar test
Yet Honest Man believed HE was best
He smeared and lied because he knew
deep inside his heart was true
He wanted to lead
For that right he’d beg and plead
“Yesterday isn’t today
But tomorrow could be,
It doesn’t matter what I say
Can’t you people see, it’s me!?”
It was apparent, though, he had changed
Morals, priorities rearranged
We’re not certain The Other will end ahead
What’s certain is this: The Honest Man is dead.
You ask 'Do dishonerable-but-effective' campaign tactics render McCain unfit to lead?''
The answer: Of course they do!
Just as robbing a bank makes one unfit to be trusted with another's money.
McCain is asking the country to trust him with the most powerful position on this planet.
We don't need a president who is 'effective' at lies and manipulation, we need a leader who has the vision to lead us and the world in the right direction.
McCain is proving himself to be a dirty little man whose vision is confined to his own ambitions.
Does this make him unfit to lead?
You bet your ass!
They should, win at all cost gutter politics is despicable. It's the scorched earth policy of the immoral majority!
Would a real hero or man of good character engage in those tactics? NO!
How can a party consider themselves to be conservative when they are that radical, fananatical and go to such horrible extremes?
Let us not be tricked back. We were inspired to raise this campaign because we saw that here was a chance to have our voices heard, to have our work recognized, to know that we could be a part of a solution, of a building up.
"I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington...I'm asking you to believe in yours." Barack Obama
Whatever part, big or small, there is value in participating. Let's participate and stay focused on the outcome. Yes, we can and should call out the lies. But even more we need to call out the truth.
But he is, so your point is, well, what's your word? Oh yeah, ridiculous.
Americans understand that politics is an ugly business. They're not fools.
But there's always a line that shouldn't be crossed, in every ugly business.
McSame crossed it a long time ago. And if it's honor he's selling, he simply has none left.
If you don't level with the people about what your administration is going to look like and how those policies are going to affect the lives of middle class Americans, you're playing dirty with us. We have enough enemies from without, we don't need any more from within our own government.
The consequences of the past 8 years have slowly begun to 'trickle down' with the failing economy, soaring energy prices, our poor standing in the world and a subtle return to pre-civil-rights apartheid America. Is this what Americans want the world to know about them? Many of us believe that if we continue down this path with the election of McCain/Palin, the trickle down will turn into a raging river, China will have to bail us out again. Only this time it will be via colonization.