McCain In His Memoirs: "It Had Become My Ambition To Be President"

Sometimes, it's simply remarkable just how worthless our media is when it comes to putting remarks into perspective, especially in the context of politics, particularly presidential politics. It's hard not to wonder whether they are professional stenographers who sometimes double as journalists.

One example that perfectly illustrates this failure are the recent attacks by John McCain (R) on Barack Obama (D) for harboring ambitions to be president, as McCain describes it.

Here's what McCain said during his remarks before the VFW yesterday:

“Behind all of these claims and positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president."

What our media seems to either ignore or believes isn't relevant is McCain's own words in his own political memoir describing why he ran for president in 2000:

"I didn't decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be president because it had become my ambition to be president. . . . In truth, I'd had the ambition for a long time."

Of course, McCain's self-confessed "ambition to be president" isn't part of any media analysis when it comes to his own attacks against Obama on the same issue.

In fact, it's remarkable how few people even know that McCain wrote those words in his book "Worth the Fighting For." I had no idea until a month or two ago when a reader dropped them into a comment in a blog post. I was startled given how often McCain had been blasting Obama for suggesting he had (gasp) those same feelings.

Sadly, our press corps seems equally unaware, and blissfully so...

Mark Nickolas is the Managing Editor of Political Base, and this story was from his original post, "McCain: "It Had Become My Ambition To Be President""

Follow Mark Nickolas on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mnickolas

Comments

[Ventura212]

You guys are missing the point. This isn't some weird or hypocritical line of attack.

The word "ambitious" is a key word.

In the south, even white supremacists know you can't use the phrase "uppity ni@@er" anymore in public, so they now call black people that they think are overstepping their proper place in society "ambitious".

This line of attack is aimed directly at white supremacists and specifically to the Christian identity movement.

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/type.jsp?DT=4

And

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp

[BartLA]

OF COURSE McCain is ambitious. It's part of the reason he threw his first wife overboard for the rich young Cindy Hensley who helped finance his first campaign. He's no idiot. (Just a jerk).

He picked the perfect AMBITIOUS helpmate:

http://thebruceblog.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/cindy-mccain-cries-i-am-an-only-child-i-am-an-only-child-and-the-money-is-all-mine/

[sparc]

It is pretty obvious that every McCain line of attack is really a projection of his McCain's own weakness. It is plain that McCain is a man with deep, deep self-doubt and is running a campaign of a person who is compensating for very low self-esteem.

McCain is not half the man Bush was when he was running. McCain is a compulsive liar who has no idea what is going on around him. He lacks the leadership to even run his own campaign, imagine if McCain, a man completely devoid of leadership qualities were to be President. Terrifying.

There is nothing to fear but McCain himself.

[fairwitness]

Indeed, McCain appears to be projection personified.

[phender]

The New McCain

He stood 5’9” with the lift in his shoes
Everyone knew which side he’d choose
Exxon John

Now John couldn’t stand being Left in the lurch
Especially at the interview in the Saddleback Church
Once John was a man who honored ethical
Compliance,
This time he just couldn’t stay put in that “Cone of Silence’
Exxon John

John used to be a Maverick who was shrewd and keen, but now John McCain has gotten just plain mean.
The truth has fallen victim with his new found-persona, but nothing he can do will damage Barack Obama
Exxon John – Real Mean John

[1oneWON]

Submitted to Digg: Vote!

http://digg.com/politics/McCain_Says_He_Ran_for_President_Due_to_Personal_Ambition

Also on Propeller, AOL's Digg equivalent

http://www.propeller.com/story/2008/08/19/mccain-in-his-memoirs-quotit-had-become-my-ambition-to-be-presidentquot/

[jouster]

Perhaps if John McCain had written his own books he'd remember what he said in them.

[madisonhack]

The L.A. Times wrote...'T­he survey also illustrates some of the campaign's racial undercurrents as the Illinois senator strives to become the first African American president. Most voters say they know at least some people who feel uneasy about electing a black president; 17% say the country is not ready to do so.'

Putting McCain's remarks about 'ambition' in context with the above quote on Obama's struggle to keep his numbers up, one could conclude that McCain is actually saying that Obama is 'uppity', no? The 17% of the country that say the "country" is not ready for a black president are only saying that THEY are not ready for a black president; maybe a black son-in-law; black business partner; black doctor; black neighbor; black astronaut.­...

[GrainOSand]

Some smell a foul smell from a mile away.
Some smell a foul smell from a block away.
Some smell foul and wonder what you are talking about when you say something smells.

McCain is an obvious liar, panderer, flip flopper, hypocrite, and bigot. Yet, there are those who will tell you -- he is all presidential. These are the people described by the third sentence above.

[kavan]

The media purposely ignore McCain's shortcomings and don't call him on any of his bs. Don't expect them to start paying attention now, let alone do research to call the "maverick" on his deceptions.

[PuppaX]

Please...w­hy should reporters educate themselves when they can get all the copy they need from the campaign staffs? .

[crankiyanki]

Yes!! On page 373 of "Worth Fighting For". I was thinking exactly that when I heard McCain at that conference yesterday. I thought surely someone would pick up on this but this is the first time I've seen anyone address this. I found it using Google, and I'm 63, for pete's sake how hard is it to find anything! Same thing with the cross in the sand thing, I knew I had heard or read it before but couldn't remember when or where. I read The Gulag Archipelago thirty some years ago, and my first thought was the dirty old dog is at it again.

[december30]

Keith Olberman called him on this yesterday.

[MPeter]

Yeah, thanks Mark. Keep the old dog honest. MCflip-flop has been so disgraceful and deceitful, it is scary. He accuses Senator Obama for the same things MSM lets him get away with. His entire life has been privileged, including being admitted to the Naval Academy through the back door because his father and grandfather were admirals there. He ended up performing so poorly, he graduated 5th last, but still got promoted and sent to Vietnam where he quickly ended up in hands of the enemy. We need to call this man on his lies.

[Bluesue]

Thank you for giving this quote visability. I've been posting it all over for maybe a month or so, McCain doesn't have any grand vision for America. In fact, I think he has daddy issues.

In my opinion, he's similar to Bush in psychology. He relied on family connections, was a party boy, not a good student, actually a bit of a failure as a young adult (look at his record prior to his capture), He was never going to be an admiral like his father and grandfather, I think this ambition of his to be president is all about showing the old man "Look at me now! I did better than you!"

Evan Thomas wrote yet another profile of McCain back in February. A new thing I learned was about this psych report:

"Always, the fear of disgracing his forebears hung over him. "He has been preoccupied with escaping the shadow of his father and establishing his own image and identity in the eyes of others," reads a psychiatric evaluation in McCain's medical files. "He feels his experiences and performance as a POW have finally permitted this to happen." Released after the 1973 Peace Accords, McCain returned to the United States a hero. "Felt fulfillment when his Dad was introduced at a dinner as 'Commander McCain's father.' He had arrived," noted the psychiatric report in 1974."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/107581/page/1