McCain's Choice: Lose With Honor or Lose In Disgrace

With the presidential election only 3 weeks away, John McCain faces a stark choice: Will he go down in history as a principled conservative who lost an election standing on his convictions? Or will he go down as an opportunist who lost while bringing out the darkest elements in American politics?

With the national and international financial system in a midst of collapse, Americans worried about saving their jobs and their homes, the Iraq War lasting longer than World War II, and Osama Bin Laden still holed up in the mountains of Pakistan, 72-year-old John McCain is a man whose ideas and persona are out of step with this moment in history.

After 8 disastrous years of Republican rule under George W. Bush, all of the tides of history point towards a Democratic victory on November 4th. Obama's principle obstacle to the presidency has been whether a majority of Americans were ready to accept him as Commander in Chief. After his performance in the first two debates, and his calm and steady response to the financial crisis, Obama seems to have passed that threshold. Obama holds commanding leads in national polls and in all the states won by Kerry in 2004, and is also leading in 9 states won by Bush. The election now appears to be shaping up as a possible electoral vote landslide combined with large Democratic pick-ups in the House and Senate.

McCain's campaign believed that their only chance was to change the subject from the economy and make Obama scary and unacceptable, a man who "pals around with terrorists." In the face of the vast economic crisis, that strategy appears to be failing, turning off moderates who want answers to their problems, even as it may be firing up the base.

More disturbingly, McCain's strategy is bringing out the dark underbelly of American politics -- a strain of hate-filled nativism and racism that always lurks just below the surface of parts of the American political psyche. Historian Robert Hofstadter called it "the paranoid style in American politics". This strain is showing itself in increasingly angry crowds at Palin/McCain rallies which yell "terrorist" and "off with his head" about Obama. Even McCain himself appears to be taken aback by the virulence of his crowds' reaction, partially defending Obama over the boos of his own supporters. Since it was the Palin/McCain campaign that had unleashed these forces with its implications that Obama was sympathetic to terrorism, John McCain has reached the point of political schizophrenia.

John McCain is now at a crossroads. At this historical moment, he has virtually no path to win the presidency. The question is whether he will lose with honor or lose with disgrace. Will his legacy be like that of his Arizona Senatorial predecessor Barry Goldwater, who ran a campaign of conservative principal in a liberal year and lost in a landslide, only to see his principals come to power 16 years in the form of Ronald Reagan? Or will his legacy be like some combination of Richard Nixon, Robert Dole and George Wallace, one of a man whom, in his overweening ambition for victory, took the low road and tapped the dark forces of American politics to his own everlasting shame and dishonor?

If McCain hopes to maintain his honor, here's the type of statement he should make:

My friends. I have been deeply disturbed to watch the reaction that my recent campaign has stirred up in many of my supporters. I want no part of racism and jingoism.

I profoundly disagree with Barack Obama on the direction I believe our nation should take in both domestic and foreign policy. But he is a patriot and a man of great political talent whom, as conservative columnist Charles Krautheimer has written, has a first class intellect and a first class temperament. I will continue through the remainder of this campaign to tell you why I think he's wrong about the direction America should take in this dangerous world and why my experience makes me more qualified to lead this nation through the domestic and international crises which we face. But I will no longer run a campaign based on tearing Obama down as a man and trying to make you scared of him.

I am announcing today that I am asking Sarah Palin to step down as my running mate. She is profoundly unqualified to stand a heartbeat away from the presidency. She is ignorant about foreign policy, ignorant about domestic policy and more frighteningly, ignorant of her own ignorance.. She has aligned herself with the forces of the religious right whom I denounced as "agents of intolerance" when I ran against George W. Bush in 2000. The nation would be in great danger if she were to become President, far greater danger than if Barack Obama were to become president. I am disappointed in myself that I allowed myself to be pressured into selecting her by threats from elements of my own party to create a floor fight at the Republican convention if I selected a qualified candidate who might be pro-choice. I allowed my ambition to override my better judgment. I am now going to fix that mistake.

I am also announcing that I am firing my chief Campaign Strategist Steve Schmidt and all of the other disciples of Karl Rove and Lee Atwater whom he has hired to run my campaign. They have already done far too much to poison our politics and polarize our nation. During the 2000 Republican primaries, when they ran a campaign of smears and lies about me -- even spreading the rumor that I had an illegitimate black baby when the truth was that my wife had adopted an orphan from Bangladesh -- I said there was "a special place in hell" for people like that. I was right then and I was wrong to hire them now. I have allowed them to run a campaign of personal destruction against Senator Obama which, I am ashamed to say, has brought out some of the worst elements in American politics, elements which I do not want my good name to be associated with

I am now correcting that mistake. As of today, they no longer work for my campaign. I am asking Mike Murphy, who ran my campaign in 2000, to take over. With the nation facing economic crisis and two wars, I will spend the next 3 weeks telling the country why I think my plans for handling these problems are better than Senator Obama's, but I will not continue to tear down Senator Obama.

My friends, Senator Obama and I strongly disagree and how to defend our nation from foreign threats. Senator Obama wants to set a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq which I believe will lead to a humiliating defeat for our military. Like my father, Admiral John McCain, I believe that America could have won the Vietnam War, if we had the resolve to see it through to the end. I suffered for 5 ½ years in a North Vietnamese prison in that cause. Instead, America's troops were sold out by a civilian leadership that did not have the stomach for the necessary sacrifice. The result was a humiliating defeat for America which weakened the morale of our armed forces.

I will not let that happen again in Iraq. I believe the surge has worked in reducing violence and that Gen. Petraeaus has put into place a successful counterinsurgency strategy which can work if given enough time. But I will give you a little bit of straight talk. While my campaign may have implied that victory is near, this strategy will require that we keep large numbers of American combat on the ground in Iraq for at least four or five more years. If that's what it takes, I call on the American people to stick with me in pursuing this strategy, rather than allowing the American military to experience the shame of another Vietnam-style defeat.

Turning to domestic policy, I started my political career as a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution, standing for unfettered free markets, deregulation of the economy, and low taxes for Americans of all economic classes. I do not intend to let the temporary economic crisis which America is facing make me abandon my fundamental beliefs. I believe that the government that regulates best, regulates least. I believe in low taxes for all and I reject the idea that the tax system should be a vehicle for redistributing wealth from the rich, who have earned it and provide jobs, to the poor and the middle class. Many Americans may suffer temporary economic dislocation from the current economic crisis, but I believe that with tax cuts for corporations who create jobs, the invisible hand of the free market will eventually right itself and restore balance to out economy. I do not intend to support socialist principles for short-term gain. Let the free market, which I have supported for my entire political career, work its magic.

These are my bedrock principles and the ones on which I intend to stand during the remainder of this campaign. It is possible that in this moment of economic fear, more Americans will agree with Senator Obama's liberal domestic policies and his foreign policy of defeat and appeasement. However, if it comes down to it, I would rather lose an election standing on my principles than win by avoiding the issues and attacking Senator Obama's character. I trust that the American people will eventually realize my principles are right, just as they saw that Barry Goldwater's principles were right when they elected Ronald Reagan. I believe in America enough that I'm willing to take that chance. Thank you, and God Bless America.

Do I believe McCain will take such steps? Not really. His personal ambition and sense of entitlement to the presidency are too great. More likely, he will continue to run a conflicted and schizophrenic campaign, allowing speeches by Sarah Palin and campaign ads from his staff to try to scare people out of voting from Obama, even as he recoils from some of the dark forces this strategy unleashes. He will continue his erratic behavior on the economy, trying to pull new economic proposals out of his hat. In the end, it's unlikely to work. And in the end, it will bring dishonor to Sen. McCain and destroy his historical legacy.

Comments

[tegrat]

I sure hope McCain doesn't get a copy of this, if he did it he would jump 10 points in the polls overnight.

[hopefulinpa]

McCain could say all those things, but that's face it. It is too late. We have seen him for what he is. If he was pressured into chosing Palin and he cannot run a better campaign than he is not a leader. His judgment has been wrong all along. The best he could do for the American people is concede the race now and let his donors save their money. If he truly wanted what is best for this country he would have known how bad the economy was. He had no clue. He said for years he did not understand it. .. he could have boned up on it, but he didn't. He sees it as perfectly fine for our solders getting killed in a war in a country that did nothing to us that we invaded and has lasted longer than other wars. I do not see that as caring about this country.

[wanigan2]

HuffPost's Pick

McCain's in a bunker mode - head down and hoping to live out the day - trying to survive like a POW: take it a day at a time, find small victories as you can, make your tormentors pay, have faith you will win in the end. Can't even past Nov. 4th. Does he understand he will be returning to congress a political Dead Man walking: blamed for Republican losses, scorned by Democrats, toxic to moderates, having destroyed friends (does anyone see Lieberman keeping his chairmanship?).

His place is history is assured, all that is left is to define it. If he continues on the same path, no matter what he has done in his past he will be remembered in history in league with Nixon as a nasty, self-centered politician, blinded by ambition, who could not put country before self. And his campaign will be synonymous with failure.

But if he could take the high road, his place in history could be unique: A man who saw the light, even though it was too late to turn the tide, and put country before self. He could return to congress with his head held high, and probably to universal acclamation. He could become the Saul-to-Paul for reformation of our electoral process.

Your recommendations are perfect, and heartwarming, but the only way we'll see them acted on is in a movie.

[bandithappy]

If McCain took the honorable course as a hedge against having a negative reputation going forward, what exactly would be honorable about that course? Other than the word "honorable"?

Maybe that's how McCain got the brand name "maverick". When it couldn't make any difference except to burnish his reputation he acted all mavericky.

The honorable course is for McCain to continue showing us his authentic instincts and behavior. And, lose by a landslide. Thus, giving the next administration the mandate it will need to confront the magnitude of problems McCain and his ilk have left it.

[2belinda]

Watching this poor woman trying to explain why she KNOWS Obama is an Arab, an ethnic distinction, which he is not, was pitiful. Bin Laden is a Saudi and she believes the campaign rhetoric spewed by the McCain/Palin operatives that connects Obama to terrorists. She has drawn the imaginary line and connected the dots which is exactly what the Repubs hoped.
Her thinking is addled and confused but she is convinced she is right and she is following her candidate, McCain, like lost sheep, because she believes he will protect her and America, from people like Obama, but more importantly people unlike her.
Interestingly enough she is 3 years older than McCain and in many ways her mental confusion mirrors MCain's same all-over-the-map thought processes.
When it is pointed out that Obama's father is Muslim she says, "well he's got IT in him", never understanding that Islam is a religious choice. She says "IT" like it's some kind of bad blood or devil to be exorcised from our midst and avoided at all costs.
The most awful part of the whole thing was when she said she had a large number of children/g­randchildr­en who all believed exactly as she does. Heaven help us.

VOTE Obama/Biden '08

[MathIsTruth]

Of course if McCain were truly an honorable man, the following would happen after he wrote such a statement.

He would read it over and realize that the reason he needed to write that statement was purely because of the poor and unconscionable job that he, and he alone, had done in running his campaign.

He would then realize that he was neither qualified for nor deserving of the presidency.

And he would step down.

It won't happen, but that's what an honorable, brave man would do.

[jcahill]

brilliant

precise and brilliant

[Indie2008]

Vanity and hubris made McCain choose the path he did. Genuine contempt for his rival.

[tigerakabj]

HuffPost's Pick

I think John McCain will take the latter of your end paragraph simply b/c he never had any honor to begin with. If you read his 2002 memoir, he specifically said why he ran the FIRST time: "I did not run for president b/c of principles, or b/c I wanted to run a campaign on patriotism. In truth, I ran b/c it was my personal ambition...."

I repeat, he never had any honor. It was recorded, (and echoed by the Rolling Stone magazine) that he sang like a bird "Songbird" when he was captured, making 32 propaganda tapes against the U.S. while in Vietnam. That is why he won't release his military records. It was again confirmed out of his own mouth during the RNC when he admitted that he "broke" while in Vietnam.

From Keating 5, to misogynistic jokes, to publically humiliating his wife, to his nasty temper, to his cowardly flip-flopping on many issues, to his choice of Sarah Palin he has never demonstrated honor in the heat of the moment. What we are seeing is the true McCain and he will lose being himself -- period.

[JustADumbFireman]

When a fool is digging himself into a hole, you don't take away his shovel.

[newsfox]

The choices McCain has made are not just wrongheaded, they are dangerous. They are demonstrative of the kind of choices he would make if, by some miracle, he should squeak into office. We don't need another four years of the president hearing he is right5 about every choice he makes. McCain would likely be worse than Bush has been on that one. There has been only one president in the race for quite some time now. I'm just hoping that McCain and Palin's crap won't cause one of their hateful, thoughtless lemmings to take some violent action. McCain isn't even president and he has already endangered our nation.

[RickO]

When I read this and imagine McCain saying it, it reminds me of the McCain I always thought was a decent guy despite our differences. He's taken a lot of heat in this campaign, and deserves most of it (Palin? C'mon, man), but you can't sum up a person's life based on one year. I hope he does something to retunr him to himself so he can return to the Senate with dignity on November 5.

[JustADumbFireman]

Don't hold your breath.

[sueno]

Deep in McCain' s heart he is a Nativist-
He believes that his family "owns" this country
and at the end of the day only "white" people should rule
and the country should also be in their image.
McCain was born in the south before Jim Crow
and through the way in which he has behaved of late
McCain really dosen't like people of color.
That's why with great ease, he seems to enjoy and encourage
racist behavior- McCain will retire like Jesse Helms.
Loved by those he made rich and hated by the rest,
history will not treat him well.

[Indie2008]

re: "I'm an American"... from his speech on Monday

[texanna]

Your last paragraph says it all. McSame can't lose as a principled conservative, since his more venal nature is what controls him the same as was the case with Nixon and Wallace. The day that McSame hugged the clown that mugged him in the South Carolina primary in 2000 was the day that any shred of principles left him. He was done at that very minute. It is the hubris of the Repub party that thinks they can run anybody and get him elected that has led them to this moment. They are the embodiment of the old saying about not being able to fool all of the people all of the time. The time is up, We the People refuse to be fooled any longer.

[Bruupo]

I certainly agree with you about the hug photo, and I think the true significance of that moment and that image rarely gets mentioned.

My favorite aspect of it is how the most famous image of it clearly shows McCain sheepishly straining to peer out the corner of his eyes into Bush's, even as he embraces him tightly. People don't normally do that in an embrace, just as no one does what Bush did- embrace the crowd instead.

That picture clearly shows the exact instance that McCain realized he wasn't being embraced back, and that Bush was playing the whole moment to the crowd, like a gladiator holding up the severed head of his fierce rival.

[sposton]

His mercurial nature and whatever remains of his honor may just allow for something like that but I don't believe he'd drop Palin at this hour.