John McCain is Not Your Friend. SMASH HIM UP.

The Democrats have had some lovely speeches at their convention. I was especially impressed by the Clintons--Bill was awesome, and Hillary, whether she truly wanted to or not, did a magnificent job of swallowing her pride and rejecting the sour, reptilian pulers who would have liked her to force a crippling confrontation.

One thing, though. John McCain is "a good man who served our country heroically" and "loves our country" ? A "friend" and a man of "personal courage and heroism"? Of "honor and courage"?

Stop that! Remember the last time a war hero ran for president? His selling point--on which he seemed unassailable--was his military credentials. To smear him on those would have been positively un-American! And how did his opponents tear him down? They swiftboated him so badly that the verb "swiftboat" entered the English language.

"War heroism" and "personal integrity" are John McCain's supposed strengths. They're his narrative. So they have to be battered and bloodied and exposed as lies. This will not be a respectful campaign from the Republican side of things--not with Obama, whose middle name is a big red bullseye and whose face and background make him uniquely vulnerable to xenophobic, Rovian smears.

Democrats need to get out ahead of things and brutalize McCain now. Maybe you're friends with him, Senators, but not between now and November. His "integrity" narrative--easily refutable--is a big part of the stale, decades-old "war heroism" narrative. Destroy one and you can neutralize the other. Rip him in the following fleshy areas:

• AGE: He's literally collapsing before our eyes. The man looks like a deflating basketball. In four--or eight--years, I'd be surprised if he's able to consistently get around on his own. Put beside Obama in the debates, this should be an easy contrast to exploit. The only problem is that expectations will be so low for McCain--the Dodderer--and so high for Obama--the Orator--that McCain could get kudos just for showing up and croaking words like "warm bottle" and "friend."


• ONSET OF SENILITY: Obviously tied to age, but worth focusing on by itself. The so-called foreign policy expert calls countries by incorrect names, identifies world leaders with the wrong nations, misunderstands the relationship between Iran and al Qaeda... it goes on.


• CORRUPTION: Keating Five. The average American knows absolutely nothing about the corruption scandal that nearly killed McCain's political career in the late 1980s. They should know. Repeat more times than the Republicans repeat the name of that guy Obama bought a house from. Associate McCain with corruption--and with Jack Abramoff, in addition to the Keating Five.


• GOOD OL' BOY SLEAZINESS: He called his wife a "cunt" in front of reporters, he told a rape joke, he told a vicious joke about the then-adolescent Chelsea Clinton. All this stuff may actually be a bonus for McCain when it comes to a certain sliver of the conservative base, but if it gets around enough and embeds itself in the public consciousness, it'll alienate moderates and erode McCain's questionable reputation for being a "good man."


• CRAVEN PANDERING: George W. Bush humiliated McCain in the year 2000 in South Carolina with unbelievably sleazy tactics that cost McCain the nomination. And what did McCain do? Hung his head and lined up and did what he was told for the next eight years. Politics aside, who can have respect for that?


• TEMPER: Don't attack him directly on his hot-temperedness. Just provoke it. Hit him on all the above. Prod him into a red-faced rage. It'll be excellent.

Now, don't misunderstand. I don't think Obama should do any of these things. It wouldn't suit his personality and it wouldn't be consistent with his message. He should stay high and dry. I don't even think Biden or the Clintons should go around talking about some of this stuff, like the ape rape joke or the "cunt" incident or McCain's resemblance to a soft, wrinkled potato. Surrogates should do that. Biden and the Clintons should, however, talk about the foreign policy gaffes and the corruption scandals.

But the most important thing that Biden and the Clintons--and all the other super-prominent campaign apostles--have to do is stop talking about John McCain like he's such a great guy.

Comments

[zuludawn]

There's much more on the Keating Five at http://mccainkeatingfive.com, that's all it's about.

[drgruder]

Sorry, Nick. The ends never justify the means. As a society we are very long overdue in facing this most basic reality. The ends justify the means only when one is interested in short-term gains regardless of long-term costs. Remind you of anyone currently in high political office?

Using spin is a type of lack of integrity that is the inevitable outgrowth of the "ends justify the means" mentality. There is no longer any excuse for perpetuating the Era of Spin allegedly in the name of winning at all cost. That cost is not only too high but it is utterly unnecessary.

A New Silent Majority exists today. I am the integrity development expert who first coined this term in my IntegrityWatch Blog earlier in August of 2008. The New Silent Majority is disgusted with spin on all sides because they know that this form of lack of integrity has been destroying the very foundations of our remarkable political system.

Contrary to highly disturbing the message in the latest Batman movie, Dark Knight, The New Silent Majority is ready -- aching, actually -- to respond positively to those who treat them as being smart enough to arrive at high-minded decisions... once they are finally provided with true transparency, otherwise known as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

To read the rest of my post, which is longer than the word limit on this blog, go to www.TheNewIQ.com and click on IntegrityWatch Blog.

[Geekboy]

But there is one thing O really needs to do himself. That is provoking McBush's anger. If he can do that, face-to-face, in front of the nation, it would be a real game-changer. It needs to happen in a scheduled prime-time event. So Faux and ABC can't just decide they don't want to show it and switch to some irrelevant item.

[RickO]

McCain's "friends" in Congress should call him and say "John, we've been friends for 25 years and I hope that never changes, but YOU decided to run for president and you know how this works. I must do whatever I can to ensure you do not get elected so you're going to hear me say things about you that are not too friendly. I want you to know it's just business".

Then tear him a new one with everything you've got.

[hopeless277]

Bbbbbbut he's a POW!!!!!

[mommadona]

I want to know if any of the 'bundlers' hold his gambling paper.

He has a gambling addiction.....use it:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,...19898-1,00.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uqwI-KjZio

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-c-ro...a_b_119535.html

http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008...ax-evasion.html

http://wonkette.com/401177/true-tales-of-j...mbling-exploits

http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced...og-express.html

[FightingDirty08]

I'm sick of the conservatives running the american discourse from behind the scenes. Let's put them in the spotlight: http://fightingdirty08.wordpress.com/

[escorpion]

Right on.