Lack of Judgment at Pittsburgh

CLINTON, Miss. There he goes again.

John McCain's instant acceptance of the highly suspicious story that one of his female campaign workers had been attacked at an ATM in Pittsburgh by a black Obama supporter who carved a backwards "B" on her face is the latest example of his judgment and style of decision-making, which would be potentially disastrous in a president.

Without waiting to find out whether this cockamamie story, which police immediately discounted. was true, Sen. McCain telephoned and spoke with the putative victim. His campaign pushed the sketchy story to the national media.

The "incident" was shown within hours to have been a hoax by a mentally disturbed woman who is now in custody.

Occurring at a time when the McCain campaign is running an ad warning of how Barack Obama would react to a crisis, Mr. McCain's shoot-from-the-hip reaction to this false story serves to remind us once again how totally inappropriate his reaction to a crisis would be.

It suggests that if a President McCain received a report of Soviet missiles in Cuba, North Vietnamese patrol boats attacking an American destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin, or an Iraqi dictator having weapons of mass destruction, he would believe the report without waiting to find out whether it was true and would go to war first and ask question later--if ever.

Here is John McCain's own description of his mode of decision-making: "I make them as quickly as I can, quicker than the other fellow, if I can. Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint."

"The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine," Republican Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi said of Sen. McCain in January of this year. "He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."

I don't often agree with the senior senator from my state, but he's right about this, and the American people had better heed his warning.

Historian Robert S. McElvaine is Elizabeth Chisholm Professor of Arts & Letters at Millsaps College. His latest book is Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America (Crown). Among his other books is The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941 (Random House).

Comments

[margardner]

This picture of McCain with a "B" on his face and a black eye is hilarious! "Smear campaign"

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/25/13501/271/232/641505

Look in the comment link, it's classic

[CeeCee]

May he can "live with the consequences" -- but a whole country? No no no! A whole country should not have to live with HIS consequences. Do not allow this man anywhere near Washington. Please.

[NPA]

Let's not get complacent! I volunteered today for the Obama campaign. Can you help? Call the Obama campaign or MoveOn.org.

[2stupid4words]

If McCain's judgment is this faulty with regards to the incident in Pittsburgh, why would an individual think that he has corrected his judgment when dealing with taxes? He knows even less about taxes and the economy. Why is he flailing around the country assailing a viabe tax plan when he has presented none that is workable or feasible?

[HerbTee]

Once again, McCain has shown VERY poor judgment by inserting himself directly into this incident. He jumped into the middle of this hoax by making personal contact with this "looney tune" woman without bothering to learn the facts first...facts which the Pittsburgh PD had in hand rather early. McCain and the ReTHUGs were too busy trying to make racial baiting out of this to somehow smear or hurt Obama than to have his campaign handlers get involved in it. Much like his ill-fated pick of a VP, McCain has showed time and time again that he lacks the good, sound judgment and temperament to be POTUS.

In my opinion, John McCain is totally unfit by being too old, too irrational and too temperamental to be our new leader and the Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces. He is definitely not the man he used to be just 8 years ago. He has sold his soul to the point where many Americans will never have any fond memories of him after this election.

[Whatashame]

I simply can not understand why anyone would want McCain in the white house. This is is scary.

[gbw1954]

We wonder why our credibility world wide is in a tail spin equal to the financial numbers. This act in and of it self would be enough make us cringe. The real deplorable chain of events followed. Staffers pumping a fiery embellishment of the event to the media and bloggers sure to run with it with vigor, full well knowing that it was the perfect race hate card they needed to stoke the racial tension in an already fragile area. The fear/smear mantra has been poured into that area for days and weeks, and the reason being that without the electoral votes of PA the campaign is in peril. Where is the McCain who repudiates these acts every time? This by far is digging down into the dregs at the bottom of a truly rotting barrel. This is a shamefuliy despicable embarrassment to the heart and soul of our democracy.

[deelub]

Finally I have read a blog where the people talking make sense!

[EmotionDetector]

It is funny and sad to see all these Republican Strategists on CNN and MSNBC strain to spins all of McCain/Palin's mess-ups!

[Twinkie]

You couldn't script better comedy than this.

[0whole1]

From what I understand, it was a PA McCain press rep, not McCain himself that initially pushed the story to the press. McCain calling the "victim" was just him being concerned about a volunteer working on his behalf who (he thought) was hurt in the line of duty -- unless you know differently based on the content of their conversation?

McCain heard that a volunteer of his was hurt; he called the volunteer. Is this something he should not have done, or should have postponed a couple of days? Obama had immediately called the woman in...Wisco­nsin?...th­at had been assaulted while going door-to-door. Should he have waited until *her* story was confirmed by impartial sources?

You're piling more on McCain re: the items you listed in your article than he deserves in this case. At most, he can be held responsible for the poor examples, the atmosphere of "otherness" and (possibly) unethical behavior that he and his "running mate" have fostered.

Don't debase your sense of outrage on the small stuff, and remember, when the election is over, we're all going to (have to) be on the same side.

Grant played Dixie at Appomattox, remember.

[Naithom]

The thing that bothers me is that we have heard nothing from McCain since. Shouldn't he, as a leader, make a statement apologizing for the dangerous situation his volunteer and staff put the citizens of Pittsburgh and the country in?

We are incredibly lucky that some innocent man who happens to fit the man up description wasn't injured or killed in retaliation.

McCain and his people don't care about bringing this country together, they figure they can only get what's in their best interest by pulling the country apart.

[master09]

those of you that are using the term poor judgement is making an excuse for an old man that is showing sign that he is loosing his mine.

[brynn6]

If you have read the Rolling Stone October article on John McCain you know that he has always been like this. That the entire "hero" persona is nothing but a carefully crafted illusion. The man is scary, but his latest "impulse buy," his choice of VP, is terrifying. This link is to just the latest one I've found on this site. If you think the connection to the AIP is bad, wait until you read this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-wilson/sarah-palin-linked-to-sec_b_137532.html

[wagnerboi]

Just one more sad example of McCain's erratic, shoot-from-the-hip approach to everything.

If McCain ever got that 3am call, he'd be running to push the button by 3:15. About 9am, as he settled down and listened to the facts, we'd be learning that he'd maverick-ly gone and nuked the wrong country.

[sillyseason]

The only consolation I can take from this latest McCain fiasco is that some undecided voters, or some voters who were supporting McCain "half heartedly," will once again be reminded of his poor judgement before 11/04.