Hello, Sailor

Back in 2000 I had the great good fortune to encounter Senator John McCain at a party. We talked for about ten minutes and I was charmed. So charmed that I bought his book, Flags of My Fathers (then actually read it), and subsequently purchased an additional copy to give to a friend. I have never voted for a Republican in my life (okay, once, when Giuliani ran against the incumbent Mayor David Dinkins in New York, and that's a whole other story) but I thought I could actually see voting for this guy. He seemed human, he had a terrific sense of humor, and when I asked him what he thought of George W. Bush, by whom he had recently been shivved in the South Carolina primary, he demurred in giving an answer while not masking his obviously dark feelings. So now I must pose the question on so many people's lips: When, exactly, did John McCain sell his soul to the Devil?

As a novelist, I revel in complexity, and am interested in the behaviors of people whose internal contradictions make them act out in new and sometimes alarming ways. My new book is about a regular guy, a family man with serious money problems, who goes against everything he stands for when he is presented with the opportunity to become a pimp. Before you can say Eliot Spitzer he's driving down the 405 freeway in a minivan full of hookers.

I don't have a deep and abiding interest in the prostitution industry, but I find it to be a particularly resonant metaphor for so much of life in our buying and selling obsessed culture. Especially when writing about politicians.

John McCain has had a long an honorable career. He has showed more courage than most humans would be capable of as his supporters are happy to remind you. And yet he and his Rovian acolytes apparently do not think his resume taken in combination with his positions will get him to the White House. The recent week of lying about Obama's canceled visit to the German hospital was only an appetizer, a morsel nibbled on the path to his current condition. This was ratcheted up (or down, if you prefer) the other day with the campaign ad conflating Barack Obama with the celebutards Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. You've got to love the racial subtext, the subtle and insinuating where-the white-women? of it all. It worked against Harold Ford in Tennessee, so why not try it nationally?

Is this essentially the hidden message of the McCain campaign? Psst! He's black!

The McCain camp's thinking: Let's put the virile black guy, the good looking slick talker who can drain three point shots in front of a crowd of soldiers in Kuwait, next to a couple of blondes known for flashing their honey pots in public. Then let the masses draw their own subconscious conclusion. Can you say Mandingo? Karl Rove can! This is particularly rich since the pummeling McCain absorbed from Bush eight years ago in the South Carolina primary was partially fueled by allegations that Psst...He fathered a black child!

John McCain pledged to run a campaign that would be honorable. He would be respectful. He would stick to the issues. And now the ghost of Lee Atwater is leaving money on a dresser while Straight Talker looks on, recumbent, from the bed.

Hello, Sailor.

Comments

[insanityfollows]

i've written this before, but it is a memorable moment for me. In the South Carolina 2000 primary, when Bush ripped John McCain, I will never, ever forget his face. He was simultaneously stunned, disappointed, angry, resentful and shocked. Bush showed his true colors for me right then and there. McCain had my respect and admiration at that point, and I was really proud of the way his campaign was not afraid to take on Bush and the whole GOP candidate field. But when Bush hit below the belt, and McCain didn't retatliate, the first cracks appeared. Over the subsequent 8 years, I have watched McCain slowly break down and toe the GOP line. After the white house meeting on torture, he just went over completely. Now, to see his campaign behaving in this way, it is really heartbreaking. The Republican party bears no resemblence to its former self and neither does McCain. This ain't TR's party, for sure. Barry Goldwater would probably come back and burn the whole damned house down if he could, and Ronnie baby must spin in his grave as well when the GOP tries to tie its present day dogma to him. I'm not sure when McCain sold his soul exactly, but South Carolina 2000 broke his will.

[darker]

MILLIONAIRE MCCAIN is a sellout and a CROOK in the pockets of CORPORATE LOBBYISTS.

McCain's #1 mission is to serve corporations' demands, not those of middle income Americans.

While IMMATURE AND UNSTATESMANLIKE McCain is "cracking jokes"
middle America is DYING FINANCIALLY.
THAT'S NOT FUNNY at all.

[hiplom]

I've voted for Democrats most of my life. However, in 2000 I liked what I heard from John McCain and actually donated to his compaign. At that point, he seemed like a person who knew who he was and what he believed in. Not any more. I wonder if the turnaround was caused by how badly he was treated by Bush and now he wants to prove to Bush that he is as good a "man" as Bush is. His ambition seems to have gotten the best of him, and now I think that there isn't anything he wouldn't do to win. He has gotten mean and nasty and now he wonders why Obama doesn't want to get on a stage with him. Who would?

[peter777]

Racial subtexts worked against Ford in Tennessee when he and Corker squared off 2 years ago. Racial subtexts and other smears will work nationally for the Republicans, but will not be as effective as in Tennessee. Reason- there is a lot more prejudice in Tennessee than there is nationally. Look at the polls, and you can see this throughout the Southeast. Of course, part of it is voting your hot button issue (abortion, gays, immigration, etc.) rather than stuff that affects you and your family personally, like lower pay, higher prices, less economic security, etc.

[WomanInOrangeSweater]

He sold his soul to the republican party.
Which isn't to say that the democratic party isn't just as destructive (all you have to do is read some of the posts here).
Here's hoping Obama keeps his soul...if it's not too late.

[SwampeastMike]

"Is this essentially the hidden message of the McCain campaign? Psst! He's black!"

To a few, but it's "Psst! It doesn't matter if he's black!" to many more.

[schatsie]

I think the only way to get past this is to paint McCain as just like Bush. He never would have made it into and thru the Naval Academy without his parentage, just like Bush. He's voted with Bush 98% of the timeand supported the Iraq and Iran wars....He has voted against the soldiers and would support a draft, (right wink wink). And he wants to privatise Social Security AND MEDICARE (so we can extend our messed up private insurance to the elderly)..

[CaptainVideo]

There are strong reasons to suspect that McCain's previous straight talking maverick with integrity stick was never more than a pose he took as long as it was politically advantageous to do so and therefore had no problem abandoning it when it no longer benefitted him. It is hard to believe that if he had been sincere about this he would have so readily abandoned it.

[knerd]

I agree. His record has been effectively sidestepped or covered up by his "maverick" posture. McCain has fooled a lot of people. Unfortunately, our mainstream media has been leading the way on this. And to some extent, still is.

[gravyfilm]

Is it so easy to sell your soul to the devil? It happened so fast. Yeah, I know he pandered to the Right during the primary season, but that seemed normal. All of a sudden, the last two weeks, his campaign went crazy with it. It really makes me sick. I used to say, as recently as a week ago, that we were okay because we had the best two Democrats, Hillary and Obama, and the best Republican. Wow, was I wrong, we just chose Karl Rove...again.

Its time for Jimmy Breaux. http://www.youtube.com/profile_favorites?user=gravyfilmxxx

[JaneEyrez]

Did anybody catch on the Countdown tonight that they used McCain back in 2001 to sell the notion on the Letterman show that the anthrax that had killed some people "might" have come from Iraq? Who fed him that line? I know it was part of the drumbeat leading up to selling the war, but his popularity as a "straight-talking" maverick made him the ideal salesman for that scary notion.

[Moonflowrr]

To the title ("when did McCain sell his soul?"), that's easy. During Bush's 2004 presidential election run at about the time Kerry was considering McCain as a running mate, and McCain was pondering a move to independent status. RNC would have none of that.

Somehow or another, way deep in the recesses behind the scenes, the RNC has the ability to coerce (blackmail?) their ranks to keep them in line and playing faithful. I'm sure they had the goods on McCain (recall the 2000 Primaries when conservatives themselves swift-boated McCain on his "statement of apology" to the Viet Cong in the Hanoi Hilton?)

RNC folks are factoid wonks, dig deeper and twist things better than anyone on the planet. They put Goebbels to shame! Somehow they've managed to keep many of those who would (or should) know better within their sway -- even folks like Colin Powell! What they had on him, I don't know, but if they can have even him doing a 180 on his own statements and principles, then yes, they can do the same with McCain or any other of their wayward flock. And it's not done with a shepherd's hook these days, but with a high-intensity cattle prod!

[blooddoc]

McCain has allowed his ambition to erode his integrity to the point where he is almost beyond caring what it will take to get elected. He will now listen to any Rovian weasel who whispers in his ear, "I have the Magic Amulet" - the attack/smear/swift-boat tactic that will turn an ill-informed and easily misled populace against a younger and "different" opponent. McCain never was progressive, but It is truly sad - for everyone - to see a man devolve so rapidly.

[deja669]

Seth, Great question: 'When exactly did John McCain sell his soul to the devil?'
IMO John McCain sold his soul to the devil when he was adamantly against torture and against allowing the Geneva conventions regarding torture to be changed.
McCain then went into the Bush WH defiant and came out in TOTAL agreement. It's like he was given a labotamy while he was there. I have every reason to believe that it was at that moment in time he was promised to be the next POTUS by Bush (and his cohorts) as long as McCain showed fierce public agreement for the changes to torture.
John McCain was once a very straight-forward honorable man. He has done a 360 degree turn on who is is and what he stood for.

[stoney]

Absolutely. I've been saying that since the day it happened.

[Bluebloodsbastardson]

McCain then went into the Bush WH defiant and came out in TOTAL agreement. It's like he was given a labotamy while he was there. I have every reason to believe that it was at that moment in time he was promised to be the next POTUS by Bush (and his cohorts) as long as McCain showed fierce public agreement for the changes to torture.

Nah, they just let him listen to his old NVA interrogation tapes........

[tyrodin]

The sad part Seth is it's not just John who sold his soul. The past eight years has been a buyers market for all Republican souls. Fox and CBS receive their daily lies from the Whitehouse and broadcast them incessantly to the anxiously waiting masses who will not miss out on an opportunity to repeat them. I truly believe most of the people involved in this sadistic circle know they're telling lies. They're becoming to be experts at it. Until the Democrats start holding these mindless souls accountable for their nefarious words and actions, the vicious cycle will continue.

[sunshine51]

Mr. McCain sold himself to the devil when Karl Rove's "people" got involved in his campaign. It's very sad. McCain has two faces and one of them has horns.

[2lib4oh]

Sorry, but McCain sold his soul long before this.In 1990 he defended the Bosnian war by declaring,"I think the US should inaugurate a 21st century policy interpretation of the Reagan Doctrine,call it rogue state roll-back, in which we politically and materially support indigenous force within and outside of rogue states to overthrow regimes that threaten our interests and values."

He sounds just like a neo-con with his "rogue state rollback" talk.He is a super hawk and a narcissist. He even regards Russia as one of those states that qualifies as a rogue state that threatens our values. If elected we would probably be looking at regime change in Russia.That should scare the hell out of anyone.

[HalBrown]

He sold his soul a long time ago. Read this by Doug Thompson of Capitol Hill Blue, a former Republican D.C.insider, about early proof of his racism:

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/10086

Before he gives examples he begins with:

"John McCain, a member of the House of Representatives in the mid-1980s, often held court at a table near the bar at Bullfeathers, a popular Capitol Hill watering hole, telling jokes and matching hangers-on drink by drink.

"As a Capitol Hill chief of staff, I often drank at Bullfeathers and was invited to join the throng at McCain's table one evening. A few minutes listening to the racism, bigotry and homophobia of the Arizona Congressman told me all I needed to know.

"McCain loved to tell jokes about lesbians, blacks, Hispanics and the Vietnamese community that occupied a large section of Arlington County, Virginia, just south of the District of Columbia."

[corsair1917]

I am not surprised by this one bit. He has shown signs of this throughout the campaign.

[zanngra]

The MSM will ignore this, yet they were all ready to pounce on the false story about Michelle Obama using the term whitey. The double standard going on is dusgusting.

[bibb]

It is obvious that McCain has prostituted himself to Rove's henchmen.

While it is also obvious that the McCain camp continues to put forth the same hero stuff without being challenged. This man's life was about a whole lot more than just the 6 years as a POW. There are 60+ other years, and he wasn't charming and heroic throughout all of them! I'm talking about critical review of his dealings in Congress, from the Keating 5 to treatment of colleagues and adversaries, to money taken from lobbies, to flipflops. It's ridiculous that his people have been allowed to totally control his spin.

I don't expect Obama to go after McCain in this way. They need to concentrate on issue differences and vigorously counter McCain camp attacks. However, the media needs to start turning the microscope on McCain. If I hear one more time from the media that the public know all they need to know about McCain, I want to puke! Most people only know that McCain wants them to know (ex. most women still think he's prochoice). Voters have a right to have all the information.