John McCain was once an exceptional politician. He really was. He really was a maverick. He had real integrity. Much as any liberal might have disagreed with him on substance, his heroism as a POW was internally consistent with his political positions. Like, for example, his opposition to the Bush torture regime. Like his opposition to American jingoism and his support of a humane immigration policy. Like his willingness to call leaders of the Christian Right by their proper name: agents of intolerance.
All that is gone. John McCain has abandoned what he really believed. John McCain has betrayed himself. And he has done it for the one reason he swore he never would. He has authorized a campaign of sleaze in order to win an election.
This matters much more for him than it would for another man. There's a Shakespearean dynamic here. Like with Othello. When a simple warrior jettisons his simple values the consequences are entirely devastating.
A lifelong compromiser like Obama (if you didn't know he was that, you were living in a dream) has another kind of integrity. It's flexible. It was never complete and it never lapses. Obama is like FDR. He will return to his values no matter how far off he wanders in response to circumstances. He will never lose his way.
But a man like John McCain is utterly lost once he turns against himself. You can see it in the his face. There's an ugly vacuum where once there was a solid core. The man who said he would never surrender has surrendered.
I hope Obama gets a chance in the debate tomorrow night to express some sadness, some regret for this loss. I hope he gets a chance to pity John McCain.
No, I mean, really.
The American People are being presented with, at best, "a palliative choice." In other words, "it feels good to feel like you're making a choice, but it really doesn't matter either way."
As long as you believe that your choices are limited to 'Obama or McCain,' then the simple truth is that it doesn't make the slightest bit of difference which one you choose. As the Good Book says, "by their fruits shall ye know them." Surf over to the official(!) Congressional Record at http://thomas.loc.gov and guess-what... "there ain't no difference."
When a $600-billion defense bill wanders through sometime this week, I have no doubt that all of the votes (McCain, Obama, Biden) will be "aye."
Read the actual text of the aforesaid bill (which you can also easily do), and I assure you, all of their States will be well-represented in the porcine department. . .
So, go ahead... if it makes you feel good, pick "Door Number One" OR pick "Door Number Two." As long as it does not occur to you that "Door Number Three" or "Four" EXISTS, I don't care.
Now... if you DO happen to make "the wrong choice," don't worry. My electronic voting machines keep no paper record, and ultimately they will "count the votes." The outcome of the "free and fair election," therefore, is already pre-determined.
Truth sucks, don't it?
Nonetheless, he IS the Royal Heir.
He WILL "win." And there will not be any "hanging chads" this time. In fact, in a sufficient-number of elections to guarantee control of the electoral college, there will be no paper record at all. Not a scrap of the "stuffing" will be visible.
Sweet, huh?
I second the rec to read the Rolling Stone article.
Hopefully, politics can only go up from here.
At the beginning of his political career he was involved in the Keating 5 Scandal
A fraudulant financial scandal of historic proportions. Just like today.
Here is a link to a video about McCain's involvement in the Keating 5 Saving and Loan scandal.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/keatingvideo
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain
It's really sad to watch how a politician can go down the dark abyss of politically unacceptable and seemingly unethical behaviors. John McCain knows better but at this desperate point, he probably doesn't give diddley.
Instead of stopping and saying, as he should have, I want to win this election, but right now half this nation appears to want Barack Obama to be their president, my president, and while I have serious differences with him, he is not a terrorist, but a citizen who has had the greatness and courage to run for the highest office in our great country, an office to which we both aspire.
He let it happen, and in that pause, a cold wind blew through the chambers of history.
I ask them why they feel the way they do about him. They can't tell me.
What it always comes down to is ultimately voting AGAINST Obama.
So it goes in the south.
Sad.
Now, anyone for "MacBeth"?