How did John McCain ever get the reputation for being a straight-arrow, truth-telling hero?
We saw during the 2008 presidential campaign how he would do a complete reversal on positions and claim he didn't, how he could deny what he had said a week earlier and pretend he was being honest.
Even though I differed with his political positions, I though he was a man of integrity, until the campaign. Now I wonder how we ever were fooled. Why I ever thought of him as my favorite Republican, the one I'd rather see president if we had to have a Republican.
Now he's even denying what was once his brand: "Maverick."
In an interview with Newsweek's David Margolick, he said, "I never considered myself a maverick."
What? He and Sarah Palin ran as "a team of mavericks." Campaigning for him in Arizona just last month, Palin referred to him as "McCain the Maverick" four times within a 15 minute speech. And of course I've heard him call himself a maverick many times over the years. That was his identity.
So, apparently he's in need of a new monicker, so let's give him one: "Mr. Expediency." Say whatever you think will work in the moment.
I hope he loses this race for re-election to the Senate. He long ago used up all the political captial he earned as a POW, and he has squandered what once was a good name. No more.
Ralph
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Hi Ralph! Fooled by John McCain, suckered in by John Edwards. The real question becomes: Can we trust our judgment about politicians? The wall protecting us from a destructive cynicism is growing ever thinner. Yes, I agree that McCain should lose. But what about the next one that we didn't see coming? TD
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Tom. The Edwards thing -- especially Elizabeth's complicity up to a point -- has me baffled about my judgment. I always had a slight doubt about his sincerity, but I really really thought she was the real thing
ReplyDeleteFEET OF CLAY - "The phrase comes from the Old Testament (Dan.2:31-32). There the Hebrew captain Daniel interprets a dream for Nebuchadnezzar, founder of the new Babylonian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed of a giant idol with golden head, silver arms and chest, brass thighs and body, and iron legs. Only the feet of this image, compounded of iron and potter's clay, weren't made wholly of metal. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that the clay feet of the figure made it vulnerable, that it prophesized the breaking apart of his empire. Over the years readers of the Bible were struck with the phrase 'feet of clay' in the story and it was used centuries ago to describe an unexpected flaw or vulnerable point in the character of a hero or any admired person."
ReplyDeleteEncyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins
These days, we'd settle for a little metal anywhere...
But as for McCain, his whole career has been like this. No matter where you think he is, he's somewhere else. It's regular enough to define him - a character trait. I think he replaced moving from woman to woman as a young man, to moving from position to position in his later life. It may happen with others, but McCain is way ahead of the crowd. He's a 'natural'...
Is that what we're seeing now in the Catholic Church?
ReplyDeleteFeet of clay?
Now Jon Stewart has jumped onto this story too, satirizing McCain's "say anything" approach as a brilliant move to "short sell" his soul so he can then make a killing in profits by buying credit default swaps on his own soul. The truth is, his soul is worthless, but that's the point in this scheme: you make money on worthless stuff.
ReplyDeleteI guess we shouldn't be too surprised at McCain. He never really was a maverick; it's just that for a while that was the best place to be politically. Now he's too tame for the tea partyers to buy as a maverick, so he's got to be something else. The question is: what? Maybe chameleon.