Quote of the Day: Andrew Sullivan on the Palin pick
By Michael J.W. Stickings
Some of McCain's people surely knew it was a "crazy decision," picking "a delusional liar" who "lives in her own little, somewhat nutty, world and now believes her manifest destiny has been thwarted."
But what's done is done. And:
No, you don't, but of course there is so much else -- not just anti-McCain but pro-Obama (and Andrew, much to his credit, has written extensively on Obama's many positives).
And I would add this: With Palin often leading the way, McCain has run one of the nastiest, ugliest presidential campaigns in recent memory. Honestly, I can't remember a nastier or uglier one. Even Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, swift-boating aside, wasn't this bad (arguably). Bush-Gore 2000 wasn't, nor Clinton-Dole 1996, nor Bush-Clinton-Perot 1992. 2008 is more like 1988, the McCain campaign like Bush I's.
A lot of this has do with the fact that McCain is losing (as Bush was losing over the summer of '88). In losing, he has become desperate. In becoming desperate, he has gotten nasty and ugly.
Indeed, as John Dickerson writes today at Slate, while McCain's "pitch is not all negative," "the central thrust of McCain's argument is about the danger of an Obama presidency."
Which is putting it nicely. In truth, McCain has turned into a rabble-rouser, a mob-inciter. You don't have to dig too far into his "argument" to see that what he's really doing is playing to, and encouraging, bigotry. And Palin is playing along, cheerleading their mobs into darkness. After all, it isn't just Obama the redistributor they're going after, it's Obama the Other, the dangerous, un-American black man, the terrorist pal. And what their arousing is fear, and hatred.
The Palin pick has indeed been a "clusterfuck." And without her, perhaps McCain wouldn't have gone negative -- or, rather, as negative as he has gone.
But he has no one to blame but himself. The man whose self-serving, media-driven myth placed him well above the partisan political fray, even as the truth was something else entirely, picked an ignorant, arrogant extremist as his running mate, as a Hail Mary to turn his campaign around, and, in so doing, destroyed himself.
McCain is now a hollow shell, a man without integrity or credibility. And his fate is in the hands of the American people.
Some of McCain's people surely knew it was a "crazy decision," picking "a delusional liar" who "lives in her own little, somewhat nutty, world and now believes her manifest destiny has been thwarted."
But what's done is done. And:
It's a massive, unmissable clusterfuck and has been for two months. They just can't hide it any longer. And the pick is a devastating one -- because it basically destroys John McCain's credibility as a presidential decision-maker. His first major decision as a future president is one of the worst in American political history. That alone should be enough to seal his fate next Tuesday. You need nothing else.
No, you don't, but of course there is so much else -- not just anti-McCain but pro-Obama (and Andrew, much to his credit, has written extensively on Obama's many positives).
And I would add this: With Palin often leading the way, McCain has run one of the nastiest, ugliest presidential campaigns in recent memory. Honestly, I can't remember a nastier or uglier one. Even Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, swift-boating aside, wasn't this bad (arguably). Bush-Gore 2000 wasn't, nor Clinton-Dole 1996, nor Bush-Clinton-Perot 1992. 2008 is more like 1988, the McCain campaign like Bush I's.
A lot of this has do with the fact that McCain is losing (as Bush was losing over the summer of '88). In losing, he has become desperate. In becoming desperate, he has gotten nasty and ugly.
Indeed, as John Dickerson writes today at Slate, while McCain's "pitch is not all negative," "the central thrust of McCain's argument is about the danger of an Obama presidency."
Which is putting it nicely. In truth, McCain has turned into a rabble-rouser, a mob-inciter. You don't have to dig too far into his "argument" to see that what he's really doing is playing to, and encouraging, bigotry. And Palin is playing along, cheerleading their mobs into darkness. After all, it isn't just Obama the redistributor they're going after, it's Obama the Other, the dangerous, un-American black man, the terrorist pal. And what their arousing is fear, and hatred.
The Palin pick has indeed been a "clusterfuck." And without her, perhaps McCain wouldn't have gone negative -- or, rather, as negative as he has gone.
But he has no one to blame but himself. The man whose self-serving, media-driven myth placed him well above the partisan political fray, even as the truth was something else entirely, picked an ignorant, arrogant extremist as his running mate, as a Hail Mary to turn his campaign around, and, in so doing, destroyed himself.
McCain is now a hollow shell, a man without integrity or credibility. And his fate is in the hands of the American people.
Labels: 2008 election, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, John McCain, quote of the day
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
9:30 PM
1 Comments:
Michael,
McCain's fate is NOT in the hands of the American people. It is in the hands of Diebold and other voting election machine companies, all of whom are owned by far-right republicans. This morning, all of the talking heads on the news shows are salivating and saying the race (race being the operative word) is tightening, and are owing it to the "Bradley" effect or the "Wilder" effect. There is absolutely no reason that the polls should be tightening this week. In fact, they should be growing wider. The polls are "supposedly" tightening because the American people are getting set up for yet another election to be stolen. If the polls show a close race on election day, it is hoped that Americans will not be suspicious if McCain and scary Sarah win. Of course, no one in the mainstream media ever mentions Diebold any longer. If this election is stolen, and the American people do not take to the streets, go on strike, or engage in some type of civil disobedience, we deserve to lose whatever freedoms we have left. Of course, my wife and I plan on moving to Canada if what I fear happens.
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Bob's Blog, at 8:24 AM
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