Cafertty on McSame

By Ron Beasley

I have been AWOL the last couple of days not because I'm sick or particularly busy but because I'm depressed.  I am depressed because it seems that increasingly likely that John McCain will be the next President of the United States.  It part that will happen because of the media but much of the blame falls Obama and his campaign.A McCain presidency will mean that the same criminally insane people will be in charge of US foreign (war) policy.  Cernig gives us an example of what that might mean below.  But John McCain is even more like George W. Bush.  A couple of weeks ago Rex Nutting looked at the qualifications of John McCain and concluded he really didn't have any.

Like the current occupant of the White House, McCain got his first career breaks from the connections and money of his family, not from hard work. The son and grandson of Navy admirals, he attended Annapolis where he did poorly. Nevertheless, he was commissioned as a pilot, where he performed poorly, crashing three planes before he failed to evade a North Vietnamese missile that destroyed his plane. McCain spent more than five years in a prison camp. After his release, McCain knew his weak military record meant he'd never make admiral, so he turned his sights to a career in politics. With the help of his new wife's wealth, his new father-in-law's business connections and some powerful friends had made as a lobbyist for the Navy, he was elected in 1982 to a Congress in a district that he didn't reside in until the day the seat opened up. A few years later, he succeeded Barry Goldwater as a senator.

Today it's acid tonged Jack Cafertty of CNN's turn.  He asks, Is McCain another George W. Bush?

One after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has -- virtually none.

Where are John McCain's writings exploring the vexing moral issues of our time? Where are his position papers setting forth his careful consideration of foreign policy, the welfare state, education, America's moral responsibility in the world, etc., etc., etc.?

John McCain graduated 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His father and grandfather were four star admirals in the Navy. Some have suggested that might have played a role in McCain being admitted. His academic record was awful. And it shows over and over again whenever McCain is called upon to think on his feet.

He no longer allows reporters unfettered access to him aboard the "Straight Talk Express" for a reason. He simply makes too many mistakes. Unless he's reciting talking points or reading from notes or a TelePrompTer, John McCain is lost. He can drop bon mots at a bowling alley or diner -- short glib responses that get a chuckle, but beyond that McCain gets in over his head very quickly.

I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and see into his soul.

George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself.

He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been.

I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.

I share that fear Jack.

Comments

[xenophon]

Although I can see the media bias in favor of McCain, I refuse to give in to despair because my gut feeling is that the real legacy of CheneyBush will be electoral disaster for Republicans in November.

My feeling is that the GOP is in even bigger trouble than political junkies like me suspect.

I choose to be optimistic!

[TW]

"I am depressed because it seems that increasingly likely that John McCain will be the next President of the United States."

Well snap out of it! I swear, the tone on this blog has been so relentlessly down on Obama's electability lately, first obsessing over every poll result that shows McCain in the race; then panicking about it; now capitulating to McCain's recent bump, on the very verge of the Dem primary! There's a lot of time left for this to play out. Maybe now is the time to not fret so much about the horse race, and instead try to help shape the themes & issues that the race will be about.

If the panic & depression don't let up soon, i'm gonna drop you from my RSS reader.

[TW]

i meant 'convention' rather than 'primary', of course.