McCain's Character
| Fri Sep. 5, 2008 11:56 AM PDT
McCAIN'S CHARACTER....Mark Schmitt on John McCain:
The notable difference, not just in the speeches but in the entirety of the two conventions, was that it is McCain who stands alone. He is the one whose platform is his own personal melodrama, the moment of doubt and pain after which, "I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man anymore. I was my country's." He's the one whose introductory video declared that he "was chosen for this moment," and "the stars are aligned" for his victory. Who's the messiah, now?
Yep. McCain's speech, like the rest of the Republican convention, was an unremitting paean to the character of John McCain. That character is what McCain wants this entire campaign to be about, but only if he can do it on his own terms. Those terms, however, are worth a closer look.
McCain likes to present his past as past and his time in a prison camp as a transformative experience, but the fact is that his experience as a POW transformed nothing. In fact, it amplified his fundamental belief in his own self-righteousness, something he's used ever since as an unending justification for his worst impulses. He was 31 years old when he was captured by the North Vietnamese and 36 when he was released. When he was 43 he abandoned his injured wife for a younger woman and married into a fortune. When he was 51 he intervened with regulators on behalf of his pal Charles Keating and ended up enmeshed in the Keating Five scandal — a scandal he initially tried to blame on his wife when his role became public. When he was 61 he was amusing a partisan crowd with boorish jokes about Chelsea Clinton. When he was 64 he was pandering to Southern racism by refusing to condemn the confederate flag flying over South Carolina's statehouse.
And then there's the second part of this pattern: McCain's famous remorse. As Dan Schnur put it, "He is the best apologizer in politics." And so he is. His treatment of his first wife, he told Rick Warren a few weeks ago, was his "greatest moral failing." Intervening for Charles Keating, he eventually admitted, was "the wrong thing to do." His Chelsea joke was "stupid and cruel and insensitive." His handling of the confederate flag controversy was a "sacrifice of principle for personal ambition."
This year he's 72 but things are no different. Instead of running a decent and honorable campaign, he and his surrogates are reigniting a culture war he doesn't even believe in; relentlessly belittling and trivializing instead of addressing serious issues; repeatedly accusing his opponent of not caring about his country; stubbornly refusing to condemn even the vilest character assassinations; and finally choosing a manifestly unprepared and unvetted running mate in order to gain a momentary political advantage with a Christian right base that has never trusted him but that he needs to win the election. He's doing all this because, as his convention speech made clear, he believes he's on a higher mission. His character is what this campaign is about — or rather his own image of his character — and it's this belief in his own self-righteousness that allows him to justify his every action with a clear conscience. He has to win, you see, for the good of the country. He's the only man who can do it.
And that's the most dangerous attitude of all, because a person who believes that can talk himself into almost anything. And if it doesn't work out? He'll apologize later.
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Comments
Very well written, but your psychoanalysis of John McCain is beside the point. He knows exactly what he is doing. He is a bullshit artist. His so-called "character" is not some mystical inner vision that he has of himself, it is a carefully constructed, focus-group-tested, deliberate fraud.
The reality is that John McCain is a bought-and-paid-for tool of corporate lobbyists who is deliberately, knowingly lying to the American people in order to gain power that he can use to enrich himself and his cronies and financial backers. He is a career white-collar crook, just like Bush, and "John McCain the War Hero" is just as much a fake, phony, bogus, manufactured crock of shit as "George W. Bush The Cowboy".
Very well said. It's nice to see a 'bee charmer' at work, by which I mean, you braved the sting to gain the hive. The stings being public hypersensitivity regarding McCain's POW experience, making sure that it be handled with the reverence of the Holy Grail. And the hive being the heart of your post, the honey of truth, if extending this metaphor so far can be excused.
Why are you so certain that he does not believe in the culture war?
I think he believes in any war (or even peace) if he thinks that the belief will lubricate his path to victory. Of course the beliefs may change over time in service of the ultimate goal, but he does believe at a given point in time.
Submitted by Julia Grey (not verified) on Fri Sep. 5, 2008 12:17 PM PDT.
He may think that because he is "anointed" for the job that he can lie with impunity, which is why he's made a national ad buy on the Weather Channel during the current hurricane excitement which claims that Obama's plans would include "ruinous new taxes on America's working families" (photo of desperate looking 30-something couple and sad little boy).
And you KNOW that people will believe that. Lots and lots and lots of people. Because he's a Hee-ro like Geo. Warshington, and cannot tell a lie.
"I'm John McCain and I approved this message." That will make it true.
The depths to which this "honorable man" sinks are breathtaking.
All true. And taken together with everything else we know about the man, it begs the question, "is John McCain an alcoholic?" I'm not trying to slander Mr. McCain, and I firmly believe that alcoholism is an organic disease, and not a character flaw. But I think given the Senator's behavior in public life, it's a legitimate question, and one that voters deserve an honest answer to.
McCain has been cagey about releasing data on his health and finances. If he truly expects to ascend to the highest position in public life, it's high time he gives a full accounting on both fronts.
Submitted by Fried Wire (not verified) on Fri Sep. 5, 2008 12:26 PM PDT.
Good summing up.
It's always seemed to me that McCain is an 'ends justify the means' kinda guy like those old school Jesuits who believed any sin was forgivable so long as it went toward the greater good of doing God's work. Shame here is that McCain clearly isn't an evangelical loon (see: Palin, Bush) so his mission is solely to do John McCain's work. Hate to see an old guy lose his retirement plan, but I sincerely hope he loses this election. A McCain/Palin administration would be tantamount to a cultural, economic and political suicide bid for this country.
Dave Brown,
Where have you been? McCain has released 1500 pages of his medical and psychiatric records. See here: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DEFD7133EF935A35751C1A....
He's also released his financial records.
You know I don't like McCain any more than folks here. But I am starting to worry that we will lose the WH this year because of the absolutely juvenile things you folks keep rehashing. People can get tired of watching clowns at a circus.
OK, finally got through on Alaska.gov site. Palin's biz partner divorce papers confidentiality request. Everything moves along to a final resolution and then sundry child-insurance mods. Inactive from May until September 3rd (lots of stuff before 4/3, including final dissolution decree). Then a move to remove from the public record. Yup, nothing fishy about that timing, I'm sure. Not an RNC lawyer in sight probably. Nothing to see here, move along.......
09/04/2008 Order Denying Motion Case Motion #3: Motion to Make Case File Confidential 0.00 0.00
09/03/2008 Motion to Make Case File Confidential Attorney: Pro per (0100001) Scott Alan Richter (Petitioner); Case Motion #3 0.00 0.00
09/03/2008 Motion for Expedited Consideration of: Motion to Make Case File Confidential Attorney: Pro per (0100001) Case Motion #2 0.00 0.00
05/19/2008 Notice to Employer Re: Children's Medical Insurance Deborah Marie Richter (Co-Petitioner); 0.00 0.00
05/19/2008 Cust/Spprt/Visit Modified. Case Closed. (no motion link) 0.00 0.00
05/19/2008 Order Granting Stipulation Case Motion #1: Standard Motion 0.00 0.00
04/03/2008 Stipulated Agreement for Child Support and Parenting Agreement Attorney: Pro per (0100001) Case Motion #1
My point of view ? I don't give a shit about McCain's transformative experience as a POW any more than I gave a shit about the light of god shining through the cocaine and alcohol soaked brain of George Bush. People who undergo some kind of experience that convinces them that they are on a mission from god are the most dangerous people on the planet. Full Stop.
The only real difference between McCain and Bush is that McCain is able to acknowledge that he might have made a mistake and apologize for it. It's Bush's ability to brazen it out that made him a winner in the end and it is McCain's ability to apologize that will make him a loser in the end.
Mr. Weenie,
Sorry, Mr. McCain hasn't released all of his family's financial records, nor have we seen more than a summary of his latest medical report. And in any case, none of this answers my very serious question, one perhaps even more serious after our experience with George Bush, "is John McCain an alcoholic?" It's a simple question, one Mr. McCain himself could answer easily. I expect the man drinks. But does he have a scotch at the end of the day, or does he wash down his Ambien with a pint of vodka?
p.s. your link is dead
John wants to succeed so bad that he been willing to flip flop, pander and downright lie to get to this position in his life. I think it may have something to do with his Daddy and Grandaddy. Approval seekers like him often have Daddy issues that drive them to excessive acts. I sure don't think he's "chosen" nor are the "stars aligned". It's desperation.
...he and his surrogates are reigniting a culture war he doesn't even believe in
I used to think that, but I don't buy it anymore. He knows who these thugs are; the kind of campaign they run. He hired them. He owns the campaign that he runs.
The only thing McCain believes in is that he has some god-given right to the Presidency.
Kevin -- this is excellent, but could use a quick summary about McCain before he was captured -- what he was supposedly transforming *from* -- playboy who married a beauty queen after practically failing out of the Naval Academy, etc. etc. but after, really just more of the same -- married another beauty queen, etc.,
... it begs the question, "is John McCain an alcoholic?"
No. He's the genuine article, and he doesn't need any chemical additives to be a complete & unrelenting prick. The only reason he hasn't been brought up on charges of assault & battery is because the North Vietnamese rendered him physically incapable of that. He's still an abusive sonofabitch, but he's had to settle for verbal abuse to bully others & settle scores, rather than simply punching them out. Say what you will about alcoholics, but they suffer from a disease. McCain, as Kevin rightly notes, suffers from the deficit of decency.
Dave Brown wrote: "my very serious question ... is John McCain an alcoholic?"
Well, we already know that he is a compulsive gambler and his aides have had difficulty keeping his gambling addiction under control, to the point of having to physically drag him away from casinos.
I'm a professional alcohol/drug addiction counselor.
Alcoholics have a disease. But some manifestations are episodic rather than continuous.
Please note that McCain never works weekends, and is usually in seclusion then. Very unusual for a U.S. Senator/Presidential candidate in campaign heat.
Bush, on the other hand, appears to work only in short bursts, and spends more time than any other President in recent history on vacation, usually in seclusion at Camp David or Crawford.
Rumors and anecdotal evidence abound, and they're just that. But to a seasoned veteran of the addictions syndrome, these are red-flag behaviors.
Draw any confusions you wish -- being mindful that there still isn't any hard factual evidence.
I don't think anything McCain did in Vietnam actually qualifies as heroism. Basically he accomplished nothing -- he suffered but survived, that's it. Surviving is what any prisoner tries to do. It's good fortune if you do it, not a heroic act. Suffering doesn't make you a hero. He had no choice about any of it. If he had accepted an early release, his father would have had to step in to keep him from a court-martial.
I wonder how McCain feels about Palin supporters who are advocating or engaging in imprecatory prayers that (A) McCain is elected (B) McCain dies (is smited) shortly after being elected, elevating Palin to the presidency.
It surely must sting a bit to realize the full extent of the pact with the devil he made to bring the Christian Right on board.
"He has to win, you see, for the good of the country. He's the only man who can do it." OK, But this doesn't go far enough. I fear that he wants to win, not just for some kind of obscure personal validation, but because he's determined to go to war to restore American honor. That, I think, is why his statements on domestic policy are so perfunctory and doctrinaire. He doesn't believe or care about them, and if he wins they'll be forgotten. Are there any psychological studies about the long term effects on victims of torture?
My husband and I met in Vietnam. We never saw John McCain as a hero, but as a soldier fortunate to be alive and able to have a good life after the war. Heroes do not feel comfortable talking about themselves. McCain does it ad nauseum. He is still the same self-indulgent, womanizing, mean-spirited SOB he always was.
Character? Um, I think that shipped has sailed. It is McCain, not Obama, that has proven to be so obsessed with getting into the White House that he will sell his soul to the devil. Its not just the Christian right pandering that is unfortunate, it is hiring of the slimy thugs that spread the rumors about him back in 2000.
In what world do the men that accused you of adultery, and fathering an "illegitimate black baby" become your campaign/staff/advisers/consultants?
Please explain that to me? My Republican friends, that don't like McCain, keep waxing nostalgic about how even though they don't agree with him, they think he can lead this country.
I call bulls**t. Anybody that is that desperate to get into office that they will use the skillful services of the same people that spread rumors about his family to destroy him, don't need to be anywhere near the White House.
Huckabee was on The Daily Show last night and couldn't contain his raw feelings about how he was dealt with at the Repug convention. Of course he DID dutifully give his little speech, but he didn't feel great about it.
Made me wonder, if McCain wanted to rile up the right, and he really DID care about "changing" the issues, why didn't he choose Huckabee?
Because John McCain carries grudges. He carries them harder than any other politician I'm aware of. That's why he wouldn't choose Romney and he wouldn't choose Huckabee. Because they said nasty things about him during the primaries.
I'm glad he didn't choose Huckabee, though, because Mike actually IS quick on his feet, funny, and a great campaigner. If I were a religious person, I'd probably love him for Pres.
