WSJ: Is John McCain Stupid?

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

WONDER LAND
By DANIEL HENNINGER

Is John McCain Stupid?
July 31, 2008; Page A13

Is John McCain losing it? On Sunday, he said on national television that to solve Social Security "everything's on the table," which of course means raising payroll taxes. On July 7 in Denver he said: "Senator Obama will raise your taxes. I won't." This isn't a flip-flop. It's a sex-change operation.


He got back to the subject Tuesday in Reno, Nev. Reporters asked about the Sunday tax comments. Mr. McCain replied, "The worst thing you could do is raise people's payroll taxes, my God!" Then he was asked about working with Democrats to fix Social Security, and he repeated, "everything has to be on the table." But how can . . .? Oh never mind. Yesterday he was in Aurora, Colo., to wit: "On Social Security, he wants to raise Social Security taxes. I am opposed to raising taxes on Social Security. I want to fix the system without raising taxes." What I'm asking is, does John McCain have the mental focus, the intellectual discipline, to avoid being out-slicked by Barack Obama, if he isn't abandoned by his own voters?

It's not just taxes. Recently the subject came up of Al Gore's assertion that the U.S. could get its energy solely from renewables in 10 years. Sen. McCain said: "If the vice president says it's doable, I believe it's doable." What!!?? In a later interview, Mr. McCain said he hadn't read "all the specifics" of the Gore plan and now, "I don't think it's doable without nuclear power." It just sounds loopy. Then this week in San Francisco, in an interview with the Chronicle, Sen. McCain called Nancy Pelosi an "inspiration to millions of Americans." Notwithstanding his promises to "work with the other side," this is a politically obtuse thing to say in the middle of a campaign. Would Bill Clinton, running for president in 1996 after losing control of the House, have called Newt Gingrich an "inspiration"? House Minority Leader John Boehner, facing a 10-to-20 seat loss in November, must be gagging.

The one thing -- arguably the only thing -- the McCain candidacy has going for it is a sense among voters that they don't know what Barack Obama stands for or believes. Why then would Mr. McCain give voters reason to wonder the same thing about himself? You're supposed to sow doubt about the other guy, not do it to yourself. Yes, Sen. McCain must somehow appeal to independents and blue-collar Hillary Democrats. A degree of pandering to the center is inevitable. But this stuff isn't pandering; it's simply stupid. Al Gore's own climate allies separated themselves from his preposterous free-of-oil-in-10-years whopper. Sen. McCain saying off-handedly that it's "doable" is, in a word, thoughtless. Speaker Pelosi heads a House with a 9% approval. To let her off the hook before the election reflects similar loss of thought.

(snip)

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121745962594698731.html

[hisownpetard]

1. Do bears sh*t in the woods?

[BrklynLiberal]

2. I guess that is as rhetorical question...right?

[DJ13]

3. This isn't a flip-flop. It's a sex-change operation.

:rofl:

[glowing]

4. I'm wondering in Wall Street doesn't want a bit of oversight and regulation..

Obviously, without any, they crash and burn on all their bubbles.. Big corporate business needs a govt to regulate the market and make sure they don't get theirselves in a pickle.. Business is to always try and make money.. its their job... they only focus on the quarter and up to a year at a time.. they do not think about years to come.. so, without something telling them they can't do this and they can't do that, they will take all the money out of the hands of the people who keep them in business... They need Govt to tell them to pay their employees more, that they have to pay more taxes, that they have to put in environmental regulatory practices, etc. Essentially, its govt that keeps these nimrod companies who try and make as much money per quarter for their share holders...

What I don't understand is why Exxon, who had record profits this quarter, are having their shareholders sell.. I beleive that speculation is coming to an end, and the shareholders want to leave on a high... not on a low.

[Demeter]

7. Wall Street Wants to Win--And McCain Is Toast Already

Losing all that bonus money makes for a crabby industry. Wall Street is beseiged, and McCain isn't going to be riding to their rescue. Bernanke is past his sell date, Paulson is out the door in 5 months. The Elite are getting their comeuppance.

[struggle4progress]

13. Yep: watch the rightwingers run for the center

[question everything]

12. Exxon shares dropped because the profit was less than what was expected

if you can imagine.

This is always strange: bank lose a lot, but not "that bad" so their shares go up. And other companies make a ton of profit but not "enough" so they shares drop.

[DCKit]

5. Wow, McLame is even more easily confused than I thought.

This isn't "Bush III" it's "Reagan II - down for the count".

[MadrasT]

14. Snorted Gatorade out my nose

This isn't "Bush III" it's "Reagan II - down for the count".

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Clear Blue Sky]

6. McCain is giving his base lots of reason to

stay home on election day and trim their toenails rather than vote. Our side benefits.

[bulloney]

8. Is John McCain stupid? Are bears Catholic? Does the Pope shit in the woods?

[Frisbee]

9. This is an insult to stupid people....

thought I doubt they'll realize they've been insulted. Actually, yeah McInsane is dumb as a box of rocks, but he is also a lying asshole who will say whatever he believes the audience wants to hear in order to get elected. The man doesn't have any scruples and doesn't realize that in this day and age, EVERYTHING you say will be available to EVERYBODY almost instantly. So yes, I suppose he is stupid, but he is so much more as well.

[katty]

10. msm allows for McPain's dementia episodes: poor johnny

[Doctor_J]

11. McCain's timing is bad - Smirk ruined it for stupid illiterates

the whole world knows now that they make lousy Residents.