Thirty Years Too Late: The Implosion of John McCain and the Demise of the Regressive Right

[laststeamtrain]

Thirty Years Too Late:

The Implosion of John McCain and the Demise of the Regressive Right

By David Michael Green

November 01, 2008 "Information Clearinghouse"There are lots of good explanations for why John McCain is rapidly swirling down the toilet bowl into the sewer of political ignominy, but my all-time favorite was just published in the New York Times Magazine this week.

The article – “The Making (and Remaking) of McCain”, by Robert Draper – gives an explanation for McCain’s idiotic-to-the-point-of-embarrassing stunt last month, at the time when the economic meltdown was initially kicking into hyperdrive. McCain’s response – to suggest cancelling the debate, ‘suspending’ his campaign, and parachuting into Washington to heroically save the empire from the evil capitalist derivative speculators (uh, oops – yeah, that’s right – the same ones he’s been flacking for his entire career) – marked the beginning of his slide into historical footmarkery, right down there with the likes of Bob Dole and Lil’ Danny Quayle.

But that wasn’t actually the bit I had in mind for my favorite explanation of McCain’s demise. Nor, for that matter, was it even the fact that this great ploy – soon to be enshrined in a place of pride within the Political Buffoonery Hall of Fame – was crafted by none other than Steve Schmidt, McCain’s chief strategist. You might have thought that that alone was hysterical enough, given that Schmidt is a protégé of Karl Rove (though he apparently hates being labeled as such), and that these were the very same folks who had ruined McCain himself back in 2000, using the Atwood/Rove/Schmidt character assassination playbook.

So – lemme guess – you’re thinking: “Ah, what sweet justice. There is a god, after all!” But it actually gets better. Here’s why: according to the article, all this happened because the guy who John McCain picked to run his campaign once got the “smartest bit of political wisdom he ever heard” from – are you ready for this? – really? – wait for it now... none other than that renowned national genius, George W. Bush.

And what did Bush teach him, other than the value of “manning up” and “going all in” (I’m not making this stuff up) with stunts like McCain’s little economic crisis bombing run, a sortie in which he managed to crash the sixth aircraft of his career? Now this – this – is the part I really like. Back in 2004, Bush, the only complacent guy in the room, calmly told Schmidt that he shouldn’t worry that the boss’s campaign appeared at the time to be falling apart. Why? Because, Bush averred, voters have an “accidental genius” by which they can sniff out the true character of a candidate!

Amazing. Of course, W (and who knew that was short for Wise One?) didn’t mention the part about how swiftboating the shit out of your opponent, or disenfranchising droves of African American and student voters can also help to put you over the top when that good old voter intuition occasionally goes AWOL – like in 2000 and 2004 – just as W himself did for a couple of years when he was in the National Guard. And then of course there’s always that little Supreme Court trick, too, when things get really difficult.

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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21135.htm

[Demeter]

1. Thirty Years Overdue, Indeed!

I kept hoping Reagan would implode, but everybody was swilling the kool-aid....