Matt Taibbi: Requiem for a Maverick

[babylonsister]

Requiem for a Maverick
John McCain ran one of the most incompetent, schizo campaigns in history — and for that we owe him big-time

MATT TAIBBI
Nov 27, 2008 10:42 AM


Election night at the Biltmore in Arizona is a hilariously dismal scene, like a funeral for a family member nobody liked, who died owing everyone money. The rats here are already bailing off the ship with lightning speed, like L.A. Dodgers fans leaving a playoff game to catch the latest episode of Entourage. The exodus, in fact, begins about eight seconds into John McCain's concession speech, which incidentally starts off on the classiest of notes: with the remaining crowd cursing the name of the new president.

"A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Sen. Barack Obama," McCain begins.

"Boooooo!" bellows the crowd. Outside the hotel, a wine-drunk young woman in a fluffy white ball gown probably last worn at a Liberty University frat mixer angrily flings a would-be celebratory pompom she has been clutching into my face. "I can't listen to this shit!" she yells, scooting away.

I peel the plastic pompom bits off my face and stick them in my bag, where they are soon joined by a McCain-Palin "Victory 2008" Election Night T-shirt — bought for gloating purposes at a rapidly plummeting discount. Republican-souvenir prices haven't been this low since Watergate.

By the time McCain finishes his short, commendably gracious speech a few minutes later, almost all the Republican revelers have begun to flee the premises. The few who stick around are trying to suck the last value out of the meals and cocktails they so willingly overpaid for earlier in the night, when there was still a chance they'd end up with something to celebrate. At the hotel exit, a pair of Arizona State students are grumbling about the food.

"We paid, like, 10 bucks for a burger," says 18-year-old Emily Zizzo.

"We were outraged," agrees her 20-year-old friend Dori Jaffess.

more...

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/24375710/requiem_for_a_maverick

[Amerigo Vespucci]

1. We really do owe him...

...I read something yesterday by someone in the Obama campaign, saying that if McCain had gotten his wish and had Lieberman as his running mate, it would have been a much greater challenge. I know, I know...but it's not about what DU thinks of Lieberman, it's about what the general voting public would have thought about McCain "reaching across the aisle, etc etc etc..."

His "maverick" thing was severely tainted when it became known that Lieberman and Ridge were his two top choices, and that Palin was essentially rammed down his throat by James Dobson and unnamed others from the evangelical, far-right wing of the party.

It's not limited to the Palin choice, either. The biggest sin committed by McCain was to declare his intention to run a "clean campaign" at the start and then lay out a game plan that even had Karl Rove scratching his head.

So yes, Senator McCain...THANK YOU. Thank you for President Barack Obama.

:patriot:

[Cha]

3. One way I look at it is that..

Mccain was brought down by a woman.

And, that's not me cheering on women..it's me pointing out Irony.

[struggle4progress]

2. "McCain..goes after..votes..by waving a flag and saying as little as possible,.basically a third-way

Democrat with a Goldwater fetish"