http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-l-borosage/why-mccain-fails-my-moms_b_111430.htmlRobert L. Borosage
Why McCain Fails My Mom's Test
Posted July 8, 2008
My feisty 94-year-old mother has no patience for John McCain. "He's too old," she says bluntly, and "his ideas are out to lunch." That probably is to be expected from a woman who hasn't voted for a Republican since Eisenhower. But her opposition to McCain isn't really based on his politics. She just thinks his candidacy is an open insult to her intelligence and the intelligence of every American voter.
At 94, she doesn't claim to be an expert. She'd rather watch Wimbledon than a political debate. Her subscriptions tend towards health care and investing newsletters rather than political magazines. Her reading features schlock novels rather than the latest Bush expose. She follows fashions and styles, but isn't exactly au courant. "Is it legal to show this stuff?" she asked in a stage whisper in the midst of Sex and the City, cracking up the folks around us. But daughter of an Italian immigrant, raised in Milwaukee living above the family's corner store, she has a growing concern about the country she loves and her four great grandchildren will inherit.
That's why she thinks McCain is just insulting. He says he'll balance the budget while promising to cut everyone's taxes. "That's just nonsense," she says. "We've heard these promises before. Does he think we can't remember what Bush did and what Reagan did?" Then he says he'll stay in Iraq, increase spending on the military, and take the cuts from domestic programs. "Doesn't he look around at what is happening here? It's time to take care of this country now." She thinks his support for privatizing Social Security will just hurt the most vulnerable seniors. And his health care plan just makes her mad. "He keeps talking about more choice, and having people deal directly with the insurance companies. He's been on government health care all his life. He has no idea how complicated this is." My mother earned her PhD after raising her children and prides herself on her independence, managing her own finances, balancing her own checkbooks. But even she had to give her medical bills to my sister to manage.
After nine decades, my mother doesn't expect much from any politician. She knows strong families are the foundation of this country, and she built one with love and wisdom. But she isn't a cynic. And she wants straight talk to be more than a slogan. After a severe stroke, she left us yesterday. Her spirit lives in the hearts of the loving family and friends she touched so deeply. McCain is lucky she won't be here to cast her vote in November, because he already had lost it.
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