McCain as Messiah-"one of the most egocentric presidential campaigns in memory"-By Eugene Robinson

[kpete]

McCain as Messiah

By Eugene Robinson
Tuesday, September 9, 2008; Page A23

John McCain is no silver-tongued orator, as he proved in St. Paul, but it's hard not to be stirred when he speaks of wanting only to serve a cause greater than himself -- until you take a closer look and see that he's running one of the most egocentric presidential campaigns in memory.

Not that Barack Obama lacks a healthy opinion of himself, mind you. And no one wants the next president to be paralyzed with insecurity, or to doubt, even for a minute, that he's the right man for the job. But after ridiculing Obama as a preening celebrity, if not a self-proclaimed messiah, McCain is campaigning on a platform that can be summed up in three words: me, me, me.

Much has been made of the fact that he's a Republican running on a pledge to clean up the intolerable, unforgivable mess created over the past eight years by a Republican president -- and, for much of that time, a Republican-controlled Congress in which McCain himself had great power and influence. It's amusing to listen to a man in his fourth term in the Senate (after two terms in the House) rail against evil "Washington," as if he weren't one of this modern-day Sodom's most prominent denizens.

There has been less comment, however, on the extent to which McCain rejects not only his party's record but also important tenets of its stated philosophy. He's a Republican who doesn't entirely believe in modern Republicanism.

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008090801910.html

[ErinBerin84]

1. heh, I love Eugene.

"But John McCain is arguing that he should be elected in spite of his party's many failures because, well, he's John McCain. He's special.

"I'm not running for president because I think I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need," McCain said in accepting the nomination. But this line -- which I took as a continuation of his attempt to paint Obama as some kind of self-proclaimed Chosen One -- came right after a lengthy recounting of the horrors McCain lived through as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. In effect, he had used his personal experience to anoint himself.

McCain and his campaign aides are right when they insinuate that one candidate is acting as if he thinks voters should accept him, on faith, as their political messiah. They're just trying to make fun of the wrong one."

[On the Road]

2. I Thought Kerry Made a Mistake

by having so much of the 2004 convention be about him and his war record. But McCain has not only outdone him, but used it to disguise the complete lack of substance in the campaign. And it doesn't seem to have hurt him yet. This is very frustrating.

[BeyondGeography]

4. The interesting thing about that is McCain himself agreed with you

and now he's doing the same thing:

McCain said that he urged Kerry sometime ago not to talk about Vietnam during his campaign. "I did advise John. I said, 'Look, you shouldn't talk about Vietnam because everybody else will. Let everybody else do it.' His advisers figured that was probably not enough, that he had to emphasize that in his campaign. In my campaign, as you know, I didn't talk about it because I didn't need to."

http://www.democracyarsenal.org/2008/09/mccain-giving-j.html

[On the Road]

7. I Really Thought McCain Made a Huge Mistake

in planning such a vacuous convention, and that it would hurt him badly.

I guess we'll never know how it would have turned out, since the sensationalism over Palin has eclipsed everything else.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Robinson is a weak lackey.

He's put up on CNN as the supposed "left" perspective but he has consistently fumbled the ball and stood in the middle of the road to be run over by the fawning lunatic fringe pundits that he works with. Case in point - this nonsense:

Not that Barack Obama lacks a healthy opinion of himself, mind you.

This sort of back-handed slap would never have been uttered about the RW candidates by a Gregory on TV or any of Robinson's fellow RW newspaper editorialists. They either do all or nothing (like a Noonan who will trash Obama on the air but will write a positive editoral in her column). RW fringe media don't mince words nor do they show "balance".

[pdxmom]

5. This article points out the scam that is being perpatrated on someone, but

I'm not sure who is being scammed more. If McCain goes against his own parties' platform on so many hot-button issues, the why is the base so ready to elect him. Aren't they worried that he will make decisions that go counter to what they believe? Why were they cheering for him, when he supposedly doesn't support their own platform?

On the other hand, the Dems, moderates and independents are being scammed if McCain is just mouthing platitudes, but intends to cave to the base on all of these issues. Listening to the cheers of the Repukes, you'd think they agreed with him. They don't. And he caved to the base on everything from immigration to taxes to his VP pick. People better wake up and realize that, on those issues where he pretends to be moderate, he will also cave.

This is why he is running on personality, not issues. And it's why he isn't laying out any specifics on issues. It's a mighty thin line McCain is walking and we can hope someone pushes off that line, one direction or the other, during the debates.

[JaneQPublic]

6. Not one mention of the servicemembers who sacrificed their lives, not just 5 and 1/2 years.

He spent less than the equivalent of one of his senate terms in the POW camp, yet survived to live to a ripe old age of 72. Meantime, 60,000 other Vietnam servicemembers died at the age of 19, 20, or 21 -- living fewer years than McSame has spent in Washington.

The same goes for over 4,000 servicemember who lost their lives in Irag. Yet McSame seems to believe his sacrifice is greater than all others, because you certainly don't hear him speak one word about them -- not in any speech, interview, or any other utterance. To him, he alone made the supreme sacrifice above all others, and therefore, the American public owes him the presidency.