Holy crap. Richard Cohen calls McCain tragedy and farce. Has the worm turned?

[Hamlette]

Following his loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 South Carolina primary, John McCain did something extraordinary: He confessed to lying about how he felt about the Confederate battle flag, which he actually abhorred. "I broke my promise to always tell the truth," McCain said. Now he has broken that promise so completely that the John McCain of old is unrecognizable. He has become the sort of politician he once despised.he precise moment of McCain's abasement came, would you believe, not at some news conference or on one of the Sunday shows but on "The View," the daytime TV show created by Barbara Walters. Last week, one of the co-hosts, Joy Behar, took McCain to task for some of the ads his campaign has been running. One deliberately mischaracterized what Barack Obama had said about putting lipstick on a pig -- an Americanism that McCain himself has used. The other asserted that Obama supported teaching sex education to kindergarteners.

"We know that those two ads are untrue," Behar said. "They are lies."

Freeze. Close in on McCain. This was the moment. He has largely been avoiding the press. The Straight Talk Express is now just a brand, an ad slogan like "Home Cooking" or "We Will Not Be Undersold." Until then, it was possible for McCain to say that he had not really known about the ads, that the formulation "I approve this message" was just boilerplate. But he didn't.

"Actually, they are not lies," he said.

Actually, they are.

McCain has turned ugly. His dishonesty would be unacceptable in any politician, but McCain has always set his own bar higher than most.

But Joy Behar knew better. And so McCain lied about his lying and maybe thinks that if he wins the election, he can -- as he did in South Carolina -- renounce who he was and what he did and resume his old persona. It won't work. Karl Marx got one thing right -- what he said about history repeating itself. Once is tragedy, a second time is farce. John McCain is both.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/15/AR2008091502406.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

there was a time I liked Cohen but he changed and has been unreadable for years now.

Is he back? This is pretty astonishing for someone who has licked bush's boots for 8 years.

[anonymous171]

1. The media giveth, the media taketh away.

John McCain's "maverick" image was created by the press, and has kept him in favor with them for some time. Now a it seems McCain's newest attacks have shocked them into realizing the truth.

[PerfectSage]

2. I always thought Bush 41 was the tragedy and Bush 43 was the farce?

[writes3000]

3. That is gonna hurt. Bad. McCain adores his press pals. Not anymore. nt

[GoesTo11]

4. The worm will turn back

Unfortunately, it's not about what candidates really do, it's about the narrative of the moment. This is McCain accountability week, but they may well decide that next week is "the media have been too tough on McCain week". Point is, we have to build on what little we do get out of them.

But until the worm turns back, check out this also by Cohen. It is actually pretty funny and pretty harsh on the other half of the McCain ticket.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2008/09/seeing_is_experiencing_but_bet.html

[Hamlette]

7. that was pretty funny

drives me crazy when ppl say Eye rak. Sheesh.

[lamp_shade]

5. k&r

[truthisfreedom]

6. What's the gestation period for truth?