Former Admirer (Author) Against McCain (Elizabeth Drew)

[Tesibria]

Context for Journal Entries: I'm in the process of compiling all the columns/articles written by "conservatives" against McCain and/or Palin – or for Obama. Yes, I know that many are frequently posted in the Editorials or Other Articles. However, they're always mixed in with the many articles on other topics and I, personally want a "set" all in one place, for easy reference when discussing issues with conservatives. So, I'm posting them in my journal.

Note: From what I can tell, Ms. Drew is not a conservative/republican. However, I'm including Ms. Drew's piece because she previously authored "Citizen McCain", a book that, per Publisher's Weekly, reflected as follows: "In Drew's view, McCain provides a rare example of leadership as he makes numerous media appearances including one as the sole guest of Jay Leno designed to reassure the public after the terrorist attacks. In that regard, the book's title is revealing. For Drew, McCain is a man to whom the title "citizen" attaches as an honorific without irony, the reference to Orson Wells's manipulative Kane notwithstanding."]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13541.html">How John McCain lost me
By: Elizabeth Drew, Politico, Sept. 17, 2008

I have been a longtime admirer of John McCain. During the 2000 Republican presidential primaries I publicly defended McCain against the pro-Bush
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I admired John McCain as a man of principle and honor. He had become emblematic of someone who spoke his mind, voted his conscience, and demonstrated courage in bucking his own party and fighting for what he believed in. He gained a well-deserved reputation as a maverick. He was seen as taking principled positions on such issues as tax equity (opposing the newly elected Bush’s tax cut), fighting political corruption, and, later, taking on the Bush administration on torture. He came off as a man of decency. He took political risks.
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In retrospect, other once-hailed McCain efforts – his cultivation of the press (“my base”) and even his fight for campaign finance reform (launched in the wake of his embarrassment over the Keating Five scandal) now seem to have been simply maneuvers. The “Straight Talk Express” – a brilliant p.r. stroke in 2000 – has now been shut down.
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McCain’s caving in to (the 2006 "compromise" re: Guantanamo trials) did it for me. This was further evidence that the former free-spirited, supposedly principled, maverick was morphing into just another panderer – to Bush and the Republican Party’s conservative base.
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Now he’s back to declaring himself a maverick, but it’s not clear what that means. If he gains the presidency, is he going to rebel against the base he’s now depending on to get him elected? (Hence his selection of running mate Sarah Palin.) Campaigns matter. If he means “shaking up the system” (which is not the same thing), opposing earmarks doesn’t cut it.

McCain’s recent conduct of his campaign – his willingness to lie repeatedly (including in his acceptance speech) and to play Russian roulette with the vice-presidency, in order to fulfill his long-held ambition – has reinforced my earlier, and growing, sense that John McCain is not a principled man.

In fact, it’s not clear who he is.

[FrenchieCat]

1. She's one of my favorite journalists. Writes for New York Book Review.......

If he has lost that 80+ year old White woman, he's lost.

[Cha]

2. So this evens out the whole

rothchild thing?