The temperament question comes roaring back
For months, any and all criticism Barack Obama directed at John McCain was about policy differences. It’s become one of the more dramatic differences between the two campaigns — McCain would go after Obama on personal issues (arrogance, patriotism, etc.), while Obama would go after McCain on substantive issues.
Yesterday, Obama’s team mixed it up a bit, and started pointing at least one of McCain’s more glaring character flaws.
In an apparent effort to regain the offensive, the Obama campaign launched a broad attack on McCain [yesterday], portraying him as reckless on foreign policy, a hot-head who’s too willing to use force and not willing enough to apprise himself of facts on the ground before urging military action.
On a conference call with reporters [yesterday afternoon]
, senior Obama foreign policy adviser Susan Rice argued that there is “a pattern here of recklessness” when it comes to McCain’s approach to various national security issues. She pointed out that McCain reacted too quickly with “aggressive and bellicose” rhetoric on the Russia-Georgia crisis, and contrasted that with Obama’s measured response to the dust-up.
“There’s something to be said for letting facts drive judgment,” Rice said, also referring to McCain’s desire to target Iraq right after 9/11.
Richard Clarke, who was a top counter-terrorism official in the last three administrations, also weighed in on the call, slamming “quick-draw McCain,” calling him “reckless,” “trigger-happy” and “discredited.”
There’s no shortage of Dems arguing, “If only Obama would pursue (fill in the blank) narrative/line of attack, he’d stand a better chance.” And with that in mind, challenging McCain on his temperament is just one of many possible approaches for Dems to pursue.
That said, it’s one of my favorites.
It’s an encouraging sign, in a general sense, to see Obama’s team take on McCain on character in the first place. Yes, McCain is wrong about, well, pretty much every issue under the sun, but that’s not enough — voters don’t just consider issue positions. It’s just as important to consider how McCain thinks and how he’d lead. In this case, that means a would-be president who loses his cool, can’t be counted on in a crisis, and is overly inclined to use force.
More specifically, I think my friend A.L. is on the right track here.
Every Obama surrogate should be saying this stuff over and over again. And they should frame the issue not just as a matter of judgment, but as an extension of McCain’s general character and temperament. There’s all kinds of material to work with here, so it shouldn’t be hard. As I noted the other day, many of McCain’s Republican colleagues are on record saying that he doesn’t have the temperament to be president, that he’s a hothead with a hair-trigger temper. Those quotes and anecdotes are highly damaging and need to be repeated endlessly. Obama’s surrogates just aren’t doing their jobs until voters are hearing the words “hothead” and “trigger-happy” at least as often as they hear the word “celebrity” and are picturing Yosemite Sam every time they hear McCain talk.
The message needs to be “if you liked the Iraq War, you’re going to love a McCain presidency.” McCain has an “act first, think later” approach to foreign policy and it’s dangerous.
Greg Sargent added:
Will painting McCain as a hair-trigger hothead who’s catastrophically overeager to support the use of military force, and not willing enough to apprise himself of the facts before acting, prove effective in the face of a withering assault on Obama as weak and indecisive?
In one sense, the grand experiment at the heart of the Obama campaign is an effort to win the election by speaking to the voters like adults.
Agreed. I’ve said many times that Obama seems committed to treating the electorate like grown-ups, perhaps more than any candidate in recent memory. There’s an inherent risk in this, and we’ll see if it pays off.
But on the temperament question, my only concern is that there are so many narratives to pursue with McCain, it’s hard to know which to pick — and Dems can’t pick them all. McCain’s a flip-flopper. And a hothead. And he’s out of touch. And he’s a confused old man. And he’s an angry candidate running a desperately negative campaign. And he’s self-righteous. And he’s a hypocrite. And he’s given up on straight-talk, preferring constant mendacity.
It’s obviously tough to choose
, since all of these narratives are true, but I think “Senator Hothead” certainly deserves its due.
McCain has an “act first, think later” approach to foreign policy and it’s dangerous.
McCain has an “act first, think never approach….
Fixed.
I had a feeling that the relative silence about Georgia was building up to something. They were letting him mouth off a bit on the (international) record, and now they are going to use it against him. Well done!
It’s the campaign version of the Bush Scandal Fatigue approach.
Or Mr. Burn’s Three Stooges Immunity. 🙂
Sure would be nice to have a tight list of the republican “he’s too dangerous” statements..
CB, I don’t see how you can say that McClone’s been wrong on just about every issue. After all, he’s been on every side of every issue, depending on whom he’s pandering to at the time.
Which leads me to realize that you never answered my question: What’s going to happen with the Official McCain Flip-flop List(R)?
That said, I do like the ‘Quick-draw McCain’ meme. Time for the O-man to start getting under McClone’s wrinkly old skin. We’ll see how long it takes ol’ Quick-draw to flip out. Could be fun. I’m laying in an extra supply of popcorn.
They still need to hit him on being a LIAR.
It would have been sooooooooo easdy for Obama to be in front of the VFW and to say: “Mr. McCain was here yesterday and told you how he supported the 21st Century GI Bill and worked to strengthen it. However, the record shows that Mr. McCain opposed the GI Bill, and presented amendments to weaken it, if not destroy it. And then, when it was obvious his position would lose, he was the only Senator who didn’t show up for the vote. The rest of us were there. We voted by a margin so large that George W. Bush couldn’t veto the bill though he wanted to. We were there for you. Where was Senator McCain?”
It’s not hard for him to go after McCain, he doesn’t have to say it in intensely personal terms or anything else. McCain’s an LST (Large Slow Target), so hitting him isn’t some difficult thing.
McCain would go after Obama on personal issues (arrogance, patriotism, etc.)…
…Being too popular.
McCain spins these as being a substantive critiques of Obama’s judgment — which is still a character attack, but at least it’s relevant.
I’ve said many times that Obama seems committed to treating the electorate like grown-ups, perhaps more than any candidate in recent memory. There’s an inherent risk in this…
PLEASE, remember that the thinking people aren’t going to be the hard part. They KNOW who to vote for. It’s the other people we need to figure out how to talk to. And going after McCain’s moronic attitude will work, because every time McCain opens his yap it gets clearer how little thinking he’s doing.
OK, now will the MSM pick this up and run a continuing analysis and thread on this important question: Is McCain too dangerous to be president?
Note to progressive pundits and others: When you advertise that you’re trying to distribute a narrative, then the undecideds are automatically immune to it before the narrative gets its legs.
You don’t say, this is the narrative we’re going to sell. You just do it.
When it comes to character assassination, we still have a lot to learn from the right.
Along these lines, I’d like to see them emphasize the little anecdote from the NYT about McCain running around a carrier screaming “On to Baghdad!!!” just a few months after 9/11. I don’t think that’s really resonated yet, just how much *worse than Bush* he was when it came to being so GUNG-HO to invade Iraq.
For me Barrack Obama needs to address the Arab issues that are corrupting America…if he does not he will loose.
You bet, let’s put these social psycho-dynamics in perspective. Perhaps we have a whole huge list of social issues, but for me right now surfing through a lot of relational ideals on the Internet is exposing a lot of hypocrisy. And as one has commented the real news is right here on the Internet and Mainstream Media is having fits. I propose the Arabs have a nasty extremist group within them and Osama Bin Laden son of the famous Bin Laden family close friends of the Bush family, this influence has been hidden from America for decades. They are an influence in America’s modern media. Here I would like to point out a few examples.
As an example John Edwards may very well be a sacrificed goat in the political economic arena, just as Spitzer was. Here we have two very intelligent men in the mix of high level money deals such as the Stock Market or Derivative hedge funds. Here, the psycho- dynamics is over whelming when Mainstream Media is the main perpetrator to swindle and sway the electorate all driven by that thirty percent in power that drive the system, Bush and Company. Contrary to what comedians like Bill Maher openly exclaim American’s are stupid, but, much can be obviously discerned by open hearted American’s now know they have been swift boated through the clever lies layered with a little truthiness to make things seem honest.
Pointing out an example, Edwards, or Spitzer behind the scenes screws his operations manager or, Spitzer porks the for hire maidens, all the while in motion and in the flux of the political and family theater. We all are concluding by the overwhelming and concentrated sex stories propagated by Mainstream Media to highlight time in “infidelity going on”. All ignoring the professional ideals and real money working the mechanics that flipped trillions in deals in the Derivative Fund market. If anything America is easily swayed in penis panic rather than the swindle of the Americans out of tax money through secret profiteering concepts.
One of things about our economy that just infuriates me is this concept of high level monetary magic, Derivative investment funds tied to America’s Federal Reserve Board, your tax that is actually supplementing and aiding the efforts of very rich American’s and International crime families.
The Arab’s, are the master of ceremony at this time. Considered by some contemporary honest Journalist as a black market economy openly operational by long time politicians and well connected government agencies. The Arabs are the problem with Bush and Company pulling the strings.
Yes, both good Democrats and good Republicans know this is going on and is disgusting. No, morally more wrong, and confused by 24×7 sex, heterosexual or homosexual actions that are bannered especially at election time. It’s sort of like Mainstream Media saves what needs to be addressed, sorted out and action that need to be taken are listed and cataloged to damage or sway, and manipulate the electorate. Here, which glaring proves and the whole host of Media types, IMUS contractors, and political friends has been and are the problem all complicit to profiteering and corruption in America for decades.
The funny thing Mainstream Media especially CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC are using free speech built in with treachery and contextual manipulation fractured with deception done on the public electromagnetic domain for deliberate profiteering is a crime that has gotten so crazy and open in America the electorate is burdened with lies to an endless war and a humble population drawn in by a political hat dance in decades of negligence that now exposes millions of people we call Mexican aliens in unknown numbers and undocumented. And now these aliens are guilty of wanting the American dream yet are given the ticket to personal strife and an economic twilight zone.
All, tied to energy needs, basic living standards, geared by minimum poverty levels, shoved around and sensationally addressed or threaded with drug problems, domestic violence, family problems exploding causing internal psycho-dynamics that needs health care beyond expectations, basic marriage failed, education failed, economy failed, war widening, secret deals proliferating torture being even considered as good mainstream necessity.
Here all Americans are close behind them in a dilemma that is a new mix in the “X Files” secret Sam stuff, FISA, combatants going to gitmo secret prisons, or you with me or against me legal system, screw the Constitution its only a peace of paper. This social and economic twilight zone has to be the most uncomfortable time in American history, yet is bannered as resilient?
Please America lets try the Democrats and give them a chance in power because what we have now is not only a failure to communicate but a huge, huge imbalance and influence of foreign Arab Wahabbi ideology that has corrupted our system aided and given comfort by Bush and Company.
The MSM already picked up on the who-knows-how-many-houses thing.
And CB, don’t use a fancy words like mendacity, the less learned will not get it. It’s lying…plain and simple.
Did you see the CNN profile on McCain last night? If you did, you saw Russ Feingold, described as a liberal Democrat, say point blank that McCain DOES have the right temperament to be president. Feingold said McCain would make a fine president.
So, any ad Obama may come up with about McCain’s temper will be countered with footage of a liberal Democrat admiring McCain, saying he would make a fine president.
Democrats WANT to lose. Feingold could have just kept quiet and declined to be interviewed on the subject. Why didn’t he?
At this point I really believe one of the reasons Putin has pretty much parked his forces in Georgia, despite constant claims of ‘pulling out’ is simply to stick a finger in Bush’s and the United State’s eye. He wants to demonstrate to the world the fact the US no longer has any teeth and is really is nothing more than empty rhetoric at this point. I also believe if the rhetoric out of Washington (and the McCain campaign) hadn’t been so bellicose Putin might actually have pulled back a little by now. But the louder Bush yells, the more likely he is to stay, if only to prove we’ve got nothing.
The message to every US ally over the last eight years has been; we don’t care what you think, just do as we say. A message that has weakened our alliances, undermined five decades of international law and made the world a much more dangerous place.
Putin has added a new message for our allies to comtemplate. The United States no longer has the power to protect its allies.
And McCain wants to continue with the exact same bellicose, we’re number one, my way or the highway approach to foreign policy.
Right now the world is in a holding pattern, waiting to see what course the US chooses, if we elect McCain President, expect a lot of our old alliances to start dissolving. Europe will accelerate the development of an independent security agreement, separate from NATO and will start exploring independent security arrangements with Russia and China. Asia, Africa and South America will increase their ties to Russia and China having gotten the message the America no longer cares about building international institutions.
The US will go from ‘global leader’ to increasingly isolated suspect pariah with McCain as President.
Keep whispering everyone. The Blogs are driving the narrative. We need more on Keating Five, the apology on the Senate floor, his ties to banking industry that got us into this economic mess USB anyone?
I sense the birds of prey are circling over one of McCain’s fifteen houses (if he doen’t know, is my answer wrong).
Bottom line: McCain doesn’t just equal Bush – McCain is worse than Bush.
That’s how you double down.
The hothead idea is good, but the question is what causes the hotheadedness. His inability to actually get anything done. He is too busy overreacting to focus on doing anything. Whip everyone, including himself into a frenzy and then move on to the next disaster.
He gets all worked up about bin Laden, threatens to follow him to the gates of hell, has a secret paln for catching him. But he does nothing, really, more than complain. If you have a plan to catch bin Laden, why not clue in GWB or Gates or Rice? Where has he been keeping his secret plan for the last seven years?
He says he is against raising taxes. Against it! But that is entirely different than promising to not raise your taxes.
Personally he is against lots of stuff. This is how he shows empathy for his mindless supporters, he simply agrees with them. Yeah, times are bad, that sucks. Will things change if he is elected president? Here is some straight talk: probably not.
If anything, constantly going after McCain as a hothead will only make him hotter. It is the perfect meme because he displays it everytime he talks.
I’m hoping for a moment in the debates that has Obama holding out his hands and saying, “Okay, John, settle down.”
John “Yosemite Sam” McCain is too cock sure and trigger happy, like Bush, only much, much older. He is angry and befuddled and eager to start shooting. He would rather start a war with the Russians than lose an election.
I’m no fan of Pat Buchanan, but he did say that McCain would make Cheney seem like Gandhi.
I’m puzzled by the movement in the polls, McCain’s momentum. The conditions all favor Obama, but McCain is surging. Why?
Is the public coming to the conclusion that Obama is a lightweight, too young and inexperienced for the job? That could be fatal.
Or does he just need to sharpen his attacks on McCain, become more aggressive, go on the offense, take the play away from the guy?
I just don’t know. Up until the latest polls, I thought it was a matter of campaign strategy and tactics. The usual Republican fighting machine against the wimpy Democrats problem. But now . . . it’s disturbing. It’s as if something fundamental has occurred, upsetting the dynamics. I’m very concerned that the public is slowly but inexorably dismissing Obama as just not qualified.
But I suppose it doesn’t matter as to Obama’s strategy going forward. He has to paint McCain for what he is: more Bush, worse Bush. He hasn’t been effective at all in getting that message across. Bush has been a disaster both domestically and internationally, and McCain will be worse. He has to hammer that home.
Clip and save:
“McCain is not too old to be president. It’s his ideas that are.”
That’s a rather lengthy comment/manifesto there, ‘Megalomaina,’ given that I have no idea what you’re saying. Sounds erudite, though, like an English composition essay from a hyperventilated community college student with 3 poly sci credits, and a well-worn thesaurus. Can you ‘unpack’ and clarify it in fewer than 100 words (none of which should be “psychodynamics,” by the way, whatever that is)? Just wonderin’.
Hark – By my calculations, it took about a month for McCain’s attacks to gain traction in the polls. It will take about that long for Obama’s counter attack to have an impact on the polls. Give it some time, but Obama has to remain relentless on this. The new ad will have a significant effect on peoples perceptions of Sen. McCain.
On another note, I have been harping about Obama laying out his cabinet so that the experience issue can be tamped down a bit, but then I find out that there might be a federal statute criminalizing such a move. So much for my “advice” on that front. Yikes.
I’ve just listened to the conference call by Obama’s people, Rice and Clark. http://thepage.time.com/2008/08/20/judgment-and-patriotism/
They are definitely on point with these new attacks. I like them a lot. This is what is needed.
Hotheadedness, yes — can someone actually draw a picture of McCain as Yosemite Sam? It would probably violate copyright to sell it, but if we made our own t-shirts — not that expensive — and wore them, it might pass the ‘fair use’ test.
But it is also the monstrous ego of the man — and nobody’s using this enough. Time after time we get, in effect “I AM JOHN McCAIN, and JOHN McCAIN doesn’t have to…” (Do research, check his facts, investigate his supporters)
Usually followed in a couple of days by “Ooops!” (Hagee, lobbyists, Gramm, mispronouncing his ‘close friend’s name as ‘Shashkavilli’ etc.)
This may be where the “John McCain doesn’t necessarily speak for the McCain campaign” idiocy came from.
Even on his VP choice — which would be vitally important if he actually had a chance to be elected — he has declared HE will make it for himself, none of that nonsense about vetting and consulting, that’s for Democrats, not for JOHN McCAIN
Sure, sometimes the Mugwump or Nurse Cindy can keep him under control, but it is STILL a major issue for us to use.
I think the Dems should also be jumping on McCain’s statement yesterday that he agrees with bringing back the draft. I suspect he wasn’t really listening to that woman when he said he agreed with everything she said, but “re-enacting the draft’ was her last sentence before he agreed with her. And if he has to say he wasn’t really listening, that’s good, too.
Five points I think the Obama campaign should focus on–with a sledge hammer:
1. Ignorance and confusion about foreign affairs-can’t tell the difference between Iran/Iraq, can’t tell the difference between Shia/Sunni, thinks Iraq borders Pakistan, thinks the Georgia-Russia conflict is the first major conflict of the 21st century, etc., etc.
2. Warmonger; thinks the way to resolve every conflict is war.
3. Rich and elitist-can’t even keep track of how many houses he owns. Has no conception of ordinary people’s lives
4. Ties to lobbyists and Ralph Reed/Abramoff bunch.
5. Flip flops and lies.
All items in #28 above apply to McCain–forgot that little detail. Sorry
http://bp2.blogger.com/_EEr7HJsBacI/R9RzMCzIvCI/AAAAAAAAB1o/NTHtfcoVddo/s1600-h/McCain+Scowl.bmp
Okay. Searcy at #14 wonders why Feingold likes McCain? Maybe she’s one of the few Democrats that aren’t full of piss and vinegar towards every Republican. It’s called being civil.
Hark at #21, Are you saying Obama hasn’t been painting McCain as a 3rd Bush term? That’s all I freaking here from the left. I think Obama’s pretty much driven that horse into the ground. No matter who wins in November, there’s going to be change, if you think otherwise , you’re ignorant.
Helena (#28/29), To me, Obama often seems confused and ignorant, so your question #1 applies to both candidates. As far as being a warmonger, that’s just a load of crap that you want to believe. He’ll go to war if this country is threatened, as should any president. I would hope Obama would do the same, so null and void on question #2. Rich and elitist. I don’t recall McCain being referred to as a snob. I don’t think McCain said some voters were clinging to their guns and religion. Arugula (sic). #3 down. Ties to lobbyists? So is Obama, what’s your point? And flip-flops and Lies. Are you blind to your own candidates faults? He’s been all over the board depending on who he’s talking to, and he’s lied about a lot during this campaign, so don’t pretend he’s all high and mighty because Barry is just as flawed as McCain.
McCain is just a befuddled, angry old man, stumbling from one disaster/gaffe right into the next one. His campaign people have to keep cleaning up after him. I wonder which one changes his diaper.
“That’s a rather lengthy comment/manifesto there, ‘Megalomaina,’ given that I have no idea what you’re saying. Sounds erudite, though, like an English composition essay from a hyperventilated community college student ”
That’s a word that lots of people use outside the ivory tower. Megalos = great; mania = madness. Having the crazy idea that you’re much greater than you really are, or than anyone else is.
Sorry, I didn’t see the whole thread and I thought you were referring to the word. Yes, that’s an overweening manifesto you’ve got there, megalomania.
On CNN’s “REAVEAL”, unless the programme was white-washing both candidates, McCain certainly was shown to be self-serving. Did anyone notice the look on his face when Bush announced his pursuit of war on Iraq? That grin of his which we have seen many times lately is scary. A look of glee. Obama’s strategic planners should use that programme to show the many times McCain is hugging Bush. That should back up Obama’s claim that McCain is just another Bush. Why is CNN not making more of the fact that Georgia (McCain’s friend) first attacked Russia? If McCain gets elected his arrogance will lead the US into another war. Obama is going to have to forget that he is trying to be Mr. Nice Guy and fight McCain more strongly. As the saying goes ” Nice Guys Finish Last” and we can’t have that happen.
Obama is going down in the polls. People are finally realizing he is an empty suit not ready to lead this country. McCain08
Eileen do watch the documentary “Reveal” by CNN and then make a decision as to who is an “empty suit”. What do you mean by that? You seem to be quoting others who make the same remark.
How many McPoints does that get Eileen?
But on the temperament question, my only concern is that there are so many narratives to pursue with McCain, it’s hard to know which to pick — and Dems can’t pick them all. McCain’s a flip-flopper. And a hothead. And he’s out of touch. And he’s a confused old man. And he’s an angry candidate running a desperately negative campaign. And he’s self-righteous. And he’s a hypocrite. And he’s given up on straight-talk, preferring constant mendacity.
I don’t know if it’s all that hard to fit all these together. The flip-flopping, negative campaigning, and constant mendacity are obviously all of a piece, since they all come down to his willingness to say or do anything to get to the White House. And why is he so desperate to get to the White House? Because he’s a confused, out of touch hothead who thinks the answer to every problem is to start another war. (I’d rather not touch on his age.)
It’s my favorite point of attack, because this hothead warmonger with access to nukes to settle his petty grudges scares the crap out of me. How long would it be before McCain nuked Mississippi to punish Cochrane for saying his temper should disqualify him from being president?
tomj said: “[McC*nt] gets all worked up about bin Laden, threatens to follow him to the gates of hell, has a secret paln for catching him.”
McC*nt will follow Osama bin Laden to Hell, but he won’t go into Pakistan to catch him.
Sound and Fury, signifying nothing.
His reaction to the Russian invasion was a lot like and old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn.
Let me see if I understand the Obama campaign’s point:
Putin orders the invasion of Georgia with two whole armored divisions. He bombs Georgia with the Russian air force and lobs SS-21 ballistic missiles at strategic targets within Georgia.
And Susan Rice thinks that McCain’s “LANGUAGE” is being bellicose??? Has she directed even half as much criticism at Putin for his invasion of Georgia as she is directing at McCain for daring to call Putin on it? If McCain’s “LANGUAGE” is bellicose, what does that make Putin’s strategic bombing of Georgia?
Only liberals would think that harsh McCain language is “bellicose” while invading Georgia with two armored divisions and an air force is merely “disproportionate.”
McCain pounces – Obama takes it calmly. McCain rips – Obama keeps his cool. McCain defames – Obama shrugs it off. People are beginning to worry about Obama’s ability to become upset, no matter what nasty stuff McCain throws at him, and they’re worried that it’ll cost him the election. But this is surely frustrating McCain, who is desperately trying to get a rise out of Obama, and failing miserably.
Of course, Obama’s aplomb in the face of McCain’s attacks does help Obama. It shows he knows how to keep his cool – a thing McCain is legendary for losing. It also shows that he doesn’t care about these attacks, because they’re specious – not worth bothering with. Is it enough, though?
Many still fear it could still cost him the election, because people are often too soft in the head to think independently, and rely on second hand sources to escort their thought processes, especially on complex issues. They’re afraid Obama isn’t aware how much McCain’s attacks can hurt him. They worry that McCain’s attacks, even though specious and often flat lies, will be absorbed and accepted by a lot of voters. It may be so that they’re soft-headed. But they’ll still be that way during the debates. And then…
Fear not. Obama knows (as rational people can’t help but also know) that McCain’s political platforms are empty of intellectual content, originality, innovation, imagination or concern about the average joe. He knows that it’s best to let McCain blather on against him, smear him (indirectly, of course, through surrogates), and run an unending campaign based on the flaws of “my opponent,” while reaching out to the public by calling us “my friends.” He’s no friend of mine, pal.
But Obama also knows that, having no substance, McCain has no alternative but to find fault with his “opponent.” Whether fairly or unfairly, true or lies. Obama is giving McCain all the room he wants to garner as much support for himself as he wants, for all he’s worth – and in doing so McCain is setting himself up for a BIG comeuppance come debate time. Probably more than one.
Obama is a keen strategist. What he’s doing is called “biding his time.” He’s letting McCain unleash his very worst – now – so he’ll have nothing left when the real debating begins. In addition, McCain will have been given many fathoms of rope with which to hang himself.
And as McCain begins to realize, during the debates, that his own words and actions are now coming back to bite him, he might even lose his control over that carefully sculpted cut/pasted personality he’s masked himself with during this campaign. He’s likely to “lose it” in front of everyone. Then nobody will have to talk about his temper tantrums; they’ll actually SEE one. I sense that it will be very easy to nonplus McCain in face-to-face debate with Obama.
This article mentions his magnesium-fused temper, and urges us all to remind the public of it at every turn. That’s a great idea. But it should also be passed on to the people that a man who cut/pastes a mellow, benign, grandfatherly, soft-spoken persona over a real one that is roiling with rage, and prone to filthy-mouthed hissy fits is more than just being disingenuous; mental health experts will recognize it for more than that – it’s sociopathic behavior, and often – in fact usually – dangerous. As one of his fellow POWs said of him, he’s not exactly a good choice to be the finger near the red button. Read it at:
http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,164859_2,00.html
We need to get some psychologists and psychiatrists to tell us that this sociopathic tendency in McCain is very possibly real. In addition, his warmongering posture is very likely unresolved, deep rage from his time as a POW – clamoring for war in which to do a kind of “payback,” even if not on the same ones who hurt him. Abused children more than likely grow up to be child abusers themselves. It shouldn’t be surprising that a tortured POW is eager to return the favor – somewhere, somehow, on someone. That’s a very BAD thing in a president. And we’ve already seen him dance to the tune of “bomb bomb Iran.” He’s another war, just waiting to happen.
Part of that “little temper problem” of McCain’s also reveals to us, from one early incident, that he’s no one to entrust with stewardship of women’s rights – not when he can turn on his own wife – in public – and call her a trollop – and the “C” word, too. That’s nothing short of reprehensible in anyone, least of all a political figure. He’s quite obviously an admitted (inadvertently) woman-hater. So anything he has said that appears to be supportive of women’s lives, rights and well-being is a flat lie. You can’t hate women and support their needs at the same time. No man who thinks of any woman in terms of the “C” word can deny that he hates women.
McCain is almost a Jekyll-Hyde personality, but he’s only letting us see the Dr. Jekyll side – the fake one. That’s downright scary, because with so much support from our racists, our mega-wealthy, our gun mavens, our whacked-out fundamentalists and our aspiring fascist New World Order neocons, he actually has a shot at winning. He can stick all four feet in his mouth, and they’ll still vote for him. His chances of winning are even better still, because he belongs to the party that steals elections routinely.
If anyone will be able to one-up McCain, it’ll be Barack Obama. Who is a genuine gentleman, not a fake one. It is Obama’s rationality, coolness and graciousness that will undo McCain. Wait and see.
It doesn’t mean, though, that Obama will be president. Not with the GOP so well practiced in fixing elections.
It’s enough to make your nether-quarters loosen.