Amidst all this talk about the resurgence of John McCain’s campaign, we checked out the man himself on Meet the Press this morning with an open mind. After all, we had voted for him in Mississippi’s Republican primary back in the year 2000, albeit mostly because, in our words, “We disliked Bush more than we liked Gore” and had the option of voting for either party. The was something about his “Straight Talk Express” back then that was refreshing, although we were never comfortable with the way he pridefully referred to himself as “a Reagan Republican.” Did this mean that he was going senile? In favor of jacking up the deficit and letting future generations pay for it? Trickling down his economics? Undermining foreign governments as well as our own, as in the case of the Contras? Ready to declare the jelly bean a fruit?
Since then, of course, the “Straight Talk Express” has changed to the “No Surrender” Winnebago, and therein lies the problem.
Our summation: he talks too slow. And he’s old. These two overriding concerns are related: he speaks with a kind of paternalistic conviction that comes with old age, when one has it all figured out, to which events will inevitably fall into place and confirm … which is precisely what the overriding problem with the Bush administration’s policy (or lack thereof) has been all along.
It reminded us of McCain’s visit to the Potemkin village of Baghdad back in April (right around April Fool’s Day, as we recall), when he described it as a safe, bustling place full of warmly welcoming Iraqis, and a fellow Republican, Mike Pence, said it was “like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime.” Both, of course, neglected to mention the platoon of 100+ soldiers, three Black Hawk choppers and two Apache gunships which served as their escorts.
Now, General Petraeus is being heralded as the second coming of Christ, and his (carefully-edited) words are being prepared for inclusion in the “New and Improved Testament.” We wouldn’t be surprised to hear McCain refer to Petraeus as “General Resurrect Us.” You know you have a problem when your old buddy John Kerry out-debates you. Time to put down the plastic cup, Mr. McCain, and walk away from the oversized tin pail while you can still walk straight.
