Just a few weeks ago, I would have said — in fact, I did say — that John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate gave voters good reason to question his judgment. Palin — uninformed, vindictive, irrational, superstitious, and dishonest — is utterly unsuited to the job of Vice President. McCain should have known better than to think such a person should be next in line for the presidency. He often brags of putting his country first, but is rarely if ever actually seen to do so, and the selection of Sarah Palin is just another example of his reckless indifference to the welfare of the United States.
However, watching McCain’s erratic behavior over the last week or two, I’ve begun to come around to a slightly different view.
Insane Train McCain seems unable to hold any opinion for a solid week. We’ve seen similar things before with him, as when he opposed torture and then supported it, but never like this.
He wants to fire Christopher Cox, then he praises him.
He says the fundamentals of the economy are strong, then raises alarms about the economic crisis.
He says he’s suspending his campaign, but doesn’t actually suspend it, because he’s got to rush back to Washington to save the economy. His leadership is needed! McCain offers no new ideas and demonstrates just how ineffective his leadership is by (a) vowing not to return to campaigning, or to participate in a scheduled debate, until a bailout bill is passed, (b) throwing a spanner into the works on the bailout bill, (c) claiming credit for passing a bailout bill which didn’t pass, (d) blaming Obama for its not passing, and (e) returning to campaigning without accomplishing a damned thing, and (f) praising himself for his own absurd behavior throughout.
He didn’t want to bail out AIG, then he did.
He wanted to investigate the crisis, then he didn’t.
He savaged Obama for connections to people connected to Fannie Mae, until it came out that McCain’s own campaign manager had connections to Fannie Mae.
McCain’s campaign not only went viciously negative, but proudly announced the decision to do so, admitting that John McCain could not win a race on the issues. They’re not even embarrassed about it.
Compared to John McCain, Sarah Palin has acquitted herself relatively well. Sure, she’s functioning as the campaign’s attack dog right now, but the campaign considers that an implicit part of her job as second banana. Her personality and manner of speaking grate on the nerves, but seem like a ray of sunshine compared to McCain’s constant barking and patting himself on the back. When McCain speaks, he seems oddly ill at ease for a man who’s been in the Senate more than twenty years. He awkwardly delivers his lines, then pauses to crow at his success. Did you hear what I said? Hah! Good one! Watching McCain speak is painful and embarrassing. Palin is relatively smooth, relatively impressive, and relatively rational (?!) when compared to McCain.
One begins to suspect that it’s not John McCain, but Sarah Palin, who has made the mésalliance in this campaign, that John McCain is dragging her down, and not the other way round. One even begins to think that of the two, Palin might be the smarter one.
That’s pretty damned scary.
Hey Bill…..this is an off topic reply but you have to see this video. I figured this method of showing something to you would be faster than thru email since you’re such a slug with replies. 😀
Warning: profanity and non PC humor. hehee. I find it hilarious though. Hope you do too.
[video src="http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b230/squeekychimp/?action=view¤t=bird_feeder.flv" /]
So, after last night’s debate do you feel as though you’re McCain’s friend? If he uttered, “my friends” one more time I think the top of my head would have exploded from too much BS exposure. Was it me or was that one of the most disingenuous performances you’ve ever seen?
The one and only time McCain resonated a blip of empathy with me was when he mentioned to the Petty Officer in the audience the influence that position had on him during his time in the Navy. Other than that, his stunted economic judgment scares the crap out of me. He knows nothing about small business owners and how we keep our businesses afloat. I mean, how could you trust a man with national or global economics when he doesn’t even know how many houses his wife owns?
At least Obama is intelligent enough to listen. I get more of a sense of careful discernment and diplomacy in all matters from him. We need a president who isn’t as stubborn as a mule like Dubbya…who won’t listen, it’s as simple as that. McCain is a slow learner regarding past mistakes plus he’s impulsive. Combine that with poor listening skills and you have one scary dude.