In a scathing opinion Will pretty much destroys McCain: "Call Him John the Careless By George F. Will Thursday, October 30, 2008; Page A23 From the invasion of Iraq to the selection of Sarah Palin, carelessness has characterized recent episodes of faux conservatism. Tuesday's probable repudiation of the Republican Party will punish characteristics displayed in the campaign's closing days. Some polls show that Palin has become an even heavier weight in John McCain's saddle than his association with George W. Bush. Did McCain, who seems to think that Palin's never having attended a "Georgetown cocktail party" is sufficient qualification for the vice presidency, lift an eyebrow when she said that vice presidents "are in charge of the United States Senate"? She may have been tailoring her narrative to her audience of third-graders, who do not know that vice presidents have no constitutional function in the Senate other than to cast tie-breaking votes. But does she know that when Lyndon Johnson, transformed by the 1960 election from Senate majority leader into vice president, ventured to the Capitol to attend the Democratic senators' weekly policy luncheon, the new majority leader, Montana's Mike Mansfield, supported by his caucus, barred him because his presence would be a derogation of the Senate's autonomy? Perhaps Palin's confusion about the office for which she is auditioning comes from listening to its current occupant. Dick Cheney, the foremost practitioner of this administration's constitutional carelessness in aggrandizing executive power, regularly attends the Senate Republicans' Tuesday luncheons. He has said jocularly that he is "a product" of the Senate, which pays his salary, and that he has no "official duties" in the executive branch. His situational constitutionalism has, however, led him to assert, when claiming exemption from a particular executive order, that he is a member of the legislative branch and, when seeking to shield certain of his deliberations from legislative inquiry, to say that he is a member of the executive branch. Palin may be an inveterate simplifier; McCain has a history of reducing controversies to cartoons. A Republican financial expert recalls attending a dinner with McCain for the purpose of discussing with him domestic and international financial complexities that clearly did not fascinate the senator. As the dinner ended, McCain's question for his briefer was: "So, who is the villain?" McCain revived a familiar villain -- "huge amounts" of political money -- when Barack Obama announced that he had received contributions of $150 million in September. "The dam is broken," said McCain, whose constitutional carelessness involves wanting to multiply impediments to people who want to participate in politics by contributing to candidates -- people such as the 632,000 first-time givers to Obama in September. " http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/30/george-will-call-him-john_n_139202.html Seneca
waiting any time now for P(a)bst to blast George Will as a "fake" conservative. Peggy Noonan Kathleen Parker David Brooks Mike Murphy Francis Fukuyama George Will Keep up the good work.
As predicted by Will, McCain looks for the bad guy. Today's news announced that GDP for the last quarter declined. McCain's reaction: "We'll clean up Wall Street" Seneca
Somebody here (sorry, I forgot who) called him a borderline moron who got as far as he did by being an admiral's son. This campaign certainly lends credence to that assessment. His simple-minded "us versus them; who's the villain" outlook is exactly what we got from W.
I don't think McCain is a moron, I think he's a decent guy who's hired Bush's rather evil consultants for expediency. Yes, he did miserably in school, and yes he got as far as he did by being an admiral's son. As well, he's old. But generally people who have worked with him have liked him, although, not as much as Obama. He's just not the best candidate.