McCain completes sellout

Only 19 posts to reach Godwin's Law ......................... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_Law

 

Seriously, people (Mizzou), don't read the political threads if they just piss you off.
And don't be an asshole just because someone disagrees with your views.

 

I have to say, the need to demonize the candidate from the other party is just sort of sad to me.

I'm a democrat who will be voting for Obama this November. But the shit that people here fling at McCain just astounds me.

I've covered McCain for 13 years. He's always struck me as a good guy, albeit one who genuinely believes in things I disagree with.

So it's "dirty politics" to hire people who helped the last Republican get elected? Really? And we're going to slam him for his divorce... even though his first wife supports him?

And we're going to talk about the "dirty little secret" about his temper? Seriously? Do you know what Clinton's temper is like? Also legendary, and he has a hell of a lot more trouble controlling it in public than McCain ever has. Didn't seem to hurt his presidency much.

Again, I don't agree with many of McCain's political views, but the way he is depicted on these threads reminds me of everything I hate about modern politics. I get the impression that many of my fellow democrats deep down aren't offended by the Swift Boat shit as much as they're upset that the republicans are clearly better at it.

 

The people who helped get the last Republican elected are exactly what's wrong with the system he claims to have so much distaste for. They play the dirtiest politics imaginable, and they have no shame about doing it. It worked well enough for them, sure, but it's clearly not the direction anyone wants to see the country go in, and poll after poll, not to mention the 06 election, confirm that.

But if McCain wanted to embrace that style of politics whole-hog, then fine. We could evaluate him on those merits. But he claims to want to be different. He's a maverick. He'll stand up to the system. He's a "good guy." And then he turns around and taps into that system, and people act surprised when he gets attacked for it. Dirty politics is one thing. Flagrant hypocrisy is entirely another. He wants to play by one set of rules and be judged by another.

 

As your post explains, McCain enjoys tremendous support and favorable coverage from the people who have covered him.

The media decided that Clinton's temper tantrums are an issue, but McCain's aren't. Reporters also refuse to cover his unbelievable and appaling habit of denying that he said things we all know he said. It's really to the point of comedy, and I don't know whether it's old age or flat-out lying but let's just see if this issue gets more coverage than Al Gore's sighing. That will be the litmus test, for sure.

 

PC, I agree with you to an extent. Every politician flip-flops because it's often necessary, and in a general election, every candidate is forced to compromise their image (or it least they're perceived to compromise it).

And while I agree that McCain seems a decent enough guy, he built his reputation as a maverick long ago, and it's been the basis of his political career. It's one thing if your 180's on issues seem borne out of principle, but whether it's completely true or not, it's starting to appear that McCain has never really lived up to his image. It's not dirty politics at all to hire a former Rove acolyte to help win the presidency, but he's always wanted to be different than Bush, but he appears more like him by the day. The temper issue doesn't really bother me much, his political views do.

 

Would those be liberal reporters, spinning?

 

I don't understand why McCain and Obama have seemingly had to start going against everything that made them strong primary candidates. Do middle of the road voters find waffling and flip-flopping an admirable thing they want in a President?

 

Dude, take that resonable discourse shit and get the fuck out. Christ, didn't you know this is THE place for spewing invective? Man.

 

Pieces in this week's Newsweek about Obama, McCain, and flip-flops:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/143864

http://www.newsweek.com/id/143863

 

It's getting harder to remember when candidates worked to give you reasons to vote for them instead of spending all their time trying to discredit the other guy. Been about 20 years or so.

 

I'd say 50++ . . . but point well taken.