The saddest senator
At some point or another when my Republican friends and I get together to talk things over, the discussion turns toward one person: John McCain. We all speak wistfully of the McCain we once knew, or thought we knew, and the awful contrast with the McCain we see today.
Where we used to see someone pursuing a practical, pragmatic approach to immigration reform, one that recognized the impossibility of deporting 12 million people who are here illegally, we now see someone who is campaigning on pretty much the concept that they can indeed all be corralled and herded home. (And with no loss to the service industries that rely upon them, or the businesses that need them as consumers.)
What has become of the McCain who stood up to the “Moral” Majority, the profligate tax cutters, and the lobbyists who strip-mined the public trust? The guy currently bearing the title of Senator McCain bears no resemblance.
This piece on today’s Slate conveys one theory: that McCain is so ashamed of his 2008 campaign that he can’t acknowledge his faults, and so has instead decided to embrace them. This is a variation on the trope that if you think I’m a monster, I may as well be one. I don’t like to indulge psychobabble, and that’s what writer Jacob Weisberg is giving us here. But I do know that I miss the McCain I knew, or thought I knew: the senator with principles and the guts to back them up. McCain 2.0 is just another party hack.
July 12th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Well, you kind of expected Senator McC to sell his soul when he got nominated for Pres in what was clearly a no-win year for his party; his nod to Gracie Allen as a running mate made that clear. Perhaps he sees now what he wrought by unleashing Sarah/Gracie on the nation and he’s given up on the notion of ever getting his soul back.
July 14th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Here’s a link to Dick Polman’s American Debate blog on the subject of John McCain and his turning into “an angry white man”.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/americandebate/The_tragedy_of_John_McCain.html?text=lg&c=y
August 15th, 2010 at 5:26 am
I kinda feel sad for McCain. He took pride in sticking his thumb in the eye of conservatives for years, relishing the title “maverick”. Why he would then run for President, knowing he needs their support is beyond me. Palin upstaged him, & he is now facing a serious challenge to his Senate seat from not only the left, but the right as well. I think he lost his direction somewhere inside the Beltway, and is trying to find some base, some target audience to help him stay employed. Anything to keep from losing that power. How sad to find that emperor indeed has no clothes.