The bottom line on McCain
I think his mind is gone. I don’t mean that cruelly, or snidely. I mean, speaking as a “senior,” that for many of us, memories of times way past are much clearer than of recent events. I can’t learn the lyrics to new songs, but I remember every word of the lyrics learned from age 3 through high school.
McCain has yet to offer coherent positions on the economy, energy, or health care — or in fact anything other than his military exploits -- because those things have never really mattered to him, and still don't, and he’s too late to the game. (The problem is no doubt exacerbated by the fact that he keeps changing the positions he does take.)
This is what worries me most about McCain, and I wish to goodness journalists and commentators would have the nerve to talk about it.
McCain has yet to offer coherent positions on the economy, energy, or health care — or in fact anything other than his military exploits -- because those things have never really mattered to him, and still don't, and he’s too late to the game. (The problem is no doubt exacerbated by the fact that he keeps changing the positions he does take.)
This is what worries me most about McCain, and I wish to goodness journalists and commentators would have the nerve to talk about it.
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my newest favorite is his answer to a question on whether he agreed with Carly C that there was a disconnect between insurers covering viagra and not birth control.
Whether or not he voted on the bill should have been irrelevant. He could always cite some reason for his vote so long as he could now cite a principled reason for his view.
But he referred to being unable to remember how he voted as an answer to a question requiring his ethical 'take' on a matter.
So not only does he have a memory problem but worse - and at the same time that his camp excoriates those who point out his memory problem - he is capitalizing on that memory problem to wiggle out of ethics Qs .
July 12, 2008 11:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe McCain can't remember whether or not he ever had ethics.
(He didn't.)
July 12, 2008 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not true. He had ethics. He has recently allowed his ambition to swamp them.
July 13, 2008 8:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
As I recall, he credits himself with having helped build the house that Reagan built. The mortar for that house was Reagan's inability to recall things. Part of Reagan's grandfatherly appeal was his senescence. He was able to maintain plausible deniability even in his own record through good-natured forgetfulness, a thing which continues to this day among the cadre of folks who want to name everything after him.
Perhaps this is all part of a well orchestrated ploy by McCain to framed himself as the the reincarnation of St. Ronald.
July 12, 2008 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. The clip of him responding to that question was revealing of several major McCain flaws. He was confused. He could not remember. He was extremely uncomfortable with the topic. And he seemed to be trying very hard to control his temper. I wish that clip would be played more.
July 12, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
The troubling part to me is the number of people who will vote for him. The ones, like us, who live & inhale everything political will surely run for their lives, especially women, but those who are casual news watchers & indifferent to the internet will believe he is just a wonderful hero & surely deserves to be elected.
Obama has so many obstacles to overcome, this likely will not be the cakewalk many think it will be. The MSM works very hard on making sure the bloom is coming off. They are pastmasters at this. Please consider volunteering for ripper & raider99's project.
July 12, 2008 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's another take. McCain could be a straw man. It's very hard to believe the RNC has imploded this badly. McCain is having a very tough time of it -- one blunder or gaffe after another. Not to mention his surrogates. I can't see how he can be the nominee if this keeps up. September's a long way off. You can bet the RNC is lining someone up to step in. Someone who can do so seamlessly.
July 12, 2008 8:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think he can be the nominee if only we on the left are paying attention to his incompetence, inconsistency and, well... untruthiness.
But seriously, as long as the MSM is kind and as forgetful as McCain, he's got a shot. They don't want to burst the balloon on this guy - that he is no longer what he once was, and that even what he once was - never really was. And so, rather than being a walkover, this could still be competitive, and if it's competitive, you know the Repubs will pull out all stops to suppress voting and steal votes. And have we actually begun trusting those voting machines? I haven't.
July 12, 2008 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm old. I have buried two sets of parents; mine and my husbands. I have spent time around the elderly in nursing homes and senior centers when our parents were alive. McCain is a geriatric case. His confusion, forgetfulness, frustration, changing contridictory statements are all signs of age related dementia. It is not his fault he is old, but we should not vote for someone with his age related infirmaties. It is time for him to retire, not only from his current campaign but from the Senate as well.
July 12, 2008 10:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a hard thing (getting old, forgetful, etc.) to bring up. It's hard watching something like this happen to someone that you love, and the SOP seems to be to ignore that it's happening until it gets really bad.
We need to say this about McCain, though, even if it's uncomfortable sometimes. He's not re-applying for his driver's license. He running for the President of the US.
July 13, 2008 1:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, gee, I guess I have to fess up and admit that I too qualify as a senior. McCain is five years older than I am. I'm a writer. Lately, I notice that I leave words out, mostly articles. Watching him, I agree that he seems to be losing it, on the edge of senile dementia. Yet we are prohibited by unwritten rules of civility from mentioning it. But hey, this man is running for President. We've had to put up with a President of questionable intellect who has managed to run the country into a ditch, embarrassing us all in the process. Are we to elect one who shows clear signs of losing it? Yet if we dare mention it, he gets the sympathy vote. Lose, lose. Talk about a rock and a hard place. Can there not be a way of drawing public attention to his repeated inconsistencies and memory failures so people get the picture without being whacked over the noggin?
July 13, 2008 6:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Agree with above posts. I too have seen the signs of age related forgetfulness. Misplacing things, forgetting words and so on, and it is very disturbing. Luckily, I am not misplacing my red phone for the three A.M. call. If he were 72 and sharp that would be a different scenario. I believe that those who are for him are mainly racists, or those who are liking how things are going in the country, and making money.
July 13, 2008 7:15 AM | Reply | Permalink