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filkertomJohn McCain has built a long political career out of basically nothing. Not even McCain-Feingold, these days. But the biggest nothing of all is how, for years and years and years, he's toed the Republican party line, voting lockstep with the hawks and neocons, and lying out his ass, all while calling himself a "maverick".
And now, he says he never considered himself a maverick.
The first problem, of course, is that there's lots of evidence that he reveled in the "maverick" label. Encouraged it. Used it to describe himself. Repeatedly.
The second problem, of course, is that now he's technically telling the truth.
A maverick would disagree with his party's insane positions now and again. He'd question them, badger them, ask them what the hell's wrong with them for supporting actions and policies that can, and did, do nothing but harm to the country. A maverick would be a maverick for the sake of doing what's right.
By that definition, McCain hasn't been a maverick for a long, long time. He is just another cranky old white guy who's wrong about lots of stuff. The closest he came to a "maverick" move was making Sarah Palin his running mate, but that was heavily encouraged by William "The Bloody" Kristol, one of the great neocon cheerleaders, so actually that was pretty much by their say-so as well.
This is one of the main faces of the Republican party: an old, angry, befuddled liar. A man who demonstrably knows nothing about areas in which he claimed expertise, such as the economy and military matters, and who has reversed his positions to try and garner votes. A man who badly lost the last presidential campaign, yet still has more TV time than pretty much anybody who is not Barack Obama and not on the news shows' payrolls. And still he is respected, even revered. Which leads us to this thought, coming up on the schedule all too soon:
Who in the name of Cthulhu are the Repubs going to nominate in 2012?
And now, he says he never considered himself a maverick.
The first problem, of course, is that there's lots of evidence that he reveled in the "maverick" label. Encouraged it. Used it to describe himself. Repeatedly.
The second problem, of course, is that now he's technically telling the truth.
A maverick would disagree with his party's insane positions now and again. He'd question them, badger them, ask them what the hell's wrong with them for supporting actions and policies that can, and did, do nothing but harm to the country. A maverick would be a maverick for the sake of doing what's right.
By that definition, McCain hasn't been a maverick for a long, long time. He is just another cranky old white guy who's wrong about lots of stuff. The closest he came to a "maverick" move was making Sarah Palin his running mate, but that was heavily encouraged by William "The Bloody" Kristol, one of the great neocon cheerleaders, so actually that was pretty much by their say-so as well.
This is one of the main faces of the Republican party: an old, angry, befuddled liar. A man who demonstrably knows nothing about areas in which he claimed expertise, such as the economy and military matters, and who has reversed his positions to try and garner votes. A man who badly lost the last presidential campaign, yet still has more TV time than pretty much anybody who is not Barack Obama and not on the news shows' payrolls. And still he is respected, even revered. Which leads us to this thought, coming up on the schedule all too soon:
Who in the name of Cthulhu are the Repubs going to nominate in 2012?
