In reading this op-ed by a notable past McCain supporter, Richard Cohen, the following two paragraphs struck hard.
Richard Cohen – The Ugly New McCain – washingtonpost.com
I am one of the journalists accused over the years of being in the tank for McCain. Guilty. Those doing the accusing usually attributed my feelings to McCain being accessible. This is the journalist-as-puppy school of thought: Give us a treat, and we will leap into a politician’s lap.
Not so. What impressed me most about McCain was the effect he had on his audiences, particularly young people. When he talked about service to a cause greater than oneself, he struck a chord. He expressed his message in words, but he packaged it in the McCain story—that man, beaten to a pulp, who chose honor over freedom. This had nothing to do with access. It had to do with integrity.
McCain has soiled all that. His opportunistic and irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin as his political heir—the person in whose hands he would leave the country—is a form of personal treason, a betrayal of all he once stood for. Palin, no matter what her other attributes, is shockingly unprepared to become president. McCain knows that. He means to win, which is all right; he means to win at all costs, which is not.
Bingo.
Watching McCain’s speech at the RNC was illuminating. It reminded me — in places — of what it was I’d once liked about McCain. When he talked about service, sacrifice, integrity, honesty, honor, it all rang true. It inspired. Regardless of how I felt about his political stands on one thing or another, there was something about him I could respect.
And now? With his complicity or without it, confused or conniving, the steady stream of lies and deception coming from McCain and his campaign have been stunning, not just things being said, but things being re-said, repeated, drummed over and over even after being soundly and repeatedly refuted by media on the left and on the right.
McCain has demonstrated conclusively that his time, if it ever was, has long since passed. That he is still polling where he is remains astonishing.
(via Les)
Don’t worry, America’s Concern Troll will be back to loving McCain in time for November 4th….’cause that is what Concern Trolls do. 🙂
Put another way:
Cohen is like Jane from Coupling, and any Republican is Steve to him.
I’m not expecting a permanent conversion or anything — what’s noteworthy is (a) I think he’s nailed it on the head here, and (b) he’s willing to bust McCain’s chops over it.
Also, all of that Honour, truth and such with McCain…it was all an act, carefully cultivated with the help of our useless “With Sprinkles” press and you are now seeing the real McCain.