Oh, John McCain where is the man that was America’s maverick darling eight years ago? Have you been forced to become intolerant while trying to appeal to the “agents of intolerance?” In order to become the leader of the GOP, did you have to destroy every impulse that endeared you to cynical journalists and the politically weary public?
In 2000, you championed real reform and accountability in a political process that was bloated and becoming irrelevant, now you spend your time trying to tear down your opponent instead of defining a coherent message people can believe in. Everybody can tell that you really don’t like Obama, but running a sarcastic campaign deriding optimism and trying to paint Barack Obama as a naïve youngster only reminds people how much you are associated with the past and how much Obama represents the future. Everytime you talk about how long you have served and how inexperienced Obama is, you are only reinforcing Barack Obama’s main message in a political environment that is desperate for something new, while also making yourself seem like a bitter and small politician.
Come on Mac, you are better than this; at least you used to be.
I know this campaign has been tough on you running against a cultural phenomenon, having to change positions on immigration and taxes to appease the crazy people in your party, confusing Shiites and Sunnis, constantly referring to Czechoslovakia -which hasn’t existed since 1993, and saying that you will do more to secure the geographically dubious Iraqi-Pakistani border, but nobody expected you to let the debate turn from issues to character assassination.
As Obama tries to rise above the fray and articulate a message of hope and unity, to move our politics forward and restore our democracy and standing in the world, you spend every opportunity taking cheap shots at him like a drunkard criticizing the local high school football coach. In just this week, “the straight talk express” campaign has gone exceedingly negative releasing two ridiculous and false ads blaming Obama for the high gas prices and another comparing him to Fidel Castro. Castro! Really? John you “approved this message?” He isn’t even the leader of Cuba anymore! Has anybody outside of Southeast Florida even cared about Castro since 1965?
McCain is also being poorly served by incompetent elements of his campaign, namely the guys responsible for his visuals. While Barack Obama gives a widely beloved speech in Minnesota, the same place you will accept the nomination for the GOP this summer, you give the worst political speech in modern history in front of a puke green backdrop that even diehard Republicans called terrible. When Barack Obama is shown, on the front page of every major newspaper riding in a helicopter with David Petraus over Baghdad, your campaign arranges a photo op with George H.W. Bush – who looks younger than you- and yourself riding in a golf cart that looked like a scene right out of a placid retirement village. As Barack Obama gives a historic speech to several hundred thousand American flag waving Germans, your campaign has you go to a German restaurant then tour a food store and do a press conference in front of the cheese aisle. Damn Mac, they couldn’t get you in front of a gas pump anywhere?
Now you and your campaign have been getting bent out of shape all week about the attention Barack Obama is receiving from the media, while ignoring the fact that it was your constant needling and public posturing -including placing a ticking clock on your website counting the time since Barack’s last visit to Iraq- that forced Barack to take this trip. And the irony of your disdain for the media’s coverage is that the media has been among your strongest supporters over the years. Also, your campaign was so mad at the amount of coverage Obama’s historic trip is receiving that they passed out “JV ” (junior varsity) pins for the press corp covering your campaign and then went as far as planting a false rumor in the mainstream media, through Robert Novack who admitted that he got used, that you were going to announce your VP while Obama was away. That is the definition of bitter John! You are a national hero and now you are lying to get attention. Stop acting like a petulant child and start acting like the man that most Americans thought you were.
Obama calls for greater unity between Europe and America, a speech that did more for transatlantic relations in one hour than Bush did in eight years, and your campaign decides to say Obama is ignoring America and then you allow your spokesman to come out with a divisive and small comment, “John McCain has dedicated his life to serving, improving and protecting America. Barack Obama spent an afternoon talking about it.” – Tucker Bonds aka Douche-Bag. Right, John, Barack Obama has done nothing over the course of his life to help improve America; he was given the nomination because he has a great smile. Again these comments make you seem like a mean-spirited child with an inability to compliment others compared to Barack Obama who often goes out of his way to compliment you and your service to America, which of course only makes your rants attacking him look even more pathetic.
Luckily for you it is only July, but you need to change your campaign style and message immediately. Listen, “my friend” you were elected by the GOP because you are the only person in your entire party that can compete in this anti-Republican environment, and you are still doing ok in most polls, don’t blow it because you are too focused on mean-spirited attacks against your opponent and not focused enough on telling people why you would be a great leader in your own right. My mom once told me to not build myself up by putting others down, that mantra translates from life to politics. And you, John McCain, need to stop being petty or you can continue your bitter, mean-spirited critiques from your seat in the U.S. Senate.
1 Comment
July 25, 2008 at 9:06 pm
it would be miraculous if someone had the balls to run a campaign that didn’t badmouth the other candidate. never gonna happen though, until the brewdawgz runs for president in 2032 on the strength of a “lets move to outerspace” platform