John McCain, who are you? In a few short weeks, McCain has turned from a respected voice to a complete crank. Or has the shift really been that sudden? Despite a veneer of competency, the man has always been something of a loose cannon. Go back to his military days, when he exercised extremely poor judgment on more than one occasion and may well have lied to cover his mistakes. Then we get a series of affairs, despite
having a wife who was injured and needed his care and attention, followed by a divorce to marry a younger, much richer woman. From the Daily Mail:
- Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit.‘When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it.
‘Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better.
‘This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.’
I allow for the possibility that ol’ Ted may have an axe to grind, but the picture is still not that of your steady-at-the-tiller family man. This is only reinforced by his reputation for being unable to control his temper, both with colleagues, and his own wife. So, this is the guy we want to lead us through a crisis? Backed up by the Palinator? I think not.
Now, he and Flailin’ Palin have decided to go negative. Of course, he had previously said he wouldn’t: “I pledge again a respectful campaign. A respectful campaign based on the issues and based on the stark differences we have on the vision for the future of America.” But lying never stopped him. It’s what he does.
What really gets me is the complete cynicism with which his campaign “announced” the shift. They didn’t even attempt to cloak it–they baldly said they wanted to shift attention away from the financial crisis–you know, the one McCain and his cronies helped cause. From the Washington Post:
- “We are looking for a very aggressive last 30 days,” said Greg Strimple, one of McCain’s top advisers. “We are looking forward to turning a page on this financial crisis and getting back to discussing Mr. Obama’s aggressively liberal record and how he will be too risky for Americans.”
No. What’s risky is having an angry liar with no self-control–and such a thirst for power that he’s willing to turn into a parody of himself to grab it–with his finger on the button and Palin, brimming with hate, right behind him.