In the end, it’s the middle-aged housewife who gets to him. On a blistering June day north of Phoenix, John McCain, short and sprightly in a baby-blue gingham button-down, has been harangued repeatedly by an antiwar demonstrator during his town-hall meeting. A couple of hours earlier, he’d had to stand red-faced while a transsexual woman made a speech about a nondiscrimination bill in Congress (“I’ll go back and review it again,” he said stiffly).
Then, during an event in a YMCA recreation facility in the suburb of Carefree, he can’t hold it together anymore. A woman takes a paper from her purse and begins reading McCain’s own concession speech from the 2008 election. After he was beaten by Barack Obama, the senator from Arizona promised “to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences.”
“That was your words,” says the woman. “I was very heartened when I heard these words, and my question is: ‘What happened?’ ”
Blinking rapidly, McCain develops an expression like a grenade about to detonate.
“Simple,” he snaps. “This administration has decided to govern from the far left without any consultations or negotiations or any compromises to be made with the other party!”
His supporters applaud, and McCain’s face twitches. “You know how many times I’ve been asked to go over to the White House to negotiate on any issue?” he asks, not waiting for an answer. “Zero,” he says with a huff. “Zero.”
McCain ends the exchange with a starkly disingenuous “Thanks very much,” the smirk on his face doing nothing to conceal his annoyance. “Next time,” he says, “please bring another speech.”
I'm sorry, John McCain is SURPRISED that he has not been asked to negotiate with the White House? Seriously?
McCain has run so far to the right that he almost completely unrecognizable as the man who spoke out against the Religious Right and slammed the Bush administration for using torture against terror suspects.
And when McCain was in the same room as President Obama he used the opportunity to attack him.
McCain zinged Obama for going back on a campaign promise to put all the health care negotiations on C-Span. Obama shot back, "We're not campaigning anymore. The election is over."
McCain grinned and allowed that he was "reminded of that every day."
McCain has literally become the cranky old man with the shotgun yelling at the kids to stay the hell off of his lawn. He has lost every ounce of his integrity and seems to fight to retain his political office, not out of a sense of duty, but from a jealous desire to keep what he believes is rightfully his.
"Hey you J.D. Hayworth! Stay the hell away from my Senate seat!"
However even if he manages to win this upcoming election, it will NEVER erase his disastrous decision to lift Sarah Palin out of the obscurity of Alaska and inflict her on an unsuspecting nation.
The most complicated decision McCain had to face involved his own political Frankenstein monster. Until the fall, McCain wasn’t sure Sarah Palin, his political creation and now a catalyst for the tea party, was going to be politically advantageous for him. When asked by an adviser to reach out to her last summer, McCain growled that “it’s not the right time.” And as her book, Going Rogue, was about to launch in November, it looked like it might be too late. When asked by advisers to recruit her in the fight against Hayworth, McCain complained, “She won’t even return my calls.”
"She won't even return my calls." And why should she? She had already infected McCain with her own personal destructive virus and moved on. Leaving John McCain a shadow of his former self, trashing every one of the values that helped to define him, and fighting desperately to stay relevant in a Republican party that seems to be feeding on its own.
The skin cancer that John McCain has been fighting for decades is nothing compared to the cancer that he discovered in Wasilla Alaska.
Oh, man, what a TURD. To think that he came slightly close to being in the White House.
ReplyDeleteHe and the Wicked Witch would have had us at war with not only Iran and Korea, but MEXICO, too, by now--all the while claiming that their UNAMERICAN aggression is applauded by their version of "God."
Yeah she's ended him BUT he was never really a 'maverick' or a man of values at all. On a couple of issues maybe but apart from that he was a typical GOPer. The media played it
ReplyDeleteup though and made him likable and different. He never really was
Well said, Gryphen.
ReplyDeleteMcCain is a bitter, frightened man who will likely struggle with his identity if he loses his Senate seat. He so identifies with being powerful, of being coddled and deferred to that he may not live long afterwards. We see it all the time in men whose jobs were their lives that once they retire or lose the job without replacing it with another, die from loss of identity as much as anything else.
Besides, I cannot imagine Cindy and him looking forward to spending "quality" time together. They've lived apart for much of the last several years, they probably don't have much of real relationship let.
I still cannot believe she campaigned for the ba$tard after he called the "C" word. He certainly had a lot to be ashamed of by leaving his injured first wife after she'd been holding the family together during his POW years.
He was never the man his image made us think he was. He graduated at the bottom of his class at West Point, kept crashing planes, and used his grandfather's and father's rank to save his own career.
McCain - good riddance. He has damaged this country too much with the Palin nomination to win sympathy from me.
I have no clue if John will win this campaign or not but he has a freak flag flying all around him and he can't see it. A friend really ought to give him a clue....this is not a pretty sight.
ReplyDeleteI like your mention of McCain's skin cancer, but what he unleashed on America was much worse, the political equivalent of MRSA, a drug-resistant staff infection that has become the latest scourge.
ReplyDeleteHis concession speech was inspiring. That he disowns it now says a lot.
ReplyDeleteKudos to the lady who read from it!
Snooki Voted For 'Cute' McCain, She Tells Meghan McCain
ReplyDeleteDuring an interview with Meghan McCain for The Daily Beast, the smallest Jersey Shore guidette told the senator's daughter that she voted for McCain in 2008 because, "he was really cute and I liked when he did his speeches."
"I appreciate that, though it's a little weird," McCain responded.
Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi told McCain that despite her vote in the 2008 presidential election, she's neither a Republican nor a Democrat and doesn't know a lot about politics.
But Snooki's lack of political knowledge hasn't kept her from weighing in on the new tanning tax that was passed as part of health care reform.
McInsane is getting what he deserves. He unleashed the crazy lady from AK on the nation and we're not going to take it anymore!
ReplyDeleteHe's more done than a Sunday roast.
Mr. Orr - great metaphor for Palin - MRSA. Isn't that the so-called "flesh-eating bacteria?"
ReplyDeleteStanding ovation for the lady who read back McCain's concession speech to him. He's a liar if he thinks that the general public believes that PO has left the GOP out of legislative efforts. "The Party of NO" answers that question succinctly enough.
ReplyDeleteMcCain's answer to the lady questioning him sounds to me like he has a really, really personal bitter grudge against PO. Way beyond mere political ideology!
I applaud you 5:13 Anonymous. Everything you wrote, I whole-heartedly agree with. McCain is not now nor ever was a self-made man. I lost so much respect for him after his ridiculous choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. There were things I learned of him after that, that just cemented my dislike for him, e.g., his leaving his first wife for the younger Cindy. It just speaks about his character. Oh well. I hope he doesn't get re-elected but won't be suprised if he does - senority and all. I'm kind of wary of the whole political scene right about now - and it's only going to get worse I am afraid.
ReplyDeleteJohn McCain may very well win his senate seat back--but the way he is suffering now is his own fault. He unleashed a toxic (Palin) slime upon the planet even more destructive than BP could ever come up with. I'm glad he gets to suffer until November worrying over his fate.
ReplyDeleteIt must burn him to no end that the Lindsay Graham has been invited to the White House over thirty times to talk to President Obama. Of course I have no great love for Graham, but at least he didn't turn on President Obama like a mad dog right after the election-- when the rest of them did; most notably, John McCain. McCain became a simpering, scared, pandering old man right before our eyes.
Palin's stupid mug needs to be tattooed on his forehead.
An excellent post, Gryphen.
ReplyDeleteToo bad, but I don't feel sorry for McShame, at all. He wanted to be president so bad that he was willing to sell his soul in exchange for the job. Palin is his very own Mephistopheles. He knows he's ruined his whole career, and I think he regrets choosing Palin for his VP every day of his life. He created his own h3ll right here on earth, and he has been forced to live in it.
Thank you.
ReplyDeleteMcCain is the "librul" arm of Arizona Republicans who never did anything good for the state. See what we have to deal with?
Only one minor correction:
McCain never had any values--except his dedication to his own greed/ambition/narcissism.
The most gracious and relaxed I have ever seen McCain was during his concession speech.
ReplyDeleteI think he subconsciously KNEW that he was not up to being President, and that with S'error Palin avidly waiting in the wings for her shot at power, his life would be hanging by a thread.
I smiled grimly as I read that SP would not return his calls.
Another person that helped her on the way up, discarded like an old pair of shoes once he served his purpose.
anon @5:13, it seems fraud mccain and fraud palin are cut from the same cloth. you'd think he'd of seen her coming.
ReplyDeletei find it stunning that palin keeps fooling people into helping her up to the next rung. brings to mind that sadness i felt as an early teen, when i realized that the grownups really didn't have it all under control.
palin will have her just desserts one day. not on my time, but on His. of that i am sure.
If you really want to know more about the cancer McCain discovered in Wasilla, Alaska, you need to talk to..."Dr. CBJ."
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post. Like some others, I thought McCain's concession speech came the closest to being the speech of the man he wanted to be. But, based on his actions, perhaps his speech writer deserves the kudos.
ReplyDeleteHere is one of the best lines from the speech:
"These are difficult times for our country. And I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face.
I urge all Americans ... I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited."
Sarah is his shame, but I would hope that he also feels the shame in saying words that he never came close to living up to. He is a bitter, angry old man. His choice.
John McCain is a whiner and a big douche. He always has been. He and Sarah were perfect together; two low achievers, albeit McCain rode on the coat tails of a wealthy family with military ties. That's the only way he was able to complete the Naval Academy and thus serve in Vietnam.
ReplyDeleteThis is the best article I've ever read describing the real man that is John McCain.
It's long but if you didn't read it during the campaign you should. He's a schmuck but we're all supposed to feel sorry for him because he's a POW. He plays that card just like Sarah plays her victim cards over and over again. Peas in a pod I say!
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/12697/64765
Well said, Gryphen.
ReplyDeleteI'd bet McCain uses the "C" word many times a day, in thinking about Sarah and how she has become his legacy.
"Maverick" is also another way to say, blows with the wind.
ReplyDeleteAKPetmom: I was going to direct people to the Rolling Stone article too, thanks. I had a feeling McCain was a jerk, but he is way worse than I imagined. Misogynist spoiled brat who wanted to beat Daddy the Admiral by being President, the only rung above.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel a bit sorry for Johnny Mac. The only difference between his melanona cancer and the one (Palin) that he foisted on his is that there is no treatment, no cure for Palin, unless she drops dead.
ReplyDeleteHis record, his own narrative is as contrived and spun as his political Frankenstein. His entitled youth, his guarantee into Annapolis, his reckless flight history [I won't touch his POW status but that alone won't get him my vote without other merits to back it up] and his involvement with the S&L scandal.
ReplyDeleteHe reveled in the reputation as the quintessential Maverick on the campaign cause that was all he had going for him (before the enormous mistake of tapping Palin) and now he says he never went for that. He was a helpless old man being run by a team of elite upstarts and now his VP beeyotch won't even return his calls.
He deserves all this humiliation. She doesn't deserve all this legitimacy. We win one, we lose a huge one. Stick a fork in him, he's done.