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What happened to John McCain?
askwhy
Member Posts: 31
This is the John McCain I would have considered a worthy candidate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2JPbQOHEkY
I think the man he was speaks for himself quite well. Today, however, I see a man who has put aside his own strengths and morals in order to spread a very different message, not of his own design, and to wave a flag that doesn't look anything like the Stars & Stripes I know.
For those who still support him in spite of his choice to graft the Palin appendage (and agenda) onto his campaign, how can you claim, let alone support or justify, that the man above (please watch the WHOLE video, it's only 3min long) is the man who is running for POTUS today?
Comments
"The govt. provides secuirty to his proportionantly larger amount of assests. If the govt. were to fail he'd lose proportionantly more due to those assets no longer being secure"
Seriously it's just a small gap in his mindset. no man is perfect. Atleast he understands that there is fairness hidden in there somewhere even if it's for entirely wrong reasons. Obama would be worse in that case though since it's just public appeal.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
I think its obvious why he changed for this campaign. In the last 8 years, Bush has won 2 elections because there is a majority of far right compared to far left. Those far right people wouldn't have shown up to vote for McCain if he were running on that same platform. He lost the presidential nominee in 2000 because of his views.
Also against a candidate like Barrack Obama who is far on the left, its best to attack with far right views. Especially if you have a past experience as a moderate. You hope to trick those on the far right you are with them, while also hoping other people will think of you as a moderate from your past. In this campaign, neither candidate is showing who they really are. Obama is trying to portray himself as a moderate despite being the most liberal running on a presidential ticket this year.
Do you think McCain will still show far right leaning views as president despite having 20 years of proving otherwise? Sometimes you have to play the political game to win because most people aren't intelligent enough to research the issues and the candidates stance or history on the subject.
That is precisely what worries me -- first, that he will continue to submit to the will of those he had to appeal to for support during the election (in government as well as in the public eye) -- and second, that Palin represents not only a fatal lapse in his general judgement but an assertion of that very fact that he WILL continue to support far right leaning views in a potential presidency.
(EDIT: double typed word)
I think you put it really well, askwhy.
For the last 30 years or so, Republicans have put their differences aside (and the have many) for the good of the party. By contrast, the Democrats were usually involved in a lot of infighting between factions of their own party (intellectuals versus blue collars, blue dogs versus urban dems, white versus minorities, feminists versus traditionalists, etc.).
Now the Democrats have divisions too. I mean, just look at this last primary and you can see the divisions. However, they were able to work around their differences for the good of the party. Obama knows he couldn't win without the Clintons, and the Clintons see it as in their interest to get Obama elected. Both sides will come out well, should Obama get elected.
On the other hand, Republicans have had a tough time getting behind McCain, and seem fragmented and in disarray. Bush has been absent from this campaign, which I think is a mistake for the same reasons it was a mistake for Al Gore to run without Clinton. He may not be as popular as the Republicans would like, but he can still stump, can still raise money, and still has the loyal support of many in the party. The best way to turn one's approval rating around is to come out optimistically, with enthusiasm, reminding voters why they voted for Bush in the first place, and why they should vote for McCain today. Instead, McCain had to work too hard to get the base to support him throughout this election; modifying his positions and never really knowing how to sell himself.
The whole "prophecy of doom" rhetoric (socialism, one party control, etc.) needed to be said at the Republican convention with either Colin Powell, Lieberman, Tom Ridge, or some other moderate (not this wilderness woman) at his side. Basically, McCain should have said to his party in the nomination speech, "I may not be your best friend, Republicans, but I'm your only friend. You can either support me and support this party or sit at home and watch Obama tear down everything we worked so hard to build."
__________________________
"Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
--Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
--Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
--Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
If you're responding, you're losing.
Something McCain learned from Bush in 2000 about negative campaigning.
I believe he might've came into the General Election season wanting to have a fair, decent campaign, as he said he would. But taking on previous Bush-staffers, those from other Republican primary camps of this year and in general wanting to win really bad; all of those factors changed him.
McCain was good for his war record and straight talk, nothin' else. For some reason he's been somewhat reserved on mentioning Vietnam all that much, probably because the focus has been on the economy for so long and Obama's not leaving him with a lot of spare dollars to do it, but the whole straight talk deal is out the window.
He learned from Bush that when you can't win on the issues, you stop your opponent and more importantly the voters from thinking and speaking about the issues.
W. & Sarah Palin happened to john mccain...