Who's the Boss?

By: Josh
Published On: 9/5/2008 8:00:00 AM

John McCain is no longer the master of his own destiny.  The party that nominated him for the presidency holds no great love for the man.  His flat speech was received with pitiful reviews. Even in the nominating hall, the greatest applause were reserved for his Vice President, Sarah Palin.

In selecting Palin, McCain was forced by circumstance to abandon his moderate reputation in order to shore up the extreme, reactionary base.  Under duress and with no apparent vetting, McCain set this attractive question mark a heartbeat from the presidency.  The press began to do its work and scandal after scandal emerged.  The press has only just begun, but poor McCain was stuck with the pick.  Dumping her before the convention would have incited right-wing riots in Minneapolis.  

So, now he is over a barrel.  The warm reception her trite, angry, insulting speech received is the one salvation from a dark week of desperation and disappointment for John McCain.

Now, it is impossible for McCain to separate himself from the overwhelming right wing politics of George W. Bush.  This marriage of inconvenience has McCain locked at the hip to a culture war politics he long reviled.  As time goes on, the hooks will go in deeper.  Any independence McCain could have exercised will be lost to grade school creationists, to global warming deniers, to choice criminalizers, to constitution scrappers, to lobbyist cronies, and to the fiscal deadbeats who have long controlled the Republican party.  

Porkbarrel Palin is now the head of the GOP.

There is no doubt that they now completely and totally control John McCain, and McCain has no way out.  Palin owns McCain, and the maverick is lost for good.  


Comments



H never was a "maverick" (KathyinBlacksburg - 9/5/2008 8:12:17 AM)
Every single supposed act of a maverick was gutted by McCain himself.  He even gutted McCain-Feingold.  Josh, I really urge you to stop using the GOP frame.  It's bad enough that the media does it.

Though to say that solved campaign finance is the biggest con in politics.  McCian Feingold made it harder for average people and easier for the rich because they can find loopholes to drive a truck through.  County committees and grassroots organizations (i.e., the little guy)are hamstrung.  But not the 527s.

The threshhold amount of expenses (e.g. printing, etc) requiring an FEC report is so low that the average person will just not get involved in trying to incur expenses on their own.  And thus, everything is upside down.  Grassroots Democracy is thwarted, while the corporate entities and the right can do whatever they want.

But worse it is just a lie to call McCain a maverick.  (See "Jukebox John" over at http://www.thecarpetbaggerrepo... where there is a list of McCain's flip flops on everything imaginable.  Ask yourself if this evidence is a sign of a "maverick."  And then ask, why do we use the word.  We need to hold the media accountable for their use of it too (as in calling, letters, and dropping subscriptions).  If they are going to sloganeer for Republicans all the time, none of the facts will even matter.  



Doesn't McCain own the copyright (Teddy - 9/5/2008 12:53:54 PM)
on the very word "maverick?" Sort of the way Giuliani tried to copyright "9/11" and for the same reasons. It works only because the corporate press pushes it and journalists are essentially lazy.


After he selected Palin, it confirmed that he is a puppet (linlu - 9/5/2008 9:59:18 AM)
Did you notice that in many questions he is asked about specific issues his response is he'll have to get back to you?  I noticed this before he picked Palin.  Remember the question about his houses, about Viagra, and other reproductive issues.  Recall how he has changed positions about the few things he did disagree with Bush on in the past two months.  Only a puppet does that.  The delusion he is selling about himself as an independent thinker is laughable given how many issues he has to consult his handlers about.  The reality is he is a puppet - run by entrenched Washington insiders and super elites (aka Bush's the have-a-lot-mores).


I've talked with several, let's say conservatives, and they (bladerunner - 9/5/2008 10:05:23 AM)
are hoping that McCain will have to take a medical leave of absence. They don't give a crap about him. They just want the fundamentalist Palin to get in and rule the country in a "Godly"Way, right--no pund intended. As I've said earlier, she says God wanted us in Iraq, and wanted Alaska to have a pipeline. So God is going to be speaking with her on decisions she has to make. As the saying goes, "God, please save us from your followers".


The collapse of John McCain's soul (Bubby - 9/5/2008 10:50:50 AM)
...accelerated in 2000, during the South Carolina primary.  After Bush campaign operatives Karl Rove and Charlie Condon smeared him with Repub voters as "the father of an illegitimate black child", he "broke".  He came down with a bad case of the Stockholm Syndrome shakes and began embracing Bush, voting with Bush, and eventually hired the very people who had slandered his family and dishonored McCain.

The endangered moderate Republicans know this. The wingnuts are celebrating it - they want Chaos, they want War. Now is the time for everyone else to stand up and fight.  Fight or be prepared to wear your leash. Yes, it IS that bad.

Thanks Josh!



Obama vs Palin (Hugo Estrada - 9/5/2008 12:06:46 PM)
This is what I got out of the RNC. The dynamics have changed: now Palin is running for officer and McCain is playing the part of second banana.

Sorry, sorry state.



Joe Biden's best line at GMU Prince William campus yesterday. (Tom Counts - 9/5/2008 12:13:35 PM)
My wife and I attended the "Discussion with Joe Biden" event
at GMU Prince William campus yesterday. As expected, he was superb. The small (seating capacity of about 200) made this essentially a "Town Hall" event.

Your point that McCain is now locked at the hip to a culture war politics reminded me of what Joe Biden said that I thought was his best line: He said McCain and Bush are joined at the hip and "we need a hip replacement". That line drew a lot of laughter and much applause.

As you no doubt know, Biden was in the Tidewater area yesterday morning and spoke to a much larger audience. I believe the fact that his next stop for the day (and I think his best line of the day) was in PWC speaks volumes about the importance of PWC. I'm  sure we will see more of Biden in Northern Va.

As you probably know, people like Lieberman are briefing Palin on such subjects as Foreign policy. She will have a tough time trying to debate Biden on any substantial subject, not to mention such a true gentleman. Biden's depth and breadth of knowledge borne of decades of experience will be a stark contrast to her "qualifications". How's that for a series of understatements re the contrasts between the two VP candidates ?

                      T.C.



OMG: Palin speaking right now (Pru - 9/5/2008 12:23:41 PM)
Palin is giving a speech on television right now and McCain is DOING IT AGAIN.  (his eyes keep straying to "be-hind the scenes"..  OVER and OVER and OVER)  Just like he did in her announcement speech!!.  Didn't anyone from his campaign tell him to stop doing that when the video of him doing it was all over YouTube?  It's creepy.    What is wrong with this guy?


apparently... (Josh - 9/5/2008 12:45:01 PM)
that is one honey hiney.

Maybe McCain is just nodding off.



He can't help it. (Bubby - 9/5/2008 1:41:17 PM)
Republicans always look back.


"Reform politics" (Teddy - 9/5/2008 1:07:53 PM)
Listen to what Rove has Palin amd McCain saying, folks. Having fed red meat to the flat-lander and evangelical right wing(s), now they must move the GOP to the center and a-w-a-y from Dubya, fast. Palin manages to do both for the ticket. Hear her emphasis on her blue collar credentials AND her trumpeting how she is going to Washington to speak for the little people and reform those corrupt folks because she is genuine outsider. Hear how McCain suddenly re-discovers his "maverick" credentials and emphasizes how he has stood against his party and he is going to Washington to work across the aisle and get Congress out of gridlock because Congress has an even lower ranking than the President.

From now on, except for special right-wing audiences, all we are going to hear from McCain-Palin is how only they can bring change to Washington. They will bash Congress, (which tells those who know what M-P are saying that the continued erosion of Congressional powers will continue under M-P), and intend to cow the legislature just as Bush did, especially with a clever, spiteful, ruthless Palin as President of the Senate. They will attempt to steal Obama's thunder and trivialize him not only as inexperienced but as part of the Washington problem.



John Bush: 26 years as a Washington insider. (Bubby - 9/5/2008 1:45:32 PM)
And center stage in one of the biggest scandals and most expensive taxpayer bailouts in American history. Good luck with that.  Fortunately Democrats remember ALL versions of John Bush.  


On the bright side... (Kindler - 9/5/2008 9:21:32 PM)
...this video just made me realize that Sarah Palin is gonna be a GOLD MINE for female comedians!  

You go, girls!



i agree, comedians are already cashing in . . . . . (sammi fredenburg - 9/9/2008 7:05:01 PM)
my favorite, my son did a variation on a line coming out of CNN today, i can't remember the comedian, but he said something along the line of

"McCain wants us to believe that he is the only one who can stand between us and the terrorists, but God forbid anything should happen to him, we are in the hands of this lovely stewardess who will guide us toward the exits!"