Is it heresy to call out McCain?
Once, many years ago, I had the opportunity to compliment the wonderful Katharine Hepburn, in a backstage visit after “West Side Waltz,” on her portrayal of her character as a maverick. I said I really related to that.
“Oh, but you know,” she said, in that slightly quavering New England voice, “it’s not always easy being a maverick!” She would know.
In the past, I admired Sen. McCain, to the point of contributing to his campaign in 2000. It had nothing to do with his military service or POW experience. I just admired what I saw as honor and fierce independence, and totally related to him as the maverick he seemed to be.
Apparently John McCain has also discovered that it is not always easy being a maverick, for it seems his “maverickness” has pretty well evaporated over the course of this campaign season.
Why do I say this? Well, consider the definitions of “maverick”:
When President George W. Bush rolled out his tax cuts for the very, very wealthy at the expense of the economy (if you want to challenge me on this, line up your sources), Sen. McCain stood up in the Senate and objected:
But in this year of the 2008 Presidential election, he wants to make those very tax cuts permanent.
John McCain, one who knows from personal experience, strongly opposed torture and led the battle for anti-torture legislation — until it came time to vote on it. Then he voted with the Bush administration against it.
McCain won enthusiastic praise from environmentalists, including me, when he came out for pro-environment legislation. He supported, for example, the long-established ban on off-shore drilling for oil; this year he is in favor of lifting the ban.
By the way, that won’t do anything to lower gasoline prices, my friends. The problem is not how much is still in the ground to be extracted (in 10 or more years from now when wells might be productive); the problem is that no matter how much is pumped out, China and India and other rapidly developing countries will continue to grow and consume enormous quantities of the supply, and the supply is finite.
Someday folks will get it: there are no more dinosaurs left to die off and create new pools of fossil fuels. Some of us learned that in the fourth grade.
McCain ran into huge problems with his party because of his support for comprehensive immigration reform. So how did he handle it? Without getting into the virtue of the legislation he had co-sponsored, it is enough to know that he has danced away from it in this election season.
Where’s the maverick?
McCain’s strength was that he appealed to voters as a “straight talker,” as someone who was willing to buck his party on any number of matters out of principle. He was no party-line guy, he was a truth-teller. But now we are left to wonder: Which truth?
It is reported that during his college years at the Naval Academy “McCain had conflicts with higher-ups, and he was disinclined to obey every rule, which contributed to a low class rank (894/899) that he did not aim to improve. … McCain did well in academic subjects that interested him, such as literature and history, but studied only enough to pass subjects he disliked, such as math.” (Wikipedia)
I respectfully remind the reader that we have just gone through almost eight years with a President who is disinclined to obey rules and does not aim to improve his ranking.
It has also been reported, with disquieting frequency, that McCain has a very short temper, once described by The Arizona Republic, his hometown newspaper, as “volcanic.” In the 2000 presidential primaries members of his own party who opposed his becoming their nominee seemed interested in linking his propensity for rage to his POW experience.
Now, the fact that he is known to swear like a sailor should worry no one in and of itself — note the analogy, after all! Even blasting away at colleagues in the Senate from time to time might not be cause for concern in a future President. But certainly we want to know what to expect in disagreements with heads of other states.
And we absolutely don’t want a President who hits the red button first and asks questions later.
So let me sum it up: John McCain was a fighter pilot during the Vietnam war; he flew many missions before he was shot down and captured and imprisoned, and he was kept in prison for five and a half years; during that time he endured torture.
His military career was distinguished as far as it went, including experiences that were heroic. But why must that now be the dominant narrative of his candidacy?
Perhaps because the John McCain we admired so much for refusing to conform to the party line is no more. He’s gone all orthodox on us. His turnabouts have not left him in fair play.
There is nothing left of the maverick — ironically, the one John McCain who might have had a chance of winning in November.
Originally published 7/4/08
“Oh, but you know,” she said, in that slightly quavering New England voice, “it’s not always easy being a maverick!” She would know.
In the past, I admired Sen. McCain, to the point of contributing to his campaign in 2000. It had nothing to do with his military service or POW experience. I just admired what I saw as honor and fierce independence, and totally related to him as the maverick he seemed to be.
Apparently John McCain has also discovered that it is not always easy being a maverick, for it seems his “maverickness” has pretty well evaporated over the course of this campaign season.
Why do I say this? Well, consider the definitions of “maverick”:
(1) an unorthodox or independent-minded person;Now consider John McCain:
(2) a person who refuses to conform to a particular party or group.
When President George W. Bush rolled out his tax cuts for the very, very wealthy at the expense of the economy (if you want to challenge me on this, line up your sources), Sen. McCain stood up in the Senate and objected:
I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of middle-class Americans who need tax relief.The maverick stood strong.
But in this year of the 2008 Presidential election, he wants to make those very tax cuts permanent.
John McCain, one who knows from personal experience, strongly opposed torture and led the battle for anti-torture legislation — until it came time to vote on it. Then he voted with the Bush administration against it.
McCain won enthusiastic praise from environmentalists, including me, when he came out for pro-environment legislation. He supported, for example, the long-established ban on off-shore drilling for oil; this year he is in favor of lifting the ban.
By the way, that won’t do anything to lower gasoline prices, my friends. The problem is not how much is still in the ground to be extracted (in 10 or more years from now when wells might be productive); the problem is that no matter how much is pumped out, China and India and other rapidly developing countries will continue to grow and consume enormous quantities of the supply, and the supply is finite.
Someday folks will get it: there are no more dinosaurs left to die off and create new pools of fossil fuels. Some of us learned that in the fourth grade.
McCain ran into huge problems with his party because of his support for comprehensive immigration reform. So how did he handle it? Without getting into the virtue of the legislation he had co-sponsored, it is enough to know that he has danced away from it in this election season.
Where’s the maverick?
McCain’s strength was that he appealed to voters as a “straight talker,” as someone who was willing to buck his party on any number of matters out of principle. He was no party-line guy, he was a truth-teller. But now we are left to wonder: Which truth?
It is reported that during his college years at the Naval Academy “McCain had conflicts with higher-ups, and he was disinclined to obey every rule, which contributed to a low class rank (894/899) that he did not aim to improve. … McCain did well in academic subjects that interested him, such as literature and history, but studied only enough to pass subjects he disliked, such as math.” (Wikipedia)
I respectfully remind the reader that we have just gone through almost eight years with a President who is disinclined to obey rules and does not aim to improve his ranking.
It has also been reported, with disquieting frequency, that McCain has a very short temper, once described by The Arizona Republic, his hometown newspaper, as “volcanic.” In the 2000 presidential primaries members of his own party who opposed his becoming their nominee seemed interested in linking his propensity for rage to his POW experience.
Now, the fact that he is known to swear like a sailor should worry no one in and of itself — note the analogy, after all! Even blasting away at colleagues in the Senate from time to time might not be cause for concern in a future President. But certainly we want to know what to expect in disagreements with heads of other states.
And we absolutely don’t want a President who hits the red button first and asks questions later.
So let me sum it up: John McCain was a fighter pilot during the Vietnam war; he flew many missions before he was shot down and captured and imprisoned, and he was kept in prison for five and a half years; during that time he endured torture.
His military career was distinguished as far as it went, including experiences that were heroic. But why must that now be the dominant narrative of his candidacy?
Perhaps because the John McCain we admired so much for refusing to conform to the party line is no more. He’s gone all orthodox on us. His turnabouts have not left him in fair play.
There is nothing left of the maverick — ironically, the one John McCain who might have had a chance of winning in November.
Originally published 7/4/08
posted by The Voice | 5:53 PM
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