John McCain: A Hero no more

Having read Sarah Palin’s book: Going Rogue, Common Sense University is absolutely baffled by what she describes happened during the ten-week Presidential campaign in 2008. As if it was not bad enough that the liberal media, the vast majority of our media, tried everything in the book to dishonor and discredit her with atrocious accusations and slander, her own campaign staff, the so called ‘B’ team did not at all support her and advise her properly. Instead, they treated her like some country hick and micro-managed her every day activities. They set up interviews with the likes of Charlie Gibson (ABC News) and Katie Couric (CBS News) that turned into disasters for Palin; not because of what she said but by how she was prepared for them and what she was asked by these two liberal ‘icons’. Why would the ‘B’ team campaign staffers think that those two liberals, Gibson and Couric, would treat Sarah Palin fairly. It was apparently Nicolle Wallace who pushed for the interview with Couric telling Palin that Couric liked her and so on. Anyway, we know how that all worked out.

McCain’s campaign manager Steve Schmidt was the big man in this campaign and he dictated what would happen during joint appearance campaign events up until the end when he had somebody tell Sarah Palin on Election night in Arizona that she Palin, was not to make a statement that evening and that her husband and children were not to be on stage with John McCain (as he gave his consolation speech). As it turned out, Todd Palin was on stage but not her children. Another issue was the billing by the McCain campaign of $50,000 to Sarah Palin for the ’vetting process’ expenses incurred during 2008 (prior to her nomination by McCain). Palin was told that she would not have had to pay this had they won the election (see page 363 of her book).

John McCain father and grandfather had been Admirals in the United States Navy and he chose to follow in their footsteps, his military career was excellent and he is mostly known for his heroic behavior during his six years of captivity in Vietnam as a POW. He will be forever a hero in this regard in America’s history! But in the early 1980’s, McCain began another career as a politician, first as U.S. Representative in Congress and then as U.S. Senator from Arizona, a title he still holds today. His political career was one of mixed results, he considered himself a maverick and he did things that were not always in accordance with party affiliation and conservative principles. We do not want to get into that here but instead just focus on his failed presidential bid.

We believe that he recognized in the summer of that year that his support among conservatives was weak and he could not totally count on their votes (due to his many flip-flops on conservative policies over the years). So he selected Sarah Palin as his running mate and it was an excellent choice because probably millions of conservative voters pulled the lever for his ticket because of her and not him. We here at Common Sense University are convinced that without Sarah Palin he would have lost the election to President Obama in a landslide similar to the gigantic loss that his Senatorial predecessor Barry Goldwater suffered in 1964 against Lyndon Johnson.

But his conduct during the campaign in connection with the way his running mate was ‘handled’ and treated by his paid campaign staffers makes us shudder. He, John McCain picked her and it was his duty to protect her from the shenanigans she had to suffer at the hands of his own team and then at the end to even allow the ‘campaign’ to collect the fifty thousand dollars from her for pre-nomination ‘vetting’ expenses is just incredulous and morally wrong. This is not the way a “hero” handles his affairs but it is shameful to the highest degree. We would call this ’wussy’ and cowardly by McCain! How could he let this happen? Or did he just walk away from his own campaign on November 6, 2008? In our opinion, John McCain was a hero a very long time ago and he is no longer a hero. Heros do not act this way and do not let things like this happen, period! In fact, John McCain should be ashamed of himself and enjoy his remaining years in retirement.

What is often the case is we have people elected that actually are not what they declare to be. Stealth Senators or House members. Then when the vital time comes they are ready to turn and pass whatever the core issues are. All the while saying they see the need for such poisonous legislation.

Cynical. Yes. With cause and many years of watching the process. It is incomprehensible to me how this can be, but it happens.

We must not be so gullible and accepting of what will destroy our nation, our way of life, and have us descend into oppression, slavery, no private property, killing off the elderly by denying medical care, not teaching history, and generally brainwashing the youth; and distributing our money world wide, to create the same level of surviving, living, working, taking the children from the parents and raising in state facilities, ... all belonging to the state! Which is where we are headed as other nations are already.

God help America, bind the enemy, confound the minions of satan, turn evil away from Your people, protect us with Your powerful arm. Forgive us our omissions, and our commissions, lead us in paths of righteousness, and bless the people with strength, sound minds, and purpose to serve You. Thank You, Father for Your mercy, loving kindness, love, and direction. We cry to You Father, we need help only You can provide, We humbly bow before You and worship You, in Jesus name, amen.

Agreed. Bob "Where is the outrage? I am taking the gloves off!" Dole comes to mind as far as campaigns go, but Bob Dole was a more decent and honorable man, not mean and spiteful as McCain.

Picking Sarah may have been brilliant, but was pretty much the only choice - a forced, desperate move to hold onto the conservative base, which abandoned him for similar reasons he had abandoned them - they mistrusted him (with good reason) and he despised them for not accepting him as a leader. Even then, he managed to screw it up, by trying to overshadow her and his campaign staff sabotaged her every chance they had. At times it seemed he was running against her, not Obama. That's a false pride, not a leadership.

McCain thinks he is a "leader" and always wanted to be recognized as a leader. Media always touts him as a "leader" (media did the same for Bob Dole, and for the same reason). But you can't be a leader of the party where most want to go in a different direction (smaller, less-intrusive government) and you can't be and should not be a leader when you don't know where you are going.

Re "suspending" his campaign, it could have been a brilliant move - if he understood what was going on and knew what he wanted to do about it, i.e. if he had any clue and some plan. Instead, it was just a cheap political gimmick, attempt to show "leadership". When he came to the "financial crisis summit," La Corrida in DC, he played not the part of toreador, but of the bull led to be killed.

Hank Paulson in his book On the Brink described McCain the way he was - clueless.

Excerpt from the book: When Mr. McCain Came to Washington - WSJ (public), 2010 February 06
"Inside the White House meeting where Obama called McCain's bluff: 'I could see Obama chuckling'"

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and I were besieged with questions from all sides. There was no doubt about it—the session wasn't going well. To top that off, my communications adviser Michele Davis passed me a note that said in part, "If you get a question, just say that you know that both Senators McCain and Obama recognize the seriousness of the situation." I turned around and looked at her, stunned. This was crazy.
When the hearing recessed, I went into [Democratic Massachusetts Rep.] Barney Frank's office and called [White House Chief of Staff] Josh Bolten to tell him in no uncertain terms that I thought it was dangerous for McCain to return. Josh said the White House was equally frustrated. McCain wanted a meeting at the White House, and the president felt he had no choice but to accommodate him. .....
We'd devised TARP to save the financial system. Now it had become all about politics—presidential politics. I wondered what McCain could have been thinking. Calling a meeting like this when we didn't have a deal was playing with dynamite.
I told George Bush of my exchange with McCain and I saw a trace of a smile on his lips. He said it was good I had been firm. We were playing for big stakes. He said he sure hoped McCain knew what he was doing. ....
By protocol, the president turned to call on the speaker of the House. And when Nancy Pelosi spoke, it was clear the Democrats had done their homework and had planned a skillful response for McCain. ..... Ms. Pelosi said that Obama would represent the Democrats. ..... "The Democrats will deliver the votes," he asserted.
Then he sprang the trap that the Democrats had set: "Yesterday, Senator McCain and I issued a joint statement, saying in one voice that this is no time to be playing politics" .....
But, of course, there was no deal yet. ..... It was brilliant political theater that was about to degenerate into farce. Skipping protocol, the president turned to McCain to offer him a chance to respond: "I think it's fair that I give you the chance to speak next."
But McCain demurred. "I'll wait my turn," he said. It was an incredible moment, in every sense. This was supposed to be McCain's meeting — he'd called it, not the president, who had simply accommodated the Republican candidate's wishes. Now it looked as if McCain had no plan at all — his idea had been to suspend his campaign and summon us all to this meeting. It was not a strategy, it was a political gambit, and the Democrats had matched it with one of their own.
Decorum started to evaporate as the meeting broke into multiple side conversations with people talking over each other. .....
Finally, raising his voice over the din, Obama said loudly, "I'd like to hear what Senator McCain has to say, since we haven't heard from him yet." The room went silent and all eyes shifted to McCain, who sat quietly in his chair, holding a single note card. He glanced at it quickly and proceeded to make a few general points. .....
As he spoke, I could see Obama chuckling. McCain's comments were anticlimactic, to say the least. His return to Washington was impulsive and risky, and I don't think he had a plan in mind. If anything, his gambit only came back to hurt him, as he was pilloried in the press afterward, and in the end, I don't believe his maneuver significantly influenced the TARP legislative process. .....
It got so ridiculous that Vice President Cheney started laughing. Frankly, I'd never seen anything like it before in politics or business — or in my fraternity days at Dartmouth, for that matter. Finally, the president just stood up and said: "Well, I've clearly lost control of this meeting. It's over."

It was over when McCain won the primary. It was sooo over when he chose to undermine Palin instead of fighting Democrats and Obama.

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