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John McCain’s Katrina Moment |
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The Republicans thought Hurricane Gustav was an exploitable moment, an opportunity to show they were not the same party that lost an American city three years ago. They were so busy milking that moment for everything it’s worth (Laura Bush was quick to tell us that the current Gulf Coast governors we should be grateful to are “all Republicans“) that they missed the real elephant in the room: their party’s nominee made a breathakingly cynical choice when it came to his running mate. This so-called maverick lamely gave up on his real first choice, buddy Joe Lieberman, and went with an utterly untested first tern governor who he had talked to for about 15 minutes.
It turned out that McCain’s “soul mate” had managed to offend or alienate just about everyone in her town of 8,000, including the police chief, head librarian, police commissioner, local (Republican) state senator, and even her mother-in-law. On her way to the convention, she had to take time to hire a lawyer to defend her against an ongoing state investigation. She was for the bridge to nowhere before she was against it, she directed Ted Stevens’s PAC, she welcomed attendees at a separatist party convention earlier this year, cut funding for shelters for teen moms, never gave the war in Iraq much thought, and thinks creationism should be taught in public schools. And that’s the condensed list of scandals, gaffes, missteps, and deceptions.
As I have said, and as others have said, this isn’t really about Sarah Palin. It’s about McCain’s utter contempt for intellectual honesty and utter disregard for the American people. He thinks we are in the fight of our lives against terrorism, but he’s willing to gamble our security on someone with zero foreign policy experience. For months, McCain pounded Obama’s inexperience, but his VP pick explodes that argument. He’s supposed to be a maverick, but when Karl Rove told him he couldn’t pick Lieberman as a running mate, he caved.
After Katrina, it was impossible to take Bush seriously. How could President “heckofajob, Brownie” be seen as anything other than a joke? That’s what McCain is becoming. When he tells us the legitimate questions about Palin are a “faux media scandal”, it’s impossible to take him seriously. Even die-hard Republicans know Palin is unqualified and McCain is in deep trouble.
The traditional media is not equipped to deal with this. Their mantra is “balance”. When one presidential candidate self-destructs, they have to pretend that there is some upside–”wow, what a gutsy pick”– “will his gamble pay off?” Chris Matthews just said Palin inspires Americans who want to root for the undedog. Privately, we now know what they think–as Peggy Noonan said, “it’s over” for McCain.
McCain’s last ditch effort is to take on the media for daring to report the facts of his breathtakingly stupid pick. He knows they can’t fight back, and will likely bend over backwards to appear “balanced”. The rest of us are under no obligation to take McCain seriously. He has zero credibility–and when that’s lost, it can’t be regained.
Palin has the floor to herself tonight and I’m sure she will come off well–no one will ask her any questions and she gets to choose exactly what she wants to talk about. But the curtain has been pulled aside and we all see McCain for what he is. Not a maverick, not a straight talker, but someone who is willing to do exactly what Karl Rove tells him is necessary to win.
