This reminds of that time Bush said we never been stay the course, George.
If you want an extra nail for his coffin, and I certainly do, there’s the title of the second volume of McCain’s autobiography: Worth the Fighting For: The Education of an American Maverick, and the Heroes Who Inspired Him
I almost want to say that his legacy might have been better served by being soberly critical, in a Churchillian sort of vein, of what his party has become. Then, when the Tea Party antics blow themselves out in a few years, and the GOP is forced to become more moderate, he’d be repositioned to make a nifty sort of political comeback. But the Repos currently in office are so deathly afraid of both their base (what passes for it nowadays) and right-wing radio/TV blowhards that not a single one wants to be the first to call the bluffs of Limbaugh et al. So now he’ll be remembered, if he is at all, as a sad pathetic sellout.
I’m not sure he could wait that long, to be honest.
Yeah, I don’t think he has time to be rehabilitated and stage a comeback. But he could have ended his career more like Goldwater, who rememined true to his beliefs and is now revered by conservative intellectuals. I dunno, is Goldwater the American Churchill?
Anyway, now McCain’s legacy is going to be Sarah Palin. Which isn’t too bad either – almost like being remembered as the inventor of the “knock-knock” joke. Well, that is unless she actually gets elected. THAT would be the worst possible legacy.
If he gets the nomination, will he turn all mavericky again?
If he loses the primary maybe the GOP will lose the general in 2010. That’d be nice. Or maybe instead we will get another wingnut.
McCain is rebirthing himself as a wingnut.
Making me a “re-birther”
No, it’s the cow’s running mate.
Nonono, y’all misunderstand, he’s saying he isn’t Maverick. No “a”. He never buzzed no tower, and he didn’t fuck a young Kelly McGillis to the maudlin bars of Take My Breath Away. That was Tom Cruise, not him.
So…he’s the Messiah?
You’ll get another wingnut.
Between McCain and Hayworth, I’d actually rather keep McCain!
I’m surprised Hayworth can spell his own name.
He’s NOT the messiah - he’s a very naughty boy!
First rule of being a Maverick is you don’t talk about being a Maverick.
McCain could have retired an elder statesman. I guess after what he did in the last election, that’s no longer an option.
Becoming the first sitting senator to streak a Sun Devils game is still an option for him.
He could even add to the excitement by convincing Palin to run along with him, again!
*What bullshit essentially misrepresents is neither the state of affairs to which it refers nor the beliefs of the speaker concerning that state of affairs. Those are what lies misrepresent, by virtue of being false. […] The bullshitter may not deceive us, or even intend to do so, either about the facts or about what he takes the facts to be. What he does necessarily attempt to deceive us about is his enterprise. His only indispensably distinctive characteristic is that in a certain way he misrepresents what he is up to.
That is the crux of the distinction between him and the liar. Both he and the liar represent themselves falsely as endeavoring to communicate the truth. The success of each depends upon deceiving us about that. But the fact about himself that the liar hides is that he is attempting to lead us away from a correct apprehension of reality; we are not to know that he wants us to believe something he supposes to be false. The fact about himself that the bullshitter hides, on the other hand, is that the truth-values of his statements are of no central interest to him; what we are not to understand is that his intention is neither to report the truth nor to conceal it. […]
Someone who lies and someone who tells the truth are playing on opposite sides, so to speak, in the same game. Each responds to the facts as he understands them, although the response of the one is guided by the authority of the truth, while the response of the other defies that authority and refuses to meet its demands. The bullshitter ignores these demands altogether. He does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.
- Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit*
Gore Vidal wrote a couple of essays on the topic of “When D.C. Met Hollywood” in which he compared the personalities and the allure of both politics and show biz (the narcissism, the “image is everything”, the “we are more the real people than the real people are the real people” attitudes, the “take that camera away and I’ll kill you!” terror, etc.). Building on that, McCain’s greatest nightmare must be being Norma Desmond.
Just as some actors who have had their day in the sun will do everything from low budget Monsters vs. Scared Girls with Big Titties movies to commercials for a Peoria chiropractic clinic to stay in front of the cameras- sometimes even if they don’t need the money- John McCain, 73 and rich and capable of earning gazillions as a speaker or commentator- refuses to say goodnight.
To me this former P.o.W. and torture victim sponsoring the Unprivileged Enemy Belligerentbill though is the equivalent of a former Oscar winner doing particularly low budget hardcore prison rape porn. Does he even pretend to have a soul anymore? Is Trigg Palin one of his horcruxes? You couldn’t make this crap up.
No, you’re not a maverick… you’re a revenge demon.
Meh. It’s not that big a deal - it’s not like we’re Mirandizing terrorism suspects now.