Disaster? Have you been in a coma for the past eight years? What disaster will Obama unleash? Will he invade a nation and kill countless people for imaginary reasons? Will make a shambles of that same war? Will he tap your phone calls without a warrant? Will he approve a torture policy that smacks of the Spanish Inquisition? Will he twiddle his thumbs while a major American city is nearly destroyed? Will he order a big magic marker be taken to the work of government scientists so he can pretend global warming doesn’t exist? This could go on and on and on. Disaster! Really!
If John McCain needs other people to tell him what to do, then I don’t want him as our President.
Weirdave
A part of what you experienced is surely due to the rally effect. If you go to a rally and are surrounded by supporters of that candidate who thunder out approval at every rhetorical point it’s hard not to end up with the impression that you are listening to a powerful and compelling speaker who has things figured out.
It worked for Hitler. Hell, it worked for Dukakis.
This is the primary purpose of a rally. “Hotboxing” is used in all kinds of ways. For example, when I got married we ended up settling near some of my wife’s cousins who belong to a particularly weird fundamentalist church. I refer to them as “The Children of the Corn,” and I think that sort of conveys it accurately. Anyway, they pressured us incessantly to go to their "camp meeting (read “political rally”) and have some food and hear Brother Junior preach.
Being young and impressionable I was lured against my better instincts and succumbed to the pressure and the promise of some truly incomparable baked ham and cheesecake (with that buttery crushed graham cracker crust.)
Brother Junior was about as ridiculous as a stereotypical whiskey-nosed Bible thumper could be. There was nothing special or new in what he said. The pressure though of 500 true beleivers in a tent shouting with approval sure did make him sound pretty compelling. It was pretty difficult to leave without getting “saved.”
You didn’t by chance have any cheesecake?
Yes, really. And all of your imagined faults of the Bush administration are completely immaterial to the question of McCain vs Obama, and you know it.
OK, Weirddave, so essentially you expect that by the time of the next election cycle it’ll be Jimmy Carter, 1979, all over again? Well, that was a painful and embarassing time period WRT economics and policy, but we lived and got over it.
Hey, even if I cannot understand the whys of the bad feeling in the specific case, I believe I can understand the “badness” of the feeling: FWIW in 1980 there were many of us convinced that Ron Reagan would just **nuke **the goddamn planet, but only after throwing all the poor people out onto the street to starve, before we could get him out of office. Turned out rather OK overall, and now the scare feels kinda silly.
As Scylla points out, coming out of a McCain rally wondering why the man is not 20 points ahead is like coming out of an Obama rally wondering why isn’t he just elected by acclamation – when each is in his groove and the audience is caught up with the man, and you are already predisposed favoraby, you can be completely carried away.
What does she think “the blacks” will do if he DOESN’T win? Close up their doors and windows, sit in their armchairs and sigh “oh well, glad he didn’t win”?
Please ask her, as I am dying to know what “the blacks” do when “they” win an election.
Pretty much, yea.
Hehe. Back in the 80s I painted a 20 foot high swastika on a bridge underpass with the title “Reagan Youth”
True, I just noticed a big difference in his orating style, it was directed and forceful. I wish he had gone after Obama on facts and policy the same way in their debates, particularly the third one, that’s all. It would have been great to see, and IMO, quite effective.
I figured it’d be the same way from the other side. I’m glad you had your account here. As much as I disagree with the guy, it’s good to hear that he’s, after all, a guy.
McCain was a lousy student, a lousy pilot, a lousy soldier and a lousy human being. He’s also a lousy American. With any luck, the people who actually believe he knows how to find Bin Laden or that he actually knows how to win a war (he barely knows how to participate in one!) will stay home Tuesday.
Captain Lance Murdock’s imagination is so powerful that 85% of Americans imagine the same thing he does: that the country is heading in the wrong direction.
McSame voted with Bush 90% of the time. That might seem mavericky to you, but it doesn’t to rational people.
The only problem with that would be that McCain wouldn’t have anything to attack Obama on. I mean, for a person who has been to a McCain rally, did you actually hear him say anything about the specifics of Obama’s policies and give a good reason why he disagrees with them? Or did he vaguely mention that Obama = More Taxes and then say the word “socialism” five or six times?
I don’t mean to be overly skeptical, but I’ve seen nothing out of the McCain campaign – during the debates OR outside of them – that suggests McCain has a coherent and specific argument against Obama’s policies.
Even during the 3rd debate, McCain repeated the inaccurate claim that Obama’s tax plan would fine small businesses for not following along with a “mandated” health care plan. When Obama explained (as he did in the previous debate) that small businesses were clearly exempt under his plan, McCain did a double-take. Take it for what you will, but he looked genuinely surprised. That says to me that John McCain is not prepared to address the real issues to which Obama might be vulnerable.
What about McCain’s rhetoric or campaign inspires confidence that he has the ability to attack Obama on facts or policy? I mean, there has to be a good reason why he hasn’t so far, right? If it’s such a good strategy?
One thing both sides have left out is that if McCain had the foresight that Obama had we wouln’t have needed a surge,we could be doing better in Aphganistan and we would not be in so much debt because of the war in Iraq.
McCain’s tough talk sounds a lot like Bush. According to Bush God wanted him to be president!! If so then I can understand why people keep asking God to Bless America! Looks like He hasn’t been listening, or said No :).
Monavis
It wasn't an attempt at humour, but since I don't write well, perhaps qualifies as bad. You flatter me with WORST.
J.McC's party has been in power for years now, so if he knows how to get Bin Laden and win wars, why didn't he tell how to do this earlier? These things appeal world wide, not just to U.S. interests.
Maybe he's like most people and wants a reward for his efforts.
BTW, my cure has cost more than both campaigns, I’ve spent a lot of weekends on it, and I’m not running for POTUS or Jesus.
I don’t know, especially since it’s an occupation and not a war. But when McCain says that, or talks about “socialism”, it takes me back about 40 years. The Cold War is on, we’re in Vietnam, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
(And when I hear people say “John McCain knows how to win wars” – what the hell is that based on?)
I understand the rally effect. In 1992 I voted for Bob Kerrey in the primaries, and was not overly enthusiastic about Bill Clinton. But I went to a Clinton rally in Decatur, and, man, that guy knows how to work a crowd.
If I recall, didn’t Carter pretty much inherit stagflation? But it sure hadn’t gotten much better by 1979; maybe worse. Between that and the Iran hostage crisis, he didn’t have much chance for re-election (not to mention being seriously challenged for the nomination, which doesn’t happen often to incumbent presidents).
Argue his politics of the last 20 years and his candidacy all you want.
I’ll nitpick and say he was a sailor not a soldier. It happened a long time ago and bringing it up over and over again is tiresome, but being offered a chance to be released and staying in Hanoi until the other service members were released makes him a damn fine officer.
I’m using “soldier” in terms of a professional military person. Nitpick over. Manufactured red scare tactics alone make him a bad American. Making fun of children makes him a bad person who can never redeem himself. Not knowing that the economy was in the shitter makes him a bad politician (and kinda dumb), and his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate convinced me he gives not one flying fuck about the nation – only about winning the Stupid Vote.
And they ALL offered to stay. It was not outstanding behavior. It was “the way it’s done.”
I’ve heard this argument before and I do not understand it. Exactly how could he be better at running the country if he’s not strong enough to run his own campaign?
Missed the edit window, but I’d like to add that if you’re not going to count his early military career because it’s ancient history, then he shouldn’t talk (cough) liar (cough) about it, either. He’s the one who brags of serving his country since he was 17 years old.
This is funny. Don’t talk about it because it is ancient history but let me just mention the stuff I think is good…
Besides, that story is a lie. If the Vietnamese were going to send him home early they would have and there is not a damn thing he could have done about it. If you are hanging your hat on the fact that he refused to sign anti-american statements you should mention that none of the others did either and that had he done so he would have been court martialed.