John McCain Thinks He's Awesome
How to Lose Friends and Misuse Air Time
Posted by Andrew Tobolowsky on 02.16.2009
411mania.com
It's a time worn phenomenon, and one that is certainly bipartisan—the idea that even if you lose an election, as long as you've thrown yourself in the public eye, when you get back to where you came from you're going to be some kind of hero.
I'm John McCain, people know me, I used to run for president---I have many leatherbound books.
Why has this drawn my ire?
Several reasons.
1) It was a bad beginning for Obama's presidency because he did not sit down bipartisanly.
Let's be fair. It takes two not to tango. I feel confident that Judd Gregg resigned, for example, because Obama had very clumsily made him feel like he was only up there for show—on the other hand, he might have stuck it out and had a say, who knows?
But really, I find it extremely hard to believe that only three republican senators actually felt we didn't need a stimulus package. I think the rest of them took what you might call the easy way out. They knew that if even just a few republican senators went for it it would pass—and the rest would be able to save their reputations, save themselves from any negative consequences, and still have what they know this country needs happen.
I mean come on, guys. There are to date about two Republican governors who are explicitly against the stimulus, and one of those is the ever-brilliant Rick Perry who is also claiming that in addition to not wanting the stimulus at all, Texas isn't getting enough money for it.
So everybody who is republican but actually has a budget to balance wants it—and we're supposed to believe something like 93% of Senate Republicans REALLY think it's a bad idea? It's not even a little bit possible that the Republican Senators know they have the luxury not to be in the line of fire for this thing--and still get it?
2) "We are committing generational theft…laying a huge deficit on future generations of Americans."
Come ON, John. You know what we have? A huge deficit. I mean real huge. Yeah, this'll make it huger—but let's be honest. There is no one, not even the most diehard Republican, who can deny that the absolute best years to be the national deficit (presuming that, as national deficit, you would want to be fed) were the Reagan and Bush II years.
This issue isn't even about whether Republican fiscal policy is good for the economy. This is just math. The deficit under Reagan and Bush II exploded like a fat man in a track suit on a Phoenix summer day.
And NOW it upsets you, John McCain?
3) "Republicans were guilty of this kind of behavior….I'm not saying that we did things different. But Americans want us to do things differently and they want us to work together."
You know what's the easiest thing in the world to do? To say other people are doing things incorrectly, and give vague statements about how they might be better. You know what there wasn't ANYWHERE in what McCain said? A suggestion about how to go about things.
It is so easy to complain. Especially when you've been given so much more public eye-time than you're used to, it's easy to backseat drive.
And it's really, really easy to cover your own ass when you're not going to be anywhere near the blame. I would respect him, I would respect anyone, who disagreed with me by saying "we should do things this way, because of x, x, x" except for all of you lovely "BUT IF PEOPLE COULD ONLY KEEP THE MONEY THEY EARN ETC" truthers. But I can't respect someone who wants to be in the way, simply because they have that luxury.
So it goes, and not just for him. It's all positioning, and not much help. |
