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It must be difficult being John McCain. I
imagine that the retired Navy Captain wakes up every morning, grabs his cup
of mocha java, and jumps into the shower singing Anchors Aweigh while he
scrubs the barnacles off his aging skin. Hobbling to the bathroom mirror, he
wipes clean the fog, picks up his razor, gazes at his reflection and wonders
who the heck is staring him back in his face.
It's as if
Senator John McCain has a hundred little Seabees running around inside his
Vietnam tortured body, all of them with their own distinct personalities and
opinions, all of them at war with themselves, sort of McCain's mutiny. The
guy's his own personal armada.
Never has there
been a politician who rode such a wave of public adoration only to
shipwreck in a storm of his own personal making. But that's what you get
when you tack left, come about right, hoist those sails and catch the wind
from any direction possible. I'm seasick just watching McCain troll the
murky lanes of the political waters.
For all his
wafting, John McCain has led a mostly ADMIRable life, Ok, he was a captain.
But he is the son and grandson of admirals, and a graduate of the Naval
Academy. And though his academic career reportedly lacked luster, he is said
to have exhibited "spunk" as a young midshipman. A celebrated hero of the
Vietnam-NOT-war, McCain did five-and-a-half years in the Hanoi Hilton (the
worst of the Vietcong's prisons) where he endured unspeakable torture. But
he retired from the Navy in 1981 stooped, not from the brutal beatings he'd
endured, but from the weight of all the medals he'd earned during his heroic
military service.
So, you'd think a
man who'd survived all that and a divorce, which surely wasn't too
thrilling, would stand for something. Yes? No! Like too many of the
politicians who run for the office of the presidency these days, the end
justifies the means. Thus, McCain's Straight Talk Express veered off course
and took a dive into the brink. All in the name of getting McCain to that
goal he'd set for himself: the election to the highest office in the land
and sea.
I don't know
which of McCain's turns was hardest to watch. Having lost so unceremoniously
to Tush in the 2000 campaign, he joined forces with Bloody-Mary-no-more (OK,
maybe this is a stretch) when he stood by his man in the 2004 campaign
surely hoping to get the nod as the two-term president's anointed successor.
Who could forget that smarmy stage hug? Oh, what a guy won't do to lure
anyone into his bed! But for me this pales to the image of watching McCain
on stage at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University giving the 2006 commencement
speech after his laudable stand against the Christian Right in 2000. Of
course - or off course - McCain changed his long-held position and now
stands firmly with the gun lobby. In fact, his congressional voting record
is a tidal wave of turn to the left, turn to the right, stand up, sit down,
fight, fight, fight. OK, you know the drill. I need Dramamine I'm so dizzy
watching this guys' listings.
As is the
American public, which is surprisingly tolerant of its politician's
shortcomings, but for one. American's expect their leaders to be consistent.
They want them to be who they are and say what they mean and not drift with
the political winds.
Recently I
noticed that the press has been reporting Senator McCain showing an up tick
in his poll numbers. Wishful thinking. Yesterday, Rasmussen had him at 15%.
Today he's at 13% against Giuliani's 25%. McCain can probably live with the
ebb and flow of the poll numbers, after all, he's an old Navy man and he's
used to the turning tide. But if he's waiting for a true sea change, in the
vernacular of Rudolph Giuliani, Ferget about it! As for me, I call it as I
SEA it. Trust me, McCain doesn't stand a chance of getting the
nomination or coming close.
Take heed, Mrs.
Clinton,
~ Halli
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