Eulogizing John McCain (Part II)

[typos]

In assessing McCain's failure as a presidential candidate, it would behoove us to distinguish between his failures to his country versus the faux-pas committed against his party. The latter will only doom his candidacy. The former--far more unforgivable--have hurt his country

Comments

[megamuphen]

McCain couldn't not support the escalation of the war. Have you read Faith of My Fathers?

[typos]

Oh I agree. McCain was being true to himself by supporting the surge. And he was also demonstrating a good deal of courage by holding to such an unpopular view (at least as far as non-Republican-primary voters go).

But I wouldn't consider these "maverick" positions--seeing as they are the policies advocated by his party and president. That's about as establishment as you can get.

And no. I haven't read any of the candidates books. (I heard Obama's books got pretty good reviews.) Was McCain's any good?

[megamuphen]

Well, McCain never really intended to be a maverick. He didn't go out there saying "Hey! I'm going to be different!" He went out there to say "Hey! I'm going to stand up for what I believe in!" He isn't anti-establishment... its just that sometimes he seems or seemed that way because his party and president veered from the course that republicans ought to be on.

I read Faith of My Fathers and thought it was really, really good. I just started Worth the Fighting For. Faith of My Fathers goes up to right after he got released in Vietnam, and Worth the Fighting For picked up where he left off. Interestingly, he writes a lot about Scoop Jackson in the beginning of the second book, and there are a lot of parallels between his bid for presidency and McCain's.

The war is getting unpopular, even with a lot of republicans these days... Luckily for him, Romney is still mormon and Guiliani is still Guiliani, so I guess he has a chance!

[typos]

Well yeah. But McCain's idea of what Republicans ought to stand for never resonated with conservative Republicans. And his more recent efforts to avoid rocking the boat--making nice with Jerry Falwell and all that--didn't pay off either.

To my mind, McCain's campaign is already dead. No one bought his "establishment candidate" shtick. Before his collapse, he couldn't raise money worth shit. The money he did have, he squandered (buying up all of Bush's old campaign staff). And now that he's broke, he'll have an even harder time raising money.

Watch Romney. Latter Day Saint though he be, he'll run away with this nomination.

As for the book, I put it on hold at the library today. I should get it within a week.