John McCain dies at 81

fountainhall

Re: John McCain dies at 81

Post by fountainhall »

I have already expressed my admiration for McCain and nothing will change that. However, leafing through an article from an old issue of The New Yorker magazine, I wonder if McCain is at least partly - and maybe in large part? - responsible for the rise of Trump and the broken state of US politics?

Back in 2008, an article in The Washington Post claimed that McCain was responsible for both "a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It’s no good, not for conservatism and not for the country."

The long article is well worth reading. It focusses on Sarah Palin, in large part because of her being McCain's choice for Vice President. Another columnist said she was, "“a fatal cancer to the Republican Party.”

It has frequently been stated thet McCain hardly knew her at the time he agreed to have her on the ticket. She had been flown down to Arizona the day before and the two spent no more than two hours together. The next day came the announcement. Despite his faith in his staff and those who had done all the vetting, it seems curious that such a major appointment would be made without McCain having done a great deal more research. He later admitted his mistake. Did it indicate a willingness to rush decisions without giving them the due consideration required by a President?

In mitigation, what he would not have known at the time is that Palin had been working hard for well over a year to ensure she was front and centre when the choice for VP was made. It was always thought that she was just a plain ol' hockey Mum who had been thrust into politics and would prefer just to stay home and look after her town. That we know now is nonsense. One friend said, “From the beginning, she’s been underestimated. She’s very smart. She’s ambitious.”
Upon being elected governor, Palin began developing relationships with Washington insiders, who later championed the idea of putting her on the 2008 ticket. “There’s some political opportunism on her part,” Bitney [John Britney, her policy adviser] said. For years, “she’s had D.C. in mind.” He added, “She’s not interested in being on the junior-varsity team.”

During her gubernatorial campaign, Bitney said, he began predicting to Palin that she would make the short list of Republican Vice-Presidential prospects. “She had the biography, I told her, to be a contender,” he recalled. At first, Palin only laughed. But within a few months of being sworn in she and others in her circle noticed that a blogger named Adam Brickley had started a movement to draft her as Vice-President. Palin also learned that a number of prominent conservative pundits [surprise! surprise!] would soon be passing through Juneau, on cruises sponsored by right-leaning political magazines. She invited these insiders to the governor’s mansion, and even led some of them on a helicopter tour.
Amongst those "pundits" who just happened to find themselves in Juneau were Bill Kristol, who was to become her most ardent supporter, Fox News host Fred Barnes, defeated Supreme Court Justice Robert Bork and John Bolton. Both groups were lavishly entertained at the Governor's Mansion. The state also engaged a PR firm with strong East Coast connections to promote her and her desire for a trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline.

Right-wing supporters set up websites to promote her conservative views. Rush Limbaugh was converted. Two months prior to McCain making his decision, Kristol announced on Fox News Sunday that McCain would put her on his ticket.

Right up till a week before the announcement, McCain wanted Joe Lieberman. He was finally persuaded that Lieberman would jeopardise his chances of winning.

Former Bush Campaign strategist Matthew Dowd said at the time that McCain
“knows in his gut” that Palin isn’t qualified for the job, “and when this race is over, that is something he will have to live with. . . . He put the country at risk.”
Dare I suggest that that risk now sits in the White House?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008 ... e-insiders
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Re: John McCain dies at 81

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fountainhall

Re: John McCain dies at 81

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I am not one for funerals but I decided to watch the Phoenix service for John McCain and was very impressed. How Trump must be loathing this week, knowing that he will never get the pomp and ceremony and all the love being shown all week when it’s his time to end up in a casket!
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Re: John McCain dies at 81

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fountainhall wrote:I am not one for funerals but I decided to watch the Phoenix service for John McCain and was very impressed. How Trump must be loathing this week, knowing that he will never get the pomp and ceremony and all the love being shown all week when it’s his time to end up in a casket!
The Phoenix service was indeed impressive and, yes, there's no doubt Trump is seething over the adulation for McCain shown from both sides of the political spectrum. And, right or wrong, I've felt that at least a small part of the pomp and circumstance was designed as an indirect response to Trump's boorish behavior. Additionally, right or wrong, I've felt the ignorant tweets Trump sent out yesterday were childishly intended by him to deflect from the honors given to McCain.

Tomorrow will likely see much of the same when, per McCain's personal request, two major political rivals (Bush and Obama) will eulogize McCain at the Washington D.C. services. McCain requesting same....and having both Bush and Obama agreeing to do so.....tells you a bit about McCain's character as well as the respect he earned from political rivals.
fountainhall

Re: John McCain dies at 81

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With Bill Clinton sitting in the front row of the stage at Aretha Franklin's funeral, Trump must be feeling apoplectic! The tweets tomorrow should be worth reading!
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Re: John McCain dies at 81

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I just finished watching the McCain funeral ceremony in Washington and it was amazing to say the least. The undertone of the entire event was riddled with slams against Trump even though he was never mentioned by name.

His daughter gave one of the most emotional and heart-felt memorial talks I've ever heard. Her father would be proud.

I don't think there was a doubt in anyone's mind that McCain planned every detail of his funeral and memorial is painstaking detail to ensure that the message was clear. as his daughter said so articulately and with so much emotion with an angry stare, America doesn't need to be made great again - it has always been great. Her emotional statement received just one of the many ovations during the ceremony.

I imagine Trump was slumped back in his leather chair fuming with anger tweeting his hillbilly followers who still think he's the cat's meow.
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Re: John McCain dies at 81

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Dodger wrote:his daughter said so articulately and with so much emotion with an angry stare, America doesn't need to be made great again - it has always been great. Her emotional statement received just one of the many ovations during the ceremony.
Here is that moment:

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