NYT: John McCain, Flexible Aggression

[ProSense]

Election Special Issue

John McCain, Flexible Aggression

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: October 25, 2008

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A Reflective Gadfly

Politically and intellectually, Mr. McCain is a gadfly. Most other lawmakers cultivate one area of expertise like health care, foreign affairs or the budget. Senator McCain, at the apex of his career, hopscotches in and out of pet causes, from patients’ rights to sue health insurers to fuel-efficiency standards to defense contract cost overruns.

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Mr. McCain made plenty of enemies. In confrontations, he could explode in profanity, bolt from meetings in rage, or order other lawmakers out of the room. He says he sometimes uses his explosive temper tactically, to intimidate opponents. But he left enough bruises that Democrats had sheaves of old quotes from fellow Republicans about his volatile temper at the ready when he ran for president.

Contradictory Impulses

In his first race in Arizona, John McCain campaigned as a well-connected insider with “experience in Washington” who could bring home pork — parochial spending projects — for the state. (He angered Senator Barry Goldwater by attempting to steal credit for a defense contract the senator had steered to the state.)

In his 2000 presidential run, he campaigned as an anti-politician. He denounced pork-barrel spending, made campaign finance rules the centerpiece of his agenda, and railed against the influence of special interests in Washington. He opened his bus to the press and mocked the idea of “message discipline.”

more

That's all anyone needs to know about McCain.

[ProSense]

1. This explains a lot

He opened his bus to the press and mocked the idea of “message discipline.”

McCain has no message. McCain 2008: Erratic is mavericky.

[ProSense]

2. McCain calls for ‘less government regulation’ of small businesses.

McCain calls for ‘less government regulation’ of small businesses.

When several of Wall Street’s giant banks collapsed in September, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) scrambled “to recast himself as a champion of regulation” in order to erase his past support of legislation “to broadly deregulate the banking and insurance industries helping to sweep aside a thicket of rules established over decades.” But McCain has had a tough time sticking with his new pro-regulation message. After meeting with small business owners in Colorado yesterday, McCain released a statement emphasizing the need for “less government regulation of their business.” Politico’s Lisa Lerer notes that this is “a dangerous message in the midst of a market meltdown many have blamed on a lack of regulation on Wall Street.”

[BrklynLiberal]

3. "He frets publicly that his ambition might tempt him to compromise his principles,

but he also races headlong into battles in pursuit of political power."

Too late. No principles left that he has not compromised.

[pokerfan]

4. A Napoleon complex with a grudge and a short fuse

I've seen videos of his antics during the Senate POW/MIA hearings. He almost struck a woman a woman in wheelchair for crying out loud!

At least three of McCain's GOP colleagues have gone on record to say that they consider him temperamentally unsuited to be commander in chief. Smith, the former senator from New Hampshire, has said that McCain's "temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, it should disqualify him." Sen. Domenici of New Mexico has said he doesn't "want this guy anywhere near a trigger." And Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi weighed in that "the thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded."

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/23316912/makebelieve_maverick/print

"I hate the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live."

Not CIC material.