The Normalcy of Americans

Via Atrios, I read this McCain stinker:
“I do believe that history shows us Americans will not continue to support an overseas engagement involving the loss of American lives for an unlimited period of time unless they see some success,” he added. “And then, when they run out of patience, they will demand that we get out.”

You know, I’ve never liked this whole theory of Americans as being particularly worse than everyone else.  As if only Americans like life to be easy.  Only Americans want things to happen sooner than later.  Only Americans like to own good stuff.  That whole thing has always bugged me.  Because just about everyone wants the easy life and good stuff.  That just makes sense.  Too often, people use “Americans” as a shorthand for complaining about normal human behavior that they want to feel superior to; even if they’re that way themselves.  And that’s just dumb.

But this thing of McCain’s is particularly dumb.  There are no people anywhere who have ever wanted to spend their money and military for unlimited time periods for no reason.  There are no people who have ever wanted their government to fight a pointless war without end.  People everywhere have always wanted their leaders to pull-out of futile wars.  That’s not a problem with Americans.  That’s just commonsense.  And only a nation of lunatics would be any different.

And if McCain disagrees with all these people, then it doesn’t mean that he has more patience than everyone else who has ever existed.  It just means he’s made a bad decision to back the wrong horse coming into his last chance for winning the Whitehouse.  He’s been tricked into thinking he can ride Bush’s coattails and still hasn’t figured out that the only place they lead to is Crawford.  And boy, wouldn’t that be fun?  Bush and McCain in 2009, at Crawford together whining about what should have been in Iraq, if only those damn Americans would support a stupid and endless war.  That’d be a sitcom fit for an American.