I'm not making any promises on this one, but I'm fairly sure that John McCain is in for a big hurtin' from the media before November rolls around. Not that it's necessary, as the media's never had the influence that people imagine they do; and that power has decreased significantly now that the internet has allowed regular citizens to open the information gateway. And even as it is, media adoration has given McCain a false sense of security regarding what he can get away with and he continues to spout out nonsense under the belief that he'll never be held accountable for it. Big mistake.
But I think a hard rain is going to fall on McCain and even we'll feel a bit sorry for him. Do I think they'll completely rip the guy a new one? No. But I think there are a lot of assumptions about John McCain that even the dopes in the media won't be able to continue thinking for long. In case you hadn't seen it, watch this clip featuring Vice President Elect (fingers crossed) Wesley Clark talking to some brainwashed media admirers of McCain.
And that was a truly disgraceful display, particularly from the female anchor person who just seemed dumbstruck by the idea that anyone could possibly question McCain's national security experience. The fact that Clark had to establish his credentials before he was even allowed to continue just shows how convinced these fools are of McCain's expertise. He's a fricking general who once ran for president and who was invited on the show as some sort of important talker, and yet they make the dude recite his resume like he was some rabble-rouser speaking gibberish on a street corner. Thus is the power of McCain, that even retired generals have to remind us they're retired generals in order to be believed.
McCain Equal to Obama
But after he did so, the best they could do was to suggest that Obama's experience wasn't any better than McCain's. And, hello, that totally undermines John McCain, because McCain's supposed to be the big national security expert. And if the best they've got is to say that Obama isn't better, that destroy's McCain. I'm not sure why they imagined that this was some sort of crucial counterpoint to what Clark said, but he was quick to point that out. And their reply? Nothing. While the female anchor person thought it was a good point, nobody could defend against Clark's rebuttal. Hell, they didn't even seem to understand the point and just had to let it drop. I swear, I could actually smell the smoke coming from their ears.
And this is a big problem for McCain because, as much as these people assumed he's a Big Dog in national security, they couldn't come up with anything to dispute Clark's statement. Nothing. Yet that was the whole reason they had him on the show and had apparently discussed it the day before. Yet when he actually defended his statement, they couldn't think of a damn thing to say to defend McCain anymore. It was over. And if this kind of substantive attack on McCain continues, and I think it will, these people will at least try to find some justification for their beliefs and I'm positive they're going to come up empty. And that's the beginning of the end for McCain.
And it's possible that this adoration will continue forever and that the media will remain in love with McCain long after he's disgraced in November. But I don't think so. It's not going to happen overnight, but even in this one interview we saw a tiny lightbulb of reality flash in each of these people's minds. You could tell because they at least knew to shut-up and stop defending McCain. Sure, they didn't give up on him, but it clearly got them to at least start thinking about it, and that's half the battle.
Even in this one interview, we moved from them assuming that it'd be dangerous to even try to question McCain's credentials to them not even being able to justify their belief in those credentials. And even if this only gets them to start trying to think of justifications for their beliefs, that's a lot further than they were at the beginning; back when they assumed everyone was in agreement about McCain's supposed expertise. And when you're dealing with pack animals like these people, that's the first step.
Oh, and Clark for Vice President! Hooyah!
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6 comments:
The strength of your endorsement is such that I again lack a good counterargument.
It was the exclamation points, wasn't it? I've found that they really add a lot of authority to any argument.
Definitely the exclamation points.
Lacking a counterargument, I'm still hoping it will be John Edwards. But I see where the military experience would be a major plus on the ticket.
I'd like to think that John Edwards would be a good president in 2016. I'm not sold on President Clarke.
Or President Clark, rather. Sorry about that.
Oh, I thought maybe you were pushing for my favorite sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke to be president, and was going to point out the two flaws with that: He's British and he's dead. Always considered a drawback for Presidents, though still preferable to our current one.
As for Edwards, as much as I like him and think he does a good job selling his position, I'm just not sure he's got the fight in him to pull it off. While I'm sure he's good in a courtroom with a judge there to enforce established rules, I just don't think he's got the bare-knuckled tactics to win in a tough political battle. While I don't see him falling behind in political battles, I also don't seem him cutting through the shit the way Obama's campaign does. And that's what's necessary to win. You don't go toe-to-toe with Republicans and beat them at their own game, as Clinton always did. You cut them off at the knees and embarrass them for making the bad arguments they make, in order to throw them off balance and second-guess themselves. And I'm just not sure that Edwards has that mentality, which would not only hurt him on the campaign trail, but also as president.
Besides, I think him and Obama together look too pretty and unreal. And frankly, I'm not even thinking this through 2016. I think Clark's military credentials and polite but firm manners would be a definite plus on the campaign trail. And then as VP, I think he'd be great as Obama's go-to guy; someone used to successfully implementing other people's strategies. He'd get the job done without trying to hog the glory for himself. As for 2016, we'll see how things stand then. But from now until then, I think Clark would be great as VP. And who knows, maybe he could be President Edward's VP too. I really think he'd do well as the empowered VP who doesn't over-shadow the president Cheney-style.
I almost hate to say it, but the primary job of the VP is to become president if the office becomes vacant due to some incapacitation. So it's not sufficient to consider how good a VP Clark would be, you should try to make the case that he'd be a good president.
Again, I think he brings a real strong military record to the ticket and defeats any Republican effort to paint Barack Obama as weak on defense. But beyond that, Clark is still kind of a non-entity as far as his political vision.
As for Arthur C. Clarke, he's got my endorsement for sure. Apart from the eligibility thing and the dead part.
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