A study in a recent issue of the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology suggests that snap decisions aren't reliable. Dr. Ben Newell tells us that careful reasoning is probably the better way to go. Now I am always interested in new research, but for this we needed a study?!!
As we were about to walk into the voting booth four years ago, Joe Biden recalled talking to President Bush a few months after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq:
''I was telling the president of my many concerns'' -- concerns about the explosive mix of Shiite and Sunni, the disbanding of the Iraqi Army and problems securing the oil fields. Bush looked unflappable. The United States was on the right course and all was well. ''Mr. President," Biden finally said, "How can you be so sure when you know you don't know the facts?''' Bush stood up and put his hand on the senator's shoulder. ''My instincts,'' he said. ''My instincts.'' Biden replied: "Mr. President, your instincts aren't good enough!''
Remember when Bush, still on his presidential honeymoon in 2001, first looked Vladimir Vladimirovich "in the eye" and got a "sense of his soul"? The new U.S. president found the Russian bear to be "very straight forward and trustworthy."
Then there was the time Bush tapped his friend -- "a pit bull in size six shoes" -- to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. That was a gut decision too. As David Frum said at the time, "She's a lovely person: intelligent, honest, capable, loyal, discreet, dedicated. But nobody would describe her as ... outstanding."
Uh-huh. A "soulful" encounter. A female "pitbull"! It's deja vu all over again. Only this time, Bush is making McCain look good. At least Bush had known and worked with Harriet Miers for years before naming her to the high court. John McCain has selected someone he met with only briefly before she became his running mate and the person he wants as "the next vice president of the United States."
It was evident from watching McCain's body language at Palin's Dayton debut that the Alaskan governor was a stanger to him. He looked like a gambler waiting for the roulette wheel to stop spinnning.
Now it's the voters' turn to wait for McCain to stop spinning. In a week that was the financial equivalent of 9/11, McCain's gut decisions haven't come to a halt, they're speeding up. The fundamentals of the economy are strong! The economy is in a crisis! Fire the SEC chief! It's the kind of behavior that doesn't inspire confidence in a president/commander-in-chief.
Yesterday, Obama began to call McCain "a little panicked". McCain will "say anything or do anything or change any position or violate any principle to try and win this election." The people who have known him longest are in agreement with Obama. They say McCain is as slick an operator as his greased down white hair.
Ross Perot, who goes way back with John McCain, "now believes that both [McCain's first wife] and the American people [were] taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel – even by the standards of modern politics."
Perot told the Daily Mail:
"McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory. ... After he came home, [his first wife] walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history."
Even "Citizen McCain's" official chronicler now agrees with Perot's harsh assessment. McCain is no maverick, he's a fraud.
Heck, even McCain himself is aware that his gut decisions lead to mistakes. Elizabeth Bumiller noted how McCain seems proud of his "history of making fast, instinctive and sometimes risky decisions."
"I make them as quickly as I can, quicker than the other fellow, if I can," Mr. McCain wrote, with his top adviser Mark Salter, in his 2002 book, "Worth the Fighting For." "Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint."
The question is: Can the American people live with McCain's mistakes? It's making me nauseous just thinking about it.
p.s. My mother, a big Hillary fan who always had a bone to pick with Obama but is now a rock solid Obama supporter, laughed when McCain chose the Alaskan governor. Mom's take? McCain bypassed Pawlenty and Romney -- who are both tall -- so that he would have a running mate who was shorter than he is.
p.p.s. Would somebody be so kind as to explain how the rating comments works at dKos? I'm confused as to why any comments I made today about the conservative agenda at The Telegraph newspaper would rate a "negative".