John McCain's first mailer arrived at my house in South Carolina today -- a giant, full-color post card supposedly touting his pro-life record, but actually a preemptive strike against old lies that McCain fathered a child with a black woman.
In case anyone doesn't know the story, eight years ago McCain won New Hampshire, beating a little shit named George W. Bush, who we now know has no problem telling out-and-out lies.
Stories started circulating in South Carolina that McCain had a mixed-race child, which apparently doesn't go over well with good Republicans in the South and Bush ended up winning the South Carolina primary and the Republican nomination. (And we all suffered through the rest.)
McCain must feel like the lie could come back to hurt him because they dug out a photo of Cindy McCain holding a dark-skinned, dark-haired infant, standing beside an Indian nun in 1993.
The text reads: "Cindy McCain cradles little Bridget, a baby she and John adopted in 1993 from Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh. Bridget has been a great blessing to the McCain family..." and goes on to tout McCain's pro-life positions.
So, the lie still stings and McCain must think it still has the power to hurt him, and yet, he still spent the last few years embracing Bush, both literally and figuratively, and all his failed policies.
I wonder if Bridget knows about Bush's smear tactics, using her to help defeat her father in the election eight years ago, and I wonder how McCain explained his decision to be one of Bush's buddies, despite that lie about McCain's daughter and all the damage he's done to the military in which McCain proudly served.
"Sorry, honey, I really want to be president. I don't care if Bush really is a lying sack of shit. I'm going to hug him and try to smile instead of punching him in the face."
I wonder if McCain thought of Bush, the draft dodger, and McCain's long years as a POW in Vietnam, when McCain went to Iraq and walked the marketplace with a brigade of soldiers and helicopters guarding him and claimed, It was just like walking through the streets back home. Everything going well, while trying to relax and look happy for that one close-up shot that made it look like it didn't take a brigade to protect him there.
And now, he'll come to South Carolina again and try to claim what he must have thought he would gain by selling his soul to Bush these last few years -- a victory in the Republican primary.
I hope it was worth the price, Sen. McCain.