McCain is known for many serious character flaws. Betraying his first wife because she wasn't as pretty as he wanted after she was in a traffic accident. Calling his second wife a cunt when she playfully teased him about his hair. Finding jokes about rape knee-slapping hilarious. There is his shocking absence of knowledge in issues that are critical to our world society today (e.g., on the home front, not knowing how to get on the internet; and on the foreign front, not knowing the difference between Suni and Shia, which is Kindergarten Mideast Politics.) There is the arrogance he showed when he said last week that it would be a "seismic event" if the Pentagon interfered with his political stunts to visit the troops. The list goes on and on. But his most dangerous character flaw of all is being played out right now in front of our eyes.
And the pundits and press aren't even seeing it. He's completely disqualifying himself for the job of POTUS by displaying this flaw. But it's so blatant, so in front of our face, that no one has bothered to mention it. The obvious is often the most difficult thing to see.
In terms of "most dangerous character flaw," I'm talking from the perspective of what is most important for the Commander in Chief (CIC).
The CIC is the player who will most represent US citizens in adversarial relationships with other countries.
When it comes to adversarial relationships, the first thing you want is to come out on top, to win.
But when it comes to fights and wars and knowing how to win them, it's helpful to look at how fights are lost.
One of the major themes that echoes from the annals of military history, as well as words that come from the losing teams of athletic events, is that a major reason why people (and teams) lose wars is because they underestimated the enemy, they did not take the other side seriously. That's it.
With that backdrop, let's look at this picture.
McCain's current major adversary in his life is Barack Obama.
Barack Obama to date has shown himself to be an absolutely formidable candidate. He came in with huge disadvantages. And in the Democratic Primary he went up against a machine that had every built in advantage that you could name. And in spite of all of that, Barack won! Pretty damn formidable. Pretty damn worthy of respect.
What is McCain's response to this adversary? He doesn't take Barack seriously. He doesn't think Barack has demonstrated any ability. Barack is just a joke, something to piss on and laugh at while he (Barack) grovels at your feet below. That's McCain's view of his adversary.
In other words, McCain in his celebrity ads and Moses ads and comments is demonstrating the exact behavior typical of losers in all competitions.
McCain is doing the opposite of what we should want in a CIC. He is disrespecting the enemy, rather than respecting him. He is comparing this formidable adversary to the most vacuous lightweight air head that McCain can think of. And I think McCain is expressing what his opinion of Barack really is. This is a major character flaw for a CIC. All and any adversaries are worthy of respect (in the sense of taking seriously) simply because they are going up against you and trying to defeat you.
Barack has certainly proven that he is a political genius of a rare order. But McCain just can't find the inner reserves or character to get above the level of a despicable grade school bully, who has no tactics other than name calling and ridicule.
So we've seen how McCain handles the most important adversary of his adult life: the man who stands between him (McCain) and the White House.
Translate this behavior to how he would relate to leaders and people's of other countries who might be our adversaries. His current behavior illustrates that he would mock them, belittle them, pull his pants down and piss on them (figuratively, of course), egg them on to war. And, then, after all that, after getting an unnecessary war started, would probably lose the damn war because he couldn't be bothered to take the enemy seriously. That is how losers lose.
The smart adversaries are all respect, bows, honor, never starting or encouraging a fight that doesn't need to be started; then they study you completely, fight you on their own terms, if a fight proves necessary, and without uttering as much as a single insult, strike and win the war. That's how winning teams win. Winners don't bother with the insults and name calling. They put all their energy into winning.
It's a lot like those karate/kung fu movies. The loser is a lout who taunts and name calls (that's the McCain figure). The winner never resorts to that. The winner is quiet, stoic, respectful, observant, (that's Barack), then WHAM!
The winner also knows how to walk around fights rather than to start them (Barack does that). McCain here, too, shows the loser trait in that he would rather start the fight than walk around it (we'll bomb Iran, we'll go after rogue nations, war and more wars.)
McCain's ads and behavior of the past week against Barack is showing us that he is exactly the kind of person you do NOT want as the CIC. His tactics and character are precisely those most typical of a loser. He underestimates the enemy.
You never want the person who can pull your country into war to be a person who chronically underestimates the ability of the other side. Because that kind of CIC is going to get you into wars that your country is going to lose. Also, that kind of CIC is going to keep starting wars just to raise his own sense of self-worth and toughness.
McCain doesn't know how to intelligently go up against his adversary in the 2008 Presidential race. So there is every reason to think he would not know how to go up against adversaries he encountered in this dangerous world.
Maybe McCain's behavior would be alright as a trial lawyer. I don't know. But it's exactly the wrong trait to have in a CIC.
The fact that McCain can't respect his adversary in the 2008 race is the key reason why he is disqualified for the most adversarial position in the world, the POTUS.