On Saturday, Russ Feingold praised John McCain's maverick quality in this article . I'm going to question Russ Feingold's intelligence if he honestly thinks that McCain is a "Maverick" and "Independent Thinker". How can McCain be those things if he isn't even running his campaign, and just says and acts how his handlers tell him to?
From the article:
http://www.jsonline.com/...
"I think the guy calls 'em as he sees 'em, and as president would call 'em as he sees 'em, and would make people mad all over the place because it wouldn't fit anybody's playbook," said Feingold, who teamed up with McCain to rewrite federal campaign laws.
"He would be very original," Feingold said.
...
Feingold calls McCain "very original" and a "maverick by nature." McCain's own TV ads call him the "original maverick."
Feingold goes on to say such high quality praise of John McCain:
"Yes, he shows temper. But he burns fast, and he doesn't let it cloud his judgment. He would not be a loose cannon in the Oval Office," said Feingold. "It's not like he's going to pick up the red phone in a rage."
As for what kind of Republican McCain is, Feingold makes the argument, not surprisingly, that McCain's vision of where he wants to take the country is "mistaken."
...
"He is not a guy who wants to be chummy-chummy with political leaders of the party. He doesn't like that sort of constraint. He's an independent," said Feingold. "So he somehow managed to become the nominee of the Republican Party. But we all know it's not because he was somebody that was kissing up to the Republican establishment, to say the least."
I'm glad that Russ Feingold has decided that it would be smart to reinforce the media's label of "Maverick" and "Independent Thinker" on John McCain. Seems like a very smart thing for a prominent democrat senator to do at this point in the presidential election with so much at stake.
But I guess if Feingold wants to provide some great ad material for McCain in Wisconsin that's his business right?
Update [2008-8-11 15:6:58 by JohnAdams999]:
User nycwahoodem brings up a good point. What if Hillary Clinton had said this? or John Edwards? I'm thinking the outrage at DailyKOS would be at an extremely high level... but I guess Feingold gets a pass since he was declared a god because of his FISA performance.
Update [2008-8-11 15:9:30 by JohnAdams999]:
User abrauer wants me to post Feingold's pro-Obama comments from the article:
Feingold credits Obama, the designated point man on the Senate ethics bill, for holding firm against "enormous pressure from within the Democratic Party" to water it down.
"He definitely has the ability to work with people of the other party, but he also, I felt, showed a willingness not to give away the store, which would have been my principal concern," said Feingold.
"I thought, 'This is going to be a guy I'm going to enjoy working with over the years, because he knows when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.' "