One of the other sites I frequent is a sports-themed one. Nonetheless, in this election year, political talk is basically everywhere, so we've had some spirited Obama-McCain threads as well. (There's an interesting paper to be written on the way the political spectrum gets broken down among different sports over there as well -- the college basketball forum skews far harder left than the college football forum, for instance.)
The last couple of days, though, the comments from those who said they were backing McCain for economic reasons has shifted, as a result of exactly one thing: his 'yea' vote on the Senate bailout package.
Keep in mind, these aren't soft Republicans or anything. These are the kinds of right-wing voters Ron Paul was trying to reach. I've even seen posts from accusing Obama of being a closet Marxist (granted, there was some degree of hyperbole there, but the sentiment behind the label was genuine). And here's what they're saying about McCain in the wake of Thursday's vote:
McCain missed his opportunity to show some guts. He has made a big show during the campaign of saying he would veto any legislation that had pork in it. Waved his pen and said he would name names and make them famous.
His vote was gutless and contradictory of his stated position on pork barell spending. If he can't follow through the first time he is tested on this, what makes you think he will follow through in the future.
He better do something quickly and he best thank God above he had enough brains to solidify his social conservative base by picking Palin (like her or not that is what she did). He now needs to go get the fiscal conservatives again, good luck. I consider myself to be both and I can honestly admit I am torn right now.
He could have had a slam dunk and cracked. I think this goes back to (other right winger)'s arguement that McCain is "liked" more than Obama. What (other right winger) fails to realize is that the need "to be liked" is what killed Bush and what will also kill McCain. They are trying to out lib the libs, it's an insane approach. Conservatives must strive for respect and admiration, not to be "like".
(Emphasis mine in the second one).
If that's what those who said they were going to vote for McCain are saying, I can only imagine what independent conservatives must be thinking.
The "McCain is a liar" narrative just got a lot stronger, and all thanks to McCain's own very public contradiction of his own position. The Daily Show's metaphor for McCain's immolation might carry that geek chic, but the general sentiment behind it now seems to be an accepted truth in this campaign.
