But make no mistake, it's all branding. The facts don't bear out his "maverick" P.R. -- not in the least. It's become something of a perverse joke, in fact since John McCain has now reversed every single core principle he's ever espoused at least once, and many of them multiple times, in the course of a few years.
He's what his good buddy and current advisor Karl Rove would call a "flip-flopper," with all the attendant airs of unmanliness and impotence.
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McCain's principles come down to this: whatever is politically advantageous at the moment, John McCain will make that his principle. And he'll lie up and down that he ever held a different position. He lies so easily and so often that the flat-footed media usually tries to pretend it didn't happen, lest they look like fools for being his biggest cheerleaders over the years. (...And for happily stuffing their faces at his barbecues -- an event no self-respecting reporter would go near.)
The fact that McCain is a very dishonest politician isn't "man bites dog" news, even if he is running for President. But John McCain is determined to go much lower than that.
McCain started this campaign making a big pious deal of the fact that he wanted a clean campaign about the issues. He'll still say that when in front of a camera, because it makes him sound noble. And McCain loves good branding.
There's one problem, of course: so far John McCain has spent the entire campaign way, way down in the gutter, trying to pull the same tired crap that rightwingers always pull: call your opponent a traitor who doesn't support the troops, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum.
The American people have heard that vile crap too many goddamned times to believe it -- witness McCain's continued drop in the polls, down to where his hero George W. Bush lies festering. McCain's sleaze is not working for now, and maybe it just won't at all. Maybe it will have the positive effect of exposing McCain for the nasty, lying creep he actually is. Maybe. But....
That will only happen if the traditional media stop rushing in to pretend that John McCain has anything like real principles, or honor. He's the most disgusting kind of politician they make: one who wants credit for being good and decent -- better than the rest (a "maverick!") -- and yet when his political life is threatened, instantly jettisons any core beliefs, quickly followed by any semblance of decency.
There's a great diary on the Rec list right now by VirginiaDem suggesting that WE need to provide the pushback on McCain's immoral behavior. I'm with that every step of the way.
McCain thinks he can lie and slime his way into the White House, using his buddy Karl Rove's playbook.
Are we going to let him?
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