John McCain Gets His Queeg On

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“Bitter”? “Unprincipled”? “Self-pitying”? Gosh, it’s a shame Newsweek didn’t notice this stuff back in 1999:

Many of the GOP’s most faithful, the kind who vote in primaries despite 115-degree heat, tired long ago of McCain the Maverick, the man who had crossed the aisle to work with Democrats on issues like immigration reform, global warming, and restricting campaign contributions. “Maverick” is a mantle McCain no longer claims; in fact, he now denies he ever was one. “I never considered myself a maverick,” he told me. “I consider myself a person who serves the people of Arizona to the best of his abilities.” . . .
His dramatic shifts raise several questions: How much of his maverick persona over the years has been real and how much simply tactical? . . .  Is the anger people sense in him anger at Obama, or the American electorate, or fate, or himself? . . .
Something about John McCain leaves people, on both left and right, feeling betrayed and disappointed. . . .
Yet catch McCain off guard—or off script—these days, and he can act authentically put-upon and self-pitying. His former champions in the press are picking on him, writing hatchet jobs, he suggests. . . . As for those pleas to bring back “the old John McCain,” it’s a familiar refrain to him, code for saying he’s unprincipled. The old John McCain, the current one insists, hasn’t gone anywhere: any changes in his positions are readily explainable tweaks rather than anything systematic or nefarious. He bristles at charges that he’s bitter.

“Ah, but the strawberries — that’s where I had them! They laughed at me and made jokes . . .”

J.D. HAYWORTH FOR U.S. SENATE

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21 comments

  9. Whatever. I’m still for McCain. His challenger creeps me out. He has nothing to offer and is a lying thief. At least McCain has moral fortitude.

  10. Whatever. I’m still for McCain. His challenger creeps me out. He has nothing to offer and is a lying thief. At least McCain has moral fortitude.

  11. McCain got Obama elected and worked to produce a permanent Democratic voting majority of amnestied illegals, as well as eliminating the First Amendment.

    But y’know, his opponent is “creepy”… so let’s give Ol’ Johnny another chance to end democracy in America.

  12. McCain got Obama elected and worked to produce a permanent Democratic voting majority of amnestied illegals, as well as eliminating the First Amendment.

    But y’know, his opponent is “creepy”… so let’s give Ol’ Johnny another chance to end democracy in America.

  20. I see little moral fortitude in Juan McCain’s political career. I have noticed a very large amount of stupidity, however.

    You might not like J.D., but you won’t be any worse off with him that you are with Juan. Right now, Juan is trying hard to reinvent himself and try to get people to forget about his behavior of the last 20 years. I sincerely hope AZ gives this small man his pink slip. It’s past time for him to go home and stay.

  21. I see little moral fortitude in Juan McCain’s political career. I have noticed a very large amount of stupidity, however.

    You might not like J.D., but you won’t be any worse off with him that you are with Juan. Right now, Juan is trying hard to reinvent himself and try to get people to forget about his behavior of the last 20 years. I sincerely hope AZ gives this small man his pink slip. It’s past time for him to go home and stay.

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