Reports today indicate that John McCain has finally injected some negativity into the Presidential race, despite his much ballyhooed rhetoric about positive, dignified campaigning. The reason for this is simple. John McCain has finally figured out he doesn’t have a chance in hell of being President.
The old happy warrior side of Mr. McCain has been eclipsed a bit lately by a much more aggressive, and more negative, Mr. McCain who hammers Mr. Obama repeatedly on policy differences, experience and trustworthiness.
By doing so, Mr. McCain is clearly trying to sow doubts about his younger opponent, and bring him down a peg or two. But some Republicans worry that by going negative so early, and initiating so many of the attacks himself rather than leaving them to others, Mr. McCain risks coming across as angry or partisan in a way that could turn off some independents who have been attracted by his calls for respectful campaigning.
The drumbeat of attacks could also undermine his argument that he will champion a new brand of politics.
“The McCain campaign, I think, is being pulled in two directions,” said Todd Harris, a Republican strategist who worked for Mr. McCain in 2000. “On the one hand, this race is largely a referendum on Obama, and whether or not he’s going to pass the leadership threshold in the eyes of voters. So being aggressive against Obama on questions of leadership and trust and risk are important, but at the same time I think they need to be very careful because McCain is not at his best when he is being overly partisan and negative.”
Let’s be honest with each other, shall we? John McCain doesn’t represent hope for the parasite masses of helpless, hopeless Americans who need someone to manage their otherwise out of control lives. America is totally ready for a President who will promise us a big-screen TV in every living room. America needs a man at the helm who believes everyone is entitled to be equally mediocre. This nation believes in taking money away from producers and giving it to non-producers with very few strings attached. This nation believes that thick books filled with rules are more important than common sense. This union of states is perfectly comfortable with the idea of zero tolerance. Our huddled masses are focused on fake boobs and reality TV these days. That is why this nation wants and needs the cult of Barack Obama. That is why Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States of America.
That our next President will be a tall, black good-looking, cigarette smoking socialist specializing in speeches filled with powerful but ultimately empty rhetoric backed up by graft based on force of arms is as inevitable as the fall of Rome.
If I wanted to be President and I knew I was doomed to lose because of ignorance I had helped perpetuate during my career, I’d probably be negative too.