And To Think This Guy Wanted To Be President
Ladies and gentlemen, John McCain:
Arizona Sen. John McCain knows how to deal with hecklers.
In footage broadcast by the Fox affiliate in Phoenix, McCain calls a heckler at a Monday rally for Rep. Jeff Flake’s Senate campaign a “jerk” several times and later sticks out his tongue at the man.
Here’s the video:
In an alternate universe, that man is running for re-election to a Second Term.
He called it himself, too old. But that’s taking nothing away from him.
McCain is an American hero. Just the same, I really think we shouldn’t elect presidents past their 60’s. Too much risk of precipitous decline, especially under stress of office.
I’m not saying people can’t stay sharp under pressure through their 70’s, but they are few.
And in that alternate universe, he isn’t quite so much a dick.
Now think about the fact that this guy is _still_ the most competent Presidential candidate the GOP could have offered.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan famously told a heckler (in front of a large crowd) “oh, shut up.”
It worked for him, but McCain’s no Reagan.
With Reagan, the audience’s attitude to a heckler would be, “why are you being so mean to Grandpa?”
McCain looks like he has a mental illness, or at least some cognitive issues. Even worse than when he was running.
@john personna: Getting shot down and captured is not heroic.
The amount of stress that a President has to endure would probably have deteriorated McCain’s mental health even further…
President Palin….
@gus: Uncalled for.
@gus:
You need to re-read Catch-22. There are lots of ways to avoid getting shot down, many of them unheroic.
Bombing way the hell from target is one.
@Nikki: I do think that’s right. Whether he was temperamentally suited to be president is ultimately unknowable. But he’s clearly still bitter over having lost to a 40-something with essentially zero national political experience and has been downright petulant ever since.
I kind of liked it. I really dislike hecklers for either side. Let people speak, don’t try to shout them down.
That said, it depressed me what happened with McCain in 2008. I voted for Obama but I didn’t want to have to see McCain as unworthy. Palin changed that. It was a reckless, lazy, disturbing decision, one that I knew would forever diminish McCain, which is a shame.
@gus:
Flying a jet in harm’s way wearing your nation’s uniform sure as hell is heroic or at least brave. Enduring torture at the hands of communist pricks for years is also heroic. Rising above it to become a Senator is at least admirable evidence of some internal strength.
Hey you kids…get off my yard!!!
John McCain is still the only non-third party candidate I have ever voted for with any passion. I love that he is willing to call out his own party, and in a true town hall debate forum his humor and honesty shines. He is a war hero and deserves respect. This is really the only thing you could possibly think of to write about today?
@C. Clavin: A man after my own heart.
@Scott:
Actually, there is a point there. If you know his biography, John McCain really is an asshole. He’s a serial adulterer, he loves to bully people, he’s prone to temper tantrums, etc. The problem is that because he’s a veteran, people are afraid to call him on behavior that would never be tolerated in a civilian.
He’s basically NewtGingrich without the deferments.
@john personna:
Per Gus, not really…
894th of 899 at Annapolis where he’d never have been considered for acceptance were it not for his father.
Amazingly was accepted into tactical aviation despite his poor qualifications, again Dad was a huge help.
A “Black Ace” and generally crappy aviator who had issues with power lines, not to mention surface to air missiles.
His saving grace was being, not surprisingly, shot down and taken captive. Had it not been for that we would have never heard of him and of course he probably couldn’t have married into the money he did.
McCain, that is, with that line.
Yet refuses to vote against the same party. The term torture comes to mind for some reason..
When it counts, McCain is and always has been a useless tool.
One has to wonder why the GOP seems to get such boners over sons of guys who had experienced some success yet never did themselves.
Could explain why they really hate that guy who was born in Kenya. Or for that matter why they hated that guy from Arkansas.
“Yet refuses to vote against the same party. The term torture comes to mind for some reason.”
Campaign Finance Reform
Comprehensive Immigration Reform
McCain has made some gutsy political moves, which cost him dearly within his own party. The Clinton model has successfully eliminated a politician’s private life from having any meaningful impact on his political one. I will always defend McCain from the “agents of intolerance on both sides.”
@James Joyner:
One significant factor in his loss was his Veep choice and the pants-wetting fright of imagining Mama Bear just a heartbeat away from the Big Chair. That wound was purely self-inflicted.
@crystal:
Name one. Again, where it counted IE: a vote in the senate.
In fairness to McCain, please note that while he is acting like an a$$, the crowd is cheering. He knows his audience.