A Polite Silence
Politico finally broke the polite silence today, running a piece that calmly enumerates Senator McCain's various lapses over the last few weeks.
- An Iron Curtain country that no longer exists.
- An imaginary border between Iraq and Pakistan.
- You say 'Somalia' and I say 'Sudan'.
- Name that football team! (The Packers or the Steelers?)
And now, despite CBS's attempt to bury it, Senator McCain seems to have forgotten the timeline regarding the foreign policy success upon which he is now basing his campaign. (That he did so while accusing Senator Obama of not knowing what he was talking about is only the cherry on top of this particular sundae.)
This is two week's work. There are approximately fifteen weeks left in the campaign. It's safe to assume that the gaffes and memory lapses will continue. And possibly at an even greater clip -- fatigue is usually a factor in this, and there is a long and wearying road ahead for both candidates. The question is, at what point -- beyond today's Politico piece -- do people start to openly question whether or not age is a factor in all of this? Is that unfair? Is that bad manners? Is it wrong?
John Cole, among others, suggests that we ignore the age issue. Senator McCain will lose, should he do so, on the complete lack of merit displayed by his campaign. And there's no need to talk about something that is already apparent, and will be even more so, every time the two candidates take a debate stage together.
I'm agnostic for the moment. I'm well aware of Senator Obama's various verbal slips and gaffes. (Tho' I'd be perfectly content with a ten-year term in the Oval Office.) But I'm curious to see if McCain manages to correct this growing problem. Or we're starting to see just how much he either does not know or has somehow forgotten.
But one thing is certain. It's not going away any time soon.
The Politico piece is here. Next week? Forget too old, how about too angry?
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"How is the world ruled, and how do wars start? Diplomats tell lies to journalists and then believe what they read." -- Karl Kraus, 1909
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References -
And I'm not talking about the one line gaffes either. His never ending flip flops and confusion about policy come from the loss of his mental faculties. When Obama does it I think he is well aware of what he is doing and it's calculated for some political reason but I don't think that is true of McCain. Calling someone senile is not politically correct though so I'm sure someone will be quick to let me know that it's a lousy strategy since seniors resent it. All quite true but it's also true that having someone as President who is not all there mentally is a bad idea.
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)"Um, you're not *on* that committee, Senator Obama."
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| parent )Obama isn't free of gaffe by any means. Tho' in the case you cite, he simply said 'committee' instead of 'bill.'
This also doesn't address the age factor. It is entirely fair to wonder if Obama's youth and the lack of experience that comes with it, if only by definition, are a barrier to the WH. With Senator McCain? It's age.
I'd also suggest that a word slip is something different than an imaginary border. Or an Iron Curtain country that no longer exists.
When my father was 75 he started telling stories about meeting the Queen of the Bears while hunting. Just saying.
--'
"How is the world ruled, and how do wars start? Diplomats tell lies to journalists and then believe what they read." -- Karl Kraus, 1909
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| parent ). . .yesterday that noted that one Mr. Keith Olbermann had--in the last couple of years--made several references to the now-nonexistent nation that Martina Navratilova defected from. If such references are a sign of senility, Dan Patrick's old sparring partner seems a tad young for it.
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| parent )Keith seems to know that the Anbar Awakening preceded the Surge. Maybe he should run for Prez.
--"How is the world ruled, and how do wars start? Diplomats tell lies to journalists and then believe what they read." -- Karl Kraus, 1909
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| parent )If there is a God, I'm sure He or She doesn't love me *that* much.
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| parent )along with Mac. Funny since it was the first line of my post
And I'm not talking about the one line gaffes either
Saying committee instead of bill is a one word slipup and I don't think that says much about either of them. If you want to keep score between the two though feel free.
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| parent )I'm willing to cut him some slack. I just don't think McCain is that smart a guy, and he's surely fatigued.
Obama does fib, but not all of his slips are fibs. 57 states comes to mind. Also fatigue, plus Obama, though smart and tenacious, doesn't have the mental quality Clinton did. Clinton's ability to hold, comprehend, and eloquently describe vast stores of information was unmatched by any other recent major politician I'm aware of.
Why do I say McCain is not that smart? Well, I read his thesis, and it was not very good. He pretty much repeats a couple of points throughout. There are some spelling errors, but perhaps it was typed in haste (and corrections were more of a problem in pre-computer days). Still, the overall prose is just flat as a pancake, the evil commies one-dimensional like in a bad spy movie from the 1950's.
I read Obama's book, Dreams of my Father (Audacity is to much a campaign book to bother with). The guy definitely tries hard. Not brilliant, but pretty well crafted. There is a fair bit of insight in it, and not a little information.
--We are in serious, worsening trouble.
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| parent )He's God.
--"How is the world ruled, and how do wars start? Diplomats tell lies to journalists and then believe what they read." -- Karl Kraus, 1909
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| parent )McCain is senile.
Not, 'I suspect' or 'I wonder if' or 'I fear' or 'I think there is evidence', but instead a direct assertion as though it were all truthy.
Yet, when Obama says things like "Israel is a strong friend of Israel's", you assert that this isn't a reflection of his mental faculties, but shrewd political calculation.
Perhaps you can understand why I might be a bit puzzled that you took such exception the other day on the subject of partisan views of "truthiness". You see, I wasn't being "spleeny", I was just pointing out the obvious; that the more partisan someone is, the more likely they'll perceive a lack of veracity in others not aligned with them.
Or don't the two observations highlighted above strike you as better aligned to a partisan viewpoint than a cold reading of nothing other than facts?
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )"How is the world ruled, and how do wars start? Diplomats tell lies to journalists and then believe what they read." -- Karl Kraus, 1909
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| parent )...and a figment of my imagination, ask such a question?
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )My preference would lean toward humorous exploitation rather than any definitive clinical analysis of the Bill Frist re-Terry Schiavo variety. And lord knows McCain has provided more than enough material for that, Obama not so much.
But:
I get the impression McCain isn't capable of such magnanimity in his current incarnation.
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )that you would be the first person to respond and in fact your response was pretty much what I expected. You also don't seem to have read what I wrote. Let me refresh your memory with the very first line of my post.
And I'm not talking about the one line gaffes either
Everyone does this and I don't think that says anything in particular about McCain or Obama. I'm not sure how you missed the first line of what I wrote. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt though and assume that it didn't have anything to do with your partisan leanings :)
That pretty much disposes of one of your observations. As for the other I'm perfectly willing to say that the evidence strongly suggests that McCain is senile if that makes you feel better. As for Obama perhaps you should look up the information on the rate at which mental faculties decline with age. While it's not at all unusual for someone McCains age to have suffered a significant decline it's almost unheard of in someone Obama's age. But I'm pretty sure you know that already.
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| parent )It's good to win.
The only problem is that you didn't actually dispose of my observation, yes I know you were talking about waffle making rather than gaffes. I just couldn't resist highlighting Obama's mccainism because it could be seen as a confusion on policy, if someone wanted to. I'm bad that way.
However, you did indeed see the same actions from each as being senility in one case, and political calculation in another.
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )My original post was not by any means flattering to Obama. So either you don't view political calculation and "adjustment" of ones positions as something inherently bad or your partisanship made you assume that something unflattering about Obama was of course true.
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| parent ). . .here's an opportunity to show where I'm drawing lines this time around.
Floater, that last comment header is not consistent with the "comment, not the commenter" requirement in the posting rules. Don't do that any more.
Mac, you've been pretty close to the edge in some of your replies to Floater, though I'm aware of the provocation. Please don't let him goad you into posting rules violations.
Thank you both.
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| parent )One, I would hope it was obvious that I wasn't goaded in the least. I thought it was a productive conversation that allowed me to clarify the prior pricklier exchange. Given that earlier one, I don't find anything Floater said surprising or provocative.
IOW, I'd sort of like to defend Floater in this instance, though I understand what you're saying.
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )I don't do unilateral suspensions--even temporary ones--so my warning is irrelevant unless the others agree a line has been crossed.
We both know that you're not easily wounded, but that particular approach to posting leads to angry exchanges at some point, and I'm simply announcing my position regarding it before it causes problems later. Whether it turns out to be the actual line or just one moderator's irritation threshold remains to be seen.
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| parent )'cause you're really stretching here, and there's nothing to respond to.
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )is that you don't have a response. Thanks for playing.
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| parent )I don't have a response.
[group hug]
--“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
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| parent )There are plenty of older folks that are plenty sharp (and they're guaranteed voters who don't like being told their date of birth makes them ineligible to do stuff). Meanwhile John McCain's been making mistakes for decades. The campaign's going to come down to a question of judgment, not memory loss.
Hell, even Reagan was sharp in his own way. He had no grasp of details at all, but as a veteran actor, he knew better than to ever open his mouth without knowing exactly what was going to come out of it. McCain, not so much.
--Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. -JH
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)possibly because I'm as dumb about sports as is humanly possible while still enjoying the occasional baseball game.
But I do expect the next President of the United States to have a basic understanding of current events, geography, and basic economics. McCain isn't exhibiting any of that at this time. I hope it's just fatigue and an inability to speak well extemporaneously. This country has suffered the consequences of an intellectually incurious and incompetent president: I'm not sure we can survive another four years of the same thing.
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)The football "gaffe" was just a variant on the old storyteller's technique of substituting details to please a local audience. The sort of thing lampooned here:
http://members.aol.com/berrymanp/alyrics/state.html
McCain knew full well that the team was the Packers, but since he was in Pittsburgh he substituted the Steelers. Small time hacks on the rubber chicken circuit get away with this kind of stuff all the time. Presidential aspirants are under too much scrutiny today to pull it off, but it's hardly the kind of thing that anyone should get exercised about.
As for the other gaffes: Chechoslovakia? The Iraq-Pakistan border? The man's simply ignorant, far too ignorant to be considered for a junior post at State, let alone running the show.
And, please, let's not trot out the "but he'll surround himself with competent knowlegable people" meme. We saw how well that worked out last time.
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| parent )