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‘A surprisingly immature politician’

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John McCain has always seemed to revel in the sycophantic adulation he’s enjoyed among the media elite, so it’s kind of fascinating to see McCain’s one-time media fans realize that he’s not the man they thought he was.

The first, and probably most notable, was Time’s Joe Klein, who conceded last week that he was wrong to believe McCain is an “honorable man.” Soon after, writing on the inanity of McCain’s attacks against Barack Obama, Klein’s headline read, “The Scum Also Rises.”

It looks like Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter has joined the club, noting with noticeable regret that he “misread McCain.”

In the middle of John McCain’s dopey Britney & Paris attack ad, the announcer gravely asks of Barack Obama: “Is He Ready to Lead?” An equally good question is whether McCain is ready to lead. For a man who will turn 72 this month, he’s a surprisingly immature politician — erratic, impulsive and subject to peer pressure from the last knucklehead who offers him advice. The youthful insouciance that for many years has helped McCain charm reporters like me is now channeled into an ad that one GOP strategist labeled “juvenile,” another termed “childish” and McCain’s own mother called “stupid.” The Obama campaign’s new mantra is that McCain is “an honorable man running a dishonorable campaign.” Lame is more like it. And out of sync with the real guy. […]

McCain is patently insincere when his heart’s not in it, like a little boy who eats his peas when his parents tell him to but remains transparently unhappy about the experience. It’s not clear how committed McCain himself is to this latest assault on Obama. Does he genuinely believe that Obama is an out-of-control egomaniac who thinks he’s Moses? McCain no doubt comforts himself that the ad making that argument — an argument that is beneath a major-party candidate for president — was not part of a big media buy but just chum thrown to the media piranhas via the Drudge Report. […]

On the night of the 2000 South Carolina primary, I was in his hotel suite and watched Cindy weeping over what Rove and his goons did. Her husband was plenty mad, too. Now he’s got Rove’s protege, Steve Schmidt, running his campaign.

Alter concludes that McCain “mortgaged his precious personal honor.” I think that absolutely true, but I still get the sense that even newly-critical McCain detractors are still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. At least a little.

Alter’s piece is a very good one, so I’m reluctant to criticize it, but his column still argues that McCain is being fundamentally led astray by Republican hatchetmen giving him bad advice.

McCain, Alter argues, is waging a negative and dishonest campaign, but this is “out of sync with the real guy.” McCain may be on the attack, but his “heart’s not in it.” He’s foolishly taking the advice of “knuckleheads.” It’s that darn Steven Schmidt who deserves most of the blame.

I even realize why Alter wants to think McCain is only partially responsible for his ugly turn — if media figures respected and admired McCain, and sang his praises for the last decade, and all the while McCain was really just a shameless Republican hack, playing the media for fools, it’s hard to accept. If, however, McCain is really a great guy underneath, but has been corrupted by a dishonorable and pathetic Republican machine, then there’s some comfort in knowing that reporters hadn’t misjudged his character all along.

But I’m quite certain they did. McCain was playing a role, and the media bought it. Kevin explained quite well the other day why this it’s-not-McCain’s-fault argument misses the mark.

Apparently he’s just a straight talking guy who woke up one morning and found himself mysteriously under the sway of a vile cabal of political hit men and unable to do anything about it.

Enough’s enough. McCain hired Steve Schmidt, he approves the strategy, and he signs off on the ads. If his campaign is mired in sleaze, it’s not happening despite McCain, it’s happening because of McCain. Stop making excuses for him.

Quite right. McCain hired Rove’s operation for a reason: he really wants to be president, and doesn’t much care how he gets there.

It’s nice, I suppose, to examine all of this and think McCain is just the latest good guy to go bad, but I think this is fundamentally flawed. John McCain simply is not a man of strong character.

Comments

  • skeptic

    says:

    Even if the Washington press corps still wants to believe that McCain is a nice guy — and anyone who has followed his career in Arizona doesn’t believe that — they really need to focus in on what it means for a McCain presidency.

    Is ultra-valorous war hero John McCain such a wimp that he can be pushed around by Rove groupies? How will he stand up to the Cheney cabal that will still have its fingers in the government if he is so weak? Those are the questions that McCain’s tongue bathers need to start asking.

  • TR

    says:

    The press reminds me of a battered wife on COPS. “He’s a good man, officer! He didn’t mean it! He just fell in with a bad crowd!”

  • zhak

    says:

    You know, nobody is asking the obvious question here — would anyone want the country being run the way McCain’s campaign is being run?

    Because modern-day Republicans can’t distinguish between governance & politics, so this is very much a preview of the sort of thing we have to look forward to. Lucky us!

  • lou

    says:

    If the McCain campaign can ask if Obama is ready to be president, then I think it is equally valid for the Obama campaign to ask if McCain is mentally fit to be president. Some of this language — “surprisingly immature politician — erratic, impulsive and subject to peer pressure from the last knucklehead who offers him advice” — is teasing around the edge of asking the big questions about McCain’s psychological defects. Some of these characteristics are very close matches to those of Bush Jr.

    When is one of these journalists going to pull the trigger and do an in depth analysis of McCain’s mental fitness? “Erratic and impulsive” scare me enough.

  • Prup (aka Jim Benton)

    says:

    I agree that McCain is a shameless opportunist — see my comments in the MLK Holiday thread — but there is no reason to argue about it, since it doesn’t really matter which is the ‘real’ John McCain. If the media wants to keep from admitting how bad they were fooled, let them. What matters is how pathetic he is now — not whether ‘the McCain of 2000 would vote for the McCain of 2008.’

  • Stevio

    says:

    Alter is a dolt. Coming to realize (from his perspective) that McAce is just being “Lead along by Rovarian goons” says much more than an admittance of shock over what McAce “was/is now”. Let’s say for the sake of argument that Alter’s right, that McAce is under the spell of goons. That to me is more worrisome than the fact (which by the way I believe is closer to the truth) that the old guy is just a crummy human. Either way he’s not presidential. He’s either a mean spirited bastard in the mold of Bushit and darth Cheney, or he’s a smallish follower who is presently being controlled by the same cabal who brought us the past eight years of morass. Either way Alter should be much more critical of the evidence being presented. Much, much, more critical…

  • Mathew

    says:

    “Even if the Washington press corps still wants to believe that McCain is a nice guy … ”

    I don’t even think it’s that. I agree with what Steve said above. These media outlet reps been played by McCain all these years. To turn on him now would require them to acknowledge they’ve been taken. They won’t admit their error to their readers, much like Bush cannot admit invading Iraq was a stupid idea.

    I wouldn’t be too surprised if their ‘good guy led astray’ meme is actually coming from a wing of McCain’s campaign, apparently realizing their current strategy is sinking their candidate.

  • Racer X

    says:

    The press does know, I hope, that McCain’s nickname used to be “McNasty”.

    Ask yourselves how much character it takes to divorce a disabled mother of two for a half-your-age beer heiress, and then call that woman a “cunt” in front of reporters.

    How about telling jokes about how ugly Chelsea Clinton is?

    How about telling a “funny” joke about a woman being raped by an ape?

    How about joking about kicking off another quagmire?

    The character of the man is clear as day. The press corpse seems reluctant to ask if you can be a “war hero” and a creep. I think its plainly obvious that you can, and he is.

  • Kathie

    says:

    Alter says:

    For a man who will turn 72 this month, he’s a surprisingly immature politician — erratic, impulsive and subject to peer pressure from the last knucklehead who offers him advice.

    What does he think, that the Rove crowd made him erratic, impulsive and subject to peer pressure?

    I am sincerely looking forward to the first Obama/McCain debate where Obama is going to hand McCain his head on a platter after the first question. McCain can bluster and fuss with the media and they will back off but I do not see Obama doing it.

    McCain can spend all of his leftover money on these stupid ads before the Republican Convention. Obama will outshine him in the debates and he will out organize him on the ground.

  • hark

    says:

    What’s amazing is the public remains entirely ignorant of the fact that McCain is a fraud, even though it’s right in front of them day after day.

    But they “know,” or secretly suspect, that Obama is a Muslim. Did anyone see the segment CNN ran late Friday afternoon? They asked some rednecks from Tennessee why they thought he was a Muslim. The answers were disturbing. Even more disturbing was the detached attitude CNN took – they’d ask the respondent if he believed Obama was a Muslim. The guy would say, “Yes.” Then they’d say, “But Obama says he’s a Christian,” or, “But he says he’s not a Muslim. How do you answer that?” Look – it’s a fact that Obama is a Christian, always was. It’s not an opinion. CNN should have said so, not turned it into a he said – she said dispute. Why did they do this? It’s baffling. It’s their job, their responsibility to present the facts to the public, to dig for them, to research the issues, to present evidence where it exists.

  • Nashville_fan

    says:

    The real question is why does the media allow their PERSONAL feelings about and relationships with John McCain effect their coverage of his campaign?

    There is SO MUCH that is just NOT REPORTED about John McCain that there is just NO WAY it is not deliberate.

    Very unethical and sad.

  • Nashville_fan

    says:

    hark,

    I too noticed to odd wording of the question CNN used – reminded me of Hillary Clinton saying that Senator Obama wasn’t a Muslim “as far as she knew”.

    But of course, we aren’t supposed to notice that.

  • Prup (aka Jim Benton)

    says:

    Kathie:
    Remember one thing I pointed out a few days ago. Obama has been serving in the Senate with mcCain for four years. He has seen him up close on a daily basis, and he knows what can set him off — the way you probably know how to ‘pull the chain’ of a fellow employee or a neighbor. And he’s shown to be someone who uses his intellect very well.

    Watch him drive McCain into a historic meltdown that will make Admiral Stockdale’s performance look good in comparison.

  • Maria

    says:

    Alter can’t quite take that last step. Let’s say that McCain is at heart a decent guy (an assessment that Alter and other former McCain groupies are going to be forced to abandon long before November) who’s being led astray by less ethical advocates.

    In that case, McCain’s allowing this to happen. Who’s in charge here? He’s choosing to get into bed with and embrace the tactics of the same people who viciously smeared him in 2000 because–what? He can’t say no to people? The same John McCain who’s famed for brooking no disagreement in the Senate? The same guy who’s renowned for his out-of-control temper when he doesn’t get what he wants? That guy’s being run roughshod over by unscrupulous campaign operatives?

    Please.

    John McCain will do or say anything, embrace any means, for his end of becoming president (motto: “Elect Me–Because I Want It”). If he were an actual victim here, that would speak differently but no more flatteringly of his inability to lead. No one bought the silly argument that Hillary Clinton would head the country more effectively than she did her campaign, so why should Alter and his buds pretend that this kind of nonsense from McCain, who’s running a similarly incompetent but far more malicious campaign than Clinton did, doesn’t raise red flags galore about this man’s suitability for the highest office?

    McCain’s campaign shows abysmal judgment on his part if given the very kindest possible interpretation. Given an interpretation more based in reality, it shows a good deal worse than that.

  • SF

    says:

    Steve: I agree, tho’ I’ve always thought McC a phony. I respect the perseverance and guts required to survive the Hanoi Hilton, but those were his finest hours, and before and since — irresponsibility [crashed planes, etc.], vicious temper, bullying, wasting opportunities and sliding through at the bottom of a very large graduating class, abandoning his first wife for a rich babe, the Keating Five, opposing MLK Day, etc. — have shown his true, unfettered character. He’s creepy and duplicitous, abuses women verbally and legislatively — yuck. But this post begins, possibly, to explain the otherwise unexplainable: why MSM has been sympathetic, incl. smart guys like Alter: I bet they were genuinely appalled by how Rove mauled the McC’s in 2000, and have privately wished for redress since. It’s understandable, although obviously it blinded them to what is a character of really low, low ethics and standards.

  • zeitgeist

    says:

    I still think McCain can be totally wiped out with a single, exceedingly hard-hitting ad – one that will drop his support into the 20’s overnight. Form a 527 called “Parents for Decency in Politics,” have it run an ad – it may have to be 60, 90 or even 120 seconds to do it right, but block it on all major channels the same evening – maybe the night after the Republican convention.

    [soft fade to a properly but not stuffily dressed shot of Kathy and Rick Hilton]

    Our daughter Paris is only 27. Britney Spears is only 26. Neither have anything to do with politics, and neither has done anything to John McCain.

    [cut to split screen, one side showing infamous ad; the other flashing quotes from critics that the ad was “childish,” “juvenile”]

    [cut to Hillary Clinton]

    But I guess John McCain’s latest isn’t surprising from someone who once joked about my daughter, then in her awkward teenage years, [photo of young Chelsea] that she was so ugly you could tell Janet Reno was her father. I’m sure he thought that was just having fun, too.

    [cut to Janet Reno]

    And of course, he laughed when one his reporters used an insulting term to describe Hillary

    [tape of the “bitch” question if it exists]

    [cut to Chuck Hagel]

    John McCain’s willingness to lie about Barack Obama’s trip to the Middle East and Europe has been a real disappointment for me. As a Republican Senator who has known both John and Barack a long time, I know the truth, and I expected John would stick to the truth.

    [again, show the split screen with the ad on one side, critical reviews on the other]

    [cut to Colin Powell]

    And I didn’t think he would politicize the military the way he has done.

    [cut to Harold Ford]

    But I’m not surprised that he hired the same campaign team who ran a vicious smear against me.

    [flash headlines callingCall Me ad racially-themed etc]

    Look familiar?

    [split screen with the “Call me” ad portion of Ford and blondes with the Obama/Hilton/Spears portion]

    [back to Mr. & Mrs. Hilton]

    As Republicans, businesspeople, and former contributors to John McCain, we are disappointed that he is running a campaign that diminishes the importance of the Presidency

    [show quotes from other Republicans slamming on McCain’s recent campaign]

    [Bring in the Clintons with the Hiltons]

    As parents, we’re angry that John McCain seems to think it is acceptable to joke about other people’s daughters. No parent should think that John McCain is acceptable to lead.

    [cut back to Hagel]

    perhaps some of John’s Senate colleagues were right all along.

    [show quotes from Cochran, etc about McCain’s temper and not wanting him near the button]

    [bring all of the speakers and more – Chelsea, Cleland, any Republicans willing to defect on record, etc into one shot against a white background. Bill Clinton can narrarate]

    This country faces real issues that will take real leadership. The time for joking around, for slinging insults, for avoiding the hard problems is past

    [flash negative headlines about the economy, crime, oil, climate, trade, war]

    And yet John McCain gives us this

    [montage of all of the McCain/anti-McCain material shown above, ending on joke about Chelsea being ugly]

    [final line delivered by anyone but a Clinton or Kerry – a Republican would be ideal]

    John, you of all people should know: before you can be a decent President, you have to be a decent human being.

    [fade to black in silence]

    It would make being a McCain supporter radioactive. He would be done in two minutes. Forever.

  • sparrow

    says:

    An honorable man running a dishonorable campaign? While the reverse is possible, the former isn’t possible. What it clearly demonstrates to me is how deeply Alter swallowed the BS that he now offers up the reader an oxymoron.

  • joey

    says:

    McCain will lie all the way through the debates just as Bush did as there is no fact checking or evidence of lying allowed.
    What is wrong with these McCain supporters. Would they really want this “personality” to represent America?? McCain has always been about the show. These journalist were allowed into the world of the millionaires and shown their made up place as always having access to it. Like having access to front row tickets to a Laker’s game, the press doesn’t want to give that up or look at it as a bribe.
    Perform for the cameras…now perform for the reporters. What was
    Alter doing in Cindy McCain’s private arena anyway…special access.

    When will the MSM stop being another arm of the government and the campaigns and start being educated informed journalists and government and campaign watchdogs again

  • Davis X. Machina

    says:

    Was it Billmon? Brad DeLong? Who was it who kept on saying ‘the Cossacks work for the Tsar, whenever this noble-ruler-sandbagged-by-evil-courtiers shit started up around Bush?

    The Cossacks work for the Tsar, Mr. Alter.

  • Gaucho Politico

    says:

    It is possible that McCain is a good guy who was led astray but that in itself should disqualify him as a potential president. America would not want a leader so easily manipulated by those around them. So either McCain is a bad guy or he cant stand up to the bad men he hired, either way he should not be president.

    Oh and that same newsweek edition has more of the excuse mccain line of thought in Here We Go Again.

    http://www.newsweek.com/id/150578/page/1

    “As much as McCain, Obama has called for a new kind of politics that rises above partisan backbiting. But he, or more commonly his surrogates, routinely take potshots at McCain. Indeed, the McCain advisers insist they are just fighting fire with fire by aggressively going after Obama. They note, for instance, that when a radio host warming up a McCain rally pointedly used Obama’s middle name (Hussein), McCain repudiated the remarks and called for an apology. But when another radio host at an Obama rally called McCain a “warmonger,” Obama did not personally disavow the comment. (Instead his campaign dismissed the remark in a press release.) “It has not escaped our attention that since the Indiana primary, Senator Obama has not given a speech in which he hasn’t attacked John McCain,” says McCain strategist Mark Salter. “We’re no longer going to put up with that.”

  • Roq

    says:

    The media’s reluctant and incomplete criticism has nothing to do with McCain and what they do/want to believe about him still. Nor does it have to do with whether they really think he’s being puppeteered by Real Bad People. It has to do with them. They continue to give him a little wiggle room because they’re not yet willing or able to recognize their own complicity in sculpting his utterly false patina of honor. That’s why Alter et al can’t *quite* come out with it.

    That may change, but given their inability to acknowledge their own fault re: the Iraq war 6 years later, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

  • Drew P

    says:

    McCain should no longer be allowed to squeeze any mileage out of his POW service. Whatever “character” he had then has been superceded by nearly 30 years of personal and political skulduggery. Indeed, it would be like refusing to question Duke Cunningham’s character on the basis that he was an Eagle Scout 40 years ago.

    Here’s to hoping that an Obama surrogate will have the intestinal fortitude to compare McCain’s character to that of the Dukestir’s.

  • doubtful

    says:

    zeitgeist,

    I like your themes. Probably too long for one ad, but it would make a great series.

    I wonder if we could get Cindy McCain to go on records about the lovely pet names he uses for her.

  • Lance

    says:

    Jonathan Alter wrote: “On the night of the 2000 South Carolina primary, I was in his hotel suite and watched Cindy weeping over what Rove and his goons did. Her husband was plenty mad, too. Now he’s got Rove’s protege, Steve Schmidt, running his campaign.”

    The dictionary defines a ‘Maverick’ as a herd animal that has not YET been branded. If you look now, you’ll find the (many) brands on John Sidney McCain.

  • Linda in Oregon

    says:

    As I said when Hillary was running (in the mud) I’ll say again about McCain:

    My America’s too important to hand over to a liar.

    C’mon, folks – We’ve seen for the past 8 years what you get when you elect a liar and a cheat who wins anyway he can, “because it works”.

    I hope we can prove we’ve learned our lesson.

  • earthworx

    says:

    I think Zhat (comment #3) has developed a meme that if democrats push, will keep republicans on the defensive until Election Day. Namely, that republicans govern as if their constantly on campaign, no sound policy just fallicies and sound bites. Given the dishonest way McCain is running his campaign, the Obama campaign can develop a series of devastating ads comparing the mendacity of the McCain (and previously Bush’s campaigns) with the lies, venality, and incompetence that has so permeated contemporary republican policy.

    Imagine a series of ads saying if this is how McCain campaigns, can we really trust him to be honest with the American people in a time of war? Juxatopose the voice-over with images leading up to and including the Iraq war. The Obama campaign can develop similar ads on the economy, energy, foreign policy, etc. all leading to the central meme that if McCain is so willing to lie (Rovian 101) as part of his campaign, can he be trusted to be straight with the American people if required. And of course use the image of him embracing Bush much as the infamous “The Kiss” float which followed Lieberman during his senate campaign.

  • oldblevins

    says:

    Whether McCain is easily manipulated, off his rocker, a reformed maverick, or just another Republican misses the point. He was a Reagan foot-soldier, a supply-sider, a friend of the robber barons. As a senator, his support was not needed for every vote, so being a “maverick” was politically safe. But now he has gone all the way to the dark side, he is one of them.He has signed up for the anti-tax, anti-regulation, anti-oversight, anti-healthcare, anti-worker, anti-American agenda. No matter what he says or does as a candidate, if he is elected, the class warfare will continue unabated. It may continue even without him, but he is definitely part of the problem.

  • libra

    says:

    I think the press needs to be fed more BBQ. If Howard Kurtz is getting peeved about reporters being denied access to the candidate, the world must be coming to an end. Amusingly, while he notes that Obama is also not all that easy to approach, he doesn’t hold it against Barack, because Barack had been like that from the very beginning. McCain, OTOH is almost accused of betrayal, because it’s a new wrinkle for him.
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/03/AR2008080301851.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns

  • Bruno

    says:

    Drew P @ 26 said:……McCain should no longer be allowed to squeeze any mileage out of his POW service. Whatever “character” he had then…

    What makes you think that McCain had any character then? His nickname “McNasty” while at the academy BEFORE being a POW, kind’a is proof there wasn’t any character to begin with.

    for all we know McCain cried like a baby and was glad to make those propaganda movies for the VietCong. There weren’t any witness who can attest to McCain’s ‘character’ under duress.

  • Bruno

    says:

    Maybe Tom Cleaver can get together with some of his Hollywood contacts and help put Zeitgeist‘s scenario on film.

    I’m sure with some editing it can be accomplished. I agree that it would do some major damage to McCain.

    Along the same lines, it would be a good narrative to put one together showing how Republicans have smeared and mocked TRUE ‘war veterans’

    Purple heart band aides at their convention and mocking someone with combat experience.

    McClellan and how he was treated

    Cutting of benefits for current Veterans

    Deplorable facilities that should resemble hospitals.

    etc… I’m sure I”m forgetting some more Veterans who were on the wrong side of their scorn from the Republicans.