Time's Joe Klein and the Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan are the two latest mainstream pundits to be just utterly shocked at the way that John McCain is conducting his campaign. Sullivan is particularly hard-hitting:
For me, this surreal moment - like the entire surrealism of the past ten days - is not really about Sarah Palin or Barack Obama or pigs or fish or lipstick. It's about John McCain. The one thing I always thought I knew about him is that he is a decent and honest person. When he knows, as every sane person must, that Obama did not in any conceivable sense mean that Sarah Palin is a pig, what did he do? Did he come out and say so and end this charade? Or did he acquiesce in and thereby enable the mindless Rovianism that is now the core feature of his campaign?
So far, he has let us all down. My guess is he will continue to do so. And that decision, for my part, ends whatever respect I once had for him. On core moral issues, where this man knew what the right thing was, and had to pick between good and evil, he chose evil. When he knew that George W. Bush's war in Iraq was a fiasco and catastrophe, and before Donald Rumsfeld quit, McCain endorsed George W. Bush against his fellow Vietnam vet, John Kerry in 2004. By that decision, McCain lost any credibility that he can ever put country first. He put party first and his own career first ahead of what he knew was best for the country.
The pressure is on now....not on John McCain (although it should be) but on the American media. Are we up to the job? More on that later.
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guess Will just couldn't take all the Republicans agreeing with him on the casino - needed to post Democratic talking points instead. This lipstick on a pig thing is such a non-story. It was a shot by Obama that was delivered so poorly it was laughable. What really concerns me is what does Bunch mean about the pressure is now on the American media - to do what? Influence the outcome of the election by any means possible?— bird11- Comment removed.
I can't wait until he says "let's call a spade a spade" again and the whole "lipstick on a pig" thing comes back at him tenfold.— FMT- Comment removed.
- Yeah, cause if there's one thing that's lacking, it's the media cheerleading for Obama.— Ramon
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- are we ever going to see an election campaign take the high road in our life times. I'm sick of both candidates and it's only Sept.— Molly
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- nothing we can do, but sit back and watch the implosion. it is inevitable. All this momentum, all this bluster coming from the right, is nothing but the aftermath of last week's pep rally. they have done ntohing since, but resort to the Karl (i should be in jail) Rove campaign program. Run out the insults, lie, spread fear and hide your new VP candidate while you still have momenetum. That's the blueprint. Hey the guy was heroic in the war, but so were thousands of other US soldiers, does that mena they are candidates to be President. Your character is not not defined by the honor you demonstrated in one crisis. it's defined over your lifetime, by all your exeriences. he's a mess now. A disgrace. every time anyone even remotely associated with the Democrats makes a mistake, Obama stands up and takes the heat or condems the perpetrator. John McCain has done NOTHING and said nothing. Not about the muslim rumor, not about the insults. NOTHING. It's sickening. not only does he vote with Bush, he runs his campaign the same way. and it's not more of the same? Please!!— gee1971
- Sullivan and Klein are the two most hysterical, desperate Obama backers out there. Klein accused McCain of being funded primarily by Jews (a throwback of a smear against both McCain and the Jewish people) and Sullivan has been at the forefront of spreading every debunked rumor about Palin. These are not authorities you want to be citing, Will.— bon
- It's a post about John McCain. You're the ones bringing up Palin. Your nominee is the laughing stock of your party. When's the last time he took a stand against his own party? When he mentioned climate change in his acceptance speech? Sarah will take care of that mistake. By the time the debates roll around, he'll abandon that plank too.— SteveMG
- "McCain endorsed George W. Bush against his fellow Vietnam vet, John Kerry in 2004. By that decision, McCain lost any credibility that he can ever put country first" So every Vietnam vet must vote for McCain? What is the point of mentioning "fellow Vietnam Vet" other than to say all vets must endorse each other? Doesn't make sense.— Ramon
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
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