Wow - pretty blunt, but a lot of interesting stuff. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/18/cafferty.mccain/index.html Commentary: Is McCain another George W. Bush? NEW YORK (CNN) -- Russia invades Georgia and President Bush goes on vacation. Our president has spent one-third of his entire two terms in office either at Camp David, Maryland, or at Crawford, Texas, on vacation. His time away from the Oval Office included the month leading up to 9/11, when there were signs Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America, and the time Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans. Sen. John McCain takes weekends off and limits his campaign events to one a day. He made an exception for the religious forum on Saturday at Saddleback Church in Southern California. I think he made a big mistake. When he was invited last spring to attend a discussion of the role of faith in his life with Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, McCain didn't bother to show up. Now I know why. It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president. When asked what his Christian faith means to him, his answer was a one-liner. "It means I'm saved and forgiven." Great scholars have wrestled with the meaning of faith for centuries. McCain then retold a story we've all heard a hundred times about a guard in Vietnam drawing a cross in the sand. Asked about his greatest moral failure, he cited his first marriage, which ended in divorce. While saying it was his greatest moral failing, he offered nothing in the way of explanation. Why not? Throughout the evening, McCain chose to recite portions of his stump speech as answers to the questions he was being asked. Why? He has lived 71 years. Surely he has some thoughts on what it all means that go beyond canned answers culled from the same speech he delivers every day. He was asked "if evil exists." His response was to repeat for the umpteenth time that Osama bin Laden is a bad man and he will pursue him to "the gates of hell." That was it. He was asked to define rich. After trying to dodge the question -- his wife is worth a reported $100 million -- he finally said he thought an income of $5 million was rich. One after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has -- virtually none. Where are John McCain's writings exploring the vexing moral issues of our time? Where are his position papers setting forth his careful consideration of foreign policy, the welfare state, education, America's moral responsibility in the world, etc., etc., etc.? John McCain graduated 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His father and grandfather were four star admirals in the Navy. Some have suggested that might have played a role in McCain being admitted. His academic record was awful. And it shows over and over again whenever McCain is called upon to think on his feet. He no longer allows reporters unfettered access to him aboard the "Straight Talk Express" for a reason. He simply makes too many mistakes. Unless he's reciting talking points or reading from notes or a TelePrompTer, John McCain is lost. He can drop bon mots at a bowling alley or diner -- short glib responses that get a chuckle, but beyond that McCain gets in over his head very quickly. I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and see into his soul. George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself. He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been. I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.
Good Points. I really think the internet issue will blow up against mccain. If you don't even have the basic qualifications to be a office secretary, you probably shouldn't be running a modern country.
What I found striking, and emphasized in another thread, was that he limits himself to one event per day. That's not going to fly for a president... And this Cafferty piece really puts a huge 2x4 upside the head of the argument that "all the pundits" crowned McCain after his soundbite-o-rama this weekend.
Again, on a night where Obama looked terrible it doesn't surprise me that a clearly biased writer such as Cafferty is going off on McCain.
Obama could've just gone off his stump speech too. Should've I guess instead of trying to give thought-out answers to the questions. What's funny is that had the roles been reversed, Obama supporters would be claiming he won while McCain supporters would be attacking Obama for giving such simple and canned answers to serious questions.
iv said it before and I will say it again... After the last 8 years, if mccain wins this country deserves all the crap thats coming to it
Are you sure you know Cafferty's tome of work so well? Biased, in terms of commentaries are biased, yes. Always biased for one side? Not so sure.
No, I agree this guy will go crazy on anybody. The spiteful context of this article addressing the Bush Administration and his belief that McCain is an extension of Bush Administration is obvious, though.
I was saying this exact same thing...McCain is not only three fourths dead, but he is the most forgetful presidential candidate in United States history. Anytime Obama outshines McCain, the conservative write him off as being a gifted speaker and nothing more. McCain even forgot that he runs around with George bush at night behind the cameras doing fund raisers’ also forgot is going to continue the bush polices that have ran this country into the ground. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hnb2IrsU1Cg&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hnb2IrsU1Cg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sfkKk2C1W1c&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sfkKk2C1W1c&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Wow, I don't like the comparison to GWB but I do understand where it comes from. But two things, Mccain used his family's influence to get him into war, bush used his to get him out. so mccain wants to serve his country. now there is obviously one caveat to that and please note, I'm not knocking fighter pilots, but if I had to serve in a war, I would like to be flying planes also. but again, mccain chose to serve. secondly, I really do genuinely believe mccain cares about the country. he may not think through issues as much as we would like, but I believe he cares about all citizens.