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John McCain has the sickness
John McCain has the sickness. Hillary Clinton had it too, and still might. It’s a fever that poisons the mind and warps a sense of propriety and decency. The fever is induced by an extended period of laying the groundwork for a run at the presidency. In McCain’s case, he started running for president in the late nineties, almost 10 years now. Hillary wasn’t overtly running for president in 2000 as McCain was, but her race for the Senate in 2000 was still the beginning of bigger plans.
When someone has spent all that time and invested that much emotional capital for all the marbles, and when they get within sight of the Oval Office, when they can practically smell it, they get stricken by the fever when a young, brilliant, talented politician appears out of nowhere in their rear-view mirror and passes them at about 80 miles an hour.
The fever, the sickness, affects them in much the same way rabies affects an infected dog. Their mind goes. Their campaigns take on a desperate, flailing quality. They lash out. Each day, they come out with truly despicable statements. McCain says Obama would rather win an election at the cost of losing a war. Hillary justifies staying in the primary race by revisiting Bobby Kennedy’s assassination. And even as they utter these obscenities it never occurs to them such statements are beneath the dignity of someone who thinks they're presidential material.
But the sickness strips its victims of any shred of dignity, or integrity, or honor, or class. They are no longer rational. They are animals backed into a corner by a smooth politician buttressed by a crisply run, well-financed campaign. And they will do and say anything to claw their way out.
McCain began selling his soul in the first Bush’s first term. He publicly embraced the man whose political team eviscerated and humiliated him in South Carolina in the 2000 primary campaign. Hillary told a deliberate lie three times, on tape, over a period of weeks, about landing under fire in Bosnia.
The sickness gripped her then, and it has infected McCain now. All their experience is rendered meaningless. All their plotting, planning, compromising, and schmoozing takes them achingly close to the prize. The football is arching toward the waiting arms of the wide-open wide receiver in the end zone. And yet, at the last second a crafty, agile, cat-quick defensive back flashes in and snatches the ball away. Interception.
If you’ve devoted eight or ten years in the latter portion of your adult life to doing little else besides running for president, that’s enough to make you sick.
Comments (50)
they get stricken by the fever when a young, brilliant, talented politician appears out of nowhere in their rear-view mirror and passes them at about 80 miles an hour.
Your words engendered a mental image of the Roadrunner speeding by, leaving Wile E Coyote in his dust.
meep meep
July 27, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fitting.
July 28, 2008 9:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
I say!
July 27, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
WOW! This is a terrific post. Rec'd.
I will attempt to take literary license with that age old adage that goes something like this, 'You cannot know the true character of a person until you are able to witness their actions and reactions when confronted with hardship and/or denial of their ambitions'.
One does not validate their honor, worth and position by tearing down another - in fact, just the opposite.
Remember, the mantle we don during adversity is truly our constant uniform.
July 27, 2008 4:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
While this is surely a true statement, I wonder what sickness caused Barack Obama to make such a boneheaded gaffe when he spoke in Jordan last week. Maybe something's going around.
Meanwhile, in London, Obama told Tom Brokaw today:
Here at TPM, another shallow Hillary-bashing post made the Recommended List.
Stupidity appears to strike both politicians and bloggers alike.
July 27, 2008 7:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hardly a gaffe, Readtoblow... Everyone knew Obama was saying the US is a friend of Israel's. It would have been gaffe-worthy if Obama had said Syria is a strong friend of Israel's -- something that we all know is untrue.
If you're going to blow a gasket, at least make it worth your while.
July 27, 2008 8:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Truth.
July 27, 2008 11:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not at all surprised you don't know what the word gaffe means, Jade.
July 28, 2008 9:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Stupidity appears to strike both politicians and bloggers alike."
As you demonstrate with your post.
July 28, 2008 6:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Congratulations, tlees2, you win the Lowest Common Denominator Award!
July 28, 2008 9:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Coming from someone with your mindset I consider that an honor.
July 28, 2008 5:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
At least I have a mindset.
July 28, 2008 10:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great post and enjoyable reading.
July 27, 2008 11:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great post, spot on.
July 27, 2008 11:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen!
July 28, 2008 2:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
"The fever is induced by an extended period of laying the groundwork for a run at the presidency." "You forgot for a run at the presidency with Barack Obama as the opponent." Because I imagine both of them would be maintain more civility and feel less rage if it was somebody else. Don't you?
July 28, 2008 2:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good post! This is why I came to a point of hating Hillary without actually hating Hillary. What I mean is, I hated her in the moment, but I forgave her overall because I felt that with all that in her circumstances, even a strong person would start to get desperate. I see it in McCain too, but I am less forgiving because I don't particularly agree with anything he stands for.
July 28, 2008 2:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
And if Hillary is Obama's VP pick, will you vote for her? Heh.
July 28, 2008 9:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think most of us would, actually.
July 28, 2008 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Then what's the point in continuing to bash her? This post got 54 recs. It's not because it's Hemingway.
July 28, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's also the intoxication of power that made them both Macbeth-like, ruthless, grasping and despicable in their pursuit of the prize. Hillary was a more idealistic ambitious woman at the start of Bill's political career, but her transformation since Bill left the White House in pursuit of the WH has been remarkable. I doubt she'll be content to remain senator of NY for the rest of her career, I have lost respect for her because she has lost herself.
July 28, 2008 5:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
I couldn't help but think of the mesmerizing, corrupting influence of the Ring in the LOTR trilogy that sickens its wearer, what an apt metaphor.
July 28, 2008 5:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
You're mixing your literary metaphors. At least both authors are British, not that that has any bearing on American culture whatsoever. But whatever.
July 28, 2008 9:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
A cultural mix-up? Not really.
All hail the Queen.
I really hope Hillary herself has learnt the lessons of her fall from grace better than did her supporters.
July 28, 2008 10:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
What planet are you living on? Hillary lost by 1% of the primary vote. Please explain to me how this is such a huge fall from grace. I know, I know that you're bitter Hillary has not crumpled into a huge ball of tears and is more powerful now than when she started running. Get over it.
Hillary's been actively working on behalf of party unity with all but the most ardent HRC haters improving her standing with the public and democrates at large, with the exception of the hardcore Clinton haters - which apparently TPM still has a lot of evidenced by the number of rec's and support. Democrats by large margins prefer the Obama-Clinton ticket as the best one to energize the party. Please don't mistake the bubble of TPM to indicate that others in the real world perecive Hillary and her impact on this race as you did.
Hopefully one day we can get to the point when original Obama supporters can talk to each other and say stop the asshattery. Until then, I'll be happy to stand in and say come to your senses. Continuing to attack Hillary only harms Obama and makes it harder to win in November.
July 28, 2008 10:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Public service announcement: don't type angry. The sentence should read:
"Hillary's been actively working on behalf of party unity improving her standing with the public and democrates at large, with the exception of the hardcore Clinton haters - which apparently TPM still has a lot of evidenced by the number of rec's and support for this post."
July 28, 2008 10:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Re: "What planet are you living on?"
From what I've ever seen, Qwerty has never been too concerned with reality.
July 28, 2008 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Lost by 1% of the vote (and this is your figure) from her original ?% of votes AHEAD of Obama starting out? Maybe some history lesson is in order?
http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/democrats/10468/time-hillary-clinton-way-ahead-in-democratic-poll/
Obviously, her supporters still *don't* get it. And yes, the kitchen sink was of course a "coup de grace" and a true class act.
Even today, gotalife, readytoblow and many others are here posting about Obama's empty rhetoric and Muslim relatives, now that's "grace".
July 28, 2008 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
No - Obama folks *still* don't get it. He won with 51% of the democratic party. newsflash - regardless of Hillary's lead that is not a blowout. DUH! Obama actively asks his supporters to refrain from continuing party divisions, and yet some folks (yourself included and the poster of this article)continue to do so. John kerry had a united democratic party behind him and still lost. Why can't you get it through your skull that continuing assaults on Hillary only helps McCain. I'm already supporting Obama and as you can tell, it's freaking highly annoying to have unecessary attacks on Hillary at this point and harmful to Obama. Egads! Why am I the one pointing this out to you? Are there no original Obama supporters that are willing to walk down the same path as their candidate?
July 28, 2008 12:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
you're right, it's not a blowout. but when you start the race down 40+ to 20 and win with 50+, that's a 30 pt swing in your favor, which IS substantial and in many ways similar to a blowout.
but i couldn't agree more with you that the enemy here is McCain not Clinton. However, pointing out that Clinton became more desperate in her attempt to win towards the end because she saw something she held so dear slipping away doesn't seem to be a particularly heinous thing to state. In some senses it's even an admission of respect since i'm sure many democrats wish the same could be said of Al Gore during the final days of the 2000 debacle. While I agree that in general the two sides should seriously put aside their differences at this point, I also think both need to get a little bit thicker skinned about statements they deem critical of their candidate. especially for all of Obama's supports since the repubs are just getting warmed up. he'll be a terrorist supporting baby-eating death-taxing french former black panther muslim gay crack-head soviet czar backed by chinese trial lawyers before the repubs are finished describing him. and i'm sure that's just what they can say on tv. the emails will be 100 times worse.
July 28, 2008 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
OMG, I never knew all that about Obama!
July 28, 2008 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
well, I haven't been able to confirm the baby-eating...yet! ;D
July 28, 2008 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like the "soviet czar" part. ;-)
July 28, 2008 2:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
And another newsflash - the way to win over holdouts is not to keep insulting them. Gotalife's post re: muslims was heinous. I am working on a response to counter the "muslim" issue since my background is very similar to Barack's in that respect.
And FYI - RTBG is not in the class of a troll like gotalife. There ARE genuine democrats that are holdouts and are not doing so by capitalizing on islamaphobia or racism but on substantive differences with him. Why the need to lower yourself to the lowest common denominator? Why not debate with RTBG on real issues vs. personal attacks on Hillary? It only continually alienates the reasonably minded Clinton supporters that take offense at these attacks.
July 28, 2008 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just so you know, dijamo, Qwerty is a troll. I say troll because I find it incredible that anyone could be so dumb and still be able to type. Don't let the pic fool you, and don't waste time with any serious arguments because I have never read anything intelligent coming from Qwerty's keyboard. I'd link to Qwerty's previous words of wisdom about Hillary, but TPM seems to have erased them. Trust me, Qwerty is here to make trouble.
The perfect example is, I have never said a word against Muslims in my life, let alone on these boards.
July 28, 2008 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know Gasket - that's why I said you are not a troll. Folks can have genuine disagreements and criticize Obama on policies and issues without resorting to trollish attacks on race or religion etc. Even when we don't see eye to eye, your opinion is genuinely held and not a front for a bigoted excuse not to support Obama. It's silly to just label anyone not already onboard with Obama or critical of him as a troll.
July 28, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, dijamo. Personally, I don't even understand the need to smear McCain this way, when there are so many substantive things to criticize him for.
July 28, 2008 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
And one last thought - Obama supporters may want to learn a thing or two about grace from their candidate. I see very little of it on this thread.
July 28, 2008 10:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
This past week, McCain met with the Dalia Lama.
Has everyone forgotten that not too many weeks ago, in speaking with reporters about his incarceration in North Vietnam, that McCain distinctly said that he "hates the gooks," that he'll hate them for the rest of his life. The man has certainly got a ticket to ride.
July 28, 2008 6:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
It appears you have the sickness...the sickness of Clinton-hate that makes you post inane attacks on Hillary that go against Obama's interests. If you want to talk about someone that is no longer rational, look in the mirror. It does no good to attack Hillary at this point in the campaign and piss off her supporters who are currently supporting Obama or may be wavering. Wake up. The campaign is now Obama vs. McCain, not Obama vs. Hillary.
July 28, 2008 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm really getting sick of the Clinton bashing. It's obvious to any rational human being that Hillary was simply using the death of Bobby Kennedy as a mile-marker in history, and that her comment had NOTHING to do with any nasty or evil motives.
Nobody but a total moron would even think such a thing.
Now, as to McCain, it's true that he does have a sickness, a sickness of the soul. As dljamo says, you people need to wake up and smell the coffee. Instead of working so hard to divide the Democratic Party on the verge of the most important election in American history, get over your own sickness and start working to UNITE the Democratic Party before it's too late.
July 28, 2008 11:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
A person as intelligent and savvy as Clinton is could easily have found a hundred different examples of 'mile-markers in history' if she wanted to. The fact that she didn't and chose that particular one is/was telling and distasteful at best. The same can be said for McCain in his attacks on Obama's patriotism. If he was truly trying to simply point out that Obama was wrong about or doesn't understand a particular policy point, then he's intelligent enough to do so in many different ways that don't suggest a lack of patriotism on Obama's part. The fact that he chooses to do so shows what his motives are in that particular line of attack. A lot of people here act as though politicians are idiots who don't know what the hell they are saying and what it means but in most cases these are some of the sharpest and most intelligent people you will encounter and they know EXACTLY what their words mean and EXACTLY what they are intending to get across. Whether they make miscalculations in how people will react to and interpret those meanings is another thing entirely but please don't try to explain away their statements saying that isn't what they meant. Everyone misspeaks sometimes but it's one thing to say the wrong word occasionally and entirely another to say the wrong thought. For reasonably intelligent people that doesn't happen very often.
July 28, 2008 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sorry people but you can either tell the truth or choose to ignore it. Hillary, god bless her, did catch a little of the "I gotta have it" disease and let a bit of her dignity slip into kitchen sink style politics. If you don't want to talk about it because it is impolitic, that's ok, just don't try and bamboozle me about it not really happening or attack my character for speaking inconvenient truths. NO ONE is saying they are better than Hillary. ANYBODY can get the 'sickness', I'm not above it and neither are you at then end of the day.
As for McCain, the bigger issue is that he is a conservative republican and as such he takes an ends justifies the means approach to life, let alone politics. He has the conservatives existential sickness that has twisted America so badly these last 25 years. That is the enemy so to speak. The bigger sickness. Let's stick to that.
July 28, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Like the story of this guy?
Consider the idea that it's not Hillary and McCain you don't like, but rather, virtually all successful U.S. politicians reaching for higher office.
You really don't have a leg to stand on if you are thinking Obama is not like this, too, and are in for a rude surprise if you read that article and other background about his "plotting."
In actuality, I've seen more than a few make a presentable argument that a lot of the mistakes McCain has made in presidential runs past and present are because he is the type that doesn't want it bad enough. I don't totally buy that argument, but it certainly makes more sense than applying it to Obama, who has shown a lot of evidence of and talent at ambition-related calculations and choices.
July 28, 2008 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, Northern Observer, I agree that Hillary did catch a little of that "sickness", as does EVERYBODY who runs for that office, but my point, which is not only correct, but completely relevant, is that she was not "using" the death of Bobby Kennedy in that manner, she was using that as a mile-marker in history, period.
I did not support Hillary, ever, nor did I support Obama, before now. I supported John Edwards, and even caucused for him, although it turns out that we were lucky he didn't get the nomination.
As for McCain, he's worse than a conservative Republican. Hagel is a conservative Republican, but he also has a conscience. McCain has none. In the final analysis, there's nothing wrong, per se, with being conservative. There's everything wrong with being a self-serving, grasping, incipient despot, which is what McCain is. McCain is also on the verge of being senile. That's a real danger to this country, if he manages to steal this election, as the Republicans have done for the last two.
Again, I say, this is the most important election in American history. We have no time for divisive politics. The Democratic Party must be united for this battle. The Supreme Court hangs in the balance, the survival of the Bill of Rights even hangs in the balance. Leave Hillary alone, save your attacks for McCain, and get behind Obama to win this.
July 28, 2008 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Incidently, why is it so hard to get an e-mail address for TPM?
July 28, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
There should be a "Send Comments and News Tips" link at the top of each TPM page. That link is an email address.
July 28, 2008 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
That link doesn't give me an e-mail address. It takes me to some sort of page to set up something or other, which I am not able to do. There is no e-mail address though.
Thanks though.
webmaker02
July 28, 2008 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
oh. I thought you were going to say Alzheimer's.
July 28, 2008 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
I might also add that I noticed one thing in particular at the caucuses. The Edwards people were very professional and polite, as were the Clinton people. The only rude people I met there were Obama supporters. I think it's obvious that if we are going to win this election, the Obama supporters need to listen to their candidate, who is busy praising Hillary at every opportunity, and turn their malice on McCain, who deserves it.
July 28, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
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