« previous | TPM CAFÉ READER POSTS HOME | next »
John McCain did the right thing. Can I get an "Amen!"?
Anyone who was getting terrified of where the McCain/Palin crowds were going, anyone who really hopes that Barack Obama is going to change how we think about politics, and anyone who wants Michelle to have a husband and Malia Ann and Natasha to have a father, should just pause and say a quiet, "Thank You" to Sen. McCain.
Instead, the responses to the video of McCain telling his crowd to back off are greated with a level of vitriol that makes the craziness of the McCain/Palin crowds seem rather normal.
If we can only hurl disdain and disgust at Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin, thinking perhaps that blogposts rather than rallies are somehow a more proper venue for venting our anger, then what in the world gives us the right to stand in judgment of others?
Oh, and for my fellow TPMers who think that those of us who say things like "Amen," are just a bunch of brainless buffoons, can I still ask for an "Oh Yeah!" rather than an "Amen!"?
Comments (21)
No, you may not.
Will you take an "about fucking time the Secret Service had a talk with you, you old hatemonger."
October 10, 2008 9:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll give you an "Amen." (I always liked those Egyptians.) But I'm pretty sure it was the Secret Service, not any real sense of decency.
October 10, 2008 9:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I see no reason to disagree with you both about the likely role of the Secret Service. The origins of his motivations, however, are irrelevant to the importance of his actions.
October 10, 2008 9:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
anyway, Amen
October 10, 2008 9:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I do actually commend him for what he did today, took some guts even though it was probably political.
October 10, 2008 10:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen (and I'm agnostic)! Thank you! I was just about to blog on this topic myself, but you have said exactly what I was thinking. McCain just did what many of the people here were complaining he didn't do, and then they complain when he does do it?
When people do the right thing, they do the right thing, regardless of motives. We'll see how the tone of the rest of the campaign goes, but this is a welcome development.
It scared me reading the responses to that video. If you all laughed at McCain actually stepping up and doing the right thing, try to think harder about this. I still think he would make a terrible president, but he tried to fight ignorance and hatred. There's nothing wrong with that.
Rec'd.
October 10, 2008 10:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, sorry... if John McCain was the "leader" he claims to be, he never would have strolled down this path in the first place.
To have spent the better part of a week -- at least -- drumming up the fury of his crowd to just shy of lynch mob, and to offer this statement -- tepid at best given the earlier fury of his rhetoric and Palin's and his campaign staff's -- and now for ANYONE to expect congratulations for this stunt is patently ludicrous.
John McCain get no pass on this. No how, no way, not from me and not from you. He does not deserve it.
October 10, 2008 10:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not saying he deserves a pass for everything else he's done. I just don't think he deserves anger and ridicule for this. He did the right thing in that situation.
October 10, 2008 10:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Try to see it through this perspective:
John McCain wants you to give him credit for the surge and whatever success it may have had after cheerleading and promoting that unnecessary war.
If he had done the right thing in the first place -- gone all Mr. Mavericky on it -- he would have opposed it and 4200 of the troops he claims to love so dearly would still be alive.
Why should you give him credit for doing the right thing by calling off his dogs now when he never should have set them on you in the first damn place?
That's not honorable or commendable behavior. And he should feel the consequences for once.
October 10, 2008 10:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think we have to applaud him, it's just that there is no reason to disparage him for THIS. He's done far far far more harm than he has done good and I'm 99% positive that will continue, but THIS PARTICULAR instance he did something that will do more good than harm. The instinctual reaction is to be cynical and try to turn everything against him, but let's wait until he does something bad to criticize him.
October 10, 2008 10:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
That came out a little wrong. We don't really have to wait until he does something bad, because he has already done tons of bad stuff and that is fair game- It's just that this isn't one of the bad things.
October 10, 2008 10:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
He did the right thing at that particular moment but it's not enough. He's still running the same ads and he and Palin are still using the same talking points that fuel the fire.
October 10, 2008 10:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Absolutely, we'll see how the campaign goes from here. He has run a despicable campaign thus far and it speaks to his lack of character. His campaign was what started the fire. Whenever he adds fuel, that deserves criticism (and may point to double-speak and hypocrisy).
It's just troubling to see some people giving him shit for doing something right for once this campaign. It's not that anyone should forget the bad parts or give him a standing ovation for this, it's just that there is no reason to act like this is some kind of a negative thing.
October 10, 2008 10:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think there's good reason to question his motives for doing it thought. Did he say what he did because it was the right thing? Or did he say it because polls are showing all the hate speech is turning voters against him, rather than against Obama?
In the past, he's apologized for mistakes he made in campaigns, but it seemed that he did it to preserve his own political future. If he had been truly sorry for taking the low road in the past, would he still be doing it now?
I'll freely admit to the fact that I'm a cynic.
October 10, 2008 10:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree it's probably the wrong reasons. Regardless of his motives, it just scared me seeing people getting pissed and ridiculing him for doing the right thing. I can completely understand that reaction, but if we can't see that McCain did something right, how can we expect the other side to see the things that Obama does right?
October 10, 2008 10:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. There's a little bit of (justifiable) McCain hatred overruling intellectual honesty here. (My initial reaction was to do the same thing.) If folks were worried about the effects of indulging the hateful rhetoric, then McCain doing something to diminish that, however belatedly and however contaminated by ulterior motives, is an effectively positive act. It was the act possible and desired at this point in time.
That being said, this certainly doesn't equal the effectively negative acts performed by McCain up to this point. And I suspect it will continue to be the exception to the rule. We'll see.
October 10, 2008 10:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think I'm standing on the bridge here. I am grateful that he was willing to humble himself to the point of correcting those people who are afraid of Obama, because I've been terrified for Obama's safety. However, I smell a rat and will be watching with great interest what happens next week with how they continue to paint Obama. He may just be attempting to put himself above the muck and let Palin and the RNC keep stoking the furnace.
I don't think it was so much Secret Service as the senior members of the RNC may have told him to knock it off because he was bringing shame to the party. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was a bitter pill because he looked as old as I've ever seen him when he was having to deliver the message.
October 10, 2008 10:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm less terrified for Obama's safety than I am for the safety of other black people and Muslims and Arabs. O's got round the clock Secret Service protection, complete with metal detectors and bomb sniffing dogs. The crazies will go after whoever they can get.
October 10, 2008 10:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have been brought up on the stories of the noble Secret Service. I'd like to think they had a little "come to Jesus" meeting with the Senator to remind him that he was sliming ANOTHER sitting Senator who was entitled to the same respect he was.
Now let's see if the GIDWF (Gov I don't wanna f... ) received the gospel at the same time. 5 gets you 10 she'll go all mavericky and keep it up.
October 11, 2008 12:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, "My Friend", if you've ever, as a person of color, stared down an angry, violent, racist mob whipped into a frenzy due to false pretenses as I have, you would already know that this is a fire that is not so easily put out and the flipping of a switch you can't conveniently turn off.
Amen? Hell No. The Devil is a liar? You betcha!
October 11, 2008 3:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
You should read the comments here. No one is saying that a switch has been flipped and that all is ok.
October 11, 2008 3:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Post a Comment