Republicans and the Media

John McCain
Much of the media perpetuates the myth the McCain is this honorable and tremendously decent person who has been duped by his campaign staff into running a dirty and sleazy campaign against Barack Obama. I find that a very difficult scenario to credit.

McCain’s career in the Navy was steeped in misbehavior countered by his use of the influence that he was able to command. He graduated from the Naval Academy near the bottom of his class, which would normally prevent him from any possibility of admission to flight school, yet he managed flight school admission due to the influence of his father’s position in the service. Having that influence is beyond his control; using it to his own advantage and to counter his own misconduct was his choice.

He then crashed several airplanes, and was not disqualified from flying; again acting in a reckless and immature manner and using his family’s influence to escape the consequences.

Upon returning from the war in Vietnam he immediately began talking about his experiences as a prisoner in a self aggrandizing manner, using that as a stepping stone to secure public office. There were many men who suffered just as badly as he did, but very few indeed used that experience for personal gain in the manner that John McCain has done for forty years.

He then used the influence of his father-in-law and Charles Keating to ascent to higher political office and, having gained a seat in the Senate, abused the power of that office on his benefactors’ behalf.

Having been caught in the abuse of his power he instantly assumed the mantle of righteousness, but it is difficult to credit that a lifetime of self absorbtion and influence peddling is reversed in an instant, and only because one was caught with one’s hand in the cookie jar.

And his actions behind the scenes portray that his sense of his own entitlement continues to be very high. He continues to pressure regulators on behalf of his campaign contributors, and to lose his temper and treat anyone who disagrees with him in a threatening and contemptuous manner.

“I have never been chosen as Miss Congeniality,” McCain says. No man of honor and decency brags about, takes pride in making enemies.

Sarah Palin
A considerable portion of the media is raving about Palin’s future in the Republican Party, even promoting her as the probable candidate for president in 2012. I find that thought utterly astounding.

Is Alaska so far away that they are unaware of anything that she has done as governor of that state? Do they know that she has been convicted of the abuse of the power of her office for personal purpose? Do they know that she has appointed friends and campaign contributors to offices for which they were under- or non-qualified? Do they know that she has routinely collected state funds for personal expenses? Do they not know that when it comes to religious fundamentalism she makes George Bush look like an atheist?

I realize that the last criteria makes her attractive to one wing of the Republican Party, but the media must have some clue that it also makes her unelectable as president. Can you spell Mike Huckabee?

Are they not paying attention to her blatant lies, debunked and repeated? She claims to have stopped the "Bridge to Nowhere," a lie that is refuted in the press repeatedly and yet she continues to repeat the lie. A commission finds that she abused her power, publishes a report containing the word "guilty," and she repeatedly says how relieved she is that she was found "completely innocent." This kind of delusion leads to a future presidency?

Have they not listened to this woman speak extemporaneously? She is, if anything, even less intellectually curious than George Bush. The only people who would vote for this woman are the 23% who still love George Bush; the wingnuts who see this nation as becoming a theocratic state.

If this woman is the future of the Republican Party, then the Republican Party has no future.