Friday, October 24, 2008

Why Adoring Pundits Missed the Collapse of John McCain

[A big welcome to Maru's readers - F]

This is soooo good you'll want to touch yourself...

Brent Budowsky

My colleague at The Hill, A.B. Stoddard, said on MSNBC that McCain was unlucky. No, A.B., it was not bad luck that did McCain in, it was miserable judgment, bad decisions, bad policies, an angry demeanor. It was not bad luck that led McCain to say the economy was strong and sound while it collapsed; it was that McCain was on another planet than most Americans. It was not bad luck that led McCain to pick Palin, it was bad, miserable, small-minded judgment to pick a right-wing know-nothing, which I and others immediately wrote would be a total disaster. It was not bad luck that led McCain to be confused about economic policy, to have a ridiculous airlift into urgent negotiations over the bailout that made him look like the Keystone Cops.

Picking Sarah Palin was a farce destined to fail, a farce by a McCain who did not know or vet the person he chose, a farce that put a shallow, vindictive and often ignorant person who has no business being a heartbeat away from the presidency in precisely that position. It wasn't bad luck, it was a small-minded decision done in the most incompetent manner with the most predictable result.

This was a decision that McCain had months to plan for. This was the only presidential decision that a nominee will ever make. Barack Obama may have chosen someone who talks too much, but he chose a president. John McCain chose someone who is a joke.

The nation wants Franklin Roosevelt, and McCain gives them Joe McCarthy. It is not a matter of luck; it is a failure of temperament and presidential character and judgment.

You'll enjoy the rest too.

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