Simple Answers to Simple Questions

Recently my friend Sophie asked in her online journal (no link, for her privacy) why so many moderates and liberals seemed fooled into a false sense of comfort for a potential President McCain. She wrote/ranted-

"When people who call themselves liberal say that they are willing to vote for McCain, it makes my skin crawl! Sorry if this describes you, but if it does, you sketch me the fuck out, dude! McCain is a creepy motherfucker with extremely creepy motherfucker policies on abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research, immigration, and expanding the US military presence abroad. Just because he has been painted as left-leaning/compassionate/whatever does not mean that it is actually true! Please read up on shit before you throw away your vote on a right-wing nutjob.

No offense to any right-wing nutjobs who may be reading this."

Part of the answer to that query is the fact that the right-wing nutjob base doesn't like him. I mean he's nutty, but is he nutty enough? They aren't convinced, even after he sold out his principles in every way to appease them. But that says more about them than it does him.

The better answer might be the fault of the liberal media, who've spent years creating the narrative of John McCain as some truth-telling maverick who's not afraid to buck the system, a reputation that hasn't been deserved for about four or five years now. It's a narrative Democrats must knock down, and the Obama speech from Virginia I posted yesterday was a good sign that they understand that.



[PS- For the heck of it, here's a link to Jon Stewart's delightfully contentious interview with the Senator from last April. Stewart is in general, of course, a reliable media ally of his.]