What Little Respect I Had For John McCain Just Evaporated

Sure, he almost inflicted Sarah Palin as Veep on us, but I still like had...12-15% respect for the old man.  He did survive Vietnam as a POW.  He did serve his country.  He has made good decisions and legislation as a Senator (the DREAM Act comes to mind.)  You do get respect for that, and he's earned that 15%.

Unfortunately in order to survive his challenge from the Teabagger right and J.D. Hayworth in the primary, John McCain has now completely disavowed John McCain, and that 15% respect I had for him just went up in smoke.  Steve Benen is rightfully merciless:

In 2008, McCain's television ads described him as "the original maverick." When McCain and Sarah Palin would routinely take different positions during their national campaign, aides insisted this was to be expected from "a couple of mavericks." A quick search of McCain's Senate website turns up several dozen references to the senator being a "maverick" -- in some cases, press releases, instead of quoting McCain by name, would simply note, "The Maverick said..." McCain's website for his Senate campaign does the same thing, using "McCain" and "Maverick" interchangeably, as if they were practically the same word.

The point, of course, was to create a McCain brand, of sorts, characterizing the conservative senator as the kind of politician who doesn't mind bucking his unpopular party from time to time.
That persona, however, no longer suits McCain's purposes. So, it's been scrapped.

Many of the GOP's most faithful, the kind who vote in primaries despite 115-degree heat, tired long ago of McCain the Maverick, the man who had crossed the aisle to work with Democrats on issues like immigration reform, global warming, and restricting campaign contributions. "Maverick" is a mantle McCain no longer claims; in fact, he now denies he ever was one. "I never considered myself a maverick," he told me.

I knew McCain was shameless. I knew he had few, if any, core beliefs. I knew he'd abandon any of his so-called principles at a moment's notice, and flip-flop on every imaginable area of public policy.

But I never thought I'd actually see McCain say, "I never considered myself a maverick."

It's as pathetic a political display as anything we've seen in quite a while. All of those political reporters who worshiped McCain circa 1999 should probably pause right about now, and appreciate the extent to which they fell for a con.

McCain's conned his way through a decade or so.  The Village bought the McMaverick story hook, line, and sinker.  Her carefully cultivated his moderate image in the Village press over years, and still cashes in on that with Sunday show appearances nearly every month, sometimes twice a month.

He's just told every single one of the Villagers that they were played like a speakeasy piano.  "I never considered myself a maverick" he says.  It was the LIBERAL MEDIA who concocted that!  I'm a Republican!

Villagers may be stupid, but they don't like being made fools of.  And everyone who carried water for their Good Friend John just got thrown under the bus today by a loser presidential candidate trying to salvage his own career as Senator.

He never considered himself a maverick.  He also never considered the Village to be his friends, either.  Most of all, he never considered the American people to be real frigging bright, too...especially if Hayworth doesn't go for the gusto and kick McCain's ass with this in commercials.  Hayworth just got handed his ticket to Washington if he's willing to bury McCain this way.

Of course, that would mean an even bigger douchebag in the Senate than Johnny Volcano.  Tough choice, there.