A Boston-area Republican strategist explains in the Boston Globe why he thinks McCain would be a better president than Obama. His arguments are, IMO, silly, and a denial of reality. I just want to look at some of his language (emphasis added):
John McCain is a gambler and knows that just because the odds are against him doesn’t mean he can’t win. Maybe an ace will fall from his sleeve. …
…McCain wasn’t successful in the bailout crisis either, but he’s proven that he can forge bipartisan alliances and persevere even when mocked by insolent bystanders. More than any other senator, he has proven that he’s not afraid to take risks for his country.
At least the strategist didn’t once use the word “maverick.” However, I don’t see any “bipartisan alliances” that McCain himself forged lately, and whatever risks he took these past few days were for his political career, not his country.
I say being unafraid is greatly overrated. Being unafraid is not the same thing as being courageous. Courage is doing something you know has to be done, even if you are terrified to do it. The absence of fear, especially when there are real dangers to be faced, usually is the mark of a fool.
Consider the words of Sarah Palin:
“I didn’t hesitate, no,” she told ABC’s Charlie Gibson in her first televised interview since accepting the Arizona senator’s invitation to be on the Republican ticket two weeks ago.
“I answered him ‘yes’ because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can’t blink. So I didn’t blink then even when asked to run as his running mate,” said the 44-year-old Palin, a governor who has been in office less than two years.
Asked if she felt ready to step in as vice president or perhaps even president if something happened to the 72-year-old McCain, Palin said: “I do, Charlie, and on January 20, when John McCain and I are sworn in, if we are so privileged to be elected to serve this country, we’ll be ready. I’m ready.”
A wiser person in her position would have hesitated. A very wise person would have said no, I’m not ready for that kind of national exposure. I’ll stay in Alaska. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Sometimes risks have to be taken. Leaders often have to make decisions and take actions when outcomes are uncertain, because hesitation would lead to worse outcomes. But where did we get the idea that there’s virtue in risk for its own sake?
Probably we got that idea from the same place we got the idea that there’s something weak about doubt. We’ve bought into a caricature of leadership that values absolute self-assurance — well, OK, arrogance — and recklessness over good judgment, patience, and intelligence.
We ain’t supposed to think things through, buckaroos; just come out shootin’.
Our country is in a very precarious place right now because of fearlessness. As Roger Cohen wrote, “the Bush crowd has gambled the future of this country with abandon.”
I know one thing: this is no time for further gambling. John McCain rolled the dice on Sarah Palin. I’m grateful to Bob Rice of Tangent Capital for pointing out that the actuarial risk, based on mortality tables, of Palin becoming president if the Republican ticket wins the election is about 1 in 6 or 7.
That’s the same odds as your birthday falling on a Wednesday, or being delayed on two consecutive flights into Newark airport. Is America ready for that?
The lesson of the last eight years is this: when power is a passport to gamble, people can end up seriously broke or seriously dead.
Come to think of it, my birthday fell on a Wednesday this year. Hmm.
John McCain is a gambler. It is said he has spent 14 hours straight playing craps in Las Vegas. I don’t know if McCain has a gambling addiction; perhaps he can walk away from it when he wants to. But my understanding is that people who are serious gamblers tend to be impulsive people with poor emotional coping strategies, as the psychologists put it.
A tendency to gamble is a sign of emotional weakness, in other words, not strength.
You don’t have to be hard-of-thinking to be a Republican, but it does help, I guess.
Maybe an ace will fall from his sleeve?
So, he’s not only a gambler, he’s a cheat?
Aces only fall from sleeves when you’ve put them up there ahead of time. And, actually, if you’ve done that, you aren’t really taking risks on the odds of the game, though you are risking that the others at the table will see, and, in the cowboy movies, fill you full of lead.
Really a bigger gamble, I guess.
So, we should elect McCain to the job of protecting everything and enforcing all the rules because he’s a man who’s willing to risk everything and break all the rules. Riiiight.
“A wiser person in her position would have hesitated. A very wise person would have said no, I’m not ready for that kind of national exposure. I’ll stay in Alaska.”
One quibble: What should have held her back is not about national exposure, it’s about “I’m not ready to be the President of this country”.
#1 guess running for pres is a high stakes game and if you win, you get to craps shoot with the future of our country.
#2 I wonder if she didn’t blink when she said yes is because she wanted to be anywhere other than Alaska. Let’s face it, things were getting hot. She had an investigation she was trying and failing to control, she had a daughter and beau making her crazy, she had a new baby she needed a nanny for…I am sure she was glad to have the republicans stepping in to help with the legal aspects of the investigation. It sounds to me like free counsel for sure and probably plenty of other perks.
The particulars of the selected “positive” characteristic of McCain selected by the Republican strategist are not that important.
This is not cause (McCain is a gambler) therefore effect (McCain would be a good president). This is effect (I want McCain to be president) find some cause (what is the best thing about McCain? — gambler, not much to work with, but all there is).
If this is the best they can do, they are really struggling.
“Insolent.”
If you don’t want McCain to be president, you are “insolent.”
I guess that’s the new “uppity.” I mean, “presumptuous.”
There was a Kos diarist on the religio-fundie mindset . My interpretation:
There is a strong belief in an interventionist God. On getting the call from McCain, Palin would believe that she was chosen by God ergo, God has determined that she is ready and she could not refuse. She has the confidence of faith, not the confidence of ability.
Come to think of it, she could be half right. Maybe God selected her to in order to discredit the political program of all of her and her fellow religio-fundie assholes have been operating in his name.
Try again without the link…
There was a Kos diary “I Know What Sarah Palin Is Thinking” on the religio-fundie mindset . My interpretation:
There is a strong belief in an interventionist God. On getting the call from McCain, Palin would believe that she was chosen by God ergo, God has determined that she is ready and she could not refuse. She has the confidence of faith, not the confidence of ability.
Come to think of it, she could be half right. Maybe God selected her to in order to discredit the political program of all of her and her fellow religio-fundie assholes have been operating in his name.
There are remarkable, and extremely eerie simularities in the lives of McCain and George Bush. Both were out of control children, young adults and adults. Both were bailed out of every misadventure, none of which affected either career adveresly. In fact each went on to bigger and better failures from which each was again bailed out.
When Bush gave his $700 billion 30 second speech, he fully expected that somebody would come to his/our rescue – hadn’t someone always done so?
The point is that neither has ever risked anything, in fact is probably unable to comprehend what risk actually is having never experienced it. Something isn’t a risk when assured rescue is always just around the corner. These types of people should never hold positions of power.
It’s probably a miracle that this country has survived relatively in tact under Bush – however it’s not over yet.
I would rather be insolent than indolent.
On a related note… are we live-blogging the VP Debate tonight? I’m all set for two solid hours of thrills and chills, hilarity and horror.
joanr #9 I am bracing myself too. I saw a blip on a debate she had with her opponent in Alaska. She went on about something (I have no idea what she was talking about) and then her opponent had one minute to respond. He said I have no idea what you are talking about. After that his minute was over. YIKES If she starts that with Biden, I hope he tells her that was a bunch of lies or smoke or something. I sure hope he doesn’t just say I don’t know what you are talking about, even if he doesn’t!
There is always something phony and childish about the Republican idea of masculinity and risk taking. From the mythos surrounding Ronnie Reagan, a B-actor for heavens sake, to another celluloid hero, John Wayne – who in real life hated riding horses and saying “ain’t”. As felicity pointed out, neither McCain nor especially Bush have ever risked anything.
Furthermore, these people – especially that charming dimwit Sarah Palin when she says she’s ready – haven’t a clue about responsibility. I recall Eisenhower sweating out the D-Day invasion, because he knew it meant sending thousands of men to their deaths. Bush on the other hand doesn’t look like he’s lost a wink of sleep over his gamble in Iraq. Yeah Republican idiot, we need more of that.
For a Republican it’s all about them, and their little adolescent make believe world, where celluloid Daddy rides in on a horse, and hidden aces fall out of sleeves, and their Big Daddy God Annoints these children for roles far beyond their maturity, oblivious to the flesh and blood real world where the rest of us live and die.
joan16 — hell yes, I’m live blogging. Wouldn’t miss this one. We may have an unprecedented double live blog, which could be exciting if not confusing. Stay tuned.
Throught the economic crisis, McCain has zigzagged more than the Dow. “fundamentally sound” to “serious” in 2 hours. Then he wants to fire Cox, which even the WSJ thought was crazy. Then it’s off to DC, to tell the House what to do. (Here’s a news flash; the Senate does NOT tell the House what to do or vice-versa). In the meeting with Bush & Obama, McCain did not declare for or against. His leadership did not inspire House Republicans; they voted 2-1 AGAINST. Thanks a lot, John.
The voters get it. We are in a meltdown and the only question is how bad it will get. Obama looks steady, and McCain looks frantic. But I am not doing handsprings. Obama is being asked to save the game when the previous pitcher loaded the bases and there is no one out. It’s going to be a deep hole by January.