by Joe Klein
Politics has always been lousy with blather and chicanery. But there are rules and traditions too. In the early weeks of the general-election campaign, a consensus has grown in the political community — a consensus that ranges from practitioners like Karl Rove to commentators like, well, me — that John McCain has allowed his campaign to slip the normal bounds of political propriety. The situation has gotten so intense that we in the media have slipped our normal rules as well. Usually when a candidate tells something less than the truth, we mince words. We use euphemisms like mendacity and inaccuracy … or, as the Associated Press put it, "McCain’s claims skirt facts." But increasing numbers of otherwise sober observers, even such august institutions as the New York Times editorial board, are calling John McCain a liar…
The good news is that the vile times may be ending.
The coming debates will decide this race, and it isn’t easy to tell lies when your opponent is standing right next to you. The Wall Street collapse demands a more sober campaign as well. But these dreadful weeks should not be forgotten.
John McCain has raised serious questions about whether he has the character to lead the nation. He has defaced his beloved military code of honor.
He has run a dirty campaign.
I lapse into thinking McCain’s campaign is being orchestrated by manager Rick Davis and consultant Steve Schmidt [whose goal is to pull a Karl Rove and who is a particularly nasty guy]. But I’m not sure that’s correct. I don’t even know who Obama’s campaign people are. When Obama says something, I think that it’s what he thinks. When Obama picked Joe Biden, I think that’s who he chose. I’m sure he has advisors and pundits to talk to, but I don’t see them as pulling strings attached to Barack’s mouth.
So why should I be thinking that McCain’s outrageous ads and public statements are authored elsewhere? McCain is no rocket scientist, but he’s not the parrot that George Bush always has been. I doubt McCain has a receiver in his coat with some team on the other end like Bush did in the 2004 Presidential debates [see right]. I think we have to take what McCain says at face value too, just like we do for Obama. If he’s just a Talking Head, that’s his business. So, as Joe Klein and an increasingly broad group from the media point out, "John McCain is a liar"…
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.