By SN
Friday August 1, 2008
A couple of months ago I asked whether
McCain is too old to be president. This week Daniel Henninger over at the
Wall Street Journal asks whether John McCain is just too stupid:
On Sunday, he said on national television that to solve Social Security “everything’s on the table,” which of course means raising payroll taxes. On July 7 in Denver he said: “Senator Obama will raise your taxes. I won’t.”
This isn’t a flip-flop. It’s a sex-change operation.
What I’m asking is, does John McCain have the mental focus, the intellectual discipline, to avoid being out-slicked by Barack Obama, if he isn’t abandoned by his own voters?
It’s not just taxes. Recently the subject came up of Al Gore’s assertion that the U.S. could get its energy solely from renewables in 10 years. Sen. McCain said: “If the vice president says it’s doable, I believe it’s doable.” What!!?? In a later interview, Mr. McCain said he hadn’t read “all the specifics” of the Gore plan and now, “I don’t think it’s doable without nuclear power.” It just sounds loopy.
There is a reason the American people the past 100 years elevated only two sitting 
senators into the White House — JFK and Warren Harding. It’s because they believe most senators, adept at compulsive compromise, have no political compass and will sell them out. Now voters have to do what they prefer not to. Yes, Sen. McCain has honor and country. Another month of illogical, impolitic remarks and Sen. McCain will erase even that. Absent a coherent message for voters, he will be one-on-one with Barack Obama in the fall. He will lose.
He’s not stupid, his campaign is struggling to be connect with the voters. He is saying a bit of everything – it’s the shotgun approach. Hopefully, something will stick.
This week, it’s about Obama said this and thay. I tried to watch him on CNN-HD yesterday, hoping high def will keep me awake. Nope, I fell asleep as he was actually READING his script. OMG, it was bad and I was forced to watch Jerry Springer after that just to shock my system to go to the gym.
When I used to see McBush on TV just once in a great while, he sounded OK. Maybe a little apart from the usual run of obedient hack. I always thought that kissing his ass for being a courageous POW was absurd – after all, he was shot down in the service of such great world leaders as LBJ.
Now, he’s obviously just as willing to kowtow to Khristian Konservatives, flip-flop on death, taxes, time and tide, as any other tame toyboy for lame lobbyists. And – in a time and place where political courage is needed – he seems too dim and compliant to do anything other than buy a new copy of the Karl Rove playbook.
Though, of course, his handlers count on American voters being as dumb as ever.
Is McCain too old to be President? Based on Ronnie’s 2nd term (also known as G H W Bush’s 1st) the answer is yes. Poor John is already exhibiting dangerous signs of dementia.
Is McCain too stupid to be President? How can anyone ask that question after 8 years of the smirking chimp? Here again the word dangerous comes to mind as McCain clearly sees every challenge as requiring a military solution.
Should McCain be President? Only if you think the United States of America can survive four more years of enabled corporate greed. If you believe that, you’re in for a rude awakening.
I have to agree with the general consensus here. McCain should just be put out to pasture. He has sold his soul to the Republican backers so don’t expect him to be his own person even if he could get elected.
How about the back room boys get McCain to pick Mike Huckabee for V-P. They then convince McCain to step down “for the good of the party” (for health reasons) just after the convention. Huckabee will then have the mass base of the Republican party, the wing nut vote, as well as the radical Christians.
But McCain on his own??? Fugetabutit.
I think you guys are right. McCain was not smart enough to campaign in all “57 states” like Obama said he did! And the other thing that shows how stupid McCain is….he didn’t realize that we do not have to drill for the billions of barrels of oil that are available off our shores. We can save that much by just putting a little more air in our tires! What was he thinking?
#4 That is a BRILLIANT idea that I am sure is not lost on the Republicans. Knock off McCain and install a Huckabee a month or so after.
The issue Rove is working on is how to communicate that strategy to the wing nuts without alerting the democrats? I and many other democrats subscribe to Republican propaganda so we’ll know!
This is a tough one. It may have to be “speculated” on Fox News as a wink wink.
Out of the 300 million people in the US, what are the odds that Obama is related to Cheney and Bush and McCain is also a relative of Laura Bush?
These are two fake candidates, selected for us by an elite group that runs the country, as were many of our previous presidents, who are also related to each other.
We’re just too brainwashed to realize this.
I think judging a persons intelligence is closely related to how they play with their toys. McCain crashed 3 multi-million dollar planes. Now he wants to play with everyone’s toys.
#7, jerry,
These are two fake candidates, selected for us by an elite group that runs the country, …
And this is from someone that posts a link to a MySpace account about “all things Jerry”?
Yup, all indications point to a McCain supporter.
Currently Obama is trailing his party’s numbers by about 10 points since most voters don’t know him. That’ll change in the fall.
By the math, if Obama takes Kerry’s states plus Virginia and Ohio or Pennsylvania or Michigan then he has it.
This will be silly for a while until the debates. McCain will look bad next Obama, and a ton of quiet voters will Democrat. Especially urban and young voters.
I think the smartest strategy would be for either campaign to give the voters a vacation. The campaign has been going on for over a year you poor guys need a break until September.
no mr. fusion, I think they’re both terrible, in different ways.
Why he’s just as smart as the current president,
well, err, good point, don’t ever need another ‘W’
#11 “Currently Obama is trailing his party’s numbers by about 10 points since most voters don’t know him. That’ll change in the fall.”
Well, Obama better get ready. Once voters get to know him, expect those 10 points to expand to about 20…
Yes, he IS too stupid. He graduated 894th out of 899 students at Annapolis. He’s horribly dumb. He succeeds in politics because he’s good at bullshit and “sounding” good. You will notice, as others are starting too, that he will say anything to anyone to get elected. His answer to simple questions change daily and depends on who he’s talking to. Obama reneged on his public campaign finance goal, and I’m annoyed by his voting for the Telecom immunity bill. But McCain has flip flopped on almost every issue he’s ever had. Don’t believe it, there’s many many video compilations out there showing HIM doing it (http://therealmccain.com/)
#5, Bill,
Yup. The wing nuts are so desperate they will grasp at anything.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/57states.asp
McCain, in my opinion, is somewhat smarter than G. W. Bush, and with the sitting President as our yardstick, surely he is smart enough to do a comparable job, maybe even a little better, but considering how W. has run this country into the ground, that’s not saying much.
Fusion..are you implying that Obama DID NOT say he went to 57 states? He clearly said 57! If this was not your intent then make your comments clear and meaningful rather than bombing us with the “wingnut” epithet and an odd link.
#18 – You click on links Fission posts? You should know by better by now. 😉
#14 Maybe he will drop but I doubt it. Reagan was in the same position back 1989. Voters didn’t know him and he feared as some crazy “nuke first and ask questions later” kind of zealot. In the last debate the voters swung around.
To keep on theme here, McCain will pull a few stupid blunders in the fall and the media will roast him. – like they did to Bush Sr with the supermarket scanner thing or looking at his watch during the debate. I don’t care of McCain’s politics but I kind of like the guy and respect him – but I know he’ll goof up.
#20 Hard to say. He fell against McCain in nat poll after showing himself in EU. Obama may do well to “hide out” until the election.
#21 You’re right about that, hiding out would be the best thing.
#18, JCD,
Fusion..are you implying that Obama DID NOT say he went to 57 states? He clearly said 57!
I never said nor implied he didn’t. But the answer is NO, he did not “clearly” say 57 states. He said “fifty”, paused for a few seconds in thought, then said “seven states. One left to go. With Alaska and Hawaii”.
He obviously was referring to the 48 continental States. He was very tired after a long day campaigning. When he spoke with reporters shortly after that he acknowledged this and other mistakes.
The wing nut crowd has taken this slip-up and turned it into a mass email campaign that Obama meant 57 Islamic or Muslim States based upon the also circulating rumor he is a Muslim.
As for your “odd link”, I have yet to find Snopes wrong about any urban myth. Unlike the wing nut crowd, I prefer facts over fiction, substance over fluff.
McCain vs Obama? Seriously?
Obmama – A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School. At the end of his first year at Harvard, Obama was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review based on his grades and a writing competition. In his second year he was elected president of the Law Review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the law review’s staff of 80 editors. He graduated with a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991.
McCain – Graduated near dead last, at 894th out of 899 students at Annapolis Naval Academy.
QB, If Obama wins the Kerry states, plus Pennsylvania and Michigan, McCain will be the next president. Are Obama supporters too stupid to be voting?
QB, in 1989 Ronald Reagan finished his second term as president and was making money speechmaking.
Are Obama supporters too stupid to be voting?
Barack Obama says that he doesn’t look like the other presidents on the dollar bills.
There’s only one other presidenton dollar bills.
Coupled with 57 states(or is it 59) , is Barack Obama too stupid to be president?
Is McCain too stupid to be president?
Yes.
#24 – Quit while you are behind. Most Americans (rightfully so) will pick an Annapolis grad over a lawyer to be a leader and executive…
I would have said that Obama should have gone the judicial route based on his credentials but, he isn’t that good at constitution law…
Last May, he claimed that Kansas tornadoes killed a whopping 10,000 people: “In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed.” The actual death toll: 12.
He’s said Arkansas is closer to Kentucky than Illinois.
He said the Selma march happened before he was born.
He thought they spoke the same language in Iraq and Afghanistan.
lack of translators: “We only have a certain number of them and if they are all in Iraq, then it’s harder for us to use them in Afghanistan.”
Is Barack Obama too stupid to be president?
While I don’t think McCain’s as dense as “W”, I worry that he “shoots from the lip” way too often. (takes one to know one, I guess).
I worry about his STAFF! Why oh why are they letting their boss step in it again and again? And why can’t McCain keep a staff in the first place? I think he’s worked down to the “third farm team” with the campaign staff lineup as of today.
An executive is only as good as his/her staff. One person alone cannot run a corporation, let along a country. If he/she’s too arrogant or too -uh something else to surround him/herself with the right people to win, let alone rule, that in itself is a deal breaker.
By the way, has the left come up with their vote fraud stories in case McCain wins, or have they decided Barack’s got it won? I know I should just ask Greg Palast what story he’s come up with, but I want to see if it’s been distributed already.