2008 Woodie Awards
John McCain ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Scott Harris is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at sharris@student.umass.edu.
Issue date: 9/2/08 Section: Editorial / Opinion
John McCain, at one point, was the nation's most popular politician. He was a straight-talkin' maverick who stood up to Wall Street and did the heavy lifting to craft bi-partisan, legislative coalitions. The press loved him. As the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz once said, "we're his base."
Some of that reputation was earned through McCain's 2000 fight over the GOP's abortion plank and his work in 2002 with campaign finance reform. But, if this campaign has taught us anything at all, it is that the John McCain of then is nowhere close to the John McCain of now.
The lobbyists that John McCain once decried are now atop his campaign. McCain's campaign manager, Charlie Black, helped keep dictators in the Congo and Philippines in the good graces of Washington. Advisors like Rick Davis have been publicly condemned by the U.S. State Department for "interfering with national security interests."
Phil Gramm, McCain's top economic advisor, was a key figure in the deregulation of banks which allowed the subprime mortgage mess to come about, and then was a key lobbyist for UBS, working with McCain to roll back SEC-backed predatory loan restrictions. Gramm was still a registered lobbyist for UBS when he joined McCain's campaign, and helped formulate his radically pro-UBS economic policy.
Rick Schmidt, who had been George Bush's campaign manager in 2004, joined the McCain camp earlier in the summer.
As soon as McCain captured the Republican nomination, he sold his campaign to the same political thugs who have made upwards of 80 percent of Americans believe that our nation is on the wrong track.
Not surprisingly, McCain has also begun to adopt the same campaign tactics he once scolded his own party for using.
In 2004, McCain lashed out at the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (and John Kerry) for using Vietnam service as a soundbite. Now, in 2008, McCain uses "I was a P.O.W.," to get out of any gaffe. In response to a recent controversy about his inability to recall how many lavishly expensive houses he owned, McCain's campaign sent out a statement that read: "McCain is ... a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years - in prison."
Some of that reputation was earned through McCain's 2000 fight over the GOP's abortion plank and his work in 2002 with campaign finance reform. But, if this campaign has taught us anything at all, it is that the John McCain of then is nowhere close to the John McCain of now.
The lobbyists that John McCain once decried are now atop his campaign. McCain's campaign manager, Charlie Black, helped keep dictators in the Congo and Philippines in the good graces of Washington. Advisors like Rick Davis have been publicly condemned by the U.S. State Department for "interfering with national security interests."
Phil Gramm, McCain's top economic advisor, was a key figure in the deregulation of banks which allowed the subprime mortgage mess to come about, and then was a key lobbyist for UBS, working with McCain to roll back SEC-backed predatory loan restrictions. Gramm was still a registered lobbyist for UBS when he joined McCain's campaign, and helped formulate his radically pro-UBS economic policy.
Rick Schmidt, who had been George Bush's campaign manager in 2004, joined the McCain camp earlier in the summer.
As soon as McCain captured the Republican nomination, he sold his campaign to the same political thugs who have made upwards of 80 percent of Americans believe that our nation is on the wrong track.
Not surprisingly, McCain has also begun to adopt the same campaign tactics he once scolded his own party for using.
In 2004, McCain lashed out at the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (and John Kerry) for using Vietnam service as a soundbite. Now, in 2008, McCain uses "I was a P.O.W.," to get out of any gaffe. In response to a recent controversy about his inability to recall how many lavishly expensive houses he owned, McCain's campaign sent out a statement that read: "McCain is ... a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years - in prison."
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Campus Republican
posted 9/03/08 @ 6:11 AM EST
Cicero once advised that when one had no case to simply abuse the plantiff. So too, apparently, here.
McCain & Pailin are going to win. So sorry folks, no matter how much you and your adult friends in the driveby media try, you aren't going to be able to stop that. (Continued…)
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