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The Spectacle Blog
I think John Coyne’s review of Game Change is brilliant, through and through, so I hate to nitpick. But one sentence — and one only, in this great review — really sticks in my craw. It is the one that ends thusly: “The F-word was apparently McCain’s trademark. And for readers of Game Change, that’s how John McCain, who deserves better, will be remembered.”
But WHY does John McCain deserve better? Coyne never explains. Nor could he, because McCain does not deserve better. Does anybody doubt that this man of volcanic and inexcusable temper uses the F-word with reckless abandon? Does anybody doubt that this man of deep grudges, reportedly flagrant infidelities, an intense mean streak, and a disdain for the actual substance of most domestic political issues would easily lend himself to caricature precisely because his own manifold flaws make him a walking caricature all on his own?
It was fellow Republican Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, after all, who early in 2008 — not somewhere back in distant memory, but in the presidential election year itself — told The Boston Globe that “The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.” Cochran was talking about the same McCain who parachuted in to immigration-bill negotiations at the last minute and started yelling at Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, with frequent F-bombs, that he, McCain, knew more about the issue than anybody there, even though he had been gone from the negotiations for six weeks.
Why does John McCain deserve better? Certainly not for flyng off the handle like a lunatic on crystal meth when the financial crisis hit in September of 2008. He soon took to spluttering that it was all the fault of SEC Chairman Chris Cox, a solid conservative and all-around good guy who actually had nothing whatsoever to do with the crisis — no oversight over the things that went bad, etc. (Actually, McCain’s criticism was even more ludicrous than most: The one and only thing that he specifically blamed Cox for NOT doing was something Cox actually had already done.)
McCain certainly dos not deserve better for providing crucial support to His sidekick Lindsey Graham’s personal and petty vendetta against Pentagon legal counsel William J. Haynes, when Haynes was up for a well-deserved judgeship — when Graham and McCain in effect accused Haynes of giving approval for torture, when he had done nothing of the sort.
McCain deserves no credit for running a terrible campaign that saddled us with Barack Obama as president; he deserves no credit for choosing a not-yet-prepared Sarah Palin for Veep, tossing her to the wolves without enough support, and then letting his aides try to blame her for the campaign’s failure even before the race was over — in the process unfairly harming a rising conservative star who had and has great potential that now has been sidetracked from productive governance to show business.
McCain’s Gang of 14 was awful. His support for amnesty was awful. His opposition to some of the good Bush tax cuts was awful. And his temper, his mean streak, his bullying tactics, all are inexcusable.
McCain loves his country. He served it honorably in captivity. He was right, and showed great leadership, about needing a “surge” in Iraq (and right that we should have had more boots on the ground all along).
But he is a vicious little man. Even if Game Change is not necessarily to be believed in all its particulars, because its sourcing appears woefully sketchy, the overall image Coyne says it paints of McCain is not an image that is hard to believe. Instead, it seems to capture McCain to a “T.” Or, rather, to an “F.”
View all comments (58) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/04/01/on-coyne-re-mccain
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Kenny| 4.1.10 @ 3:09PM
Exactly, McCain is a vicious little man.
When he loses to J.D. Hayworth in August, he'll throw a temper tantrum like a chimp in the zoo throwing his feces at everyone in sight.
Tim| 4.1.10 @ 3:13PM
In 2008 John McCain was at a town hall meeting of teens sponsored by MTV. When a young lady asked him: " Senator McCain: boxers or briefs?"
"Depends..." responded the Senator.
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Martin| 4.1.10 @ 3:25PM
This is the Republicans' greatest problem: the selection of a 2012 candidate who is both plausible against Obama and might make an even OK president. The last six Republican nominees (Bush, Bush,Dole, Bush,Bush,McCain) have been a disgrace, none of them weeded to any discernable conservative principles, none of them capable of running a hot dog stand at more than a mediocre level (does ANYONE think Dole or McCain would have been even barely competent Presidents?)
There are two problems (i) the Iowa caucuses, a state addicted to government subsidies and 1,000 miles from the nearest international border, therefore ignorant of both economics and foreign policy. Thus it consistently zaps the decent candidates (eg Gramm) and promotes the utterly unqualified (Huckabee).
and (ii) the "Buggins turn" tradition by which the hack next in line has a presumptive right to the nomination. That would give us Mitt Romney, a big-government liberal, who is both personally unlikeable (and so probably couldn't win) and gave us the first iteration of this healthcare nonsense in Massachusetts, failing to see, with his alleged strategy-consultant skills, that it hopelessly fail and add deadweight.
I am thus not hopeful that we can stop a second term, however successful we are in 2010. Pity.
B Daniel| 4.1.10 @ 6:26PM
@Martin, One word, well maybe three: Brilliant! , SPOT ON!!
John Thacker| 4.1.10 @ 7:52PM
"the Iowa caucuses, a state addicted to government subsidies"
But you don't actually care about those government subsidies, Martin. Or you certainly don't think that opposition to them is "any conservative principle," since McCain is one of the absolute BEST in Congress at opposing the farm bill, and he even spoke against those farm subsidies when in Iowa campaigning.
Since there's no way that you or others would actually vote for McCain on the basis of his hatred of those subsidies, but plenty of Iowans would vote agin' him because of them, those subsidies will stay.
But you're part of the problem, you subsidy-loving RINO, Martin.
Janice| 4.1.10 @ 10:09PM
You have a lot of nerve calling Martin a RINO while your lips are firmly attached to the butt of one of the biggest RINOs in DC.
Quin| 4.1.10 @ 9:43PM
My gosh, Martin, you are so incisive it is scary! Great stuff! Bravo.
-- Quin
Ran / Si Vis Pacem | 4.2.10 @ 3:36PM
But Quin, Martin misses the underlying issue: Both problems are symptoms of a Republican leadership that tolerates and even promotes statist interventions in the Republican party nomination process at all levels.
The entire process is polluted by temporary cross-over voters and disingenuous caucuses, dug-in local statist Republican committees selecting "suitable" candidates, corrupt attorneys general controlling nominations processes, old-media dishonesty and general electoral fraud.
Iowa is only a problem for libertarians and conservatives because the existing Republican machine wants it that way. Iowa Republicans could and must demand change on their side, but Michael Steele, too, must also be part of the solution.
It's one thing for the Tea Party folks to "mob" the Capitol - but it is vital that they demand to be heard in local nominations processes and that they demand local nominations and state primaries reforms. Until that happens, we're skrood, man.
Siegfried X| 4.3.10 @ 1:30PM
This is an old "problem", that conservatives just want to be left alone to live their lives while left wingers, including liberal Republicans, are control freaks who want to control everyone else and take their money.
Eventually this leads to total left-wing control like the rigged nomination of John McRino using Democrat cross-over votes, and then Obama's win. Then conservatives finally wake up and take action (tea parties).
Ben Smith| 4.1.10 @ 3:36PM
I won't waste my time trying to defend McCain on this site, as it is not worth the effort, but Quin says a few things that deserve comment. Quin is right to use the word "nothing" when describing SEC Chairman Chris Cox and the financial crisis. That is to say Cox knew nothing, and did nothing. I don't give a damn whether or not he is, was a "good" conservative, the way he thought about the crisis, and his actions as Chair of the SEC were not helpful. His role was negligible, but he sure didn't offer anything. As far as the Gang of 14 and amnesty, these are policy positions you disagree with. You have every right to damn his position, but you can't say he doesn't involve himself in domestic policy.
B Daniel| 4.1.10 @ 6:29PM
@Ben Smith. Yes the gang of 14 stunk but in truth it avoided the GOP using the rule change to get two good SCOTUS judges and other lesser ones?
Derek Leaberry | 4.1.10 @ 4:54PM
Mr. Hillyer is right. McCain is a vicious little man. Although he served heroically in the Vietnam War, I am not sure that he has done an honorable thing since. One thing for sure- all his enemies are to his right. He desires adulation from those on his left. Whether he defeats Congressman Hayworth or not in August, McCain, if it is at all plausible, will attempt to push Schumer-Graham into law before Congress adjourns. Why? Because he is petty and hates conservatives dearly.
LoveHateRelationship| 4.2.10 @ 12:40AM
Is it possible to hate someone dearly?
JP| 4.1.10 @ 4:57PM
I will have to read the book before I pass judgement. But, thanks for the review, Quin.
I put nothing past any national politican Left or Right when it comes to politics. I read the official review of the book on this site earlier. It appeared even handed; although, the way Mr Coyne gushed about Ted White I thought a bit much.
Of course all post campaign memiors are gossip. One one side there are the winners, who if I may paraphrase Tom Wolfe, strut, beat thier chests and yodel. At there are the losers, who usually begin stabbing former comrades in the back even before the concession speeches are finished.
Can't wait to read the book.
SoCon| 4.1.10 @ 5:52PM
Egads, I knew McCain was a RINO jerk, but I didn't know he was this big of a jerk.
Ran / Si Vis Pacem | 4.1.10 @ 10:05PM
Yeh, SoCon... and Quin is playing fair. When our constitution and values were under attack from the hard left, we could count on McCain to play the centrist "moderate."
Still, though, I can't help but think that the election of the doofus little man-child from Chicagoland will prove to have been the least harmful over the long-haul, inasmuch as McCain wouldn't have awakened the libertarian-conservative base nearly as powerfully.
(Note to self: Best not to cross Hillyer.)
SoCon| 4.2.10 @ 3:07AM
Hillyer plays hard ball. ha!
Siegfried X| 4.3.10 @ 3:30PM
"will prove to have been the least harmful"
Absolutely. I voted third-party conservative instead of for McCain, and the gamble paid off. It is better to lose one battle (Obama's election) than lose the war, which is what has happening as the Republican Party turned into Democrat-lite.
Roy| 4.1.10 @ 5:57PM
If McCain, or anyone like him, had said in 2008 "There is no financial crisis, a few high-flying companies made bad bets and lost. Now they want a federal bailout, but they can't have my shoes, they can't have my jersey, they can just get beat, and go home." the country could have a lot less debt and a lot lower unemployment rate right now.
Janice| 4.1.10 @ 6:06PM
I agree, Roy; but the country didn't vote for democrat-lite when they could vote for the real thing.
I'm tired of RINOs who screw us over.
John Thacker| 4.1.10 @ 7:50PM
"I'm tired of RINOs who screw us over. "
Like Thad Cochran, Appropriator.
And JD Hayworth.
Smitty| 4.1.10 @ 9:53PM
You forgot John McCain--the biggest RINO of them all. Why is that?
DaveP.| 4.2.10 @ 6:19AM
John McCain's First Amendment Abatement Act (AKA McCain-Feingold) made it possible for Democrats to fdunnel more deniable money into politics than ever before, and made it possible for Barack Obama to win his presidency. His Illegal Alien Amnesty act would have handed the Democrats an extra 12,000,o00 Democratic party-line voters by 2010, essentially giving them a permanent majority... and he continues to ahnd the Democrats that level of political dominance, even today.
He is responsible for President Barack Obama.
What has Hayworth done that matches the level of destructive behavior towards America that John McCain already has shown?
Julie| 4.2.10 @ 3:05PM
Nothing.
McCain has to go.
Teflon93| 4.1.10 @ 6:58PM
Arrogant, ill-tempered, conceited, moronic jerk that he is, McCain still would have been an improvement over Barack Hussein Obama.
J.C.Eaton| 4.1.10 @ 7:14PM
McCain got shot down, behaved honorably in a Vietnamese hellhole and came home. He has been rewarded with a nice government job for lo these too many years and ought to buggar off. B
J.C.Eaton| 4.1.10 @ 7:25PM
But he won't....because he's a megalomaniac and thinks himself utterly indispensable. His current campaign blurb intones with great profundity:"We know he refused to come home early.." True, but honestly, could he have even been elected to a carwash if he had accepted early repatriation?In point of fact he demands respect and gives none[to his Republican mates], he expects loyalty, he offers none[to his Republican mates];he condemns verbal intemperance[from his Republican mates], and spew volumes of his own. A most unpleasant little fellow.
John Thacker| 4.1.10 @ 7:49PM
Sen. Thad Cochran is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and was its Chairman. He represents a lot of what's wrong with Washington. He may hate McCain over immigration, but he also hates McCain over earmarks, the farm bill, the highway bill, and every other piece of pork. Cochran is one of the utmost practitioners of the high-spending practices that got the GOP into trouble.
And I'm supposed to take the side of John "We can't repeal Obamacare" Cornyn?
Attacking the Gang of 14 is stupid. If the filibuster had been eliminated on judges, is there any doubt that the Democrats would have eliminated it and passed even *more* leftist laws this year?
Jeremiah| 4.1.10 @ 10:04PM
Why defend a HUGE RINO like John McCain and attack other senators for being the same thing? Hypocritical much?
Republicans like you are as big a problem as back-stabbing RINOs like John McCain.
McCain should retire; it's not John McCain's Senate seat, it's the peoples' seat.
ELECT JD HAYWORTH!!
Cliff| 4.1.10 @ 11:23PM
If you actually believe this crap, YOU are a vicious little man.
It boggles my mind just how warped your perspective is on this man. You use Thad Cochran to beat on him like he's some kind of great conservative? Really?
Jeremiah| 4.2.10 @ 1:21AM
Get over your man-crush on McCain, Cliff; it's time for the old fart to go. Enough already.
We need some new blood in our party; rigor mortis has set in. If 2008 didn't teach us, nothing will.
zombyboy | 4.2.10 @ 1:02PM
I'm with Cliff on this one and I'm no big McCain fan. While just about no one in these parts would like my views on immigration, McCain has veered pretty sharply left of me on many things. But he would have been preferable to Pres. Obama in almost every conceivable way.
John McCain is a Republican and not a conservative. When you stop and realize that--the talk of RINOs is really not about party affiliation, it's about political ideology--then you have to realize that an expectation of him being something else is sorely misplaced. That doesn’t make him a vicious little man. Having never met the man, I don't feel comfortable making a personal judgement about his character along those lines.
If I lived in his state, I might well not be voting for him on ideological grounds. I voted for him as Pres. because my real option was far worse.
My problem is with the personal attacks; it feels a bit like Republicans are treating McCain the same way the Democrats treated Lieberman after years of service. We may not owe him the job (in fact, we don't), but I think we do owe him a reasonable amount of decency and respect.
What I do find funny is that he is definitely to the right of most Democrats and, if he were a Democrat, he's the kind of guy that we would often be praising for crossing over and supporting our causes. It's strange to imagine that he might be more popular with mainstream Republicans right now if he were a Democrat (again, see Joe Lieberman and Stupack before he caved on the healthcare bill).
SoCon| 4.2.10 @ 3:15PM
From the book, Game Change:
"As McCain's town hall meetings devolved into shouting matches over immigration, the candidate let his frustration show through, he called Lindsey Graham in despair. "'Listen to these people, why would I want to be the leader of a party of such assh*les?'"
You want to talk about personal attacks, Zomby? Try to wrap your head around that 'personal attack'.
McCain left us a long time ago, it's time to return the favor.
Pingback| 4.2.10 @ 12:41AM
‘A Vicious Little Man’ : The Other McCain links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
martin j smith| 4.2.10 @ 7:43AM
Eelections have consequences is aid and we certainly have ours don't we My concern about John MacC is his apparent erratic and I believe irrational thinking. He appears to want to be everyones friend and not know whicv side he is on. Then he is all "conservative" the after (if he gets re-elected ) what ?
But going back to elections have consequences, Republicans must win big in 2010 and 2012. These elections should be featured as a referendum on Obama and the Democrat Agenda and nothing more Its YES or NO.
Win this vote and there is a chance, lose and forget it we are lost.
So given this, I would vote for Bugs Bunny as long as it had an R and not a D.
Once you get rid of The Democrat Party, then fight for right policies.
Quartermaster| 4.2.10 @ 6:09PM
When RINOs like McCain come up for election they must be purged as the Dimocrat in GOP clothing they are. Arizona has the chance to do their part in purging the party of a RINO and they really, for the sake of the country, need to do it. You can't just go after the Dims, you have to get the useful idiots as well.
dkdanck| 4.2.10 @ 7:44AM
When John McCain got the GOP nomination for President in 2008, my heart sank. I remembered all the ill conceived things he did in the Senate and I was discouraged. Still I voted for him because the alternative was much worse.
It is now time to tell Senator McCain that it is over. He must go and let a younger man with better ideas have a chance.
Pingback| 4.2.10 @ 9:16AM
Old Man, Look At My Fisk « The Camp Of The Saints links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Bob Belvedere | 4.2.10 @ 9:21AM
Yum...melikes the taste of a good Fisking. Thanks Quin: I am now well sated and ready to take to the field of battle again to fight the evildoers in our midst [you know, the Anti-President and the Anti-Congress].
Quoted from and Linked to at:
Old Man, Look At My Fisk
PCP Smoker| 4.2.10 @ 7:27PM
Well written. You failed to write it, so I will. Fuck McLame
raylynn| 4.2.10 @ 10:41PM
PCP Smoker, wow, that is rough on Good Friday, but can you say it Monday, and beyond....LOL
Siegfried X| 4.3.10 @ 10:27AM
Wow. Where was all this criticism BEFORE McCain got the nomination, when it could have done some good? Back then the American Spectator and other Republican media would never say a bad word about McCain. Back then it was just P.O.W., P.O.W., P.O.W.
Every article back then followed a ritual: the first 2/3 was nothing but prisoner of war talk, reliving that and trying to come up with new words of praise for McCain's experience. Then would come a short paragraph which either agreed or very gently disagreed with McCain about something. Then would come another paragraph or two praising St. John the Maverick POW.
Jeremiah| 4.3.10 @ 1:56PM
Where were YOU? Were you speaking out?
Pingback| 4.3.10 @ 11:16PM
Tea Party’s Wings « Si Vis Pacem links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 4.6.10 @ 8:53AM
Hillyer’s harsh, but just, criticism of McCain « Zbigniew Mazurak's Blog links to this page. Here’s an excerpt: