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The Modern GOP
THE MODERN GOP....You know, in its own way this may be greatest political lead ever written. It comes from Jonathan Weisman and Robert Barnes in the Washington Post:
Sen. John McCain's inability to recall the number of homes he owns during an interview yesterday jeopardized his campaign's carefully constructed strategy to frame Democratic rival Barack Obama as an out-of-touch elitist....
There's something about the bland, nonjudgmental way that it describes both the standard modern GOP smear campaign strategy against all Democratic contenders and the perverse but deliciously fitting way in which it's finally been turned against them this year that just might sum up all of current American politics in a mere single sentence. Congratulations, guys!
As for McCain himself, he huddled yesterday with his campaign advisors to work on some strategery to restore his regular guy image. But first he had to fuel up:
A nine-car motorcade took him to a nearby Starbucks early in the morning, where he ordered a large cappuccino. McCain otherwise avoided reporters.
Jeez, couldn't he just send his valet out instead?
Hey Kev, where are the cats? You know I hate cats but they're a tradition....
Hi Kevin,
I was hoping you'd go back to using the name Calpundit - one of the best names evah. Still, glad to be able to continue to read you here.
A large cappuccino? Jeez-o-pete, and he's scoring Obama for arugula. He'll have to get rid of the Navy cap--Navy coffee is black enough to erode tooth enamel, and a pinch of salt if you're an engineer ("shaft alley coffee"--ask for it at Starbucks sometime.)
Hey Kev, you're up early. Come to check out how the new digs look when there's morning dew on the grass? Or did the big MoJo bosses lay down the law and say you have to post on an east coast schedule?
Sen. John McCain's inability to recall the number of homes he owns during an interview yesterday jeopardized his campaign's carefully constructed strategy to frame Democratic rival Barack Obama as an out-of-touch elitist....
Ya think?
Most of us would be very happy to be buying one house. It would be funny for Obama to mention his house payments, how being a president will help him afford to keep it.
Cappucino, early in the morning? In Italia, he'd be laughed back out onto the street. Elitist...nine cars - oh, Mamma Mia!
Buongiorno, Kevin!
Maybe he had a rough night?
Since Benen's regulars are whining about the format over at PA, it's not fair you've pre-emptively prohibited us from whining about the format here, which is definitely not optimal.
thersites,
I'm not a blog format expert, but I sort of like being able to scroll up to see the original blog and previous comments instead of having to switch windows. (Don't tell me there was a way I could have avoided that!) Now if the comment box here could just be a little bit bigger...
Yes. Exactly, Kevin.
And to buttress your point, go no further than the front page of this morning's NYT (Patrick Healey and Katharine Q. Seelye) "2 Rivals' Quest: Common Touch"), which must be attempting a parody of some sort. (As an aside, I hope the NYT can develop a special typeface for this sort of, um, reporting. You know, to signal to its readers that its political reporting is in fact a joke.)
Please note the painfully evenhanded tone that entirely misses the central canard of the McCain effort to paint Obama as out of touch and elite:
With both candidates convinced that financially pinched voters might hold the electoral key in November--especially in swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania--Senators Obama and McCain are taking new, vivid steps to empathize with struggling middle-class and working class American, a tricky task given their own personal wealth. (emphasis mine)
Remind me, who has the nine houses? (Oh, yeah. McCain) Which one of the candidates actually bought two adjacent luxury condos in San Diego and combined them into one obscenely lavish residence, complete with infinity pool? McCain, again. And that's just two (really, three, if you're counting) houses out of his nine (i.e., ten).
But the Times would have you believe that this "sparring over wealth" is mere campaign folderol (a "tricky task" the candidates are undertaking "to empathize" with distressed Americans), a task complicated by the fact that both candidates are contending--equally, it is implied--with "personal wealth" issues.
John McCain is staggeringly rich by virtue of his marriage to a beer distributorship heiress--Cindy, for whom he indecorously dumped his first wife, Carol, and Cindy, to whom he is rumored to be most unkind.
Barack Obama, son of a single mom, raised by grandparents, schooled on scholarships, husband of Michelle, is somewhat rich because he wrote two bestsellers all by himself, and he did it without Mark Salter or the other guy who ghosted McCain's other bio and embellished and then embellished again until it's not really clear at all who John McCain is.
This should be Pat Buchanan's question asked sonorously, and in sinister fashion on Hardball or Rachel Maddow's new show: Who is John McCain? Do we really know him?
A good follow-up would be an examination of how many houses the wingnut radio gasbags own, how many houses the Villagers own, and how many the CEO's of oil companies own.
It's not enough to indict McCain--we need to hit Republicanism.
Anna G. above has it nailed. What she said....
Hah hah hah, Al. Good one. You and Hinderaker both!
The truth is that McCain isn't out of touch with "ordinary people" because he's rich, he's out of touch with his own domestic arrangements because he cares little about material things, and for many years has devoted his extraordinary energies not to enjoying his wife's money, but to serving the American people.
This is, whaddya call it--oh, yeah. Rich. Staggeringly rich.
Thank goodness he didn't order a latte, because we all know what that signifies.
I myself would be interested in the financial details of Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. Market value of their estates? Payroll for servants? Chauffers?
Southern Wreck,
Nothing wrong with a cappucino early in the morning in Italy. Having one after 11 a.m is a passo falso.
As for sending his valet, agreed. They spent $273,000 on hosuehold help last year.
I completely agree with Al; it's easy to forget all about the material things in life when you're so focused on public service. For example, I can't tell you how many T-shirts I own. I know they're all in my one house, though.
Good to see you here T.
You get used to this type of comment format. It's a bit harder to read.
Morning is the only time Italians do drink cappuccino.
About that sudden and steep increase in the household help budget...wonder if it has to do with suddenly paying all of the staff on the books and in accordance with federal law, as befits someone who's decided to run for president?
Hey, New York Times: I'm sure all the guys who get major party presidential nominations make $35,000 a year.
(The above is not to exonerate McCain and his silly house blunder, but just to point out the Grey Lady's ridiculous logic. Of course, I can also recall when it ran editorials disparaging expiration dates on diet sodas.)
Anyway, Kevin, glad to be at the new place, and I eagerly await the showcasing of Inkblot and Domino in a few hours.
Man, I'd love to see that in an Obama ad... a film of a nine-car motorcade going to Starbucks so John McCain could order a cappucino... "This is the lifestyle of John McCain... no wonder he thinks the economy's doing well."
I was visiting my old school (the U of Chicago) recently and I found myself walking past Obama's house. There were two separate teams of Secret Service men (that I saw) guarding the house, even though the Obama's were not currently in residence. Does this mean that there are between 14 and 20 teams of Secret Service men guarding all of those McCain residences? If McCain were elected, this could get expensive.
$270k per year on staff and nobody can make coffee?