Political Irony

It is ironic that, despite his age, McCain reminds me of a small child so desperate for attention that he will do anything to get it. On the night Obama secured the Democratic nomination, McCain tried to deflect attention away by giving a speech, which even Fox News thought was embarrassing, and CNN said was “awful” and “pathetic”. Lucky for McCain that the networks broke away from that speech about half-way through it.

Now, while Obama is looking presidential touring the middle east, McCain again tries to deflect attention away. But will he succeed this time?

Well let’s see:

• Obama gives a speech in Jordan, so McCain gives one of his famous town-hall style meetings in New Hampshire, but even Fox News cuts away from McCain in order to cover the rescue of a bear cub that had been wounded in a California fire. Not so good.
• McCain does get a bit of attention when he repeatedly talks about Czechoslovakia (a country that hasn’t existed for 15 years), and then when he expresses concern about the Iraq/Pakistan border (which has never existed, but if it did, it would be called ‘Iran’). Hmm, not so good either.
• McCain then really screws up, adamantly claiming that the Iraq surge led directly to the Anbar Awakening, saying “that’s just a matter of history”.  Unfortunately, rather than history it is either a huge lie or stunning ignorance, since the Anbar Awakening occurred months before we even started thinking about having a surge. So while trying to demonstrate that he would be a better commander-in-chief than Obama, he instead proves that he has no understanding of events in Iraq.
• Next, use an ally to plant a false rumor that McCain will announce his VP candidate this week.  According to Robert Novak “I got a suggestion from a very senior McCain aide that he was gonna announce it this week. And they suggested I put it out … so I just put something on the internet. I since have been told by certain people that this was a dodge, trying to get a little publicity to rain on Obama’s campaign. That’s pretty reprehensible if it’s true.”
• Next step, try to change the subject by blaming Obama for high oil prices. But that only elicits derision.
• In frustration, launch an even more scurrilous attack on Obama, accusing him of wanting to lose a war. (Interestingly, Joe Klein in Time magazine describes this as a “meltdown” — something a small child does.)
• Finally, when all else fails, release a petulant video attacking the media for its allegedly pro-Obama bias. Which is completely hilarious, since, as even Chris Matthews admits “The press loves McCain. We’re his base.”