How Trumpian, Senator McCain!

As you all probably know, Senator John McCain is facing his second re-election race since Obama beat him in the 2008 race for the White House. It hasn't been easy. And it might not get better. The fact of the matter is, the top of a national ticket matters, and if the AZ Sen race seems to be close (or has his opponent, Ann Kirkpatrick, with a slight lead) the reality is, a fairly unpopular, not to say unqualified, GOP 2016 presidential candidate like Donald Trump--the man who got something like five Vietnam deferments and had the nerve to question McCain's own war hero status--could have a negative impact on his re-election chances.

But that doesn't mean the long-time Senator, with an underserved record of consistency and "Straight Talk", can't try to capitalize on Trump-sounding rhetoric. What McCain tried today was a bit of a Muslim-bait and switch--he blamed President Obama personally for the Orlando attack, calling him "directly responsible" for the murders. Then, before everyone had the chance to work out that the roots of ISIS started with the Iraq War and that the SOFA Obama was adhering to was for total withdrawal by 2011 and was signed by President George W. Bush, McCain tried to backpedal and explain. In a way that basically reinforced why what he was saying was bullshit. But as I linked to back in my 2008 criticism, there's a precedent for that kind of weasel-y Muslim-baiting.

Which is all just my round-about way of pointing out that while some Trump comments appear unique--they have a solid GOP lineage. McCain has been part of the problem long before the "Trumpening" of the GOP. Heck, he damn-near prepared the way.

Of Course Sarah Palin Endorsed Donald Trump

I could talk about the superficial comparisons between the two reality television stars as explaining the reason why Palin is throwing in with Donald Trump, but the one comparison that fascinates me is the way they both can stimulate a crowd. They make an interesting pairing. In a way, I don't see the Trump campaign as being possible without the spectacle that the McCain campaign became when she joined the ticket. Saying the right things took precedence over knowing the right things.

Does she want a possible cabinet position? Meh--if she found out what it entailed, she'd say "Thanks, but no thanks." But her endorsement in Iowa helps Trump with evangelicals and gives validation to her relevance as a political player who doesn't have to run to have power. You could call what she does a grift--but it's based on authenticity. (And, as always, there is her family, not always at her side, just, awfully near...who wants to be strongly vetted by the lamestream media all over again?)

It's at least the most interesting endorsement since Senator Graham endorsed Jeb.

Fred Dalton Thompson has Passed

I remember him best from Law and Order and those reverse mortgage commercials. My blog overlaps chronologically with the 2008 presidential elections, but I apparently rightly determined that John McCain was the man to beat and never really focused on Fred Thompson, who if memory serves, sort of took the whole primary notion in stride because he worked before and never saw why he had to work hard at the political thing now.

So he didn't.




But no, really. He was a fine actor. I never did pay adequate attention to his actual political record.