The ol’ fighter pilot, John McCain, is shooting down the notion that he might step once more into the breach and “serve” his country again:
Sen. John McCain is brushing aside any questions about whether he might ultimately decide to run for president again in 2012.
McCain was asked in an NBC “Today” show interview whether he’d get into the sweepstakes if it looked like there were no clear front-runner.
The Arizona Republican smiled and told interviewer Ann Curry, “There’s a long history of masochism in my family, but not so severe” as to make him want to run again.
After running one of the most disgraceful “honorable” campaigns in American political history, and handing the country over to the tender mercies of Barack Hussein Obama II, you’d think the least the last and least of the military McCains could do is slink quietly off into the wild blue yonder with the thanks of a grateful nation trailing in his wake.
But no, at age 74, he’s still in the Senate for at least another five years, where he can continue to reach across the aisle, poke his finger into the eyes of conservatives, hog the media spotlight, rail about Republican “isolationists,” suck up to Fox News, and unleash his ankle-biting mini-me onto his enemies.
Please, just go away.
Update: I’ve erred in saying Sen. McCain was the last of the military McCains and, obviously, honor his and his family’s service to his country. (I come from a military family myself, whose pedigree stretches back to the Spanish-American War.) But none of that changes his subsequent media-fixated political behavior.
"handing the country over to the tender mercies of Barack Hussein Obama II"
I would say 95% of that result belongs to Bush II and Rove.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMake that 80%. The eight-year "kick me" campaign that President Bush waged with congressional Democrats dug the Republicans a huge hole. But Obama was a gift, a man so vulnerable due to his past actions, past associations and appalling sensibilities that a spirited campaign still could have rescued America from what followed. McCain didn't wage that spirited campaign, and so here we are.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJohn Huntsman is John McCain without the compelling POW story to make him interesting. If you thought the McCain campaign was a disgraceful Obama love-fest, just watch Huntsman run. He and Obama should get a room.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMaybe it is Huntsman who is the Manchurian candidate.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI am no fan of John McCain's, but this snide dismissal of his military service strikes me as out of place and unbecoming. I cannot imagine Mr. Buckley having sneered thusly; I expected better from National Review.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWell said.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI really wonder why you're not using John Mccain's full name, John Sydney Mccain III, but insist on using Obama's. Are you worried that the reading public will be mistaken about the identity of the Barack Obama you mention?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGet over it. Obama spent much of his formative years in a Muslim culture and sometimes seems to have an alien view of his country. If it bothers you to be reminded of that, too bad.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"hog the media spotlight,...,suck up to Fox News, and unleash his ankle-biting mini-me onto his enemies."
I never quite saw what McCain saw in Palin until now. Seems they have more in common than I imagined.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMichael Walsh, go frak yourself.
John McCain is a good man and a good Republican. He has and has maintained over his 30 years in office one of the most conservative voting records of any GOP member.
He is not a purist nor an intellectual conservative. He has been wrong on a number of issues. But on the whole, he is a politician I am happy to support and pray for because 90% of the time he's not only right but out there fighting for what is right.
People like Michael Walsh live in a fantasy land as was evidenced in his writing. Jesus Christ would have lost to Obama in 2008. The fact that McCain came as close as he did is a testament to his character, his ideology and his selection of Sarah Palin.
As a poster wrote above, Mr. Buckley would be disgusted by this kind of closed-minded purist attack, especially since McCain was the ONLY politician that Buckley supporter for President in 2008. I'll stick with Buckley's judgment any day over this dbag Walsh.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou sound like a world-class jerk.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMichael, I'm glad he's not running as well, but your choice of snark was poor. McCain gives us conservatives plenty to complain about, but not his military record.
Maybe flip-flopping on illegal immigration? Maybe McCain-Feingold? Plenty of choices here to without getting into his service.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSave the insincere honor to him and his family for their service, you obviously don't mean it.
The guy was asked a question so he answered. You choose to hi-light the story and be a jerk. Congratulations on a mission accomplished.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIn part because of Walsh and Krikorian, the Corner is really rolling downhill. This sort of nastiness is beneath National Review (or was, anyway).
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI understand if McCain infuriates you, and you don't like the way he ran his campaign, but there's no reason to publish this temper tantrum on a blog read around the world. It's also distasteful to suggest McCain's military service is somehow weaker than that of his father and grandfather, or his sons. Have you served?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMaybe this will do it for those oh-so-terribly-upset with Mr. Walsh: John McCain - War Record = 0. Actually 0 is being too generous. The damage the man has as done to conservatives while play acting as a "Republican" is incalculable. He really should have gone to the democrat party (he almost did twice). Had he done so, not only could he have taken his war record with him, he would have gained the added virtue of achieving honesty as well.
And one more thing: military service, however exemplerary, is not a get out of jail free card.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think Sen McCain would be the first to agree that military service is not a get out of jail free card, inasmuch as his military service turned out to be the exact opposite for him.
I don't like Sen. McCain's liberal positions, but having never been asked to experience so much as one DAY -- one HOUR of the suffering he endured, I would never criticize his noble sacrifice to our country. To do so is revolting.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYour comments are out of line with respectable journalism, and WFB would have castigated you for such sloppy rhetoric. Charlie McGovern served his Country honorably and was an avowed liberal. What the hell does anyone’s service to this Country have to do with their political philosophy or their ability to run a Presidential campaign?
Michael, when you have the chance to run a Presidential campaign, let’s see how well you do, especially when there is a financial meltdown that is being blamed on your political party. Saying that someone who ran a poor Presidential campaign is a “disgrace” is like saying that the losing quarterback in the Super Bowl is a terrible player when, in reality, it is an amazing feat for any person to make it to the Super Bowl as the starting quarterback. A lot of admirals in the U.S. Navy have had sons; but only one (that I know of off hand) of those sons has won the nomination of his political party for President. That is still pretty impressive in its own right.
In short, if you don’t have anything constructive to say, please go to some other blog…
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWar record or no war record, it is McCain's political record that makes him a disgrace.
He's been "my" Senator for the last 20 years -- though I don't actually vote for him. (I voted for Sarah Palin for VP, and he just rode her coattails.) I have never voted for a democrat, so I just leave the ballot blank on the senator line.
He does need to go away.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm neither an enthusiastic McCain supporter, nor do I believe that he ran the best possible campaign in 2008, but I fail to see how his campaign was in any way "disgraceful." Ineffective maybe, but "disgraceful"? How so?
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