RNC Convention Day 4: John McCain: “A Party of One”

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Schizophrenic. It is the only way to describe the Republican National Convention.  On day one, it was "we’re all Americans" today, followed by two days of hyper-partisan red meat attacks on anyone not a Republican, then on day four John McCain tried to reassure us that he is a post-partisan candidate who will reach out his hand across the aisle in bipartisan cooperation to get things done. Kumbaya.

As someone who is familiar with how John McCain negotiates a "bipartisan" bill, let me explain what he really meant to say was that as long as you agree with him in every respect and reassure him that his proposal is brilliant, he will work with you.  If you have any differences of opinion with him, be prepared to be subjected to a string of expletives from Senator Hothead (everything you have read about his temper is true.) John McCain’s definition of "bipartisanship" is "my way or the highway."  He is worse than partisan, he is a prima donna – it is always about him.

This is the first instance I can recall from American history in which the nominee of a major political party has announced that he is running against his own political party. John McCain is not running as the titular head of the Republican Party. John McCain is running as "a party of one," to paraphrase the Army recruitment slogan. It is all about him (you did not see Republicans showcase their House and Senate candidates at their convention, which is a primary function of political conventions). 

"I fight to restore the pride and principles of our party. We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us. We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption. We lost their trust when rather than reform government, both parties made it bigger… We lost their trust, when we valued our power over our principles.

We’re going to change that. We’re going to recover the people’s trust by standing up again for the values Americans admire. The party of Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan is going to get back to basics.

This is indicative of McCain’s self-absorbed ego-maniacal delusions of grandeur in which he sees himself as the hero riding in on a white horse, and that only one man, John McCain, can save the world.  (He has seen way too many action hero films.) If you think George W. Bush has been a totalitarian, you are going to love John McCain – he is George W. Bush on steroids.

McCain would have you believe that he has rejected everything the Republican Party has come to represent under the Bush-Cheney administration. In fact, this is the first time since LBJ that a sitting president did not attend his own party convention, and did not receive a tribute from his party – Bush 43 is that toxic (Bush 41, however, did receive a tribute). McCain further would have you believe the improbable, that the Republicans were not in charge for the past eight years.

We need to change the way government does almost everything: from the way we protect our security to the way we compete in the world economy; from the way we respond to disasters to the way we fuel our transportation network; from the way we train our workers to the way we educate our children. All these functions of government were designed before the rise of the global economy, the information technology revolution and the end of the Cold War. We have to catch up to history, and we have to change the way we do business in Washington.

Yet McCain has been among the fiercest defenders of the Bush-Cheney administration, and like all the other "rubber-stamp Republicans" who have been the enablers of this criminal regime, he has voted with the administration more than 90% of the time over the past eight years.

Do not be fooled by this sophistry and deception. The vast majority of Republican delegates in the convention hall still strongly support George W. Bush. They are loyal "Bush Republicans" who want to "stay the course." (See below)

McCain’s acceptance speech was largely panned by commentators, including Michael Gerson, Bush’s former speech writer. His speech was mostly biographical in keeping with the "a party of one" theme of this convention ("vote for me because I was a POW" – the same refrain McCain has used in every election since the first time he ran for public office). His biography was wrapped around the same tired old Republican ideological bromides we have suffered for the past 28 years, which more than 80% of the American public now rejects as being the "wrong direction" for the country.

McCain offered nothing new, only more of the same.  Same as it ever was, same as it ever was…

"Lobbyists for McCain Lobbyists for McCain (formerly Billionaires for Bush} made it onto the floor of the Republican National Convention on Sept. 3 and handed out ‘Proud McCain-Bush Republican’ stickers to unsuspecting convention-goers. Some interesting responses in the video, including Sen. Norm Coleman breaking down into gibberish when asked about Bush. And while McCain was inside talking about ‘change’ and ‘reform’ — McCain supporters talked about how ‘George’ McCain will proudly continue the Bush legacy, and how this is a ‘stay-the-course’ election."

For a transcript of the speech Transcript: John McCain’s Speech : NPR