"They" in this case is Rolling Stone magazine, and the article is a very long examination of many of John McCain's claims (McClaims? OK, OK, sorry…)
I haven't read the whole piece, which online comes to ten pages. Radar's Fresh Intelligence blog summarizes the article this way: "John McCain a Terrible Pilot, Horndog, and Evil Rove-ian Campaigner." Pretty succinct. They also say that the Rolling Stone cover story shows McCain as an "'undisciplined, spoiled brat' who spent a summer in Rio in the '70s because, despite his wife and three kids, he said he had a better chance of 'getting laid.'" Considering the way he left his first wife for Cindy, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise. That doesn't make it right. It just isn't surprising.
In a video called "Five Myths about John McCain," Tim Dickinson, the article's author, does a quick rundown of a few key points. Here are some highlights.
That McCain isn't a "Washington Outsider" isn't exactly Earth shaking, but the author goes further by comparing his life story to that of George W. Bush. Born into a long-line of powerful government figures, a child of privilege, and even a hard-partying young man who was did poorly in school. Dickinson also questions his military record and his claim of being a "Top Gun" pilot; in fact he crashed three planes, and most Navy pilots "didn't get this many chances." It's an interesting comparison, and it works better than I would have thought.
Then there is the claim that he was not the "central hero" of the POW camps, and that he was not tortured for "five and a half years" as Fred Thompson claimed. He was tortured for about two years. Yeah, but he was still tortured, right? I don't know that I want to go there.
The part that I personally found most troubling was not the more sensational "he went to Rio to get laid" stuff. It was the way McCain has changed his positions on key issues for the sake of his Presidential campaign. The author interviewed former Senate colleague Lincoln Chaffee:
"John has made a pact with the devil," says Lincoln Chafee, the former GOP senator, who has been appalled at his one-time colleague's readiness to sacrifice principle for power. Chafee and McCain were the only Republicans to vote against the Bush tax cuts. They locked arms in opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. And they worked together in the "Gang of 14," which blocked some of Bush's worst judges from the federal bench.
"On all three — sadly, sadly, sadly — McCain has flip-flopped," Chafee says. And forget all the "Country First" sloganeering, he adds. "McCain is putting himself first. He's putting himself first in blinking neon lights."
I think some of the "revelations" in this article aren't really all that revelatory. To me, though, the position changes are extremely important and need to be pointed out. Somewhat like the Palin money issue (and apparently she lied on her taxes – oops), this is an issue because the McCampaign is making it an issue. Since the McCampaign has decided to make the rest of the election season "about character," (because, you know, that's what we'll all use to retire on – character) this article is certainly relevant.
Oh, debate tonight. Should be fun. Not.
image: Wikipedia
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