Emperor Palpatine weighed in on the ’08 race on Wednesday by giving “young” Jedi McCain some unsolicited advice from the bleachers. Rove said he thinks that the usually secretive McCain needs to open up a bit more about his private life if he wants the voting public to relate to him better. There were two specific areas of McCain’s private life that he thinks should be highlighted with increased enthusiasm:
 |
|
1999 picture. Which one of these is not like the others? |
“Private people like Mr. McCain are rare in politics for a reason,” Rove writes. “Candidates who are uncomfortable sharing their interior lives limit their appeal. But if Mr. McCain is to win the election this fall, he has to open up.”
Specifically, Rove says McCain should reveal more about his wartime heroics and days as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He also says McCain should spend more time highlighting the fact he and his wife took in a sick Bangladeshi child in 1991, their adopted daughter Bridget. [Link]
<
p>Here is the meat without the fat: Rove thinks McCain should go into details about which “stress positions” were used on him during his seven year stint in a North Vietnamese prison because American voters like macho men (e.g., Jack Bauer), and he should show that he is a compassionate conservative by pointing out with greater frequency that he took in a young brown girl from the third world. This is the same brown girl who was at the center of a whisper campaign orchestrated by Rove
… in 1991 Cindy McCain was visiting Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Bangladesh when a dying infant was thrust into her hands. The orphanage could not provide the medical care needed to save her life, so Mrs. McCain brought the child home to America with her. She was met at the airport by her husband, who asked what all this was about.
Mrs. McCain replied that the child desperately needed surgery and years of rehabilitation. “I hope she can stay with us,” she told her husband. Mr. McCain agreed. Today that child is their teenage daughter Bridget.
I was aware of this story. What I did not know, and what I learned from Doris, is that there was a second infant Mrs. McCain brought back. She ended up being adopted by a young McCain aide and his wife.
“We were called at midnight by Cindy,” Wes Gullett remembers, and “five days later we met our new daughter Nicki at the L.A. airport wearing the only clothing Cindy could find on the trip back, a 7-Up T-shirt she bought in the Bangkok airport.” Today, Nicki is a high school sophomore. Mr. Gullett told me, “I never saw a hospital bill” for her care. [Link]
Yeah, I’ll bet Rove was “aware of this story.” Years later, Bridget, just like Kanye West, wondered why George W. Bush hated her. I call bullshit on the Emperor and his mis-use of The Force for his continued use of Bridget for poltical gain.
50 · Rahul said
All of this has me asking Sen. Mccain“say it ain’t so”. Between, Hill’s Tuzla two-step and Obama’s inability to conclude his oratorical fireworks without a crescendo has me wondering if it’s just another election season where I’m choosing between the lesser of three evils.
As for Rove’s advice, I doubt Mccain would follow it. He’s been reluctant to speak about his son who served in Iraq or put his children out there. I think this is just one of Palpatine’s Jedi mind tricks. Most adult males would discredit anyone who stoops so low to throw their kids out into the spotlight simply for their own gain. Palpatine probably wants Mccain to do it since he wants to make someone look worse than G dub right now. (I just don’t see how that’s possible where moderate repubs. no longer recognize their own party.)
At least us dems have been consistently self-destructive for a long time now, even when we should actually 🙂
Not a novel notion, but the two-party system combined with an executive form of government leads to a disastrous paucity of views in the public sphere, and forces people like you who broadly identify as socially moderate (or liberal?) and fiscally conservative (I am assuming) to make the best of a bad combination.
McCain, his wife and his family are good role models. He and his wife saved the life of a child and is not making a big deal or seeking publicity for it. I think he is handling his presidential campaign very ethically and with dignity.
52 · Rahul said
That’s accurate. If forced to put a name on it I’d say socially moderate (left on a couple of social issues mostly right on others and throw in a healthy dash of libertarian) and yes to the fiscal conservatism. I’d classify myself as a center-right dem who can identify with moderate repubs. I would also blame this primary system for creating a crucible where only two seemingly divergent views can exist. It forces alleged moderates or mavericks like Mccain to the right to placate or pander to a “base” and sends Obama and Clinton drifting farther and farther to the left. Part of me does wonder, however, whether having more than two established parties would bring a greater benefit. Would it end up like modern media where the multitude of voices screaming for attention prevent the development of any kind of consensus or at least a unifying idea to hold on to? At least with the party system as is, there is some filtering and prioritization of what the party thinks is good for the country rather than solely relying on what the special interests may want. I certainly wouldn’t want a coalition gov’t where the minority has the ability to prevent legislation that most of the country wants. (i.e. India nuclear deal).
I’m sure that the Mccain’s charity and warm hearts resulted in Bridget growing up to be a wonderful person. Additionally, I greatly respect and admire Sen. Mccain for his service, his sacrifice and his courage. I’d just hope he were smart enough not to use that as the only reason why he might make a good president. This election cycle has so many important issues that are at the forefront that I don’t think too many Americans are going to simply rest their heads on he or she seems like a good guy or gal. Maybe it’s just a case of SM’s new favorite phrase: a soft bigotry of lowered expectations. Rove’s lowered expectation that all Americans will care or can care about this cycle is a war record and a warm heart or in the dem’s case beer-drinking, bowling scores and whether someone’s african-american or a woman. Mccain and all of the candidates have an obligation to do better than that, especially where a lot of moderates or independents aren’t overly excited with any of the candidates.
23 · KXB said
Actually there is a Mother Theresa orphanage in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Some of us who consider ourselves conservative are happy to see the torch passed from the likes of Rove, Bush ,Cheney and Condi Rice to McCain. I sincerely hope that he does not pick Condi to be his running mate. Someone has to standup and say failure will not be rewarded. I hope the incompetence and corruption in this adminsitration will be brought back to the pre-Bush levels. I never considered myself a big Clinton supporter but i would be happy to go back to those days.
I find it funny that libertarians who happily supported this administration have a problem with McCain because of the campaign finance bill. They did not have problems with us meddling in Iraq. They did not have a problem when he signed a Medicare bill that is going to cost some 600 billion dollars and made his people lie for him about the true costs. No problems with gay marriage amendment for political gain. They draw a line at campaign finance reform.
Liberals have a problem because he is not consistent. Please. Foolish consistency is not going to win him any votes. He has to win and I think he will. Once elected, given his history and his ability to work across party lines he will be a good (a solid B) president.
There is a beautiful side of McCain and his family that no one talks about. He’s always portrayed for his ‘ugly’ character – when he’s just like any other human being who makes mistakes. A lot of this hate for him is because he is a republican.
Briget, keep your head up!! You’re a sweetheart!