Occassionally I hear my “on the fence” friends say nice things about John McCain. Today’s Globe has an article that suggests that there is nothing moderate or prinicipled about Senator McCain, as he accepts Jerry Falwell’s invitation to speak at Liberty University’s commencement. Read it here
Please share widely!
I know people like to make out McCain as a centrist, and get confused when he appeals to conservatives, but personally I think he’s a moderate in the best sense possible (in the same way I believe Deval Patrick is, on the progressive side, and Bill Clinton was for centrist liberals): he has strong conservative beliefs but has the open mind and the flexibility, leadership, and appeal to reach out broadly to develop compromises and actually lead and govern effectively. I’m not going to agree with McCain most of the time (just as with Clinton much of the time and Patrick some of the time), but I think he’d be a very effective leader, as opposed to the narrow appeal that leads to a lack of governability that our current president, among others, tends to display.
Part of the reason many people who don’t pay close attention to politics speak well of McCain is because TV and print journalists follow a script about McCain: he’s “authentic” and a “maverick.” They’ve followed this script, and people who casually read the paper or watch the news pick up the sense of “authenticity” the way advertising gradually worms its way into your brain.
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Unfortunately, many members of the media have personally sided with McCain and so they will downplay how his conservatism could create policies that hurt ordinary Americans by playing up a sort of high school chumminess.
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Not unlike with President Bush.
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He was once described as honest, trustworthy, “real” and “authentic.”
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We need to nip this “authentic McCain” kudzu vine before it smothers the whole garden.