John McCain Is A Bitter Old Man

by: Chris Bowers

Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 17:45


There, I said it. Really, it is getting difficult to think of McCain is any other way.

McCain complains about feeling "left out."

He doesn't like new food.

He doesn't like young celebrities.

He is sensitive about his age.

The dude is just bitter. I mean, really bitter:


Matt is probably right that the "Obama is arrogant" narrative has probably sunk into the national consciousness by now. In that environment, I think the only thing you can do is turn it around, and make it a positive. One way is to point out that McCain is just coming off as really, really bitter. And it would work, too, because he is acting really, really bitter.

The primary may have been about experience versus change, but the general seems to be about hope versus bitterness. I'm not sure what happened to John McCain to make him so bitter, given that he is a U.S. Senator and worth several hundred million dollars, but he is bitter nonetheless. Electing him would be a demonstration that we as a nation are bitter toward the world, toward the civil rights movement, and toward youth culture. In other words, it would be pretty much the same stuff that conservatives have run on for decades. This time, let's put that out in the open, and stop beating around the bush on it.  
Chris Bowers :: John McCain Is A Bitter Old Man

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John McCain Is A Bitter Old Man | 20 comments
It is an odd juxtaposition (4.00 / 1)
What McCain calls "arrogance" is, in fact, promulgation of the notion that the country can and should be better than Republicans have made it. "What do you mean people deserve better? Who do you think you are?"

John McCain opposes the GI Bill.
I think you've really hit it (0.00 / 0)
I don't think it's very hard to look at the recent complaints from the McCain campaign-- Obama has enormous crowds cheering him at every venue, Obama is getting deep and extensive attention from the press, Obama is coming across as as The Chosen One destined to win this election-- and see each of these complaints as stemming from an addendum that McCain is thinking, just not saying out loud:

"...they ought to be doing that to me."

Or a grumpy old man (4.00 / 2)
the photo of him and Bush Sr in the golf cart does bear a Walter Matthau / Jack Lemmon resemblance...

http://livingliberally.org/mup...

"Old Man" (0.00 / 0)
See, I dunno. You and Chris are both completing with "...old man", and while literally accurate I think this may be missing the point. I think the first part is absolutely where the problem with McCain is-- that he's bitter, he's grumpy, he's jealous-- but I'm not sure trying too hard to link this to the "old man" works best. The thing is, the problem with McCain lately isn't that he's acting like he's aged. The biggest problem with McCain lately is that he's acting like he's four years old.
[ Parent ]
Aged + 4-Year Old Behavior = Senile (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
I really don't understand this line of attack (0.00 / 0)
Arrogance easily equals confidance.

Celebrity equals popularity.

"The One"/Moses equals leadership.

And of course, Obama seems to exude optimism even in this dumb ad.

So I really don't understand how these attacks are supposed to hurt Obama. I seem to remember that George W. Bush won reelection in 2004 on themes of confidence, optimism, leadership, etc.

Anyway, recent polls haven't shown that voters think Obama is "arrogant".  I'm sure they think he is confident, but arrogant? Give me a break, these are the dumbest attacks I've ever seen in an election campaign.

I think the anti-troops, anti-drilling attacks have much more resilience. If McCain wants to run Moses/Britney ads until the election, bring it on.

er, yeah (0.00 / 0)
That video made Obama look really good, I thought.  They excerpted some really moving quotes of his and footage of huge crowds cheering him on.  The "arrogant" stuff they chose with the "shining light" business was pretty clearly tongue-in-cheek and actually sort of served as a built-in rebuttal to the very ad that featured it.

What a horribly run campaign.  Man, it is refreshing to watch Republicans completely airball this whole thing.

[ Parent ]
Emphasis on listening (0.00 / 0)
People don't like arrogant people who don't listen to others.  

To counter the arrogant meme obama should emphasize that he is here because he listened to other people.

IE "I think I am pretty great, but I am here because I am listening to those in need, etc etc.

The liberal wiki
Send an email to terra@liberalwiki.com

Hear, Hear! (0.00 / 0)
But of course McCain is coming across as bitter, he has assumed the role of a typical mainstream Republican!

And they have been openly bitter and reactionary since Bush the Elder was ousted by coup by that upstart "First African-American President" in '92!  And now they are in danger of having their legacy repudiated by the next African-American President!

Bitter is what Republicans do best.

At least they don't feel the need to cling to their guns and religion... ah, never mind.

McCain is "nasty", (0.00 / 0)
Is another one that fits. Goes with confused. Now if I could just come up with an emotionally charged image and/or current archetype. Suggestions anyone?

Jeff Wegerson
What if we used the word "complain" a lot? (4.00 / 1)
Everybody hates complainers, it's what old men do, and it indicates complete impotence to actually affect anything.

"Why is McCain always complaining about how popular Barack Obama is?"

[ Parent ]
And let's remember (4.00 / 1)
Whining and complaining is at the heart of our economic problems.

John McCain opposes the GI Bill.
[ Parent ]
I used to be a handwringer (0.00 / 0)

 I used to fret
 I used to mope
 I used to fret
 And mope
 And worry all day long
 I used to fret and mope and wring my hands and worry all day long

 But now I'm standing on this corner
 Knowing that Obama's gonna rule

 Oh yeah

 (C'mon. One of you young people has to know LaVern Baker's "Saved".)

  Seriously, even though I'm actually still a handwringer in many ways, McCain's rat-tat-tat attacks have been SO over the top and SO outrageous that I honestly believe there's a possibility that they just MIGHT backfire, and that American voters will finally see him as a grumpy, pathetic caricature.

  I just wonder. This coworker of mine, as low-info a voter as there is, asked me the other day "just what is WRONG with McCain? Those ads are stupid."

  There is hope that the American voter might, just might, see through this crap. But it's going to require some coordinated effort from the Democrats to expose McCain for the juvenile fraud he is -- and I haven't seen that happening yet.  

   

"We judge ourselves by our ideals; others by their actions. It is a great convenience." -- Howard Zinn

its like tossing grenades from behind a firewall (0.00 / 0)
McCain said he is proud of the BritneyParis commercial. His campaign manager says he's having a good time with the ads. You've got to deduce that they enjoy lobbing mocking, snippy, sarcastic, baiting, all-around insulting media bombs.

Strangely they think they are clever but at bottom it is a message of sour grapes and thwarted entitlement. Its a cowardly strategy too, lobbing toxic little stink bombs and innocently saying "who me? I didn't put out any rotten smears"

In sum - just like Bush - they are bullies and they have fun being bullies. You know what's the only way to deal with bullies don't you.

Some face-to-face will help (0.00 / 0)
I think when American citizens get to see Obama and McCain face to face in a debate, the reality of who they both are (as well as their policy positions, etc.) will become very clear.  I hope this happens relatively soon.  Obama's had to go up against Clinton (and also Edwards and some other capable candidates) for a long and increasingly intense time, while McCain was up there in Republican debates with a bunch of mostly weak candidates.  The McCain camp is trying to put forward both positive (for McCain)a negative (for Obama) myths.  I think Obama will be pretty well able to reveal them as such when they go head to head.  And I think the power of the reality will be enough to move most Americans away from the myths.
To elaborate a little (4.00 / 1)
I think the Republican "negative myth" strategy worked relatively well against Dukakis, Gore and Kerry was that none of them were very strong on warmth, charisma and likeable charm (though Gore is pretty different as a non-candidate).  This made it hard for them to make positive emotional connections with voters that were strong and consistent enough to diffuse the false images being presented relentlessly by Republicans.

My sense is that Obama has important qualities (more akin to Bill Clinton) that will make this Republican strategy much harder to execute. If, when people see and hear him, they tend to strongly like him, this positive impression has the potential to penetrate and displace the negative myth presented by the McCain camp and its surrogates.

Not to mention the fact that McCain--especially when pushed and prodded--can be real nasty and seem old, uninformed and very unappealing.  One of W's strengths as a campaigner was that he at least learned to keep his dark side pretty well concealed behind his "regular guy" exterior.  McCain isn't so good or disciplined at that, and he's now up against a very likable, charismatic and relatively genuine candidate.

My guess is that, if Obama can hold his numbers reasonably steady until debates start happening, he'll be able to ease the doubts about him considerably once they begin, and start seeing a series of small but steady bounces that could lead to a landslide.  The electoral numbers already favor him strongly, and its hard for me to believe that the debates (even the "town meetings" that McCain is supposedly so good at--at least when his opponent isn't available to respond) won't benefit Obama.

[ Parent ]
In 1996- Bob Dole's runningmate was Jack Kemp. (0.00 / 0)
Bill Clinton's VP runningmate was Al Gore.

I think Evan Bayh is going to be Obama's VP runningmate. Son of a former US Senator and Presidential Canididate. Went to St Albans. A Fellow Midwestern. A Centrist Moderate Ideology-  

We now need John McCain's Jack Kemp- Mitt Romney.

Obama-Bayh ticket wins
CA
CO (Dole 1996)
CT
DE
FL
HI
IL
IN (Dole 1996)
IA
ME
MD
MA
MI
MN
MO
MT(Dole 1996)
NV
NH
NJ
NM
NY
OH
OR
PA
RI
VT
VA(Dole 1996)
WA
WI
DC

McCain-Romney Ticket wins
AL
AK
AZ (Clinton 1996)
AR (Clinton 1996)
GA
ID
KS
KY (Clinton 1996)
LA (Clinton 1996)
MS
NE
NC
ND
OK
SC
SD
TN(Clinton 1996)
TX
UT
WV(Clinton 1996)
WY


[ Parent ]
Yes, McCain is a bitter old man (0.00 / 0)
And near as I can tell, this blog is dedicated to helping him win the election.  At least, what I see here are more frequent and more emotional attacks against Obama than against McCain.  What's up with that?  Is it that "I'm a Democrat, and I want to lose the election" thing?
Bitterness, anger, and disrespect (0.00 / 0)
I understand McCain's bitterness and anger.  That's just the person that he has always been.  He's very much like Bush in this way, in that he comes off as cordial when others agree with him, but when they don't he becomes the bully too willing to embarrass and disrespect them.  

It's not easy to make Mitt Romney a sympathetic figure, but McCain succeeded in doing just that in the republican debates.  That same disrespect is quite evident in the way McCain talks about Barack Obama, and the way he portrays Obama in his ads.  

I don't know if it's republican desperation or the fear of losing, but I'm seeing McCain's anger and bitterness flow into the republican ranks.  Watch the faces of the McCain advocates when they speak about Obama, and there's so much anger and hatred and disrespect.  And for what?  Okay, some people don't agree with Obama's policies, that's acceptable and quite all right.  But how do you explain all that anger and disrespect?  What great crime has this man done to justify such anger, besides run for president?

Exactly right (4.00 / 1)
The media's not going to let either candidate get away with not having some kind of established negative narrative, and as these things go, "arrogant" is not nearly as destructive as "weak" or "dangerous."

A good politician can turn negatives into positives. George W. Bush managed, quite remarkably, to turn his image as a dunderhead into an advantage - he made his own stupidity a reason to vote for him. Bill Clinton used his "Slick Willy" persona to portray himself as a charming rogue who knew how to get shit done. Reagan's advanced age allowed him to play the lovable grandpa role. Etc. etc.

Remains to be seen if Obama can do the same thing, of course, but he's been dealt a much easier hand in this regard.

John McCain Is A Bitter Old Man | 20 comments
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