For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you don't have boots. You're on your own.
The speech was great of course, but I really loved this section. So refreshing to see a major Democrat confront conservative economics head on. But he also said:
Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know.
Well I think it's pretty clear McCain doesn't care, and what's more the voters know it. From a CNN/Opinion Research poll this week:
"Thinking about the following characteristics and qualities, please say whether you think each one applies more to Barack Obama or more to John McCain. . . ."
"Cares about people like you"
| Obama | McCain | Both (vol.) | Neither (vol.) | Unsure |
| 53 | 36 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
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| That's a 17 point spread. In this poll, McCain and Obama tied at 47% support each. So at least 11% of voters support McCain but believe he doesn't care about them! And for Obama, possibly 6% of voters don't support him, but believe he cares about them (well, these figures could be off, probably some Obama supporters don't believe he cares about them and so on, but McCain's support is obviously very soft if almost 1/4 of his supporters already think he doesn't even care about them).
I know Obama isn't willing to go there himself since he made a point of promising not to question McCain's motives for his horrendous policies, but that doesn't mean others have to abstain from pointing this out: John McCain doesn't care.
McCain doesn't care about your economic troubles:
"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession, we may have a recession; we haven't had one yet. We have sort of become a nation of whiners,"
McCain doesn't care about your health care:
Mr. Goodman [...] said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance [...] "So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime, the next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American - even illegal aliens - as uninsured. [...] So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."
John McCain doesn't care about seniors:
John McCain skipped a decisive, time senstive vote which resulted in a key funding measure for [Medicare] failing to achieve cloture against yet another anti-democratic Republican filibuster. He was the deciding non-vote.
John McCain doesn't care about New Orleans:
AP
It can go on and on. S-CHIP, minimum wage, veterans can be found in Chris' links from the SEO project. Pick one of a legion of McCain incidents, and think about how it reveals the man fundamentally just doesn't give a shit about the issue at hand. He didn't have an opinion about drug plans covering the pill because it doesn't matter to him. He wants to be President because it is his ambition to become President. In other words, for sheer vanity.
This is a narrative line I would like to see: John McCain doesn't care. It plays to Obama's strong suit rather than playing catch up on the C-in-C stuff, it attacks McCain personally in an issue-centric way and it can revolve largely around the economy (I almost forgot McCain's admission he doesn't know about the economy - a sure sign, he never bothered to learn about it in 26 years in the Senate. He doesn't care.)
Also, this exact sentiment is well known to drive conservatives absolutely crazy. Remember this?
George Bush doesn't care about black people.
That one even got under Laura Bush's skin:
I think all of those remarks were disgusting, to be perfectly frank,
Of course, the conservative brand was in a very public meltdown, so the usual conservative kabuki shriekfest didn't quite get to full steam (not that West had anything to fear from them, which is when I enjoy the whole sanctimonious fainting couch thing they do), but nothing hurts like an unspeakable truth spoken plainly.
It's time for more plain spoken truth. George Bush had to hide behind "compassionate conservativism" - that won't work again. In a post-Katrina world, conservatives don't get to talk about compassion, and so we should. |
