McCain’s Apology Undone; Will His Reputation Follow?
As Jake Tapper explained this morning part of the convention surrounding the whole “don’t mention the Keating Five when talking about how great John McCain is” issue is that McCain is unusually good at apologizing for doing the wrong thing:
On Monday the Obama campaign will start hitting Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on his role in the late 80s/early 90s Keating 5 scandal, despite previous indications by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill, made months ago, that the scandal was not “germane” to the presidency because McCain had apologized for his role.
But as John Aravosis observes, McCain now seems to be un-apologizing for pressuring regulators at Keating’s behest, instead insisting that he did nothing wrong:
Then McCain’s lawyer dropped the real bomb.
The Keating Five Investigation was “a political smear job on John [McCain].” WTF? He called Howell Heflin, who led the hearings, a “stooge” of the Democratic machine out to get poor, innocent John McCain.
Ben Smith points out that this would be the final unraveling of the increasingly threadbare sweater that is John McCain’s reformer image:
I’d always thought McCain’s great strength in defending the Keating affair was that he’d acknolwedged making a huge mistake, and spent his career repenting by recasting himself as a reformer.
I’ll give McCain this. While conventional wisdom holds that it’s admirable for a politician to put a sense of personal “honor” over a desire to win the election, I think that CW comes from a place that ultimately trivializes the stakes involved in big time politics. The outcome of this election will have a meaningful impact on literally the entire population of the planet, and Presidential decision-making often turns out to be a life-or-death decision for tends of thousands of people. McCain thinks that advancing his agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, indefinite occupation of Iraq, and starting “other wars” is important enough to be worth risking his reputation over and on some level I can’t help but admire his willingness to go all in.
23 Responses to “McCain’s Apology Undone; Will His Reputation Follow?”
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October 6th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Attack ads and attack campaigns are, in themselves, proportionly effective in ratio to their relevance. The business with Ayers, Wright, and so on is only going to register with a certain demographic because the connections are tenuous and not particularly relevant. The Keating scandal is seemingly ripped from the day’s headlines. Obama can stay on the economy message while carrying out the attacks. If nothing else was going on, the media would stick with the offhand scandal associations for eyeballs. Turns out, though, something else is going on.
McCain/ Palin is pretty much reduced at this point to jumping up and down, pointing and screaming “Black guy! Black guy!”
October 6th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Wait a minute: “McCain thinks that advancing his agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, indefinite occupation of Iraq, and starting “other wars” is important enough.”
Are you serious about this? We’re supposed to believe somehow in McCain’s selfless nobility? I didn’t realize that this “agenda” was somehow in the best interests of the US and the world. Funnily enough, I thought these were policies for the good of the few rather than the many.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
McCain thinks that advancing his agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, indefinite occupation of Iraq, and starting “other wars” is important enough to be worth risking his reputation over and on some level I can’t help but admire his willingness to go all in.
I hate this ends-justifies-the-means nonsense from partisans on both sides.
The fact is that if you can’t win an election by actually explaining what you believe and what you want to do in legitimate contrast to your opponent, but instead have to try to use unfounded and trivial attacks to try to win, then you don’t deserve to win in the first place because you have failed the basic democratic task of persuading the people to support your candidacy on relevant grounds. And refusing to admit you deserve to lose in such a situation just means you don’t really believe in democracy. Indeed, that is exactly what is wrong with these people who think the country NEEDS them to be President, even though those people can’t seem to persuade the country to think the same way–they are not willing to accept the consequences of democracy.
So ultimately it is not about whether you have personal honor. It is whether you believe in democracy, and if you don’t really believe in democracy, you have no business being the leader of a democracy anyway.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
McCain is like the guy in the Indiana Jones movie, twirling his sword around and screaming with intensity, threatening Indy with a mean glare (Ayers! Rezko! Wright!). And Obama is like the good Dr. Jones who, unperturbed, removes his pistol from his holster and drops him dead.
McCain cannot explain away the Keating 5 scandal without getting himself entangled again in the impropriety of his past.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Why does John McCain hate Kenny Rogers?
October 6th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I think they’ll find an almond-size tumor pressing up against his pineal gland.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Right on, Matt. This is a seriously flawed move from McCain’s crew. I guess they’re just in mindless attack mode and will attack anything these days, in which case it might be a wise idea for some 527s to release some ads (like the aerial wolf hunting one) that McCain’s campaign will vociferously rebut, thus giving them more visibility.
It’s called Making McCain’s Temper Work For You!
October 6th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
keating will dominate the next two news cycles…right up to the debate. ayers has blown up in mccains face.
here’s my question; if a bipartisan ethics comitee investigation is a “political smear job”…what are palin’s comments on ayers? certainly they are not of the same ilk.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
The “stakes” to McCain appear to be his ego and careerism, not the best interests of the country. Your admiration for his rapacious ambition is misplaced.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I don’t admire a drunk driver speeding down the road just because they are already on the freeway and have gone ‘all in’.
I also don’t admire a compulsive gambler wagering everything his family has in an effort to get even more back.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
The Ayers thing will also blow up as McCain’s 2 votes against a bill meant to protect doctors and patients at health clinics that performed abortions. McCain didn’t just know an ex-terrorist, he voted against legislation that would help stop domestic terrorism (and that passed overwhelmingly).
While we’re at it, it might also be worth delving into McCain’s relationship with his “old friend” G. Gordon Liddy, a man who publicly advocated for the murder of ATF agents. McCain went on his radio program as late as this past May, and praised Liddy’s “adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great.” I guess that includes murdering ATF agents.
October 6th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
We’re not supposed to believe in his selfless nobility. We’re supposed to believe that he genuinely thinks that promoting the narrow interests of a few select people is of paramount importance. He probably does think that his agenda is best for the country. He just doesn’t think that the poor, middle class, or liberals are part of the country. He thinks of us as residents, not citizens.
October 6th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Bob Bennett, lifetime Democrat and counsel to the House inquiry into the “Keating Five,” said earlier this year that if there ever was a guy who was innocent, it was John McCain.
He went on to offer his efforts to clear his name if it ever became an issue.
October 7th, 2008 at 1:11 am
Bennett was McCain’s attorney at the time Neo.
McCain’s lawyer says he didn’t do it. Stop the presses.
October 7th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Too late, McCain already started the mud slinging.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHLTKwshxfs
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