Come Nov. 5th, All Will Be Forgiven

Why John McCain Doesn't Need To Worry About Offending The Media

(The New Republic)  This column was written by Michael Schaffer.

John McCain recently took a shot at a reliable political target: The Georgetown cocktail party. In an interview with the Des Moines Register's editorial board, McCain dismissed the idea that some conservatives might be worried about his running mate's qualifications. "If there's a Georgetown cocktail party person who, quote, calls himself a conservative who doesn't like her, good luck," he snapped.

McCain is surely not the first popular DC social figure to knock the hostesses and party-goers of 30th and N. But these days, the feeling is reciprocal: As the Republican's campaign has lurched from negative ads to faux controversies over the past month, he's found himself in the unusual position of being scolded by a group he has jokingly called his political base: The centrist establishmentarians of Washington journalism.

With varying degrees of certainty and no shortage of chagrin, a host of onetime McCain media groupies have publicly abandoned their seats in the horseshoe-shaped couch aboard the Straight Talk Express. "He has become the sort of politician he once despised," declares The Washington Post's once-smitten Richard Cohen. "John McCain is not a principled man. In fact, it's not clear who he is," writes Elizabeth Drew, a woman who wrote a broadly positive 2002 book about who McCain is. "I just can't wait for the moment when John McCain--contrite and suddenly honorable again in victory or defeat--talks about how things got a little out of control in the passion of the moment," grumbles Joe Klein, who'd earlier predicted that McCain's nomination would assure an honorable fall campaign, but has spent much of the season denouncing the Senator for various acts of dishonor.

The headline for Klein's salvo against the onetime media man-crush from Arizona: "Apology Not Accepted."

All this opprobrium! Will McCain never sip a martini in Georgetown again? Don't bet on it. As furious as a herd of admonishing columnists may sound when they're in high dudgeon, the scorn of the commentariat is highly impermanent. Win or lose, McCain should be safely back in the media's good graces by this time next year. And I suspect that apology Klein envisioned may not even be necessary.

Two decades ago, high-minded disdain was also focused on a theretofore well-respected Republican nominee: George H.W. Bush. Ronald Reagan's number two may have been called a wimp during his vice presidency, but he was never called a sleaze. But then he turned to hatchet man Lee Atwater and a slew of race-baiting attack ads when he ran for president in '88. Bush's polarizing campaign and his choice of an allegedly ill-prepared running mate drew dismissive hoots from political opinion elites.

"He promises the high road and then takes the low one," Cohen wrote at the time. "He seems to flinch from his own words, suggesting that he is doing only what's necessary to win the election." "I say his campaign is probably the most disgraceful in modern American history," declared veteran analyst William Schneider. "When he glorifies the Constitution while denouncing the A.C.L.U., and attacks Governor Dukakis's patriotism while saying that he's doing no such thing, not only the Democrats but many others around here think he goes a bit beyond the loose bounds of political decency," opined the New York Times's legendary James Reston, noting that Bush's reputation had sunk from gentleman to alleycat.

But his image didn't stay in that alley. Bush won, of course, and became president, with all of the media tropism attendant to the position. No one boycotts the president. And while Bush had his troubles with the press once in office, to be sure, the gutter-politics label didn't stick with him for long after election day. Today, the 41st president is remembered as a slightly goofy, generally ineffectual, and essentially sweet old guy, which was more or less his reputation before he first okayed that Willie Horton ad. All is forgiven.

It's not just a simple case of winner-ism, either. Bush's successor, Bill Clinton, was deemed unfit for polite Washington society repeatedly during his two terms. And if the Monica Lewinsky scandal was too mired in partisanship to elicit the sort of establishmentarian condemnation now facing McCain, the final scandal of Clinton's presidency was not. As news spread about the erratic, tawdry pardons issued during Clinton's final night in the White House, the opinionators who had been too noble to get involved with Ken Starr sprang into action.

"You let me down. Yes 'me'--me and everyone else who has ever defended you," wrote Cohen--again! Pity poor Richard, who gives so much of his heart to faithless politicians--in an open letter where he noted that he'd been unable to find a single Clinton defender during his recent stay in Davos. The venerable D.C. columnist Mary McGrory, ordinarily not one to cite Bush mantras, wrote, "Clinton's departure lent a deafening resonance to the Bush campaign mantra about 'restoring dignity to the White House.'" Liberal Times scribe Bob Herbert piled on. "It's time for the Democratic Party to wise up," he wrote. "Ostracism would be a good first step. Bill Clinton should be cut completely loose. Cold turkey. No more talk about his political genius, his fund-raising prowess, his ability to captivate audiences. ... Send him packing."

And after a short spell in the political wilderness, the party and the media were fondly remembering Clinton's ... political genius, fund-raising prowess, and ability to captivate audiences. Likewise, it's a good bet that, despite the essayists who condemned the 42nd president's noxious rhetoric in this year's campaign, Clinton a year from now will not be known as the off-message passive-aggressive champion of racialized code words. Clinton may not be part of a winning ticket this year, but he has something just as good when it comes to making people forget that you're officially unacceptable: Celebrity. Rock stars don't get boycotted, either.

Which brings me back to John McCain. Americans are a forgiving people, the opinionators of the press included. Come next January, McCain will either be a president or a rock star. Either way, he'll be a guy with the enough celebrity wattage to make once-unequivocal critics forget why they'd condemned him in the first place. Klein may vow to never forgive him, but my hunch is that plenty of other scolding commentators will quickly do just that. It's not hard to imagine how it would play out: An early gesture of bipartisanship or a superficial public shot at some right-wing rival if he wins, a noble investigation of some undeniable wrong--war profiteering, maybe?--and then a self-mocking turn on "Saturday Night Live " if he doesn't. And as easy as that, the word will go out: The old John McCain is back.

But all this going back on declarations about just who will and won't eat lunch in this town again seems to create something of a moral hazard, to use a currently popular term. Insofar as editorial disapproval is supposed to represent a disincentive towards unacceptable behavior--like, say, trashy campaign ads, unfit veep nominees, or dubious eleventh-hour pardons--the quick evaporation of those judgments lessens the costs of such misdeeds. Candidates like John McCain don't have to change their behavior when the pundits get on their high horses. They know that their reputations will be bailed out eventually.

[rochoa1977]

What is ironic, is when people, black and white alike, are ask who do they like? They boastfully say Barack. Why is it they can''t really tell you what he stands for!! If you are backing a candidate, AT LEAST KNOW WHAT HE/SHE STANDS FOR PEOPLE!!! THANK YOU!!

[rfd1054]

This may be the most cynical column I have ever read. For shame!

[noloyalisti]

The Republican WILL steal this election, that is what they are about. They don''t want people to vote because they represent a small rich elite.

The question is what are we going to do about it this time. I also recommend reading Naomi Klein''s the Shock Doctrine. It explains shock and awe and also how the neo CONS are planning to grab power with the economy collapsing.

[wogerwabbit]

AT LEAST KNOW WHAT HE/SHE STANDS FOR PEOPLE!!! THANK YOU!!

Posted by rochoa1977 at 01:19 PM : Oct 06, 2008

So what does McCain stand for? Who knows? He won''t address the issues we want to hear about. All he gives us is fear mongering and flag waving.

[superdem]

This author is WRONG - George Bush will be neither President nor rock star a year from now, he''ll be in the political wilderness, and so will John McCain, his protege. He will be a failed politician and a broken man, who offered himself to his nation and who was rejected.

[redbds]

No doubt who Michael Schaffer is in the bag for. Just like the rest of the liberal idiots at CBS.

[d33pthroat1]

Contrary to the popular belief, the mainstream media is not biased toward a particular party, but rather, they are biased toward whoever they think holds or will hold the power.

Therefore, it is true that if McCain wins, all will be forgiven. However, if he loses, he will NOT be a rockstar as the author contends.

The media forgave Bush because he DID become the president and they forgave Clinton because, under him, the country enjoyed peace and prosperity. Bush gained power and Clinton had tremendous influence even after leaving the presidency,

With McCain, however, if he doesn''t win, he will go the way of Bob Dole. All the media will remember is an old man who was a weak Republican contender in a presidential election lost in 2008.

[noloyalisti]

McCain is NOT a democrat unless you are talking about the blue dog democrats from places like Kansas. They don''t call him McSame for nothing. He is part of the failed Bush neo CON crime cabal and their failed economic and foreign policies.

[destardi]

Um,

WHERE has McCain been less than "honorable"??!?

ESPECIALLY in comparison to uhbama''s use of racebaiting throughout the entire election?

Why do you think so many Hillary supporters were offended and put off? Let me guess.."racism".

What a daaayum joke.

Good luck with that!

[ken1dall]

Come Nov 5 nothing will be forgiven. Obama Bin Biden will never be my president.

[displeased]

Obama Bin Biden will never be my president.
Posted by ken1dall

Better start packing then.

[toby2957]

Come Nov 5th, Obama will be the President-elect, and the plans for throwing Bush, Cheney, Rove into prison for high crimes will be well underway.

*while we do the Macarena*

[noloyalisti]

Posted by Displeased, who are you talking about fool. Bin Laden, friend of the Bushie or President Barack Obama. Very smart to want 4 more years of the McSame. after all, the extremist Government of Pigs (GOP) has done such a bang up job the last 8 years.

[displeased]

who are you talking about fool.
Posted by noloyalisti

I''m saying Obama will be our next president. Only a fool will vote for four more years of McSame. If ken1dall doesn''t want Obama to be his president, he needs to start packing to move.

[jn122736]

Um,

WHERE has McCain been less than "honorable"??!?

ESPECIALLY in comparison to uhbama''''s use of racebaiting throughout the entire election?

Why do you think so many Hillary supporters were offended and put off? Let me guess.."racism".

What a daaayum joke.

Good luck with that!
Posted by destardi1 at 04:08 PM : Oct 06, 2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How about when he collaborated with the Viet Cong in order to get treatment for his injuries?

How about the conniving he did to get Keating, his friend and benefactor, off the hook in the savings and loan scandal?

How about his cheating on, and then abandoning, his disabled wife, who faithfully waited all those years?


Obama, racebaiting???

Hardly.
Obama is a WHITE man.

[ausus-2009]

I tend to agree with d33pthroat1 that McCain will lose and become as irrelevant as Bob Dole. I also believe that Obama will be a one-term president as his term will be marked by higher taxes, higher unemployment, higher inflation, more regulation of your daily lives (look at Europe) and America becoming a soft touch to foreign aggressors.

[noloyalisti]

Sorry Displeased, writing a little too fast. I meant ken1dall was the fool. He must be about 12 years old because he was mixing up the Bush''s friend Osama Bin Laden with President Obama.

[musethalia]

Hardly.
Obama is a WHITE man.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by jn122736

only when ''convienent''

[incog-nito]

Come Nov 5 nothing will be forgiven. Obama Bin Biden will never be my president.

Posted by ken1dall at 04:17 PM : Oct 06, 2008

Especially after you move out of the country.

[ausus-2009]

ainttaken,

It will be more than one single human being. I would expect Congress to be more than 60% Democrats in both houses. With a monopoly on the executive and legislative branches there is a tendency for power to corrupt no matter who has that majority. Big winners tend to have a "love me, love my dog" philosophy. My point was that I would expect Obama to get his inspiration from the more leftist governments of Europe.

On the China issue, it is a world-wide problem. Countries as fer-flung as Italy, Australia, England and Canada have had their industries decimated and their markets flooded with Chinese goods. Iraq wasn''t that much of an influence in England and Italy and not at all in Canada.

[eroosevelt08]

McCain cannot win on the character issue. He cheated on his wife Carol in 1976 long before he met Cindy McCain and long before he filed for divorce. Read it for yourself. It is all there on Wikipedia.

[dnamj]

"more regulation of your daily lives (look at Europe)"
Huh? Have you been there lately?

Yes, they do pay higher taxes, but they enjoy far more freedom than we do. No stupid "blue laws", no war on drugs, no ban on *** of any kind, you can freaking bring your dog into a restaurant. It''s the fascist dominionist creeps like Palin who want to regulate your daily life.

[ausus-2009]

ERoosevelt08,

I take it you believe Clinton should never have won, on the character issue. He was a serial cheater, beginning well before he ran for President.

[ausus-2009]

dnamj,

I have been to Europe and have many friends who have lived there, as well as my daughter. For a start, England leads the world in public spy cameras. Germany jails people for denying the holocaust. In Switzerland you cannot flush your toilet after 10.30pm. In France you are guilty until proven innocent. Libel laws are much tougher in Europe - a blog such as this would not be allowed there. There are many more restrictions on the press and other media.There are European laws on every facet of life including how you can raise your child. There are plenty of countries other than the US that don''t allow dogs in restaurants and many have even stricter public health regulations than the US.

[blackyowe]

McCain once had my respect but he has truly become the politician he once hated. He has also become a bitter, deperate old man with flawed judgement.

[dnamj]

ausus,

I''m not denying that Europe has wacky laws, just like we do. But it does aggravate me that I can''t get married in all 50 states. I know I know, there are WAY worse countries, where I would be killed outright for being gay. I just worry that we''re headed in that direction sometimes.

We''re #12. I''d rather be #1.
http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

[ausus-2009]

dnamj,

It sounds like we might even agree. It appears neither of us wants to see more restrictive laws in the US and would prefer to see some of the restrictive laws repealed.

My concern is that Obama who is the darling of Europe might get inspiration from some of their legislation.

[andrew_693]

you people talk about europe, I lived there 3 years, is far more free than here, in a beach women go topless, try to do the same here in the US and go to jail. People smoke, drink do drugs etc and if a cop stops you all they do is tell you to go home and stop driving, in the US you go to jail. Over there (I don''t know in jolly old england) you can go to the beach at night they are all basically public, restaurants stay open till 5 am and don''t close till the last customer decides to leave unlike here. There are no curfew laws and don''t have the uptight puritan stupidity that rules the US. They don''t have the teenage pregnancies that we have neither and have superior education system to our "no moron left behind". In europe you don''t need a car therefore you are independent from oil companies, unlike in the US where if tomorrow texaco and bush decide not to pump anymore oil we can''t even go buy groceries.

[juwboy]

jn122736: Hardly. Obama is a WHITE man.

musethalia: Only when convenient.

Exactly.

Barack Obama has a black father and a white mother.

So, if he isn`t elected as our country`s first black President, he can return to the country of his paternal ancestors and campaign to become Kenya`s first white President.

[harbinger09]

TAcky but true--but we face a Depression. Though the media are true news wh.o.re.s and will create a ''spread'' for anyone of note, the public is a different matter. The vitriol against Clinton remains strong for Bill and Hillary all these years later, with the fallout that HRC may not be electable--not even among Democrats.

As for Bush--he may well be known as the man who destroyed America''s reputation, politically, militarily and economically--that is hard for people or their descendants to accept or forgive if they lost all and ended up in squalor due to the reckless spending and wars of the past 8 years.

So what about McCain? Let''s take his best case scenario--he wins the election and gets in office, continues Bush''s economic policies and his wars. We crash and burn and there is a world wide Depression. It is not unthinkable that McCain and Palin could face impeachment processes due to incompetency if they can''t get us out of the Depression--because the public unlike the media, live in the real world and do not so easily give up their rights and morals to the failings of a candidate. At least..a good portion of us don''t.

[harbinger09]

There are plenty of countries other than the US that don''''t allow dogs in restaurants and many have even stricter public health regulations than the US.

Posted by ausus at 08:52 PM : Oct 06, 2008


That was interesting, but as a person from Europe, I am interested--which countries do not allow dogs in restaurants? Please do not mention, England, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain or Italy.....

[harbinger09]

My concern is that Obama who is the darling of Europe might get inspiration from some of their legislation.

Posted by ausus at 09:16 PM : Oct 06, 2008


Why is that your concern? Presidents do not write legislation, and Congress answers ultimately to constituents who can write, phone or email opposing any potential bill. Your comments sound bogus--we seem to claim fears from either Obama or McCain that have little to do with their actual positions. I''d worry more about the expanded power of an ignorant VP who has a tendency to use government power to settle her personal vendettas. Think how much damage can be brought to bear on others--if the CIA, FBI and the wire tapping free for all is coupled with apropriation of the National Guard and an Attorney General/DOJ that refuses to prosecute any wrong the President and the VP do. Destruction and subversion of the Constitution are not just very real threats, it has already happened under Bush--Palin claims she would like to capitalize on that and continue the process--imagine that--a vindictive VP and a vindictive President with unfettered power.

[upto1947]

Why is that your concern? Presidents do not write legislation, and Congress answers ultimately to constituents who can write, phone or email opposing any potential bill. Then would you please tell me why the BAILOUT bill passed? All the phone calls, email, and opposing did not do any good. Sorry for your idel. It don''t work.

[upto1947]

Best thing said in weeks.
############################################
Barack Osama is a messed up, worthless half-breed who should not even be in politics. I have never seen anyone run for any office that seemed more fake than him. He is a two faced liar! It''''s so obvious I can''''t stand it.

[tonyd_31]

Barack Osama is a messed up, worthless half-breed who should not even be in politics. I have never seen anyone run for any office that seemed more fake than him. He is a two faced liar! It''''''''s so obvious I can''''''''t stand it.


Posted by Upto1947

This is exactly how I feel about that lying, erractic, borderline senile McSame and that brain-dead empty skirt Palin. They are getting smoked in the polls and rightly so. It could not happen to tow more deserving people and their stupid followers who do not have an orginal thought in their tiny, mised up brains. I am looking forward to Nov. 5th, when you nutty loons refer to the Senator as President-elect OBAMA.......you dirty aZZ in-breed!

[tonyd_31]

McSame is nothing but a liar and anyone that is going to vote for him needs to have their brain examined. The only person he will win my vote over is Lucifer himself (and then I would think long and hard before I pulled the lever for McSame)

[ausus-2009]

andrew_693,

Having spent some time in England and having had a member of my family live there for five years, I think you are looking through rose-colored glasses.I don''t consider doing addictive drugs and driving a particularly safe thing to do. It is a form of DUI and if a driver under the influence kills or severely injures another person, that infringes that other person''s freedoms. If you look at the crimes of non-gun violence in the UK, it is worse than in the US, particularly after 2am outside of drinking spots.

The freedom I value most is freedom of the press which is much more restricted in England and Europe than in the US. Perhaps you also enjoy it that there is a public spy camera for every 14 members of the population in the UK and these are now tied to public loudspeakers (Have you read 1984?).

As to your no cars argument, that sounds like a restriction on freedom rather than an extra freedom.

[ausus-2009]

harbinger09,

I have traveled to many countries and have worked in five. I can''t remember seeing any dogs in restaurants in England, but I will take your word for it. I would be surprised if they were allowed in Switzerland because of their fanatical fastidiousness. I know for certain that in Australia only guide dogs are allowed in restaurants. Besides it is a state law and not a federal one so I am not sure all states of the US ban dogs from restaurants. Personally I think dogs in restaurants are unsanitary. They carry a number of diseases.

[mikec4prez]

Hey, has anyone heard about the new president nominee! Michael Douglas Carlin has set his mind to be kind and create world peace. With his book "A Prescription For Peace", he has great ideas of saving the environment from another great depression. If you want more information about how Michael Douglas Carlin will save our world, go to www.mikecarlinforpresident.info.

[srz25]

do you believe a judge should go to prison for attempting to rule that attempted murder by forcible suffocation not only isn''t a crime at all in florida, it isn''t a tort at all in florida, in fact it''s a medical procedure, for which priviledge i''m forced to give the state my whole life savings?

doesn''t that sound bad?

this is a real lawsuit, orange co. case # 2003 ca 5314. i am totally unrepresented, haven''t been able to find a lawyer in 7 years. the judge is cynthia mackinnon, and if i could fire her i would have fired her four years ago. after all this time i still have no clue whether she is republican or democrat.

i am very sorry, but the republicans will have to leave now. the last 8 years have been a complete nightmare. nothing personal against mccain, and mrs. palin sure is kind of cute, but, let''s be real, family values left this planet over a decade ago and they are not coming back ever again.

When President Obama takes office in January, he will provide a presidential pardon for John McCain, thereby assuring the administration of an ally in the Senate who has a long history of reaching across the aisle, to bash anyone handy. This country will have a better chance of recovery with Obama in the Presidency, taking advantage of McCain''s Senate expertise in negotiating the landmine territory of bills becoming laws, than the reverse. The two people in America who will not be forgiven, not for their destruction of America''s name and honor abroad and not for their singleminded (between the two of them) destruction of America''s economy, will be George and ***. Is there such a thing as summary Presidential banishment from America for such sleaze as these two?

[ausus-2009]

menmotoscutr,

I am not sure what you are saying about giving a Presidential pardon to John McCain, but looking at the track record of President Clinton''s pardons, I would expect Obama to pardon a number of his friends and associates from Illinois for their various criminal activities.