HDS Greenway who writes for the Boston Globe can usually be relied upon for the kind of vague, comforting, bland pap that passes for political commentary from the liberal side of things these days. If he or she ever cared, it has ceased to matter. Today I opened the Globe and thought, "its a miracle!" Greenway begins the essay thus:
I ONCE saw a beautiful woman, known in Boston for her modesty and decorum, dance on top of a white piano in the bar of an Austrian ski resort. I said to her: "Wait until I tell your friends back home about this." "But," she said, "no one would believe you." And she was right. No one ever has.
This came to mind when America's political campaign entered a new and more negative phase last week. There are certain people about whom the public will never believe certain things, no matter how much mud is thrown. Even if it turns out they did take a turn on top of a white piano once, no one will believe that they are, in any way or in any form, piano top dancers.
And then Greenway goes on to tie this important observation to McCain himself!
The attacks against John McCain indicating that he really is a hypocrite when he rails against special interests and lobbyists are not going to be believed in the long run.
OK, I'd like it better if he used the word "facts" instead of "attacks" because that introduces a note of bipartisan he said/she said into the discussion which doesn't belong there. But good things are coming, I'm sure. Aren't they?
Uh, Sadly, No! (to coin a phrase):
His record of battling special interests is simply too strong for the mud to stick, or even his occasional lapse to destroy. Nor is McCain's war record vulnerable, despite efforts to paint him as an unstable Manchurian Candidate. His refusal of early release, opting to stay with his fellow prisoners until all were released, inoculates him. He cannot be "Swift -Boated" in the same way that John Kerry unfairly was.
So it turns out that its not clear that McCain is, in fact, madly dancing on the piano and the press, for example, are refusing to report it. Its actually kinda the case that "his record of battling" like his "war record" actually prevents other people from smearing him. Too bad that John Kerry's record didn't do the same for him. Funny, that. Guess he must have had some strange "people believe shit about me all the time" quality that is only ever found on an unlucky few--democrats that is. HDS then goes on deeper into the weeds, balancing his point about how McCain is, as it turns out, smear proof with a deep and utterly insightful discussion of all the ways in which his original piano metaphor can be used to bludgeon the democratic candidates.
For one brief shining moment I thought we were actually going to have a "Emperor's new clothes" scene right there on the pages of the Globe but no, at the last minute the old "But McCain's just so charismatic and authentic...gimme another rib, please!" magic took hold and the "liberal" opinion columnist takes a dive.
aimai
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