Hunting The Muse

The ad is meant to point out that the qualities that led Kerry to want McCain are conspicuously absent in Edwards. McCain is a war hero, experienced, and serious. Edwards is inexperienced, unserious, and in most respects the opposite of McCain. So what does it say about Kerry that when McCain declined, instead of looking for those same qualities in another candidate, he simply chose the most popular primary opponent? It also speaks volumes that Kerry would think for a second that McCain would agree to be on the Democratic ticket.

Oh, man. They're trying to make a *flip-flop* out of this? That's just desperate.

I had this girlfriend once. After we broke up, I had another girlfriend that didn't have a whole lot in common with the first one. I am so inconsistent! I have no moral center!

Actually, not a flip-flop, but a pander. He picked for political popularity and not for any identifiable set of criteria.

Here's the problem with that. A pander is a cynical maneuver that is costless. It's the "let's do lunch!" when you know that no lunch will happen. It's throwing a bone to supporters when you have no intention of advocating them. It's costless.

But he picked a Vice President here. He just made a huge commitment. That's hardly a pander. Who's he pandering to? The Edwards supporters? He got the VP nomination, I seriously doubt they're cynical about it.

"The bitchy high school prom queen vote"...yup, that clinches the Anne Coulter contingent.

Okay, okay, let me try to redeem this snarky little entry of mine with a serious thought. I can't help but detect some inconsistency in the GOP's McCain ad. I won't go so far as to accuse them of duplicity (today), because for all I know, they believe their own argument.

First, McCain has a sense of humor as much as anybody. Am I the only guy who remembers the kidding-on-the-square he did when he was running last time, comparing himself to Luke Skywalker in the Death Star trench? He didn't learn that routine at Barry Goldwater's knee. What, suddenly funny people aren't presidential material anymore?

Second, the GOP has backed plenty of candidates through the decades that wouldn't pass the muster of that ad. They considered Ronald Reagan, Warren G. Harding, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jack Kemp perfectly good candidates. Are they signalling a change in criteria, a poor memory, or a cynical disregard for the electorate's own mental firepower?

Third, candidates aren't supposed to choose opponents as running mates? Oh dear. Ronald Reagan must've been a real rebel to get George HW onto the ticket back in the pre-MTV days. Or did everyone forget who first coined the expression "voodoo economics?"

Fourth, which volumes are we supposed to be reading into Kerry courting McCain? They're colleagues, fellow soldiers, and old friends. McCain's current party has been treating him like garbage for the last five years. (Good one, Speaker Hastert, btw...what a jerk.) And he insists on standing up for what the party used to stand for, not the current party line.

This all raises an interesting question: What is McCain's reaction to this ad? He hasn't abided by the attacks on Kerry so far. I don't think he's going to go along with this one either.