Turn Left @ hypocrisy.com

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. John McCain is using distraction and drama to try to win the 2008 presidential election because he’s got precious little else to run on. That’s what this whole “suspending my campaign” propaganda is all about. That McCain has told lies since this campaign’s inception is hard to argue. The facts are the facts, and he has been caught in every single one because, frankly, he’s not a particularly good liar either. The night he stood up David Letterman, he was supposed to be putting his country first and flying back to Washington because this whole bail out issue had to be resolved right now. This minute. Instead, he was displaying his incredible lack of judgment by being in the very same studio as David Letterman being interviewed by Katie Couric. To Letterman’s credit, he rightfully embarrassed the Senator. Someone called it a ‘hissy fit’ on Letterman’s part but, let’s face it, John McCain is a liar and got what he deserved.

He’s a liar because the next morning he was still in New York speaking at Bill Clinton’s feel good Global Initiative. He wasn’t in Washington building bi-partisan consensus, which is the outright garbage he tried to feed the American people. John McCain has absolutely no expertise in money and markets. In fact, he has not even demonstrated that he understands the Wall Street problem. He has very little to offer in the way of help and members of his own party said that, when he finally did show up, he was more of a hindrance than anything else. As of Tuesday night, McCain admitted in an interview that he hadn’t even read the two-page requisition for slimy Hank Paulson’s $700 billion dollar blank check. How does it take to read something like that? If you’re challenged, maybe ten minutes. Yet, he wants us to believe he put country first and had to rush back to Washington to solve the problem. He flatters himself because John McCain has proven that he’s not the solution to anything.

John McCain is a liar because he looked the American people in the eye and told them he was “suspending” his campaign. He did not suspend his campaign. The bash Obama ads continued to run. His campaign staff continued to go on air with interviews throughout the day touting their selfless maverick candidate. Suspending a campaign means everything stops. What John McCain should have said to the American people was, “I’m down in the polls and I’m a disorganized candidate. I’ve picked an uniformed, unqualified vice presidential candidate who is embarrassing my candidacy with the interviews she’s giving. So, I’m going to go to Washington to try to get some attention and see if I can get this train wreck back on track. Oh, yeah, I also want to try to avoid the debate if I can.” That would have been much more accurate. I mean, if he’s honest John McCain, let’s just be honest here.

The one thing Senator McCain has done is prove that he lacks judgment on all fronts, particularly in choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate. Most inexperienced people get better as time goes on, but Sarah Palin gets worse. Why? Because it isn’t simply lack of experience. She really isn’t all that intelligent. She cannot speak to the issues because she doesn’t understand the issues. She barely has command of the English language. If anybody thinks her interview with Katie Couric was coherent and lucid, I want some of what they are smoking. It was painful to watch from my perspective. I thought Dan Quayle was just about the worst. I was wrong. It can get much, much worse. Oh, by the way, this notion that Sarah Palin represents everyone in small-town America is an insult to those who proudly live there. The American people are much smarter and much more aware than Sarah Palin.

Senator McCain is no leader. Apparently, he has a problem multitasking. He has to suspend a campaign (lie) to go back and deal with the Wall Street debacle? How is he going to run the country? Take a look at the mess his friend, George Bush, is leaving him. We have two wars going absolutely nowhere and people dying every day. Now, we’re fighting the Pakistanis, our supposed allies in the war on terror. We have economic disaster everywhere, not just on Wall Street. People are losing their homes and jobs at alarming rates. We clearly have an energy crisis going on that will need a lot more than the childish “drill, baby, drill” antics on display at the Republican convention. So, how is John McCain going to run this country? I think that’s a valid question at this point. John McCain should show up at the debate to night and put his ideas in front of the American people. Let’s see if he can win their hearts and minds. Let’s see if he has any ideas. Let’s see if he has any solutions to the challenges facing this nation. At this point, make him prove he deserves the job.

Drama after distraction after drama. From the ‘postponement’ of the Republican Convention because of Hurricane Gustav, to choosing Sarah Palin, to calling for the firing of the SEC Chairman, to suspending his campaign so he can fly back to Washington and save Wall Street, to not being able to commit to tonight’s debate…that’s what John McCain is all about. He’s like a child who will do anything for attention, even if it’s negative attention. It’s one thing for a five-year-old to do it. It’s another thing for a 72-year-old who wants to be president of the United States to do it. At McCain’s age, there’s usually something psychologically pathological about it.

One thing became abundantly clear this week: George Will was right. John McCain is not fit to be president of the United States.