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 economics 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. The day he announced the “suspension” of his campaign, McCain admitted in an interview that he had not yet read the two-page requisition for slimy Hank Paulson's $700 billion dollar blank check. Well, then, how do you know you have to rush back to Washington? How long 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 driving the Straight Talk Express, let's just be honest here.
The one thing Senator McCain has done is prove that he is no leader. He lacks judgment on all fronts, particularly in choosing Sarah Palin. 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's also intellectually uncurious. She really doesn't want to learn about the issues; she seems to prefer being fed her talking points. She barely has command of the English language and basic sentence structure. 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. Some resent the image of Joe Six Pack too. The American people are much smarter and much more aware than Sarah Palin. And gosh darn, they aren't all beer swilling hockey moms and dads either.
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 the first debate until the last minute...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 has become abundantly clear over the past three weeks. George Will is right. John McCain is not fit to be president of the United States.