January 29, 2008--All We Need Is War, War, War
By coincidence we are spending the winter in Florida where, in case you’ve been living in a cave and haven’t noticed (not a bad idea, by the way) there is a critical Republican Party primary going on.
As I type this, those Floridians who moved here to escape not just the cold and expense of the north but also so they wouldn’t ever again have to wait on line for anything, those who didn’t vote early are casting their ballots. Ballots that very well could send a diminished Rudy back to Giuliani Partners and make John McCain the odds-on favorite to win the nomination.
Residing in this superheated political environment, one watches local TV and listens in on conversations in different ways.
I woke up very early two days ago and switched on the news. The first thing I saw was a Mitt Romney ad. Having watched it at least half a dozen times during the past week, I switched to another channel but there it was again, but near the end so I stayed tuned. The morning news anchor appeared and reported about a McCain event of the previous evening.
I wish I had been awake enough to remember McCain’s exact words or had a pad beside the bed on which to take notes. And since I can’t find the video clip on You Tube, you will have to trust that I remember the essence of what he was saying.
Clearly appealing to what he hopes will be his base, those 70 percent of Republicans who, remarkably, still feel President Bush is doing a good job, McCain buoyantly said:
We’re at war, my friends. And it’s tough. It’s not going to be easy. But we’re winning and we have to keep going. The surge is working. General Petraeus’ plan is working. And, my friends, here’s some straight talk—there are going to be other wars. [Here he became even more animated.] Yes, my friends, a lot of them. Lots of wars. [He appeared rapturous.] And I’m ready to be your Commander in Chief.
I wasn’t quite sure that I had heard this. Much less remembered it correctly. Perhaps I was coming out of a bad dream. So I switched back to the other morning news show and, yes, they too were running the same clip. There was McCain again, flailing his wounded arms in what can only be described as a state of excitement. It was all quite intentional and we’ll see if this fear-strategy works when they count the votes later today.
Depressed by this and with Frank Rich’s Sunday column in the New York Times rattling around in my brain—he wrote that if McCain and Hillary Clinton become the nominees, McClain is likely to be elected president (linked below)—weighted down by this thought I dragged myself out to the Green Owl for coffee.
The guy sitting on the stool to my left, Brian ____ , chatted me up. It turns out that he’s one of the area’s leading realtors, having done so well that he retired at 35 but is now back in the business because he was bored. We naturally got into a discussion about real estate. The market, he said, is even more depressed in Florida than in the rest of the country. He advised, “If you and Rona are thinking about buying a place here, wait until May. Then call me. Everything will be 50 cents on the dollar. Half price.”
I told him that at the moment we like renting, but I did take his card.
He then switched the conversation to politics. “It won’t surprise you, will it, that I’m a lifelong Republican? But I’m so sick of what my party’s done to this country that there’s no way this time that I’d vote for any of them.”
“You mean, you’d vote for Obama?”
“Right on. Sure.”
“What about if McCain is nominated?” I couldn’t get his “lots of wars” speech out of my head.
“Obama.”
“And Mitt Romney? After what you said the economy here, I'd assume you’d like him.”
“No way, he’s a phony. Too much flip-flopping. I’d still vote for Obama.”
“And what if Hillary Clinton’s the nominee. And McCain? Clinton versus McCain?”
He paused for a moment, checking out the waitresses, and said, as if to himself, “Well, I’d have to think more about that one.”
As I type this, those Floridians who moved here to escape not just the cold and expense of the north but also so they wouldn’t ever again have to wait on line for anything, those who didn’t vote early are casting their ballots. Ballots that very well could send a diminished Rudy back to Giuliani Partners and make John McCain the odds-on favorite to win the nomination.
Residing in this superheated political environment, one watches local TV and listens in on conversations in different ways.
I woke up very early two days ago and switched on the news. The first thing I saw was a Mitt Romney ad. Having watched it at least half a dozen times during the past week, I switched to another channel but there it was again, but near the end so I stayed tuned. The morning news anchor appeared and reported about a McCain event of the previous evening.
I wish I had been awake enough to remember McCain’s exact words or had a pad beside the bed on which to take notes. And since I can’t find the video clip on You Tube, you will have to trust that I remember the essence of what he was saying.
Clearly appealing to what he hopes will be his base, those 70 percent of Republicans who, remarkably, still feel President Bush is doing a good job, McCain buoyantly said:
We’re at war, my friends. And it’s tough. It’s not going to be easy. But we’re winning and we have to keep going. The surge is working. General Petraeus’ plan is working. And, my friends, here’s some straight talk—there are going to be other wars. [Here he became even more animated.] Yes, my friends, a lot of them. Lots of wars. [He appeared rapturous.] And I’m ready to be your Commander in Chief.
I wasn’t quite sure that I had heard this. Much less remembered it correctly. Perhaps I was coming out of a bad dream. So I switched back to the other morning news show and, yes, they too were running the same clip. There was McCain again, flailing his wounded arms in what can only be described as a state of excitement. It was all quite intentional and we’ll see if this fear-strategy works when they count the votes later today.
Depressed by this and with Frank Rich’s Sunday column in the New York Times rattling around in my brain—he wrote that if McCain and Hillary Clinton become the nominees, McClain is likely to be elected president (linked below)—weighted down by this thought I dragged myself out to the Green Owl for coffee.
The guy sitting on the stool to my left, Brian ____ , chatted me up. It turns out that he’s one of the area’s leading realtors, having done so well that he retired at 35 but is now back in the business because he was bored. We naturally got into a discussion about real estate. The market, he said, is even more depressed in Florida than in the rest of the country. He advised, “If you and Rona are thinking about buying a place here, wait until May. Then call me. Everything will be 50 cents on the dollar. Half price.”
I told him that at the moment we like renting, but I did take his card.
He then switched the conversation to politics. “It won’t surprise you, will it, that I’m a lifelong Republican? But I’m so sick of what my party’s done to this country that there’s no way this time that I’d vote for any of them.”
“You mean, you’d vote for Obama?”
“Right on. Sure.”
“What about if McCain is nominated?” I couldn’t get his “lots of wars” speech out of my head.
“Obama.”
“And Mitt Romney? After what you said the economy here, I'd assume you’d like him.”
“No way, he’s a phony. Too much flip-flopping. I’d still vote for Obama.”
“And what if Hillary Clinton’s the nominee. And McCain? Clinton versus McCain?”
He paused for a moment, checking out the waitresses, and said, as if to himself, “Well, I’d have to think more about that one.”
posted by Steven Zwerling at
6:14 PM
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