it's amazing watching st johns resurrection from the dead...just last august, ims, there was a death watch for his campaign; no one expected him to be in the race. now he's the presumptive nominee, and polling highly in head to head polls re: the GE.

make no doubt about it, the man would, without question, be a terrible president. but tell that to the people who support him. as AG says above, do not underestimate him. nor should you underestimate the power of the media to catapult the propaganda and dominate the discussion...monologue, if you will.

glenn greenwald's new book, "Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics" looks at this issue, according to his blurb at Salon today:

...The central paradox of our political life is that the right-wing faction that continues to dominate our political institutions and win elections embraces fringe beliefs which have little popular support. That's why their overarching objective is to remove substantive considerations from our political debates -- the more consequential the issue, the less establishment media attention it receives, the less real public debate there is over it. Instead, our elections are determined by the barren, petty personality-based distractions and mindless chatter that define the lowly Drudgian Freak Show, where our political life now almost exclusively resides.

The Right has perfected the art of creating mythical cults of personality around their leaders. They are strong, courageous, honor-bound, protective, morally upstanding salt-of-the earth Everyman-warriors -- contemptuous of elitist prerogatives, and oozing traditional masculine virtues and cultural normalcy...
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These election-determinant themes are not merely petty and completely removed from what actually matters. That would be bad enough. Far worse is that they are complete fabrications. Virtually the entire leadership of the right-wing GOP is the complete opposite of these cartoon icons they are held out to be...
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These are the same tactics that have been used again and again -- from the era when Ronald Reagan was transformed into the wholesome, horse-riding, freedom-defending cowboy to the current incarnation, George W. Bush, dressed up in ranch hats and fighter pilot costumes and transformed into the swaggering, brush-clearing warrior. And one Democrat after the next -- Walter Mondale, Mike Dukakis, Al Gore, John Kerry -- was swiftly turned into the same, now-familiar loser archetype: the overly earnest, sniveling, dishonest, elitist, subversive weakling, who bore political journalists and provided an easy target for their adolescent derision.

Circumstances have coalesced perfectly to ensure -- in the absence of any change in the public discussion -- that the 2008 election is going to be dominated by these dynamics more than ever before. The media's unbridled, uncritical worship for John McCain The Man exceeds anything one can recall, far beyond even that of the canonized Ronald Reagan and the Conquering 2003 War Hero George W. Bush. And transforming the election into a petty, media-led Freak Show referendum on "character" -- and keeping actual issues as far away as possible from the election -- is more vital than ever for Republican success.

Their party brand has been destroyed by one of the most unpopular administrations in American history and one of the most despised wars ever. The American economy is as weak and precarious as it has been in decades. And their nominee is inextricably tied to all of the policies that have eroded our national strength on every level and made Americans dislike and distrust their government more than ever before...
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In a minimally rational world, a Republican presidential candidate like John McCain who has enabled all of that would have no chance. But -- in the absence of anything changing the way this works -- the establishment press will remove those considerations from its election coverage and the GOP's exploitation of bottom-feeding personality-based psychological, cultural and gender themes will predominate. In 2008, the GOP will dedicate itself single-mindedly to these same personality-based, manipulative electoral tactics because that is their only hope for winning.

There simply cannot be any greater priority than preventing a John McCain Presidency, one which would empower the same faction and continue the same policies that have been slowly though inexorably destroying this country, its institutions and political values. Understanding and neutralizing these tactics and the enabling media behavior is a prerequisite for preventing that...

yup.

lTMF'sA...the revolution will not be televised...Peace

hopefully the easier to beat....not quite sure his direction - embrace Bush on Tuesday a.m. or run from Bush on Tuesday afternoon.

surprised at his lack of knowledge on the main issues.

Well, "You can't vote for war and disown the results"

Isn't that a title held by the current occupant of the office?

Fear will keep the local systems in line. -Grand Moff Tarkin Survivor Left Blogistan

I think Mark Foley would be a worse disaster.
And funnier.

Brendan Calling John Mccain

As a candidate, his general ineptitude is actually kinda funny. As President John McCain... well, that's a pretty sobering thought. Go, Obama!

Seven years the GOP knew they didn't have a VP to stand in line for the Pres slot, 7 years and this is the very best they could come up with?

McCain, if given half a chance, will lead his party off Bush's cliff if he can just remember where it is. We may begin to say that McCain's grasp of foreign policy is so forgetful that his acknowledged lack of economic policy is actually his strong suit.

No Hillary, you were outspent by the people not the Obama campaign.

Absolutely.

In fact, it would surprise me not at all if the Republicans figured that out before their convention and found a way to deny him the nomination.

Important to remember that in the 97% of the electorate that doesn't read Thinkprogress or progressive blogs, a lot of people actually like (or are open to liking) McCain.  He'd be a terrible president, but shouldn't be underestimated as a candidate.

He's "disastered" himself into 28 years in the U.S., Legislature including 22 as a Senator and 8 as chairman of the very powerful Senate Commerce Committee.

Meanwhile...he has become a multi-multi-millionaire.

He's got best dumb act in the federal government, if you ask me.

Do NOT understimate him as a candidate.

Do so at your own peril.

AG

Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie.-Mae West

I agree with each of you.  However, I am beginning to wonder it most of congress is not just like him by the way they work...[sigh]

When I think about how many times McCain has been re-elected to the Senate, I can't believe he's this out-of-it as a candidate for president. Of course, people do get older and forget what they used to know. But, maybe, just maybe, he thinks he doesn't have a chance against Obama OR HRC so he's not even trying. Or maybe, he's smarter than them and knows whoever becomes the next president will have to swim thru shit and never smell good again.

He's a better candidate than he was a pilot.

---Cthulhu for President: Why vote for the lesser evil?

All of this is true. However, if there is anything the last seven years have shown us:

The Republicans could run a shaved chimp and still win.

Glenn Greenwald's post was all about how they have stupid policies, skewed execution, and downright disgusting goals; and manage to get enough people to vote for them anyway that they can steal the slim margin left.

Because they aren't running on policy.

They are running on dreams.

Good Heavens, even they are smart enough to realize that if they ran on their real agenda, they would drive the electorate to bring back tar & feathering.

Obama has human imperfections and blind spots. But he seems to grasp what people want, and give it to them, while genuinely making his best effort to advance their real goals.

But I'm also supporting him because he is the only candidate the Democrats have come up with since Bill Clinton who is able to convey Mythic Stature.

That's what people want. The sensible, intelligent part of the electorate understand policy and procedures.

But, obviously, half of the electorate DOES NOT.

They will make stabs at it, and pretend they are studying for their vote, but it's a sham. They are going to go with their gut because all this foreign policy, economics, and weird acronyms means nothing to them.

They don't understand it, and deep down, they know it.

So they aren't going to make decisions on that basis.

We have to reach them. If we can't pound facts into their head, we have to pound feelings into their heart.

It will take a while to reform the media. It might have to die and take a new shape. We don't have time for that to happen.

But one thing we do have, that anyone can see; that the Republicans have royally fucked up anything they have touched.

That's what we have to hammer home.

WereBear
Love cats? See my cat blog, the way of cats

i couldn't agree with you more, booman. amazing what he says and does.

but.....as long as the mainstream (conservaitve-reactionary) media loves him, it will be an uphill fight for obama after the nomination. if clinton somehow pulls off the coup d'etat and takes over...well, the demorats might not have a chance at the presidency. with obama their odds will increase every month.

plus what kind of 'coat tails' does mccain have...? it's totally laughable. jajajaja. the republicans are mincemeat in the House and Senate