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2008 McCain's Temperament Fails Again
realclearpolitics.com ^ | September 23, 2008 | George Will

Posted on 09/22/2008 10:55:36 PM PDT by Checkers

"The queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. 'Off with his head!' she said without even looking around." -- "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

WASHINGTON -- Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama.

Channeling his inner Queen of Hearts, John McCain furiously, and apparently without even looking around at facts, said Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, should be decapitated. This childish reflex provoked The Wall Street Journal to editorialize that "McCain untethered" -- disconnected from knowledge and principle -- had made a "false and deeply unfair" attack on Cox that was "unpresidential" and demonstrated that McCain "doesn't understand what's happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does."

To read the Journal's details about the depths of McCain's shallowness on the subject of Cox's chairmanship, see "McCain's Scapegoat" (Sept. 19, Page A22). Then consider McCain's characteristic accusation that Cox "has betrayed the public's trust."

Perhaps an old antagonism is involved in McCain's fact-free slander. His most conspicuous economic adviser is Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who previously headed the Congressional Budget Office. There he was an impediment to conservatives, including then-Congressman Cox, who as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee persistently tried and generally failed to enlist CBO support for "dynamic scoring" that would estimate the economic growth effects of proposed tax cuts.

In any case, McCain's smear -- that Cox "betrayed the public's trust" -- is a harbinger of a McCain presidency. For McCain, politics is always operatic, pitting people who agree with him against those who are "corrupt" or "betray the public's trust," two categories that seem to be exhaustive -- there are no other people. McCain's Manichean worldview drove him to

(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: chriscox; economicpolicy; financialcrisis; georgewill; mccain; mccainpalin; temper
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George Will nails it!
1 posted on 09/22/2008 10:55:37 PM PDT by Checkers
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To: Checkers

I’d still prefer McCain to Obama the communist stealth candidate.


2 posted on 09/22/2008 10:57:52 PM PDT by John Valentine
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To: rabscuttle385
This one is a classic Will take-down on John McCain.

Read the whole thing.

Time to ping all ping lists.

Thank you in advance.

3 posted on 09/22/2008 10:59:21 PM PDT by Checkers (Voting for McCain? Then don't complain. (Hey, that rhymes.))
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To: Checkers

Why do I feel like we’re in a circle directing fire at ourselves rather than the enemy who is approaching in all directions from our backs? Concentrate on who poses the greatest threat to the Republic and don’t expose our candidate’s weakness any more than it is. Haven’t seen any Obama supporters expose in the press his myriad weaknesses.


4 posted on 09/22/2008 11:04:16 PM PDT by CedarDave (Gloom and doom Democrats cheer for financial despair, losing wars and hurricanes. That's leadership!)
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To: CedarDave

“Why do I feel like we’re in a circle directing fire at ourselves rather than the enemy who is approaching in all directions from our backs? Concentrate on who poses the greatest threat to the Republic and don’t expose our candidate’s weakness any more than it is.”

You’re making the assumption that McCain is preferable to Obama and the inevitable backlash to follow....


5 posted on 09/22/2008 11:07:41 PM PDT by Checkers (Voting for McCain? Then don't complain. (Hey, that rhymes.))
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To: Checkers

Will’s conclusion sets up a false dichotomy. The implication is that one candidate has the experience but not the temperament, while the other lacks the experience but not the temperament.

Obama lacks the experience, he lacks the temperament, and he lacks the character to be president.

George Will is being very slick in his rhetoric here, and I’m not buying it.


6 posted on 09/22/2008 11:08:28 PM PDT by Cap Huff
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To: Checkers

Nice to know you support Obama! Can we thank you when socialism comes to this Country via Obama? You certainly cannot be a conservative and give aid and comfort to the enemy who happens to be the Marxist Obama.


7 posted on 09/22/2008 11:10:16 PM PDT by PhiKapMom ( BOOMER SOONER -- VOTE FOR McCAIN/PALIN2008! LetsGetThisRight.com)
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To: Cap Huff
The thieving pigs and their Washington pimps steal billions , cost us a trillion , no one swings and some people are worried about Macs temperment . Catch up , this is a gigantic scandal.
8 posted on 09/22/2008 11:13:13 PM PDT by fantom
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To: xjcsa

xjcsa

“Sometimes George Will just needs to drink a huge cup of STFU.

Yes, Chris Cox is a good conservative, but like it or not, McCain was right. Cox was captain of the ship when the carrier ran aground.”

The SEC Comissioner is the Captain of a carrier?

Sorry, but replacing Cox with Cuomo...that’s where I get off the boat.


9 posted on 09/22/2008 11:13:40 PM PDT by Checkers (Voting for McCain? Then don't complain. (Hey, that rhymes.))
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To: Cap Huff

“Obama lacks the experience, he lacks the temperament, and he lacks the character to be president.”

Obama has kept his cool under pressure during all this market madness.

McCain? Not so much.


10 posted on 09/22/2008 11:15:31 PM PDT by Checkers (Voting for McCain? Then don't complain. (Hey, that rhymes.))
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To: Checkers
"This childish reflex provoked The Wall Street Journal to editorialize that "McCain untethered" -- disconnected from knowledge and principle -- had made a "false and deeply unfair" attack on Cox that was "unpresidential" and demonstrated that McCain "doesn't understand what's happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does."

I've always had my reservations about George Will.

Nobody understands what's happening on Wall street, least of all the media, who keep pressuring the main players into "instant solutions." The ignorant leading the inept.

What is my favorite ever line about "economists"? You know, the ones who are supposed to understand this stuff?

"Ask a hundred economists a question, and they all will point in different directions..."

It's not a science, stupid!

Now would be a good time for a smart news channel to corral the one person I have not heard from (but wish I could): Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan: The impact of the Highly Improbable.

(Check out the definition of a "Black Swan")

11 posted on 09/22/2008 11:15:52 PM PDT by Publius6961 (Change is not a plan; Hope is not a strategy.)
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To: Checkers

Yep, he voted present.


12 posted on 09/22/2008 11:16:26 PM PDT by Cap Huff
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To: Checkers
George Will nails it!

I don't think so!

13 posted on 09/22/2008 11:16:41 PM PDT by Publius6961 (Change is not a plan; Hope is not a strategy.)
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To: PhiKapMom

“Nice to know you support Obama! Can we thank you when socialism comes to this Country via Obama? You certainly cannot be a conservative and give aid and comfort to the enemy who happens to be the Marxist Obama.”

What policy are you worried about getting under Obama that you won’t get under McCain?


14 posted on 09/22/2008 11:17:06 PM PDT by Checkers (Voting for McCain? Then don't complain. (Hey, that rhymes.))
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To: Checkers
Take down McCain and...

What?

Embrace your Messiah Hussein?
I just don't see that happening.
But thank you for trying.

15 posted on 09/22/2008 11:19:02 PM PDT by Publius6961 (Change is not a plan; Hope is not a strategy.)
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To: Checkers
You’re making the assumption that McCain is preferable to Obama and the inevitable backlash to follow....

As a matter of fact --- yes, I am.
McCain might not have been my first choice, but, now, the issue is settled for me. Anyone who opposes McCain at this point should be back in DU --- preaching to his original choir.

16 posted on 09/22/2008 11:21:54 PM PDT by Publius6961 (Change is not a plan; Hope is not a strategy.)
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To: Checkers

“Sorry, but replacing Cox with Cuomo...that’s where I get off the boat.”

Excuse me, but you were never “on the boat” to begin with. You said “John McCain can go to hell” back in January.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1961844/posts?page=1#1


17 posted on 09/22/2008 11:22:09 PM PDT by Chet 99
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To: Checkers
You’re making the assumption that McCain is preferable to Obama and the inevitable backlash to follow....

Indeed, that is my assumption. And though I think McCain/Palin have answers that sometimes are too simplistic and/or populist, the other side sends multiple chills up my spine. No matter my disagreements with McCain, I won't be a party in bringing this country to its knees with the radical left-wing socialism/Marxism proposed by Obama and the Democrats.

18 posted on 09/22/2008 11:23:16 PM PDT by CedarDave (Gloom and doom Democrats cheer for financial despair, losing wars and hurricanes. That's leadership!)
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To: Checkers

“Obama has kept his cool under pressure during all this market madness.”

Nice shilling for Obama there. When this mess first hit, McCain tried to play it cool by saying fundamentals were strong, and Obama’s response was to toss gasoline on the fire and say everything was going to hell and to PANIC. The market responded accordingly.


19 posted on 09/22/2008 11:24:12 PM PDT by Chet 99
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To: Checkers
George Will nails it! Yep, Old George (or, as I like to call him, "every Liberal's favorite conservative") is always at his best when he's attacking Republicans and/or conservatives. McCain's occasional outbursts sometimes fall on the just as well as the unjust, and if that's true in the case of Mr. Cox, he'll be far more likely to get an apology from McCain than "typical white people" are to get an apology from Hussein for suggesting that we're all racists. Nevertheless, as a FReeper lady pointed out the other day, sometimes it's refreshing to see McCain (or any Republican politician) get righteously indignant about some of the B.S. the Left is peddling these days.

Reading the article, it sounds like George may be leaning toward voting for Obama. That says it all to me.

20 posted on 09/22/2008 11:24:25 PM PDT by pawdoggie
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