McCain's Free Ride

It's clear.... John McCain is getting a free ride from the media, maybe lulled by their chummy hops on his Straight Talk Express.

McCain has dodged his lobbyist ties to his bimbo eruption.... he's disarmed his misleading "safe" stroll around a Baghdad market while being guarded by the might of the U.S. military... he's silenced the fallout from his "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" warbling.... he's stepped away from his 100 years in Iraq commitment.... he's tamped down his Mad Max persona....

He's downplayed his pandering to far-right hate purveyor Jerry Falwell and seeking the endorsement of Catholic-and-gay-bashing televangelist John Hagee.... he's expounded unchallenged on his recommendation for less "regulatory, accounting and tax impediments to raising capital" in the face of the Bear Stearns billions bailout even though he admittedly doesn't understand the economy....

And, he's excused for his who-is-who stumbles in Jordan, that a hovering Joe Lieberman whisperingly corrected, on Iran training their enemy al Qaeda.

Just imagine.... imagine if Barack Obama had made these fumbles. He would be history. Imagine if Hillary Clinton didn't know that Iran and al Qaeda are enemies..... she'd be out of the race. But McCain.... the news organizations like the cut of his jib. Never mind that he's not up to the job, he's a nice guy.

Haven't we heard this before? Remember during his presidential campaign when The Decider couldn't name world leaders. Ha, ha, ha, the press said. Isn't that cute. Just like they are treating a not-ready-for-prime-time McSame.

As Harold Meyerson points out today in "McCain on the Red Phone" if McCain becomes president we had better hope that Lieberman bunks with him so if that call comes in the middle of the night he can whisper in McCain's ear.

Meyerson makes the case that McCain made the Iran-al Qaeda mistake more than once, it "wasn't just a passing thought. It was a thought that had taken up residence in McCain's brain.... Whether it was a simple mistake, a neoconservative delusion or a habit of mind that lumps together all of America's enemies we cannot say. What we can say is that the idea of any or all of these options is profoundly disquieting.

"The very thought of a president who deliberately conflates or erroneously confuses our adversaries with each other is appalling, though not without precedent. We're mired in a war that has its roots in George W. Bush's both imagining and fabricating an alliance between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Do we really want to perpetuate these habits of mind in the next administration?"

Meyerson points out that "McCain's meshugas didn't really get the attention it deserved.... he was fortunate that his descent into fantasy occurred in the same week as Barack Obama's reverend crisis and Wall Street's near-meltdown.

He got a pass from the media, Meyerson says, because his statement "ran so completely counter to his image as an expert on national security."

But just what is that expertise? Has anyone seriously assessed his beliefs? His neoconservative, war-first stance.... The Decider on steroids.

Meyerson bemoans.... "Hard to say what's more dangerous - McCain's approach to the economy or McCain's approach to the world. The thought of him answering the red phone at 3 a.m. fills me with foreboding. Hell, I don't want him answering the phone at 3 p.m."