When Sen. Obama secured his party's nomination in June, Sen. McCain pledged to Obama and all Americans "a respectful campaign" grounded in a "civil, substantive debate on the issues." In a month's time, McCain has not only broken his pledge, but unleashed one of the most negative, deceitful and empty campaigns in American history. In just the past week, for example, McCain has accused Obama of sacrificing American soldiers on the altar of political expediency, scolded Obama for honoring the DOD's request that he not visit with troops on the campaign leg on his trip and, in an incredulous new ad, identified Obama as the sole architect of America's energy woes.
The New York Times editorial board -- the same people who endorsed McCain in the GOP primary -- has appropriately devoted today's page to McCain downward spiral on the "Low Road Express," a descent made possible by McCain's investiture of Karl Rove and disciples (Inc.) with the responsibility of carrying out his "high-minded" pledge on civility and substance. Shocking how it turned out.
Alas, all betrayed by the broken promise of civil, substantive discourse really should have seen it coming. After all, McCain abandoned almost every principled position he held to secure the nomination and rally the GOP behind him. Once a proponent of fiscal responsibility, comprehensive immigration reform, and affirmative action, the new McCain has reversed himself on the Bush tax cuts, steered towards an enforcement-only approach on immigration, and supports the same legislation to end affirmative action in Arizona that he opposed in 1998. And these are just a few examples.
To be fair, not all of McCain's flops have been to the negative. After criticizing Obama's long-held belief that we must invest more troops and resources in Afghanistan, McCain now supports Obama's call for an additional 3 brigades in Afghanistan. Until recently, McCain believed that Americans' concerns about the economy were merely psychological -- or as his top economic adviser put it, "we've sort of become a nation of whiners." McCain has since abandoned efforts to cure us of "mental recession." And, last but not least, McCain no longer concerns himself with mischief on the Iraq/Pakistan border or advocates the installation of a missile defense system in Czechoslovakia. On these developments, we applaud the Arizona Senator.
On balance, however, McCain's words and deeds suggest that he is not interested in civil, substantive discourse -- just fearmongering and falsehoods.
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