In Mark Leibovich's NYT Magazine profile of John McCain, which perhaps unintentionally portrays the senator as shockingly shallow (that was my reading of it, anyway), there is nonetheless one passage of historical interest:
McCain ... finds himself in the thick of the latest "fight for the soul of the G.O.P." against the Tea Party right, a cohort that arguably would not have the influence it has if McCain had not chosen Palin as his running mate.
Last March I noted the ultimate irony of Barry Goldwater's '64 campaign, which was as fecklessly opportunistic as McCain's '08 lurch at the presidency--and rendered roughly the same result:
Goldwater's social conservatism of 1964 was, for him, a deeply distasteful political expedience. As an Old West libertarian he never believed religion and politics should mix; yet, his reluctance notwithstanding, he accepted advisers' exhortations to assault LBJ on the 1960s' cultural upheavals from an offensive position of "social morality." And Goldwater regretted the hell out of it: "Perhaps I'm one of the reasons this place [Washington, D.C.] is so redneck," he confessed years later.
In a big way, McCain was merely honoring a well-worn tradition of contemporary Republicanism: do anything, say anything, embrace anyone, no matter how distasteful they may be, if it means another Republican vote.
When you are fighting a demographic rear guard action there are only two things you can do. You can embrace any fellow traveler (God I love using that on the right)and/or you can try to disenfranchise your opposition.
There is actually a third option, not be complete dismissive imbeciles to every other voting citizen who is the wrong age or ethnicity or religion. But nahhhhh!
Posted by: Peter G | December 23, 2013 at 11:10 AM
If McCain really wanted to win that fight he is apparently in he'd renounce his pick of Palin and admit she would have been a terrible VP. Then he'd address the issues of the current Tea Party favorites and retire with some semblance of grace to Arizona. Instead his schtick continues to be to act as a sore loser and to be on the side of the Tea Partiers minus the looney.
Posted by: elisabeth | December 23, 2013 at 09:29 PM