Arrogant Jerk

I read an interesting article today over at MyWay News about John McCain this morning, and just had to pass it along.

It seems our leading republican presidential candidate skipped another important senate vote yesterday for purely political reasons. He would certainly have offended some segment of important voters, no matter which way he went. Rather than stand up for his constituents, he intentionally skipped the vote. Apparently he was at Dulles Airport when the decision was made; about an hour’s drive from the senate floor.

This seems to be a pattern for McCain. In fact, according to the article, he has skipped all eight senate roll call votes this year.

Now there’s an effective politician. Way to go, McCain; you really know how to show some leadership.

As I alluded in my last post; McCain is in it for himself. He wants a win, not to bring change or fix problems, but to give himself another bragging right. McCain is not presidential material.

Super Tuesday concluded last night with a ‘pang’. A pang in my heart for what just happened to this country.

John McCain pulled some fast ones on us yesterday and I am not sure the American public was watching. Here’s what I saw: a candidate who is willing to wheel, deal, and connive to get the nomination. This is the ‘business as usual’ that we are trying to get around, and it looks like we are going to have it again. At least on the ‘Conservative’ side.

I’ll be straight with you: I want Romney. Why? Because he is truly the only candidate who has a proven track record of going into a mess, and coming out the other side in better shape. He did it with the Olympics in my own back yard, and he has done it in Massachusetts, where the people love him.

If Romney doesn’t get the nomination, I believe right now that I will be forced to select from the other side of the card. Things could change, but I doubt it: I just cannot see myself voting for McCain after what has gone on. He is not trying to win on his merit, he is trying to win with ‘tricky dick‘ tactics that supress the field while he gets away. I suddenly feel like I was watching an episode of Survivor last night, with McCain playing the role of the underhanded conniver, while Huckubee seemed ever-so-happy to be playing the part of the naive and gullible follower who thinks he is making hay, but is merely a pawn to block out the field. He will not last.

Huckabee’s only chance at this is to win favor and be brought on to the McCain ticket when the smoke clears. Not a bad strategy, but sickening in its effect. America will get a team of bumblers who are so caught up in their own self righteousness that they can’t tell a good campaign speech from rambling self adulation. I watched Huckabee last night for about three minutes and was terrified that every other word from his mouth was a biblical reference or religious analogy.

If Huckabee wins, which he will not, it will be like we are in church for the next four years. State church will be raised again, probably welcomed, and then you and I will become members of The National Church of The United States. Religious freedom will fade away under the guise of a renewed religious movement, and we all start marching down the road to socialism. Yes, I am glad Huckabee doesn’t have a chance; this guy terrifies me.

The success McCain enjoyed last night was shocking to me. I am genuinely surprised that he made such a surge, and honestly have no idea what the appeal is. What I do know is that he used Huckabee to block out is only real competitor (Romney), and that Huckabee sucked up votes like a big paper towel, ready now to be thrown out and forgotten. I almost laughed outloud at Huckabee’s speech in which I think he actually thought he was on the trail to winning. Note to Huckabee: You are being used.

So the Web is abuzz this morning with rants similar to mine: Conservatives are threatening to become ’suicide voters’ by going to the polls in November and pulling for the other side to ensure that McCain doesn’t win. He won’t, there is no way.

In fact, I literally went to bed last night wondering, just for a second, how I might have missed a sneaky underground conspiracy attack from the left in which thousands of liberals voted for McCain because they know that Hillary or Obama will be a shoe-in against him. I am not big on conspiracy theories, but this helps me make some sense of it all.

Let me wrap it up with the scenario I see happening. Or maybe it is hope:

McCain wins the nomination, as does Obama. To strengthen each party, they both select Huckabee and Clinton as running mates, respectively, of course. In my opinion, a McCain/Huckabee ticket would be the easiest team to beat in the history of politics, and Obama/Clinton would be the strongest and most viable pair ever conceived.

To make matters worse (or better, for those of you wishing revenge with me), Romney goes independent and continues to campaign straight through to November. Romney would likely do extremely well, which means the McCain/Huckabee ticket will be devastated and Obama and Hillary would skate to the finish without breaking a sweat.

The only chance I see for McCain to win all the way is to bring Romney in on his ticket. This would at least make McCain look partially effective at bringing change, give Romney something to work at (battling a liberal president AND congress for change), and be the only chance at measuring up to the superhype that will be Obama/Clinton.

Start facing the facts now: McCain cannot make it. If for some reason he does, you will see conservatives across the country proclaiming their intentions to move to France, Italy, and Canada in the same way the liberals did when Bush made it. Only this time it will be party-on-party disdain.

I found this little tidbit on The Amazing Randi’s website at the JREF. He, in turn, found this in the Washington Post’s Style Invitational, which apparently is an ongoing contest where contenders offer written cleverness.

In this one, contenders were asked to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and then supply a new definition. Randi makes note of the following handful, which I found to be very entertaining.

Randi, by the way, is not an Arrogant Jerk.

Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.

Karmageddon: It’s when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes and it’s a serious bummer.

Glibido: All talk and no action.

Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

You can find more hilarities at The Washington Post.

I came across this most amazing quote today. Something to think about for a minute:

“The danger to society is not merely that it should believe wrong things, though that is great enough; but that it should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them, for then it must sink back into savagery… It may matter little to me, in my cloud-castle of sweet illusions and darling lies; but it matters much to Man that I have made my neighbors ready to deceive. The credulous man is father to the liar and the cheat.”

—W.H. Clifford, The Ethics of Belief