“Weird old coot with a short fuse” won’t fit on a bumper sticker
Camille Paglia assesses the election in this particularly crazy political year and delivers a negative endorsement for John McCain. It makes us like McCain all the more (full disclosure: we’re part of the “grumpy old men” demographic):
John McCain’s courage under torture during the Vietnam War deserves everyone’s gratitude and respect. But as a national candidate, the stumpy, uptight McCain is a lemon. Oy, that weaselly voice and those dated locutions and stilted intonations. Who needs a weird old coot with a short fuse in the White House?
Paglia asks: “Who needs a weird old coot with a short fuse in the White House?” That characterization might be something of a stretch, but even if it’s not, we’re satisfied with the candidate, given his current and oft-stated views. We have to admit that, as a member of the belligerent old coot cohort, we’re at the center of the market where McCain is most attractive, but so be it.
Unless the uproar by some prominent conservative media figures is some sort of attempt at a clever strategy, it seems like a bit of an affectation to us at this point. It has begun to strike us as very odd that some who ardently supported President Bush on most matters are vehemently anti-McCain, when, for better or worse, the two haven’t been really all that different on many policies — except that McCain’s recent pronouncements have been to the right of Bush.