Pandering for President

One of the most significant differences in the way the Democrats approach the Presidential race and the way the Republicans approach it is the amount of groveling and pandering that goes on.

No one can forget John Kerry walking across the pheasant field in his brand new hunting clothes and carrying a shotgun. I don't remember whether or not he actually killed anything that day, but I do remember looking for the tags on his clothes, because they looked like they had just been taken off of the rack at L.L. Bean, or wherever he shopped. I'm pretty sure he looked more comfortable buying the gear than he did wearing it.

An obvious attempt to pander to the gun crowd, of which I am one. An obvious, but not very good attempt.

Now let's take John McCain in this election.

I admit, I kind of liked McCain when he ran against Bush and was traveling on the Straight Talk Express. I ddn't like a lot of what he said, but I believed that, for the most part, he was voicing his true opinion on issues and not just mouthing the platitudes it would take to get him elected.

Which he wasn't. Elected that is.

Which brings us to John McCain a la 2008.

He is talking about the type of Supreme Court Justices we need, strict constructionists who won't "legislate from the bench". In other words, those who will hold Roe v. Wade in less favor. A pander to the far right. I'm not even going to mention the love fest between him and Pat Robertson who McCain once referred to as "the outer reaches of American politics and the agent(s) of intolerance."

He panders to the war mongers with his "surge is working" line, which is also a pander to the contributors from the defense contracting industry. This is from the same man who once argued, correctly in my opinion, that Donald Rumsfeld was the worst secretary of defense we had ever had.

As I mentioned yesterday, perhaps the biggest show of obedience and the forsaking of principles is the huggy-huggy going on between McCain and George W as they attempt to gang up on Obama on the Iraq issue. I was happy to see that Obama is tying McCain to Bush so firmly. Maybe the Dems have learned that if you say it enough times people start believing it.

Now if he could only find a video clip of McCain saying "nuke-u-ler".