The Civil McCain Myth
Lance on Aug 01 2008 at 10:57 pm | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lance's Page
I don’t think McCain is being particularly nasty to Obama (nor Obama particularly nice) but I think Daniel Larson hits the nail on the head here:
Indeed, to the extent that his agreement with the administration on many major policies is acknowledged, it is usually framed as part of a story of how the “real” McCain lost his way in trying to satisfy his party, but these accounts often hold out the hope that the “real” McCain might still make a comeback before the end. People will talk about McCain’s poor relations with conservatives and the party leadership as if he had nothing to do with causing them, and as if he had never launched an unfair or disreputable attack on an opponent or another person in his life, when the creation of his “maverick” image has been founded on portraying members of his party and the conservative movement according to the worst stereotypes and exploiting his opposition to these strawman positions as proof of his political courage. That he now approves of taking the so-called “low road” against Obama is nothing new. Indeed, by comparison with the treatment of some of McCain’s other opponents in policy debates, Obama is still being treated pretty easily.
Daniel points out that journalists never identified McCain’s attacks as the nasty pieces of work they were because they suited their prejudices. I have always felt that was true of Democrats and liberals as well, who could make the most scurrilous of attacks and have them unquestioned. McCain has always been pretty vicious. What is funny, is that Daniel doesn’t recognize that Obama is benefitting from the same prejudices now as McCain did then.
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