John McCain's Monster
09.12.08
Last night, John McCain told the Service Forum crowd at Columbia University:
- I think the tone of this whole campaign would have been very different if Senator Obama had accepted my request for us to appear in town hall meetings all over America...
By this, I assume John McCain means, "It's Obama's fault that I've gone negative."
I'm reminded of the last chapter of the novel Frankenstein, when the Monster blames his evil on the world's cruelty...
- Once I falsely hoped to meet with beings who, pardoning my outward form, would love me for the excellent qualities which I was capable of bringing forth. I was nourished with high thoughts of honor and design. But now vice has degraded me beneath the meanest animal...
John McCain alone is responsible for John McCain's actions. John McCain is responsible for jokes made at his convention about Obama's $12,000 a year community organizing job, about ads that claim Obama called Sarah Palin a pig, about ads that claim Obama wanted to teach children about sex.
John McCain has done some heroic things in his life, and he's endured great tragedy. But he's also demonstrated great moral failings both in his political life and in his personal life.
He's a regular guy. He's not a hero. And he's not a monster.
But sometimes he talks like one.