Frank Rich: The Candidate We Still Don’t Know

[Doctor_J]

Thank God Rich is back

...

So why isn’t Obama romping? The obvious answer — and both the excessively genteel Obama campaign and a too-compliant press bear responsibility for it — is that the public doesn’t know who on earth John McCain is. The most revealing poll this month by far is the Pew Research Center survey finding that 48 percent of Americans feel they’re “hearing too much” about Obama. Pew found that only 26 percent feel that way about McCain, and that nearly 4 in 10 Americans feel they hear too little about him. It’s past time for that pressing educational need to be met.

What is widely known is the skin-deep, out-of-date McCain image. As this fairy tale has it, the hero who survived the Hanoi Hilton has stood up as rebelliously in Washington as he did to his Vietnamese captors. He strenuously opposed the execution of the Iraq war; he slammed the president’s response to Katrina; he fought the “agents of intolerance” of the religious right; he crusaded against the G.O.P. House leader Tom DeLay, the criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff and their coterie of influence-peddlers.

With the exception of McCain’s imprisonment in Vietnam, every aspect of this profile in courage is inaccurate or defunct.

McCain never called for Donald Rumsfeld to be fired and didn’t start criticizing the war plan until late August 2003, nearly four months after “Mission Accomplished.” By then the growing insurgency was undeniable. On the day Hurricane Katrina hit, McCain laughed it up with the oblivious president at a birthday photo-op in Arizona. McCain didn’t get to New Orleans for another six months and didn’t sharply express public criticism of the Bush response to the calamity until this April, when he traveled to the Gulf Coast in desperate search of election-year pageantry surrounding him with black extras.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/opinion/17rich.html?_r=1&oref=login

[Captain Hilts]

1. We don't know a whole lot about Obama either. nt

[ErinBerin84]

2. well, the media thankfully "reminds" us of that daily.

While assuring its viewers that we "know" McCain.

[bulloney]

5. The media remind us that we don't know McCain.

Every time he makes a stupid remark, the gerbils remind us that we're not seeing the real McCain. He really isn't that ignorant buffoon who made the assinine remark you just heard.

It's so nice to know the media gerbils are looking out for our well-being.

[Captain Hilts]

8. I know more than I care to about McCain. Yuck. nt

[Iwillnevergiveup]

3. Heartily recommend

"Dreams from My Father" to get a handle on Barack's early influences and life situations.

[Captain Hilts]

7. I'm familiar and have read much of it. I'm interested in policy. nt

[shraby]

4. The information about Obama is out there..

go find it and wise yourself up.

[Demeter]

6. This Is Our Opportunity To Tell The Voters Who John McCain Is!

Beat him to the punch. He's been trying to tell them who Obama is, and been refuted every step of the way--not that the pig-headed will listen....

[unblock]

9. once upon a time, politicians said "no such thing as bad press" and "just spell my name right"

it's amazing that politicians used to want just one thing, to get their names in the paper. say, "jones, jones, jones" enough and jones will win the election, no matter what you're saying about jones.

now, it seems that there's no such thing as GOOD press, and even the campaigns themselves want to focus time and attention on the other guy instead of their own guy.


what a way to choose a president.