Michael Kinsley on John McCain, the man who has a reputation for "straight talk," no matter how he bobs and weaves.
Kinsley's article reminds me of something, which is the extent to which some supporters are willing to accept that their chosen candidate is hiding his true views in order to perhaps get elected. Years ago on the old Lou Gordon TV show — and am I the only one who remembers Lou Gordon? — I once saw a man make an interesting presentation. His thesis was that a number of then-current candidates, mostly from the South, were using code words in their speeches.
They couldn't come right out and say they were for rolling back Civil Rights for minorities because then they'd lose. So they'd developed certain phrases that when uttered, would convey their true agendas to voters of like sentiment. A sentence like, "We must protect the sanctity of state governments" sounded reasonable but it really meant, "We must stop Federal Troops from coming in and insisting we let blacks in white classrooms." The gent on Lou Gordon's show ran several clips that, he said, were examples of this. He called them "winks." They were a way of saying one thing and then winking at a certain segment of the electorate to let them know you didn't really mean it; that your heart was with them and they should just accept that you had to say such things to get into office and give them what they want. Whether those particular examples were valid or not, I do think politicians do that a lot. They also bait-and-switch the other way, hinting they'll do the opposite when they really won't. Wish I knew which kind McCain was. Maybe both.