I've set the TiVo to record John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls, a new HBO documentary that debuts on Memorial Day because…well, he almost got killed in the war.
Sounds like it'll be of great interest to those of us who've blown both hot and cold (and hot again and cold again and hot again…) about the very-senior senator from the great state of Arizona. I'm oddly encouraged by Matt Taibbi writing "I hope my editors boil in oil in the afterlife for asking me to review [it]."
If you don't watch the show, at least read Taibbi's take on it. He hits on a lot of the reasons why some of feel as we do about the guy. I think this nails it…
McCain's tragedy as a politician is that he is forever torn between his intense desire to pander to the bomb-humping, deregulating right and the fact that he so obviously thought most Republican voters – particularly the religious ones – were dipshits.
This schizophrenic brand of politics has left McCain marooned between two electorates that could never quite embrace him, and have since drifted apart at light speed.
Once upon a time, McCain had some friendly and honest chats with Jon Stewart on the old Daily Show. The last time he was on, Stewart seemed well aware it was the last time because McCain was about to begin seriously pursuing the Republican nomination for president. The host knew there'd be no more friendly chats because McCain was about to do what he felt he had to do to secure that nomination and it included pissing-off (and on) most of Stewart's demographic.
I remember Stewart pleading with McCain not to go over to "Crazy Base World" (that's the term Jon used) but that's where that candidacy took McCain — especially with his selection of a running mate. And look where it got him. I still don't think he would have been a good Chief Exec but of all the hawks who got us into the Iraq War, he still seems to be the only one who has the common decency to be ashamed of it.