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April 19, 2010 in Opinion
Leonard Pitts Jr.: McCain’s integrity has succumbed at last
We are gathered here today to pay our final respects to John McCain’s integrity.
It died recently – turned a triple somersault, stiffened like an exclamation point, fell to the floor with its tongue hanging out – when the senator told Newsweek magazine, “I never considered myself a maverick.” This, after the hard-fought presidential campaign of 2008 in which McCain, his advertising team, his surrogates and his running mate all but tattooed the “M” word on their foreheads.
Indeed, not only did they call McCain a maverick, but so did the subtitle of his 2003 memoir. Heck, his campaign plane when he ran for president back in 1999 was dubbed Maverick One. Yet there he is in the April 12, 2010, edition of Newsweek, page 29, top of the center column: “I never considered myself a maverick.”
And his integrity kicked twice and was still.
The death was not unexpected. McCain’s integrity had been in ill health for a long time. Once, it had been his most attractive political trait, drawing smitten prose from political reporters and intrigued attention from voters sick of the same old, same old from politicians who would bend like Gumby for the electorate’s approval.
McCain’s integrity wouldn’t allow him to be that guy. He was this hard-bitten former Navy flier and heroic POW, impatient with the belittling demands of politics as usual, a fellow who would speak an impolitic truth or cross the aisle to work with the opposition because he had this quaint idea that the needs of the country superseded the needs of his party. Then came the GOP presidential primary of 2000 in which McCain was bested by one George Walker Bush and a load of dirty tricks. McCain took note. And his integrity took sick.
The illness began in that selfsame campaign.
By his own admission, McCain lied to voters about his opinion of the Confederate battle flag, fearing that calling it what it is – a flag of treason, racism and slavery – would cost him votes in flag-wor- shipping South Carolina.
In later years, he embraced right-wing religious extremists he had once condemned. And reneged on a promise that he’d be open to repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” if military leaders advised it. And went from opposition of offshore oil drilling to “Drill, baby, drill!” And et cetera.
Two things here: One, all the nattering about flip-flops aside, there is nothing wrong with changing one’s opinion. It indicates a thinking mind.
Two, McCain is hardly unique. Indeed, they have a name for people who change their opinions in order to win votes: politicians.
But these are not just changes of opinion we’re talking about. Rather, they are betrayals of core principle. And while that might be politics as usual, there is a higher standard for the politician who has positioned himself as a man of uncommon integrity, a purveyor of straight talk in a nation hungry for same. When that man panders, the disappointment is keen.
So it stings to see McCain knuckle under to the ideological rigidity that makes it heresy to cross the aisle, question the orthodoxy or have an independent thought. There’s a sense of loss for those who ask of leaders, leadership. It reinforces the cynical notion that there is no one out there who is authentic.
“I never considered myself a maverick?!” Wow.
With those words, McCain completes his transmutation into an avatar of all that is wrong in American politics.
May his integrity rest in peace.
Leonard Pitts Jr. is a columnist for the Miami Herald.
Don’t fudge fish standard 
ChefGus/ John Olsen on April 19 at 5:27 a.m.
The etiology of Mr McCain’s demise is pathognomonic of the disease that infects our system…. President Obama has the early signs of the infection and has had several bouts with this recurring debilitating decline. I do not like Mr McCain’s politics and demise over time… and i fear that Mr Obama’s headed down the same path. john
JBlim on April 19 at 6:38 a.m.
I don’t see why you feel compelled to drag Obama into McCain’s personal foibles. I’ve never seen a president with such a clear view of what he wanted to do in office as President Obama. All that stuff he said on the campaign trail is what he’s doing now. The timing may be off a little here and there but he’s pretty much been true to his word. John McCain changes from day to day. My favorite was his religion, is he a Southern Baptist or and Episcopalian? The “liberal” media gave him a pass on that one. I think McCain’s religion story is much more interesting than Reverend Wright, which we heard about ad nauseum.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296973,00.html
ChefGus/ John Olsen on April 19 at 8:56 a.m.
There are lots and lots of us that worked very very hard on President Obama’s campaign.. and lots and lots of us are disappointed in many of the smaller issues… Patriot Act removal, Dont ask Don’t Tell, CIA assasinations , lack of health care reform ( not insurance reform).. the War in Afghanistan, etc etc… Mr Obama is doing a great job, but he’s not doing all that he said he would do…. patience is not one of my virtues.. :)) john
horse_feathers on April 19 at 2:02 p.m.
Obama promised no earmarks.
Obama promised he would never sign a bill that used the reconcilliation “nuclear option” process.
Obama promised to close gitmo in 1 year.
Obama promised to pull out of Iraq.
Just a few of the lies off the top of my head
alanb4130 on April 19 at 3:30 p.m.
Hey horse feathers what you just posted here is a bunch of horse feathers. These are not lies. These were things that Obama wanted to accomplish and has been trying to accomplish but many forces have been at work to make the political environment a little toxic.
horse_feathers on April 19 at 4:27 p.m.
alanb4130,
Now look whose lying to himself, want to borrow a mirror.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on April 19 at 6:14 p.m.
I Reiterate that many of us “progressives” are not real happy with the track record of the “President” who promised change…
the song “Where have all the Flowers Gone”? comes to mind… j U.S. Army 68-70
JBlim on April 19 at 6:26 p.m.
Gus, why didn’t you t vote for Dennis Kucinich? Everyone knew Obama was a corporatist.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on April 20 at 5:01 a.m.
Ya know I did not vote for Rep Kucinich, cause we needed a new presidential approach, and I did not want to split any votes like Mr Nader caused in Florida which gave us Mr Bush….. ( I’m still hopeful… just a bit impatient… :))
misjustice on April 20 at 9:30 p.m.
John McCain betrayed his own Maverickiness when he had to fall in line to get the GOP nod in 2008, and again when he let political hacks pick his VP running mate (Ms Lipstick on a Dipstick). I used to admire him for his willingness to forge bipartisan legislation, doing what was right for the country even if it was in opposition to his party. See McCain Feingold, campaign finance legislation…Now he’s just a sad, confused, grumpy little man willing to say and do anything in order to hang onto his Senatorial seat…and his last remnants of power…
ChefGus, I did not write in a vote for Kucinich for President for the reasons that you state, but I have sent him money for his House races…he is a man of conviction, and I admire his moxy! Plus his “WAKE UP AMERICA” speech at the 2008 Democratic Convention was admirable, it still sends chills up my spine! ; )