Politics and Expediency

John McCain has recently criticized comments made by Charlie Black, a top adviser to his campaign, to the effect that his campaign would benefit from another terrorist attack in the United States.

Why the heck not? What everybody knows privately and what everybody knows that they should never speak publicly is that a hawk like McCain stands to gain from perceived threats against our nation. Without getting into whether war and "us vs. them" rhetoric protects the country, the simple fact is that horrible things can have a positive benefit to those whose job it is/will be to take care of them. The Republicans have always been masters at wartime speechery, but often flounder when the explosions stop. Imagine Barack Obama in a fighter jet and then tell me who's going to have the tougher time convincing the American people that they love the smell of napalm in the morning.



Bush's poll numbers were never higher than after 9/11; despite the fact that he hadn't done anything in particular to warrant such respect, he seemed decisive and confident and America rallied behind its leader. After some time we realized that he'd just been staring into the sun for so many years and began to grow bored. Finally, years after all of this messy Iraq-Halliburton-Abu Ghraib-waterboarding-wiretapping and much, much more, his polls have finally hit rock bottom. And it's not because of all of that stuff - it's because we got bored. Mercy me - bored. I mean it - ask that 75% why they disapprove of Bush and they sure as shooting won't give you anything recent. Bahhhh. Explosions and good haircuts win over issues any day.

So go ahead, McCain. Do the smart thing and denounce this man's comments even though they're obviously true. Judging by this what Charlie Black has said, it's plain that you have a smart opportunist working for you. We all know that you can't wish for a terrorist attack or assassination, but only a fool wouldn't plan for the eventuality.