John McCain Boulevard

Perhaps a reprehensibly shameless double standard is John McCain's rationale for launching a series of loathsome robocalls of the same sort that ended his previous presidential bid, or perhaps he merely considers them just more of the "millions of words" that get said in a campaign, for none of which he evidently believes he should have to account. I don't know. I frankly can't even begin to imagine how he justifies it.

What I do know is the moment that he took the first step down the path that led him to this destination:


[Click for full image.]
It was all over for John McCain the moment he decided—for political expedience, for the hopes of looking gracious in defeat, for lack of courage to do anything else, for whatever fucking reason—to walk onto a stage in New Hampshire and wrap his arms around the man whose operatives implied his adopted Bangladeshi daughter was his illegitimate black child in push-polls during the 2000 primary.

The instant he calculated that embracing the smear merchants was wiser than repudiating them, he was on this road—and he's been careening down it in the Bullshit Express ever since.

And the saddest thing about it is that he's right when he says he's no George Bush. He isn't. Bush at least got a presidency in exchange for his soul. McCain, it appears, won't even get that.

He gave everything away for nothing. Which is exactly what he deserves.

[Related recommended reading: Steve Benen, Glenn Greenwald.]