Moldy John McCain

[H2O Man]

{1} "The Moldy Moldy Man"

I’m a moldy moldy man
I’m moldy thru and thru
I’m a moldy moldy man
You would not think it true.
I’m moldy till my eyeballs
I’m moldy til my toe
I will not dance I shyballs
I’m such a humble Joe.
--John Lennon; In His Own Write

The 2008 general election contest has reduced John McCain to a cartoon status. The image of humble Joe Lieberman whispering lines into McCain’s ear; the selection of the uniquely unqualified Sarah Palin as VP; and the constant, purposeful lies in recent weeks, combine to make him a tragic figure – a prisoner of his own campaign.

The lies that McCain struggles to repeat daily are so numerous that the single instance of his telling the truth stands out in stark contrast. In his third debate with Barack Obama, when the topic of negative campaigning was put on the table, McCain spoke about the hurt he felt as the result of Rep. John Lewis – a true American hero – spoke out against McCain and Palin’s "sowing the seeds of hatred."

John Lewis was right. And McCain knew it. That truth hurt McCain. His pathetic response was to demand that the democrats reject Lewis’s message, as if we have an immoral obligation to deny the truth, and embrace McCain’s disgraced campaign.

{2} "He’s Not One of Us"

As John McCain’s chances seem weakened or dead,
Republican rallies became mobs instead.
They have no civility left – not a shred.
They curse at Obama, their faces red:
"A traitor!" "A terrorist!" :Off with his head!"
"He’s not one of us," Sarah Palin has said.
Lucky him.
--Calvin Trillion; The Nation

The republican campaign believed its best chance for victory was to rip the scab off of unhealed cultural wounds on the nation. John Lewis recognized the tactic, for he had seen it during the civil rights movement. The sheriff who introduced Palin at the Florida rally, hissing Obama’s middle name as if it was proof that he was the traitor and terrorist of Trillion’s poem, was nothing if not the ghost of Sheriff Eugene "Bull" Connor in a steroid-induced rage.

Palin is an agent of hatred, and her rallies have become increasingly toxic. In such an atmosphere, the open wound could only become infected. The republican machine pointed to the pus named Ashley Todd with unrestrained glee, believing that they had the sibling of American Idle Joe the Plumber – and indeed, they did. When her lies were documented, the McCain-Palin campaign again took the position that the media had an obligation to ignore the truth, and pretend that their campaign had nothing to do with the same story that a few hours earlier, the campaign was pushing.

{3} An Uncommon Table

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lies only a few miles from us tonight. Tonight he must feel good as he looks down upon us. We sit here together, a rainbow, a coalition -- the sons and daughters of slave masters and the sons and daughters of slaves, sitting together around a common table, to decide the direction of our party and our country. His heart would be full tonight.
--Jesse Jackson; 1988 Democratic National Convention

If John McCain had the courage to look into a mirror, he would see the image that John Lewis so accurately described. But he is on the wrong side of the mirror, just as he is on the wrong side of history. He was on the wrong side of history in Vietnam; he was on the wrong side of history when he opposed making Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday a national holiday; and he has been on the wrong side of history when he supported President Bush and VP Cheney 90% of the time.

If John McCain looked in that mirror, he would see that the United States is rejecting him and Sarah Palin, because what their destructive campaign has actually exposed is that they are lying, hate-filled snakes who are promoting the wrong side of our nation’s options for a better future.

If John McCain looked in a mirror, he would see a moldy moldy man.