Nerve Endings Firing Away

The hypocrisy and flip-flopping of John McCain continues. The Keating Five investigation in 1989 was a major turning point in McCain’s political career. In fact, it even led to the redefinition of his career. Although he was cleared of impropriety, he was reprimanded by the Senate for poor judgment. McCain admitted his mistake and later projected his reformist image in working on the campaign-finance reform legislation that went against his party line hence the ‘maverick’ tag. McCain even went as far as saying that his meeting with the regulators that suggested impropriety was the worst mistake of his life.

So after the Obama campaign brought up this scandal from his past, how would McCain react? In the worst manner possible. By implying that the Keating Five investigation was a “political smear job” and the investigator was a “stooge” of the Democratic machine. So what was the worst mistake of his life all about? And if he really hadn’t done anything wrong, then why the attempts at building a reformer image after the investigation? You can’t have it both ways.

If McCain goes down to defeat this November which seems increasingly likely then he would have done some serious damage to his legacy and case studies will be published on how not to run a campaign. But if he ekes out a win, then I shudden to think of the future of political campaigning.