Thursday, July 31, 2008

THE NONSENSE OF EXPERIENCE IN RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT

POSTED RESPONSES TO A COLUMN BY JOHN IBBITSON IN THE TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL

These claims about experience and inexperience are always laughable.

We had Hillary Clinton, supposedly so greatly experienced, shouting at the close of the Pennsylvania campaign about obliterating a nation of 70 million.

What is McCain's experience? He made his name by getting shot down over Hanoi. What was he doing there? Bombing civilians. Some experience.

McCain came home to the woman who loyally waited for him, his former wife, and divorced her while having an affair with Cindy, his current wife, and a very wealthy woman. His first wife had been horribly disfigured in an automobile accident, and he up and left her for greener pastures.

Then there was McCain's wonderful experience with the Savings and Loan disaster in the U.S. He had a close association with some of its biggest crooks, and he never suffered a bit for it.

And there's the remarkable experience he had when his new wife, Cindy, was caught stealing drugs from the charity for which she volunteered. Cindy was a closet drug addict, but was apparently not ready to spend any of her own fortune on the habit. She stole large quantities of drugs from the charity instead.

She never paid any real penalty for this activity whereas you or I would do hard time in a federal prison. There was Sen. McCain using every ounce of his influence to get her off lightly.

So much for experience.

I'll take intelligence and thoughtfulness any day.

________________

Some pretty silly stuff here.

Calling Obama a rock star is pathetic. This highly intelligent man - he taught a very demanding law course at the University of Chicago, one of the world's most distinguished universities - has never behaved with the artificial manners rock stars use to lure their fans.

He is a naturally attractive figure. Holding that against him speaks for itself.

This shallow way of describing Obama is, by the way, the latest tactic of McCain in his campaign, which says a lot about his effective intelligence.

As for people having put or not put their "butts on the line," well, that's pretty laughable.

First, to those who've read some history, the fact is Kennedy was almost charged by the Navy with incompetence and dereliction of duty using his PT boat.

The same happened over his early notorious affair with a Russian spy. The FBI was after him. Only influence saved him, the kind of influence Bush has had his butt saved with time and time again.

With McCain you get a butt that has spent a lot of time in highly unethical places.

But anyone who votes for someone because of where the candidate happens to have put his or her butt deserves just what he gets.

Ridiculous and childish.

Obama showed a toughness and purpose in the Democratic primary that is still not fully appreciated. He beat a very tough lady with great name-recognition. She under-estimated him and proved a lesser general.

So will McCain. His relatively low effective intelligence will achieve that perfectly.




Experienced at what? Getting angry?