print* Stretch out on the Freudian chaise lounge, and free-associate the word “McCain.” The first refrain to come to mind is POW. It’s the same reflex Rudy honed in his interlocutors after 9/11. You could sleep-walk the “Rudy/9/11” refrain. I don’t think I can take 4 years of the McCain mantra. It might be easier to abhor Obama.
* Care to hazard a guess as to the reason for the obsessive calls for candidates who aren’t winning to quit? What is it with the media and other members of the chattering class out there, who cannot tolerate discordant, fractious voices, or competition in government? Words such as “spoiler” should be scorned in this context. Ditto “to unify the party.” The idea that a campaigner should slink away with his tail between his legs so as not to steal votes from the bigger tickets, or sow confusion—that’s contemptible. The greater the political chaos, the greater the chance for real political change. Oh, I get it, the Media-Military-Congressional-Industrial Complex craves consensus. In this way, positions as gate-keepers of permissible opinion are secured.
Update: Media clucked about the need for Hillary to bow out for the reasons enumerated above. What do you know; she won big in Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island. The New York Times is still using moribund terminology to describe her gains. Apparently, she is barely keeping her candidacy alive. Let’s wait and see.
Although finality has yet to be reached on the Democratic front, the same consensus-seekers can at least rejoice in Huckabee’s quitting.