"It's about Cindy, stupid" should be on every wall. It's not about McCain's temper, it's his character.

Yes, character. As the Republicans do, don't attack the candidate's weakness, attack his strength. As they did with Kerry's war record.

Time to play to win. Get her picture up, get her story out. The more you see her and know her history, and her family's history, the less there is to like. She will be a constant reminder of his infidelity, his elitism, the source of his wealth, their 7 houses, and on and on.

It's about character. It's about Cindy. Let's get serious.

Maybe Richard Danzig isn't aware of this, but John McCain had five-and-a-half years to "lose it" when he was in a tiny room in the Hanoi Hilton. And if he "loses it" now, for any reason and on any issue, he certainly has earned that right.

Why then does the most left-wing member of the Senate, a man who's worked as closely with McCain, for years, as almost any senior official in DC, call BS on the "temperamentally unfit" meme?

Sen. Russ Feingold: Sen.McCain Would Make A Good President

www.youtube.com/watch

Cool Woody!  How 'bout if he loses it with the "ultimate trigger" at his disposal?

B8000,

The man was a POW in Vietnam. He didn't have any buttons to push at all during that five-and-a-half years. I think he's earned the right to press that button whenever he feels like it. Cindy slathers on the makeup like a trollop? Boom!

Rather odd (subconscious?) appendage in the title of the word "heavy" to Obama's name.

Has the perception of lightness now penetrated even Obama's champions?

Tep: why then has the Navy not released some 600 pages of McCain's 630 page record?  Why does no one talk about the four crashes before his fifth one, why he was passed over for Admiral, why he was never allowed near the top planes of the Navy ...

I don't know, ick. Why don't you ask Russ Feingold that question?

Or is Feingold in your view some kind of double agent executing an ingenious Rovian plan? Do you think he's getting paid to say these things?

But Russ Feingold actually voted for Obama:

digg.com/.../Russ_Feingold_I_Voted_for_Barack_Obama

Since tep is now citing Feingold as the arbiter of presidential fitness, that settles it.

"Why then does the most left-wing member of the Senate, a man who's worked as closely with McCain, for years, as almost any senior official in DC, call BS on the "temperamentally unfit" meme?"

Tep, how are we supposed to take you seriously when you say things like this? What happened to Obama being the most left-wing member of the Senate?

You sound like Bill O'Reilly when you contradict yourself at every other post. :)

(had to get that in before I agreed with you again... :) )

I have to agree that the emotionally unstable meme would never stick, and I doubt Obama would go for that flavor of Character Issue unless there was legitimate evidence (blowing up during a live debate would do nicely) in which case he wouldn't need to go that route because the evidence would speak for itself.

Tep: I don't really know.  It is possible that Feingold has had a good relationship with the man; but there is Feingold, and then there is a whole lot of other - admittedly less direct - evidence pointing to a temperament issue.  I mean, I'm certain that if I search among friends, I will find at least one who will attest to the fact that I am not a temperamental Middle Eastern asshole with a short fuse and capacity to deeply wound with cutting comments - I have been known to be charming on my off days - but then whether that would be enough attestation in the face of other evidence, I can't comment.

We all know that McCain has proven himself beyond criticism on foreign policy issues. His judgment: Perfect. His temperament: Even. His POW experience: invaluable to guiding the ship of state.

When he pitched a new front in the GWOT -- on the Letterman Show -- based on false intelligence related to the anthrax attacks, you knew we had a guy that had it together.

When he singled out Rummy for special praise during the insurgency, he was spot on.

When he accused Iran of training members of Al Qaeda, you knew this was a candidate that had a handle on the salient issues of the day.

And when he said to the VFW that Obama's call for a timeline for withdrawal represented "surrender" on Tuesday, just as the Bush Administration was ironing out the final details for a timeline for withdrawal on Thursday, you had to know this was a guy ready for the presidency.

This is the American president you have been waiting for. It just so happens he looks a lot like the American president we already have. Arrogant, beyond criticism and without need of wishy-washy facts. It’s the visceral presidency redux.

GSpinks - I've made it clear that I don't have anything against Obama's ideology, such as it is. I'm fairly leftwing on a lot of issues and wouldn't be surprised if he were to my right on several of them.

I doubt that McCain's temper is of a kind to compromise his ability to act as president in the general crises and problems for which he will have to make decisions.  It's a possiblity that McCain will draw attention to that issue involuntarily in the debates, by forgetting arguments and becoming irritable, for example, but otherwise it seems like a bad move for Obama to draw attention to it himself.

That said, however, McCain belongs to a party that won in 2004 by dragging John Kerry's legitimate and presentable Vietnam service record in the mud with lies, half-truths, and distorted facts -- in order to elect a querulous-voiced president who never served there and a warmonger vice-president who had "other priorities" back then.

Therefore, tactical considerations permitting, anything should be thrown at McCain that will stick.

Woody that was fantastic.

Better known for "losing it" than John McCain is Bill Clinton.  

He's been losing ever since January.  And he lost  it plenty when he was president.

fougasseu, the class war thing doesn't work in America.  Your dolt Gore tried it in 2000.  What are you going to get on Cindy McCain?  That she's a beer heiress?  

That she doesn't have a close relationship with her half sisters?  (Obama lets his half brother starve on the streets of Nairobi and lifts not a sawbuck to help him.)

Fougasseu, whatever your day job is, hang onto it.  You ain't going to make it as a political propagandist.

ChanRobt: She's not a beer "heiress". She was handed a company that was handed to her father by a member of the mob: A fact. She stole prescription drugs and came clean AFTER being caught: A fact.

She "dated" a war hero she knew was married: A fact. She was a sorority brat living off credit cards with no concern for anyone or anything but her social status: A fact.

Need we go on? Okay, let's do.

She maneuvered her half-sister out of the will: A fact. She has had an arms-length relationship with her adopted daughter, for years: A fact. Her beer business has curious ties to the casino business: A fact.

Need we go on?

Time to get tough, to get real, to talk about "Cindy".

SENATOR HOTHEAD.... Last week, senior Obama foreign policy adviser Susan Rice argued on a campaign conference call that there is "a pattern here of recklessness" when it comes to John McCain's approach to national security. Referencing McCain's drive