In my only comment on Tuesday’s presidential debate, “Why Did McCain Not Use the Smear Card Tonight?”, I focused on what I thought was the most remarkable aspect of that debate.
I said:
After all the muckraking—uncomfortably close to inflammatory incitement—by his pit-bull running mate, I was amazed that McCain did not get into the gutter tonight, even though he had plenty of opportunity, regardless of the debate format.
I am sure the pundits will have many more in-depth explanations and rationalizations. Perhaps McCain and his campaign started to see and feel the blow-back that was coming. Perhaps McCain had a sincere change of heart and decided to live by his own campaign promises. If so, good for him, and for our country.
But, if after not using the smear card tonight, McCain uses that card tomorrow, or during the next few days, it would be my personal opinion that McCain did not have the guts to tell Obama to his face what Sarah Palin has been accusing him of during the last few days. And, if McCain himself does not use the smear card during his own appearances, but permits or encourages his lady pit-bull to continue to do his dirty work for him, I would have even more serious questions about his machismo.
Well, McCain apparently did not have “a sincere change of heart,” and McCain did join his pit-bull running mate in using the smear card against Obama.
So that leaves only one explanation, the no-guts one, and no one could have stated it better than Joe Biden did today.
At a rally in St. Joseph, Missouri, Joe Biden , in response to Palin’s old and McCain’s new “guilt by association” muckraking had this to say:
All of the things they said about Barack Obama in the TV, on the TV, at their rallies, and now on YouTube … John McCain could not bring himself to look Barack Obama in the eye and say the same things to him. In my neighborhood, when you’ve got something to say to a guy, you look him in the eye and you say it to him.
That is the Joe I know and love—you betcha!
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.