Tuesday, September 16, 2008

McCain's immigration ad

McCain has put out an ad on immigration in Spanish, blaming Obama for the failure of immigration reform. See here for the NYT's editorial criticizing it. Although it is a lie--or really, because it is a lie--this ad is ingenious. Since it is only in Spanish no one who is English-only will know that it is intended to show McCain's support for immigration reform, including a guest worker program. Meanwhile, as a McCain campaign strategist you bank on convincing at least a few Spanish-speakers that your lie is the truth. Brilliant!

But I am also deeply impressed by what is clearly a joy of lying. Most people lie out of necessity, or to get what they want, but they don't really like it. Judging by his campaign, McCain's team obviously enjoys it. And the best lie, the most fun, is accusing your opponent of doing what you did. Over and over. Did McCain go from immigration maverick to Base-Panderer Man? No, that is just what the lying liberal media wants you to believe. On immigration, McCain believes...well, I have no idea what he believes, but I do know that Obama is against what John McCain believes. And that's no lie.

2 comments:

Miguel Centellas 11:44 AM  

There's actually a great article about McCain in the recent Atlantic issue. It suggests that McCain doesn't really care bout "mere" domestic "politics" (any compromise or flip flip will do) but that his driving leitmotif is: the US should be a world power, the US should wage war to protect its interests, and the US must never lose a war again. There was a similar article a few months back in the libertarian magazine Reason.

If so, it makes McCain's lies about domestic politics make sense: He just doesn't care. But it also means that McCain may be more likely to use unilateral military action that Bush, and more likely to escalate a confrontation than back down or compromise. It's a scary thought. I wish the Democrats would do a better job of pointing that out.

Anonymous,  12:27 AM  

What do you expect from someone who invented the blackberry?

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