DOES JOHN McCAIN HAVE A REPTILIAN MIND?

One thing I've noticed about McCain over the years, is that his whole shtick is about gaining the upper hand, never being concerned about right or wrong, let alone Good or Evil. He admires being "smart" and "winning," no matter what it takes and no matter who gets screwed over in the process... even, we just learned, himself.

Last night CNN ran a short interview with McCain regarding his relationship with Karl Rove, the man responsible for smearing him in South Carolina in 2000 with a widely-circulated claim that his adopted Bangladeshi daughter, Bridget, was the illegitimate offspring of an adulterous liaison he had had with an African-American hooker. Rove and Bush also made sure that GOP primary voters in South Carolina were all aware that McCain's messy marriage-- he dumped his first wife after she was crippled in an accident and had an affair with the daughter of a millionaire, Cindy, who he later married-- and who had financed his political career-- and who was later arrested for stealing drugs to feed an out of control addiction. The Bridget stuff, of course, was all false. The Cindy stuff was all true. South Carolinians put it all together and... McCain's 2000 race for the White House was utterly derailed.

Anyway, here's the text of the conversation he had with the reporter on CNN last night after it had been revealed that Rove, now a Fox News commentator, had donated a couple of thousand dollars to his campaign:

MCCAIN: Yeah. Carl sent us a check. I saw the moths fly out. [Still competing with Huckabee's actual sense of humor with his sardonic and vicious sense of irony.]

QUESTION: Are there other signs you see that are encouraging to you…

MCCAIN:  Oh yeah. A lot of the fundraisers from other camps are coming on board. And yeah we're seeing that coming together really well. We're seeing it.    

[ Inaudible question ]

MCCAIN: Who?

QUESTION: Karl Rove?

MCCAIN:  Oh I, listen, he ah. Nobody denies he's one of the smartest political minds in America. I'd be glad to get his advice. I get advice from a lot of people. I'd be happy to have his advice. 

QUESTION: I was wondering about that, right….

MCCAIN:  He beat me. I certainly would be glad to get his advice. I don't think I'd want to revisit how he did it. And I mean that. Not about South Carolina. I mean I don't feel like reliving my defeat.

QUESTION: Are you worried about, he uses very aggressive tactics is that something that...      

MCCAIN:  I've always respected Karl Rove as one of the smart great political minds I think in American politics. I've always respected him. We never had any ill will after the initial South Carolina thing. After we had the meeting with President Bush we moved on. I've seen Karl Rove many times when I've been over at the White House. We've always had pleasant conversations.

QUESTION: His tactics don't, you don't disapprove of them? They don't make you nervous?

MCCAIN: It's not so much whether I approve of his tactics or not. It's that he has a very good, great political mind. Any information or advice and council he can give us, I'd be glad to have. I don't think anybody denies his talents. So I'd be glad to get any advice and council. We would obviously decide whether to accept it or not.

   Must have read him some Machievelli back in the day. I thought Republicans were supposed to abhor moral equivalency. Of course, many saw this coming when McCain refused to call on Rove to testify in the Abramoff cases involving ripping off American Indian tribes. McCain forced Abramoff to testify but left Rove out of it and Rove skated while Abramoff, eventually, went to prison. McCain won't even defend the honor of his own daughter; anyone in their right mind has got to ask if he's up to defending what America is all about. Or will we get just what he's been promising: 4 more years of Bush-Cheney.


UPDATE: LOOKS LIKE ROVE HAS CHANGED HIS MIND ABOUT McCAIN'S LEADERSHIP TRAITS AND PERSONALITY