A lot of bull

It was all there for the voters to see; the Merrill Lynch bull on display for the TV audience and for those in the arena in Oxford. Eyes flashing, head shaking and in full attack mode, John McCain demonstrated for all to see that he can barely contain his violent and well known temper, even when that was a prime goal.

Here was an unapologetic neoconservative proudly pawing the ground ready to take on Iran, Russia, China or any other nation or group with or without allies. As Barack Obama parried and flashed his cape on why John McCain was wrong to support the invasion of Iraq, the Merrill Lynch (or should I say the Bank of America) Bull could barely contain himself. At every opportunity he simply hurled personal insults rather than policy differences at his younger opponent whom he held in open contempt.

Even his build up to the confrontation in Mississippi was wild and wooly – excuse the non-bovine metaphor but McCain could just as easily be compared to a ram. He suspended his campaign and charged into the capitol to shake the troops up and just about derailed the possibility of an agreement between two parties already acting like scorpions in a bottle – another of today’s stinging metaphors.

All in all McCain showed clearly that he is disdainful of others and does not have the temperament to be president of the United States. His view of the American empire was obsolete within months of the Roman Triumph aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, and his position of the economy showed significant lack of understanding of what got us in the fix we’re in.

His rationale for staying Iraq skirted the edge of madness in that he implied that more lives and treasure should be thrown at the problem to demonstrate that all that had already been chewed up had not been wasted. On the other hand, Obama’s position was that we should only fight when in it is in the nation’s interests and not to avoid losing face.

McCain’s pandering of veterans was so obvious as to be difficult to watch. We know that he loves them – we all do – but if he’s such a champion why didn’t he break the scandalous situation at Walter Reed? The clear implication was that the democrats would not act in the best interest of those in uniform. It was too lame for Obama to even waste time on.

This debate on foreign policy was supposed to be McCain’s last best chance. While Obama simply had to play defense and prevent a disaster, McCain had to handle his opponent with ease. Based on the expectations, Obama was the clear winner despite yesterday’s McCain campaign ad proudly proclaiming the old guy to be the winner that was accidentally flashed to the world before his arrival in Oxford.

McCain’s job was clearly to separate himself from the Bush administration’s sorry stewardship of the nation over the past eight years. As of this morning, he has failed in that effort.

The next bout takes place next week when the vice-presidential candidates square off, and things ain’t looking good for the incumbent party.

And I ain’t b.s.n’ ya.