Had Hillary Clinton merely lost the nomination, she’d still have a sterling reputation among Democrats and within the black community. Unfortunately, she didn’t content herself with a gracious loss, but started talking about her appeal to ‘white, working-class Americans, real Americans.’ Damage done. Senators can come back from a fall from grace. Teddy Kennedy revived his reputation after Chappaquidick by putting his nose to the grindstone and working for the next 40 years to help the poor and the middle class. John McCain recovered enough from the Keating 5 scandal to win his party’s nomination. He did it by pushing for campaign finance reform. But, the best course is not to cover yourself in shame in the first place. And, for McCain, he’s shaming himself anew.
The decision to unleash, or tolerate, racially-tinged and overtly racist attacks on Barack Obama is an act of desperation. It’s very, very unlikely to change the outcome of this election, but it will be the final death-knell to the idea that John McCain has honor, or that he is a different kind of Republican. Lose with grace, you stupid bastard.
