2016 Postmortem

babylonsister

(171,111 posts) Tue Feb 28, 2012, 08:09 AM Feb 2012

McCain: Close curtain on GOP ‘Greek tragedy’

McCain: Close curtain on GOP ‘Greek tragedy’
Believes ‘negative’ campaign will take a toll in November
Hillary Chabot By Hillary Chabot
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - Updated 6 hours ago

Former GOP presidential candidate John McCain said yesterday he fears Republicans will be stuck with a bloodied nominee so sapped by months of campaign attacks that he can’t beat President Obama — even as the party’s four combatants prepare to do battle again today in Michigan and Arizona.

“This is like watching a Greek tragedy,” McCain told the Herald. “It’s the negative campaigning and the increasingly personal attacks ... it should have stopped long ago. Any utility from the debates has been exhausted, and now it’s just exchanging cheap shots and personal shots followed by super PAC attacks.”

snip//

McCain’s concerns come after a bipartisan POLITICO/George Washington University poll yesterday showed Obama’s job approval rising to 53 percent and all four of the Republican candidates behind by double figures in head-to-head matchups with the Democrat. Romney trailed Obama by 10 percentage points, while former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum was behind by 11, the poll showed.

more...

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/20220228mccain_close_curtain_on_gop_greek_tragedy_believes_negative_campaign_will_take_a_toll_in_november/srvc=home&position=0

17 replies

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Highlight:

McCain: Close curtain on GOP ‘Greek tragedy’ (Original Post) babylonsister Feb 2012 OP

mccains guy, crapney is doing the most dirt slinging mgcgulfcoast Feb 2012 #1

Put that doddering old fool out to pasture. CAPHAVOC Feb 2012 #2

Laughing Out Loud liberal N proud Feb 2012 #3

Yes the Greek Tragedy this year is a gift for Democrats as was the Palin Harpy in 2008. n/t gordianot Feb 2012 #4

Greek tragedy? More like a 3 Stooges comedy. Oops..make that 4 stooges. (eom) Owlet Feb 2012 #5

Heard the comparison of the field to the 3 stooges having trouble remembering the source. gordianot Feb 2012 #6

I think I'd go with "revenge tragedy" muriel_volestrangler Feb 2012 #7

You tell them, John! I can't wait until you give the nominee your advice on picking a real good VP. tanyev Feb 2012 #8

Oh the irony randr Feb 2012 #9

McShame and others who want the debates/attack ads taken down seem to miss ecstatic Feb 2012 #10

Some people think that any unfortunate events are somehow LuvNewcastle Feb 2012 #11

From the man that brought Sarah Palin to the center stage...... TheCowsCameHome Feb 2012 #12

Aristophanes would have a field day with that irony from the 'leader' who unleashed Sarah Palin Supersedeas Feb 2012 #13

Indeed he would. sofa king Feb 2012 #16

This is McCain's fault for picking Sarah Palin grantcart Feb 2012 #14

Exactly. Thanks for kicking it all off, Sen McCain. FSogol Feb 2012 #17

Aww, John... sofa king Feb 2012 #15

mgcgulfcoast

(1,127 posts)

1. mccains guy, crapney is doing the most dirt slinging

Reply to babylonsister (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 08:14 AM

Feb 2012

i just hope we get democrats to the polls today to keep this going

CAPHAVOC

(1,138 posts)

2. Put that doddering old fool out to pasture.

Reply to mgcgulfcoast (Reply #1)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 08:18 AM

Feb 2012

liberal N proud

(60,352 posts)

3. Laughing Out Loud

Reply to babylonsister (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 08:18 AM

Feb 2012

Greek Tragedy?

gordianot

(15,259 posts)

4. Yes the Greek Tragedy this year is a gift for Democrats as was the Palin Harpy in 2008. n/t

Reply to babylonsister (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 08:21 AM

Feb 2012

Owlet

(1,248 posts)

5. Greek tragedy? More like a 3 Stooges comedy. Oops..make that 4 stooges. (eom)

Reply to babylonsister (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 08:25 AM

Feb 2012

gordianot

(15,259 posts)

6. Heard the comparison of the field to the 3 stooges having trouble remembering the source.

Reply to Owlet (Reply #5)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 08:51 AM

Feb 2012

In comedy there are 3 basic characters.

Moe who is boss.
Larry who wants to be boss.
Curly who is just nuts.

The entire Republican field is made up of Curley's. I don't think that is fair Romney is a Moe boinking people in the head and gouging eyes and is sure he is boss. Newt is a Larry and longs to be boss. Santorum is a Curly, as is Paul, and the list of drop out replacement nut of the month.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,415 posts)

7. I think I'd go with "revenge tragedy"

Reply to babylonsister (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 09:14 AM

Feb 2012

Slightly different from the Greek form:

The only clear precedent and influence for the Renaissance genre is the work of the Roman playwright and Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger, perhaps most of all his Thyestes. It is still unclear if Seneca's plays were performed or recited during Roman times; at any rate, Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights staged them, as it were, with a vengeance, in plays full of gruesome and often darkly comic violence. The Senecan model, though never followed slavishly, makes for a clear definition of the type, which almost invariably includes

A secret murder, usually of a benign ruler by a bad person
A ghostly visitation of the murder victim to a younger kinsman, generally a son
A period of disguise, intrigue, or plotting, in which the murderer and the avenger scheme against each other, with a slowly rising body count
A descent into either real or feigned madness by the avenger or one of the auxiliary characters
An eruption of general violence at the end, which (in the Renaissance) is often accomplished by means of a feigned masque or festivity
A catastrophe that utterly decimates the dramatis personae, including the avenger

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge_play

Greek tragedy, I think, tended more to have a hero with one flaw, which leads to an inevitable disaster. There's more than one flaw swirling around in the GOP today.

On edit: I just thought - you might even squeeze George Romney in as a 'benign ruler', who was 'murdered' when his 1968 moderate attempt for the nomination failed, and Mittens is the son out for revenge on his party.

tanyev

(42,677 posts)

8. You tell them, John! I can't wait until you give the nominee your advice on picking a real good VP.

Reply to babylonsister (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 09:22 AM

Feb 2012

randr

(12,418 posts)

9. Oh the irony

Reply to babylonsister (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 09:55 AM

Feb 2012

This from the guy who opened pandora's box. McCain could close the curtain by trying to stuff Palin back in the box.

ecstatic

(32,798 posts)

10. McShame and others who want the debates/attack ads taken down seem to miss

Reply to babylonsister (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 10:43 AM

Feb 2012

the most important point:

If their candidates weren't so damaged, none of it would matter. Clinton and Obama went after each other for months, and both remained very strong by the time the election came around. If your candidate can't come out of a debate without looking like an idiot, something is wrong. If a truthful attack ad harms your candidate, then something is wrong with your candidate. Staying silent about it will not make it better come general election time!

LuvNewcastle

(16,867 posts)

11. Some people think that any unfortunate events are somehow

Reply to babylonsister (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 10:44 AM

Feb 2012

comparable to a Greek tragedy. Are we going to find out that Santorum killed his father and married his mother? I would like to see him blind himself.

TheCowsCameHome

(40,169 posts)

12. From the man that brought Sarah Palin to the center stage......

Reply to babylonsister (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 10:59 AM

Feb 2012

How fitting.

Supersedeas

(20,630 posts)

13. Aristophanes would have a field day with that irony from the 'leader' who unleashed Sarah Palin

Reply to babylonsister (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 04:37 PM

Feb 2012

upon his own nation

sofa king

(10,857 posts)

16. Indeed he would.

Reply to Supersedeas (Reply #13)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 05:40 PM

Feb 2012

And he'd have a thing or two to say to Rick Santorum, too:

But they who are a section of the male follow the male, and while they are young, being slices of the original man, they hang about men and embrace them, and they are themselves the best of boys and youths, because they have the most manly nature. Some indeed assert that they are shameless, but this is not true; for they do not act thus from any want of shame, but because they are valiant and manly, and have a manly countenance, and they embrace that which is like them. And these when they grow up become our statesmen, and these only, which is a great proof of the truth of what I am saving.

(I think he's calling you a cream puff, Rick.)

http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/symposium.html

grantcart

(53,061 posts)

14. This is McCain's fault for picking Sarah Palin

Reply to babylonsister (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 04:44 PM

Feb 2012

which compounded Bush's error of picking Cheney.

The Republican Party is comprised of disparate groups that really don't like each other and order is maintained by having the VP take over the reins and keep the infighting down.

Bush's dad create a problem with Quayle and then Bush and McCain doubled down.

Bush/McCain have given us 5 years of infighting and if a new head is not found they will have 4 more years.

Thanks John.

FSogol

(45,595 posts)

17. Exactly. Thanks for kicking it all off, Sen McCain.

Reply to grantcart (Reply #14)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 05:51 PM

Feb 2012

This is what happens when you promote VP candidates completely unqualified for the position as to not upstage an extremely weak candidates. Now the weak candidates think they have a shot. I look forward to 2016 when your party will run Allen West, Christine O'Donnell, Jan Brewer, Mike Huckabee, and Paul "Douche" Ryan.

sofa king

(10,857 posts)

15. Aww, John...

Reply to babylonsister (Original post)

Tue Feb 28, 2012, 05:21 PM

Feb 2012

You know it ain't Greek tragedy until hubris catches up with the hero!

You know it.

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