We used to refer to people like John McCain as being a "character." It was neither a compliment nor a slur, but implicitly implied a certain fondness for, and uniqueness about, those so designated.

The last thing someone would say about Barack or Al Gore or HRC or Mitt Romney or John Edwards was that any of them were "characters."

Bill Clinton, now that he finds himself no longer enjoying the isolation from the public that does a sitting president, is beginning to earn his "a character" stripes by finger pointing, red faced televised arguments with members of the unwashed masses who suddenly can get right in his face and disagree with him.

McCain, however, seems to take pride in being a character. Reports of his cursing colleagues in the House and Senate, throwing punches at a freshman congressman twice his size, being a real-life fighter pilot during wartime, mingling with the reporters on his campaign bus and taking all questions "on the record," they're all worthy actions of a character.

He seems, like I have read Harry Truman also seemed, to be comfortable with who and what he is, grievous flaws and all.

Although he does claim expertise in national security/foreign policy matters, he doesn't pretend an intellectual's status in those realms; it's his experience that he cites. He frequently is the butt of his own jokes mocking his age and his battered appearance; he's hardly humble, but somehow gives the impression that he is---in short, he's a "character."

And that's refreshing to a lot of Americans. His positions on some issues may be somewhat ambiguous and subject to change, he may be vulgar in private exchanges, but he himself remains who is he, take it or leave it.

Frankly, I don't think he'd hesitate to hope in an F-15 and drop a few loads unto Sadr City even now. So to imagine that it takes an act of courage to venture into enclaves of unarmed democrats or any race or color is just plain silly.

He'll go, he'll answer questions, maybe argue with a few of the questioners, poke fun at himself whenever possible, hoping his "I am what you see," approach might at least make some in the audience less hostile to his candidacy, perhaps even snatch a couple of votes from his foray behind enemy lines.

But it will be another another episode of gutsiness, if not intelligence, that he'll come away with. And no presidential candidate has suffered election harm by being considered too gutsy.

Even against the brilliant, erudite, handsome, articulate, seemingly flawless Barack Obama, Bulldog McCain will give him a fight.

My Blog: proteanPerspectives.blogspot.c­om

That's all we need one more person who has no fear dropping bombs on innocent people. Have we not killed enough innocent people in Iraq?.

McCain is not the only person in the world who spent time as a prisoner of war, he is one of the few men who turned his experience into a career.

At the Petraeus hearing watched by the chattering class who felt the need to critique Hillary no one noticed Mccains shaking hands.

McCain the family man has only lived with his family part time.

What America does not need is one more old man with a fowl temper willing to kill thousands of innocent people. What America does not need is Joe Liebermann the dem, indy, repub acting like a nanny to Mccain.

"one more old man with a fowl temper"

Yeah, those geese... murderers, the lot of them.

lucy2328:

1. Please do not read my post as an endorsement of McCain's candidacy. It was merely a few observations about him.

2. I think we and other Iraqis have killed far too many innocent people in Iraq. We may not, however, have killed enough guilty ones. My personal position on Iraq is that it was an unjustified, grossly under-planned and mismanaged enterprise that will forever be a stain on the USA. We should exit forthwith.

3. McCain's age seems to disturb you, for what reason(s), I don't know.

4. But even the points you raise in your reply lend further credence to my describing him as a "character," which is all I intended to do in my post.

Chill out.

>>McCain's age seems to disturb you, for what reason(s), I don't know<<

I can't speak for him, but I'll tell you why I think he's too old: Because we don't need another senile old vegetable like Reagan in office, barely able to gum his pablum or wipe the drool from his chin, the Presidency run by his wife.

Nancy was bad enough, but what do we know about McCain's wife other than she's a bimbo?

Give a man a beer and he'll waste an hour.
Teach a man to brew and he'll waste a lifetime.