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John McCain to high school student: “Thanks for the question, you little jerk.”
By Bill | September 4, 2007 | Email This Post
This is why I love John McCain. Note: no sarcasm here. This really is why I like him.
McCain, grasping for something, anything that will put the wheels back onto his campaign, agreed to take questions from a group of high schools students. One asked the very legitimate question of whether the taxing job of President might be too much for someone of McCain’s advancing age; we can choose overlook the individual’s phraseology in light of his youth, though I really suspect he was trying to offer his own conclusion by choosing his words as he did (bluntly asking if McCain is afraid he “might die in office or get Alzheimer’s.”)
McCain’s answer? A humorous “Thanks for the question, you little jerk.” Outstanding.
The Senator then refused to pander to his audience on either Iraq and gay marriage. On the former, he refused to back down on his support for more troops in the conflict, instead suggesting that students who take issue with his position delve into the impending report from General Petraeus; has any other candidate gone beyond the usual “young people are so vitally important to the future” rhetoric and instead offered that demographic a specific example of material they with which they ought to acquaint themselves if they are going to engage in a national debate? In doing so, McCain proves to them that he honestly thinks their opinion is valuable, albeit requiring that it be properly informed. This goes beyond the usual platitudes trotted out to such audiences in the presence of hometown television cameras.
One 16-year-old pointedly informed McCain that “I came here looking to see a good leader. I don’t,” a conclusion which McCain defended the student’s right to reach over a chorus of boos. The point the student is missing, I believe, is that his own definition of “good leader” is flawed. Apparently by “good leader,” the student meant someone with whom he personally agrees, rather than someone who is willing to take an unpopular position and defend it with fact. For my part, I’ll take someone matching the second definition, and I believe McCain qualifies.
Topics: John McCain, Republicans |