"John McCain was victimized in the South Carolina primary"
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“Victimized” is a loaded verb: it turns an electoral setback into an act of injury, and it quietly assigns blame without having to name a culprit. Mark Shields, the genial moralist of TV punditry, wasn’t just offering sympathy for John McCain’s 2000 loss in South Carolina. He was flagging a style of politics that works by manufacturing villains and then laundering the nastiness through “anonymous” whispers.
The context matters. The South Carolina Republican primary became a showcase for slash-and-burn tactics that went beyond hard contrasts into character assassination: push polls, insinuations about McCain’s temperament, and the ugliest insinuations aimed at his family, including racist rumors about his adopted daughter. Shields’ phrasing compresses all that into a single verdict: McCain didn’t merely lose; he was made a target. That framing also flatters McCain’s brand as the honorable dissenter undone by a dirtier machine, a narrative that helped cement “maverick” as a political identity.
Subtextually, Shields is critiquing the party’s incentive structure. South Carolina is an early contest with outsized power, rewarding tactics that mobilize grievance and suppress nuance. Calling McCain “victimized” suggests the process was rigged by propaganda rather than persuasion, a warning about what the GOP was becoming: a coalition where authenticity is punished and scandal is a campaign tool, not an aberration.
It’s also Shields doing what he did best: moral clarity in a sentence short enough for television, sharp enough to sting, and polite enough to pass as understatement.
The context matters. The South Carolina Republican primary became a showcase for slash-and-burn tactics that went beyond hard contrasts into character assassination: push polls, insinuations about McCain’s temperament, and the ugliest insinuations aimed at his family, including racist rumors about his adopted daughter. Shields’ phrasing compresses all that into a single verdict: McCain didn’t merely lose; he was made a target. That framing also flatters McCain’s brand as the honorable dissenter undone by a dirtier machine, a narrative that helped cement “maverick” as a political identity.
Subtextually, Shields is critiquing the party’s incentive structure. South Carolina is an early contest with outsized power, rewarding tactics that mobilize grievance and suppress nuance. Calling McCain “victimized” suggests the process was rigged by propaganda rather than persuasion, a warning about what the GOP was becoming: a coalition where authenticity is punished and scandal is a campaign tool, not an aberration.
It’s also Shields doing what he did best: moral clarity in a sentence short enough for television, sharp enough to sting, and polite enough to pass as understatement.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
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