Comes from Rolling Stone’s new, in-depth profile of Republican John Sidney McCain III, a man whose reality is at often sharp odds with his carefully crafted — and media enabled persona.
In its broad strokes, McCain’s life story is oddly similar to
that of the current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain
III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of
American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege
against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both developed an
uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a
minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish
behavior. At each step, with the aid of their fathers’ powerful
friends, both failed upward. And both shed their skins as
Episcopalian members of the Washington elite to build political
careers as self-styled, ranch-inhabiting Westerners who pray to
Jesus in their wives’ evangelical churches.
In one vital respect, however, the comparison is deeply unfair
to the current president: George W. Bush was a much better
pilot.
And be sure to read the profile of "Mad Dog Palin," too.