Stumbling John McCann peddles his b.s. in Paramus
/
Candidate John McCann reminds us of a wax figure that's been in the sun too long. The guy is limp, droopy. He looks like he's melting. Sleepy and shambolic is very uninspiring.
Before stopping by Sussex County a day after the election (he skipped the November 5th rally hosted by Sussex GOP Chairman Jerry Scanlan and Steve Lonegan) Democrat ex-pat McCann was at an event in Paramus, in Bergen County. There he let loose with some major whoppers -- first and foremost that the NRCC (the National Republican Congressional Committee) was not supporting Steve Lonegan in his race to unseat incumbent Democrat Congressman Josh Gottheimer.
McCann apparently missed this press release from the NRCC:
There has been a lot of media coverage about this but McCann, who lacks even a Facebook page, seems to have missed it. Either that or he was just bullshitting again.
Who is John McCann?
He is the brainstorm of what remains of GOP bossism in Bergen County. The Bergen County GOP, fresh from their latest in a long string of losses in both primaries and general elections, have abjectly surrendered to the point that they now believe that the only way forward is to formally turn their county organization over to the Democrats, and to rest comfortably under the wing of the Democrat Party. So they accept the Democrats' terms and lawyer John McCann, who was a patronage employee with the County's elected Democrat Sheriff, is their chosen candidate for Congress.
With John McCann, the Bergen GOP will appear to have found a candidate to oppose incumbent Democrat Josh Gottheimer. In reality, McCann's candidacy will be a hollow one, lacking financial resources or contrast with the Democrat. It will serve the Democrats' will and cement Democrat Gottheimer into a district that no Democrat should hold.
John McCann is one of the Bergen GOP's "hollow men" -- having surfaced to run for the Assembly in 1995, he was crushed, fell to earth, and burrowed into the moist manure of crony politics. Here he existed as a kind of chrysalis, without thought, ideology, or principles. The money doesn't allow such things. There are lots of "hollow men" about. The Bergen GOP could not fill a room without them.
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
...Behaving as the wind behaves
At the very beginning of conservative Scott Garrett's career in Congress, at the very beginning, John McCann attempted to go from pupa to butterfly. But it was to oppose both Scott Garrett and Gerry Cardinale in the primary because, so John McCann said, they were "too conservative."
In that race, McCann -- a self-described follower of the ideology of Democrat-turned Republican-turned Democrat Arlen Specter -- assured anyone who cared to listen that the only way Republicans could hold on to CD05 was to nominate a "moderate". McCann spelled that out as someone who was liberal on abortion, the social issues, and the Second Amendment. McCann was wrong. A solid conservative won -- while McCann's campaign collapsed because he couldn't raise the money or support to sustain it. That was in 2002. Does anyone really believe that the GOP has gone Left since then?
John McCann's candidacy is the end game of the Bergen County GOP. Their intentions and his candidacy promise to end the game and to deliver New Jersey's 5th Congressional District into Democrat hands for what might as well be an eternity in politics. And for what? Perhaps the Bergen bosses will accrue some considerations, and one more piece will be removed from the already almost blank board. One less contention to squabble over.
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
Well, not on our watch.
