Very regularly since the American presidential race was set, and with more and more frequency over the last month, I’ve found myself astonished by how McCain seems ready to throw away every vestige of honour in what seems to be a “do anything to win” campaign of sleaze.
It makes me think of Campbell.
And the more I see pieces where conservative pundits and other self-described republicans call him out for it, the more Campbell comes to mind.
The Politician
Carven in leathern mask or brazen face,
Were I time’s sculptor, I would set this man.
Retreating from the truth, his hawk-eyes scan
The platforms of all public thought for place.
There wriggling with insinuating grace,
He takes poor hope and effort by the hand,
And flatters with half-truths and accents bland,
Till even zeal and earnest love grow base.Knowing no right, save power’s grim right-of-way;
No nobleness, save life’s ignoble praise;
No future, save this sordid day to day;
He is the curse of these material days:
Juggling with mighty wrongs and mightier lies,
This worshipper of Dagon and his flies!—William Wilfred Campbell (1858-1918)
