Akkam’s Razor

Pretty interesting article on McCain and the OODA loop on Mefi.

First, have you heard John McCain was a POW? Me neither.

Secondly, he was not a fighter pilot. He flew the A-4 Skyhawk, a tough little “attack” aircraft, hence the “A” and not an “F”, as sequential pointed out. His lower status in the pilot hierarchy was probably due to his disastrous academic performance, as dydecker pointed out, combined with his tendency to crash aircraft. Fortunately, his naval ancestry compensated for his aeronautical deficiencies, much as being a POW and marrying-up helped his political career.

The extend of my flight experience consists of C-64 flight sims and the Discovery Channel, but dogfight theory consists of staying out of the other guys line of fire and trying to get behind him.  It’s also about out-turning the other guy,  but mainly is about waiting for him to screw-up and make a fatal mistake.

Given that it’s the righty-blogs beating their chests about the grizzled warrior, I’m tempted to offer an alternative view.

McCain’s camp knows this election is about turnout - so he had to pick Palin to excite the ‘meh’ Evangelical base.  She’s a dog whistle to the base, plain and simple.  If they she wins, God help us all.  But if they lose, it will reconstitute the fringe heart of the party.  The Politics of Resentment will fuel the reactionaries for a generation. McCain’s gamble is that he has once again doubled-down and committed to one line of attack - the Obama gotcha - and hope Obama isn’t able to exploit it.

The OODA line of thought is also the same McCain has had to do from his period as a POW, Keating, and his love-hate relationship with the base - make beneficial, opportunistic, and self-serving flip-flops Immelman-turns to turn a disadvantage into an advantage.  It’s not about winning, it’s about survival - surviving longer than the other guy.