The Journey From "Kickass" to "Ass Kicked"

The new Esquire Story on John McCain mentions hard-right John Sweeney and JS's backstabbing rivalry with Pataki.

It looks like when Gillibrand wins the 20th District, Sweeney will blame his former boss for the loss. Of course, he can't accept that his own foolish behavior and never-ending support of the radical Bush agenda are the actual problem.

In the article, Sweeney admits his "whole state's in play"

At the bottom of the stairs, McCain is greeted by John Sweeney, a hard-right Republican congressman in a tough race for reelection in New York's twentieth district. Sweeney is a bear-sized Irishman with a high forehead and a baritone voice; on behalf of Bush, he helped stop the 2000 recount in Miami, earning him the nickname "Congressman Kickass." But now he is on the verge of getting his own ass kicked, dragged down like every other Republican by his president's approval ratings and a few mistakes of his own, including his appearance at a frat party where he reportedly pushed back too many Keystone Lights. Tonight he has called in the cavalry, and the cavalry has arrived in the form of John McCain.

They man-hug and climb into a car for the ride to the hotel. It is late, and McCain is starting to feel heavy-lidded, but he begins peppering Sweeney with the names of local members of Congress and wonders aloud how each is faring. For every name that McCain rattles off—"How's Sue? How's Walsh? What about Reynolds?"—Sweeney answers with doom.

"I think the whole state's in play," he says.

McCain knows this to be true, and he nods.

A big part of the problem, Sweeney says, is Governor George Pataki: "He's checked out, and everybody knows it. Plus, there's still that big hole in Manhattan. You know what his approval rating is? Twenty-nine."

"Twenty-nine?" McCain says. (Esquire story)

Since Sweeney had to call a "do-over" regarding his trashing McCain previously (he was hearting Bush for the 2000 election, you'll recall), it seems like Sweeney would have learned a little something about playing nice with the folks in your own party since then. But nope. Rather than behave like a polished statesman, Sweeney is more like an insecure kid in school trying to suck up to any other kid that he thinks is going to be popular next week.

The Capitol Confidential posted the Team Pataki reply:

Pataki “has great respect for Senator McCain, strongly supports Congressman Sweeney’s re-election and will continue to practice Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment of ‘Thou shall not speak ill of fellow Republicans.’”