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McCain Is In A Tough Spot
- Filed under: Uncategorized
- Date: May 11,2008
As this campaign plays out, it is going to be difficult for John McCain to energize the Republican base while trying to be the maverick moderate. ABC's This Week had McCain surrogate Carly Fiorina as the guest this morning. She began the interview by saying, "I've heard a lot that John McCain is a third Bush term. Nothing could be further from the truth. It was John McCain after all who spoke loudly for four long years saying that Don Rumsfeld was the worst Secretary of Defense in history, that the prosecution of the War in Iraq was going badly, and we are now executing a new strategy because of John McCain. John McCain has differed with George Bush on global warming, climate change, on how we should deal with high fuel prices right now saying that we should stop the fill of the strategic oil reserve for example."
It is remarkable to see the Republican nominee for president already sending surrogates out to trash the Bush Administration record on the Sunday morning shows. Carly Fiorina was armed with talking points to distance Senator McCain from our unpopular president. President Bush's approval ratings have been around 30% for a long time. That 30% wants President Bush to have a third term. How is that 30% going to respond to Senator John McCain constantly bad mouthing President Bush's record? At some point, McCain is going to have do something for that 30% because he needs that support. Changing his position on abortion appears to be his first overture to the base
In 2000 and 2007, John McCain took a more moderate pro-life position by suggesting that a ban on abortion should allow exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother. In the 2000 debates, McCain went after George W. Bush for not changing the party's platform for this exemption. (watch the video) Now, the McCain is signaling that they will not seek to change the party's platform to include these exemptions. The Republican Party is trying to make this moderate maverick into a candidate palatable to the base. The McCain campaign is trying to be all things to all people and in doing so will create plenty of opportunities for Democrats.
Related: It is so funny how all the panelists on the Sunday news shows don't even entertain the idea of McCain winning this fall. The hypothetical scenarios discussed were whether Hillary could run in 2016 after serving as Obama's Vice President for 8 years. Ha!
8 Responses for "McCain Is In A Tough Spot"
Obama is for partial birth abortion. Mention that.
That obama site linked above is really sick. I have not found such a site, but it would be like the equivalent of a site that plays video of McCain denouncing the US while he was tortured, or making fun of his cancer. It is bad.
Regarding this story….
I do find one area of substance Bush and him disagree: drilling for oil. It is the only real issue and they disagree.
Otherwise, every issue in the last 3 years has been an "overture" to all the failed ideas of the 30%.
If I were McCain, I would say thanks for the nomination and blow off that base. All it takes to win over 90% of that 30% is to spew some rhetoric about judges. Give them their bone.
I mean, why waste his time pleasing the Hanneelers???? Ben has shown his loyalty and will definitely support him, just like the rest of the conservatie activists. They need to be relevant, so they will support their team and trash the other guys. Its not like Ben is going to quit writing about politics, or Hannity is going to leave FOX and become a real estate agent. The base will be there, so McCain needs to focus on the middle.
…and he can do that by drawing more honest distinctions b/w him and Bush.
Problem for him is he had to sell his soul to get the nomination, so he is too tied to Bush.
"If I were McCain, I would say thanks for the nomination and blow off that base."
I think that is what he is doing already. He knows people like me, faced with Obama or Hillary as my other main choice, will vote for him.
This from Fiorina…
" It was John McCain after all who spoke loudly for four long years saying that Don Rumsfeld was the worst Secretary of Defense in history, that the prosecution of the War in Iraq was going badly, and we are now executing a new strategy because of John McCain."
…isn't even true. Shocker, I know.
McCain NEVER called for Rumsfeld to step down. I challenge folks to find a McCain quote that says otherwise. The "surge" political manuever ("new strategy")came about because McCain and Lieberman urged Junior to reject the Baker-Hamilton recommendations. Bush and McCain are inseparable on the Bush Doctrine of empire and pre-emptive wars of choice, torture, rendition and an imperialist approach to foreign policy.
Karl Rove proved in 2000 that an energized Republican base is more important than moderate votes for Republicans to win the White House. McCain seems to think the opposite.
Chuck,
Some of us conservatives may end up having to support McCain but not because we like McCain or have/had any use for Bush. It is all about the lesser of evil quandry.
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