TIME derailing the Straight Talk Express

[Lonestar]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568457-1,00.html

Good to see. 

As a rallying cry. "Common sense conservatism" doesn't have quite the ring of "Straight Talk Express." But the new slogan on the website of John McCain's presidential exploratory committee--a slogan he manages to repeat at least three times in every speech he gives these days--tells you all you need to know about how different this presidential campaign will be from his last one. McCain '08 will be a bigger, more conventional operation--a tank, not a slingshot. The prevailing wisdom about McCain used to be that his bipartisan appeal would make him a sure bet in a presidential race--if only he could get past the Republican primary. But as more and more of the party establishment climb aboard a campaign that McCain has not yet even formally launched, it's starting to look as if the opposite may be true. By trying to become the perfect candidate for the primaries, McCain could be creating difficulties for himself in a general election.

His hard-line position on Iraq is a perfect case in point. McCain has continued to press for more troops there, and spent last week dismissing the Iraq Study Group recommendation to bring them home as nothing short of a recipe for defeat. That's the kind of strong, consistent hawkishness that G.O.P. primary voters look for. "Besides," says McCain strategist Mark Salter, "it's what he believes." The problem is that exit polls in last month's election said only 17% of voters overall share that view, which could leave the other 83% wondering whether McCain's famous independent streak, so appealing on most issues, would be such a good thing to have in a Commander in Chief who has the power to take the country to war. Already there are signs that his image is taking a hit. In the CBS/New York Times poll, McCain's favorability rating slid 6 points, to 28%, between January and September.

McCain insists that he has always been more conservative than many of his fans believe him to be. But the most important perception people have about McCain is not about ideology; it's about integrity. After staking his reputation on the moral high ground by speaking truth to power on issues ranging from deficits to torture, McCain is uniquely vulnerable to anything that hints of hypocrisy--even on questions that ordinary politicians would get a pass on. To have a shot at winning a presidential election these days, for instance, it is nearly a requirement that candidates opt out of the federal finance system, forgoing its matching funds because it's too difficult to mount a credible campaign within the law's spending caps. But that move, however pragmatic, would look bad coming from an author of the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance-reform law.

Also, it's harder for McCain than most to explain away inconsistencies. How, for example, could a deficit hawk vote to make President Bush's tax credits permanent after opposing their passage in the first place as fiscally irresponsible? Or why, after declaring Jerry Falwell to be an agent of intolerance during the brutal 2000 primary campaign, did McCain deliver the commencement speech last May at Falwell's Liberty University in Virginia?

Two more pages at the link. 

[Mandark]

You're not going to be doing this here, too, are you?

You know I love you like the son I never had, but I'm just saying.

[The Fake Shemp]

John McCain is a hero.

[Flannel Boy]

I was going to vote for McCain, but now I have been dissuaded. Your last years on Earth will not have been spent in vain.

[Lonestar]

You're not going to be doing this here, too, are you?

You know I love you like the son I never had, but I'm just saying.

Naw.  I'm more into trolling the ginger vag and Saint Angst here than posting political topics.  And I don't cross post, either.  But this was just an interesting article 

[The Fake Shemp]

Oh, wait, this is about John McCain?

I thought it was about John McClane.  Yeah, McCain can eat a hummer!

[Flannel Boy]

Oh, wait, this is about John McCain?

I thought it was about John McClane.  Yeah, McCain can eat a hummer!

I think he's a Republican too. And he doesn't like them terrorists, especially when they're blonde Germans.

[Phoenix Dark]

2000, 2008, it doesn't matter. He still has a baby with a black girl tsk tsk

[ToxicAdam]

As Mandark has outted me in another thread. I read some moderate blogs and they all have come to this conclusion already. Very sad for me, since I was such an ardent supporter in 2000 up until last summer.


I have seen people (myself included) call him Bush 2.0. But, that is an insult to McCain.  Really, he has more in common with George Sr than his son. Both were quasi-moderates that chose to pander to their base to get elected, both have/had alot of experience along with military records, both are well-spoken and hawkish.

McCain is just setting himself up for a fall in the Fall. You think the stink of "flipflopping" haunted Kerry .. just wait until McCain runs.

[Saint Cornelius]

Naw.  I'm more into trolling the ginger vag and Saint Angst here than posting political topics.  And I don't cross post, either.  But this was just an interesting article 

eat the corn kernels out of my scat, dickbreath

[Flannel Boy]

You are wrong Adam. Kerry is a flip-flopper, but McCain has simply seen the error of his ways. He has matured as a person and has seen the light the beams from the towers of Liberty University. 

[Cheebs]

The funny thing is McCain didn't need to run to the right. There are no true conservatives running other than those with no hope like Brownback.

McCain can't win, he is making every mistake possible

He is calling for MORE troops. 71% of America want ALL troops pulled out of Iraq. What the fuck McCain? How can you win when only 29% of the country hold that view?

[ToxicAdam]

You are wrong Adam. Kerry is a flip-flopper, but McCain has simply seen the error of his ways. He has matured as a person and has seen the light the beams from the towers of Liberty University. 

Oh, you mean he read 2000 primary exit polls.

 

[Diablos]

John McCain or Jeb Bush winning the primary are my two nightmare scenarios.

[Lonestar]

Naw.  I'm more into trolling the ginger vag and Saint Angst here than posting political topics.  And I don't cross post, either.  But this was just an interesting article 

eat the corn kernels out of my scat, dickbreath

Please don't DERAIL this thread, Saint.  Thanks, friend.   

[Saint Cornelius]

Sorry Lonestar, just wanted to respond to your little jibe. Stay the course, fucko, don't worry about me.

[Cheebs]

John McCain or Jeb Bush winning the primary are my two nightmare scenarios.

Honestly I think a Democrat would have a better chance against McCain than say a Romney or some other dark horse.