Tuesday, July 10, 2007
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The Wheels Come Off the Straight Talk Express
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Posted by:
Patrick Ruffini at
12:24 PM
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As I've said before about McCain, he is a terrible candidate with a great staff. So I watched the departures this morning with shock rather than glee. The fact that Mark Salter, McCain's 18 year chief-of-staff is departing shows just how badly things have gone off the rails in McCain-land.
Ultimately, I don't see how things would have turned out differently had Nelson and Weaver not been at the helm these last six months. The premise of McCain as frontrunner was always seriously flawed, and to the extent Weaver architected that strategy in 2005-06, he bears some of the blame. But ultimately, that is an expectations problem. If everyone believes you're the frontrunner, then you had better darned well perform like the frontrunner. With the base's deep-seated animosity towards McCain (something that only emerged in 2000) and his lackluster track record in fundraising (people forget this is guy who never raised a dime out of cycle), the McCain frontrunner meme was always bound to take a fall. I may be surprised by how fast it's happened, but I'm not surprised at the outcome.
So we are left with a rerun of McCain's maverick strategy from 2000 -- run by the same guy, Rick Davis, who was at the helm the first time. And that's the best case scenario for them, with only a slim chance of success had it been the plan all along, and probably no chance of success now.
The last time we nominated someone because it was "his turn" and who engendered no love amongst the base was Bob Dole in 1996. That was the McCain 2008 campaign plan. But times change. Had we had a blogosphere in 1996, with the base's dissatisfaction amplified many times over on the Internet, I doubt an uninspiring candidate like Dole could have been nominated. And at least Dole didn't go out of his way to piss off conservatives.
Until today, John McCain had four highly capable aides who could have easily vied to be his Karl Rove. That was the problem. No one was really in charge. As a 24 year veteran of Congress, this shows how poor McCain's management instincts really were, and demonstrates why Senators rarely get elected President. Marc Ambinder essentially confirms this in the tick-tock:
The sources said that Nelson's position as campaign manager wasprecariously positioned from the start because McCain did not endorse acampaign structure that would have given Nelson absolute authority overmessaging, finance and strategy. Republicans directly familiar with thenegotiations to bring Nelson aboard said that McCain promised Nelsonthat no one but him would have the ultimate say in making and executingcampaign decisions. But McCain did not follow through on thosepromises, these Republicans said.
Even a perfect campaign couldn't have nominated John McCain, but his reluctance to give one person ultimate responsibility for strategy certainly didn't help.
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With McCain almost out of the race (though his national numbers are almost identical to Romney which is another story that will never be covered here), it will practically ensure that the 2008 election will have no true conservative to run against Obama or Clinton. I cannot wait to see how conservatives are going to inspire their base to turn out given the two likely candidates for the nomination, Thompson and Guliani, carry such liberal baggage.
Dean and Hugh should have been a little more careful about what they wished for. |
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Lead the sheep to slaughter on the same phony pretense (most conservative candidate). We're going to be hearing alot of "Anybody but Hillary!" and "Hey we stink, but we're not as bad as THEY are!". Who cares and yes we are. |
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from a liberals tongue...LOL
The base does want a conservative, that is why McCain is out. We recognize a RINO when we see one. McCain has never been on the conservative side of an issue that I can recall.
Oh yeah, Iraq. That is the first and only time.
Just because McCain was a soldier doesn't mean he is a good Leader. |
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"With McCain almost out of the race (though his national numbers are almost identical to Romney which is another story that will never be covered here)"
Oh give me a break.
This is the difference: McCain was the annointed "front runner", according the the liberal media, from before the start of this year, while Romney was always been behind in the polls.
Another fact, according to Rasmussen(the best polling outfit in the country), McCain's poll numbers are HALF what they were back in Januray, while Romney's numbers are about where they werw in January, or slightly up.
McCain is finished.
His arrogance, contempt or conservatves, and his support for illegal alien criminals, open borders and no enforecment against illegals have finished him amongst Republicans.
Maybe this idiot can go run president for the people he's been representing all these years: Mexicans. |
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"it will practically ensure that the 2008 election will have no true conservative to run against Obama or Clinton"
Conservatives are strongly for secure borders, strong enforcement, cracking down hard on illegals and NO AMNESTY..
McPain has taken the excact opposite position in every one of those issues.
QED. |
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McCain did it to himself- I couldn't believe there were pundits at the "beginning" of the GOP race for the nomination that had McCain as a the front runner. McCain's decisions in the last 3 years (gang of 12, immigration, etc) has been completely at odds with the republican base. You may not necessarily need the republican base to win the senate seat in arizona but you sure as hell need it to win a nationwide election.
Plus, take into account McCain's age and Senate track record- he's all about compromise and we have plenty of compromisers in the republican party. I respect Senator McCain for his service, both in the armed forces and in the Senate. However, he is not now and really has never been a viable presidential candidate. |
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of this narcissist with "centrist" & compromising ideals is the most effective example that America is NOT centrist; rather, America is CONSERVATIVE at its heart. And a truly conservative candidate would walk away a winner 2008. Hunter is the only one I see on the horizon....
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Although a crucial stepback in McCain's compaign, there are still more important issues concerning America and the world today that needs to be addressed. As to date, $450 billion dollars has been spent on the meaningless war in Iraq. Americans are put more at risk for violence since the start of this war. And our attention of preventing and stopping international terrorism has lead us into a war under false pretenses and meaningless as this one. More importantly the government has allowed extreme poverty to grow in America and in Iraq with thousands of refugees and people under extreme financial distress. The US is part of the UN’s Millennium Development Project, which has the goal of eliminating global poverty. However by examining the conducts of our government, no poverty is reduced. Rather, poverty has increased. According to the Borgen Project, whose goal is to fight global poverty, it only takes $19 billion dollars annually stop world hunger and poverty. However, more than $340 billion dollars has been put into the Iraq war at a rate of $2 billion dollars per week. Our government needs to realize that it is indirectly funding poverty, violence and hunger, the three things that it pledged and vowed to eliminate. It is time for a change.
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The US is part of the UN’s Millennium Development Project, which has the goal of eliminating global poverty. However by examining the conducts of our government, no poverty is reduced.
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Please you must be kidding or quite DUMB!
Can you say food for oil and UN. What about that cash? The US has been giving more money to the UN for years, only to see it wasted by them.
Gezzz go get and education before you spout garbage. |
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McCain is out for the same reason the President's poll numbers are so low. He is not really a conservative and never has been. |
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Excuse me Mr. Ruffini,
It was not the " deep-seated animosity of the base" that "emerged" in 2000. It was McCain's true colors, which turned out to be RINO blue.
It was McCain who showed animous to religious conservative evangelicals with his cheap, pandering, phony attempt to back up his showings in the South Carolina and Michigan primaries (he won in Michigan primarily from Democrat crossover votes) by attacking religious conservatives.
It was McCain who stabbed cons in the back again in 2001 and 2002 with McCain-Feingold. Again in 2005-2006 with the Gang of 14 and McCain-Kennedy amnesty for illegals.
Don't tell me about our "animosity" for this guy. HE'S the one with the temper. If he had any ability to LEAD instead of pandering to the lib media he might still have a Presidential campaign for you to cover. |
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Please take your liberal attempt panhandling to some appropriate liberal website where it will find a more receptive, not to mention deserving, audience.
Comparisons between world hunger and war and the typical liberal "give us money" plea are off-topic are not welcome here.
There will NEVER be enough money to make liberals like you stop demanding more and acting like conservatives, who already out-donate liberals by something like 2-1/2 to 1, should feel guilty if we say "No". |
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I have been riding in the Republican bus for more than a decade now. However, it seems that, except for Reagan, whomever is driving it always turns on the right turn signal just before veering abruptly to the left.
Is not that we haven't a 'conservative' candidate it is that we haven't a true conservative party.
Socialist are extremly clear about the direction they want to drive America. Republicans only seem to know what they oppose.
Bush and McCain are more phoney than Madonna and the Dixie Chicks put together. Though less than the Clintons and making the distinction that McCain served this country honorably.
However, six years of Vietnamese re-education cannot justify twenty years of stabbing us in the back.
Good riddance, to both of them
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McCain was never going to get to the White House by courting the Left. He should of known that, but oh well.
I had to vote for McCain in every Arizona election, because no other Republican had what it takes to win a senatorial election these days. Just because he has always had a high approval rating here in Arizona doesn't mean that we actually approve of him. It was only that the alternative was worse.
Now that McCain has lost his mojo, I don't know how we are going to get anyone other than Kyl (a sellout with previously unblemished conservative credentials) into the senate from AZ.
I hope that former House Rep J.D. Hayworth will be Arizona's next governor and that he and his wonderful wife Mary will get to spend a night in the Lincoln bedroom (and I don't mean by buying it). |
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