Wednesday, January 30, 2008
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An Angry, Defensive McCain
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Posted by:
Hugh Hewitt at
9:50 PM
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John McCain won over few if any conservatives tonight, and his display of bad temper and his rambling filibuster of his wrongful "timetables" attack on Romney from last weekend may even have lost him some moderates. In the spin room heads were shaking. McCain was at his worst in the second half of the debate, and those who watched had to ask themselves how this sort of performance would play against a youthful, upbeat Obama with a MSM ready not to protect McCain but tear into him as aging and confused --even obviously deceptive-- about his facts.
The first half of the debate was Romney's on points. Romney began by listing the series of assaults on conservative values championed by McCain including McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy, the McCain-Lieberman global warming regulatory monster, the opposition to exploration in ANWR and the votes against the Bush tax cuts. McCain's responses are the same we have heard again and again, and they do not wear well. Romney was assisted by the obvious downgrading by Anderson Cooper and Janet Hook of Mike Huckabee, and Huckabee's frustration at his demotion to Ron Paul status broke through in the second half of the debate, but only served to underscore that the real contest doesn't involve him. It is a McCain-Romney race, and anyone watching the debate knows that.
If they are Republicans, they also will almost certainly walk away disquieted by the prospect of a McCain nomination, both because of his ideas and even more so because he just didn't look electable tonight. Romney did. In fact McCain's best part of the day was when Rudy was talking about him, and it went down hill from there. McCain will get another assist from Arnold tomorrow or Friday, but it is hard to hide the fact that this would be a second Bob Dole campaign, with less energy and fewer conservative principles. Many, many Republicans have to be worried not just about losing the White House, but about a dispirited party and a down-ticket wipe-out. McCain supported the surge. That's true, and a very strong point. But is it enough to wage a nine-month campaign on?
Romney's third conscutive strong performance in a debate will almost certainly lead to a rise day-to-day over the next six days in key states, but whether he rises fast or far enough depends primarily on the Huckabee voters' recognition that continued allegiance to the Huck spells a McCain nomination and all that means for the next nine months.
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Good point about modern political rhetoric. NeoneoThe McCain fan vs. Romney fan kerfuffle: Insty, Donald Douglas, Viking. Hewitt wonders whether McCain is the next Bob Dole: apparently he did not impress in the debate last night.Banned: Hillary the Movie,here |
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DownWithTyranny!
 Don't feel too sorry for him-- he still has hundreds of millions of ill-gotten dollars
If you watched the debating pygmies last night, it would have been hard to not notice that Willard has all but given up. He seemed afraid to take on McCain or to go for an exposed jugular offered up several times by the doddering and clearly senile and delusional crackpot. According to Commentary's Daniel Casse, last night "was Mitt Romney’s last stand. He blew it. The conservative antipathy towards McCain involves real issues: his indefensible support of campaign finance reform, his opposition to Bush tax cuts, his throwaway lines attacking corporations, and so on. Romney should have been on attack mode from the first moment, stirring up every conservative trepidation about McCain, stressing his unreliability as a consistent voice for the cause. “We don’t need a maverick, Senator, we need a steadfast, principled and predictable conservative leader,” was the line I was waiting for." It never came. Willard just looked more pathetic, hapless, frustrated and defeated than ever. Conservatives who thought he would be their champion must be climbing the walls and rending their clothes!
Romney was handed one fine opportunity: A ... here |
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IF I ONLY HAD ONE!
I think the most remarkable part of this newly found conservative love-in with Mitt Romney is the fact that our precious little MSM multi-millionaire talk radio and top shelf bloggers along with the conservative MSM pundits are ignoring Mitt Romney’s true record. If they would be honest and honorable they would be forced to accept the fact that Mitt Romney is probably the most liberal of all the GOP POTUS candidates we have had in quite awhile.
Gamecock has posted on Race 42008
“…Mitt Romney has failed to earn the trust of a majority of ...here |
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