Well I was just about to accept John McCain as the Republican nominee for President – when he attacks his base again. Don’t get me wrong, the guy is a genuine War Hero. In fact, it saddens me to see him walk off of the Airplane when he came home from Vietnam decades ago.
I know that he clinched the nomination a long time ago. However, he was not my first choice, nor was he my second choice, but most of you folks already knew that. In my opinion, he’s not a Conservative on several issues that are important to me, such as building a Border Fence. However, he has attacked his base again by calling the North Carolina Republicans “out of touch with reality” because they have an against Obama. The ad is factually correct and you can read about it here
Next time, John McCain its best not to attack your conservative base, which you will need in the election. You should have said that you did not know anything about this ad and it was not an ad from your campaign. End of Story. By attacking his base, I’m afraid any progress he has made in the last couple of months is gone.
What do you think?
April 25th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Tina,
It is actually a very smart move on his part. Think about this for a moment and I hope you will agree with me. In reality, it does not affect McCain at this moment whether or not he likes the ad. He is not yet running against Obama. However, by criticizing the ad, McCain now takes the moral highground.
This is going to force Obama to do the same when the Soros led 527 hit squads go after McCain. If Obama does not tell them to stop airing their garbage he will look like nothing more than another politician. McCain will be able to convince the Independents and Reagan Dems that he is not just another politician and he will be able to point to this as exhibit A. It is actually a brilliant move on McCain’s part. It is a no risk/high return situation for him.
April 25th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Obama will not be apologizing for those ads, imo. I think its a mistake on McCain’s part.
April 25th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Tina,
That is why it is NOT a mistake. McCain will appeal to the independents while Obama will lose them by behaving like a typical bought and paid for politician.
The conservatives are not going to vote for Obama and McCain is so strongly pro-life that they will vote for him on that basis although they disagree with him on other issues.
Again, I think this is a very smart political move on McCain’s part.
April 26th, 2008 at 2:05 am
He is playing Good Cop Bad Cop. Just play along.
April 26th, 2008 at 4:13 am
Interesting strategery if he thinks he can win the election without his base – don’t you think?
April 26th, 2008 at 4:38 am
MDefl – my concern is that the conservatives will just sit it out like they did against George Sr. and we got Clinton as a result.
April 26th, 2008 at 5:22 am
If McCain draws Obama into agreeing to stop Soros and the 527s, they both lose their bases. If Obama doesn’t, McCain wins the independants but Obama keeps his base.
What is interesting is that McCain once again appears to be the most calculating candidate ever. First he comes back from the brink after the Express ran out of gas over the summer and now he is calculating a strategy to win independants when he knows that without them he is screwed. The GOP base is still licking their wounds over the 06 fallout, and McCain realizes that only an unconventional candidate and unconventional strategy can pull it off in November. I hate to say this, but if he wins in November, he will be the smartest campaigner ever in my books. And if Obama can’t win he will go down in history as the biggest flop ever. Despite all of the Dem bickering and the lost momentum, this election is still in the Dem’s court because of the economy and the war.
April 26th, 2008 at 5:28 am
YoungDem – are you sure you are not a Republican? I guess you haven’t had the Dem-required lobotomy yet – just kidding.
You made a lot of good points and I agree that with everything going agianst the GOP, that we are even speaking about a potential McCain victory…
April 26th, 2008 at 5:38 am
The base did not sit home during the 92 election. Despite what the msm reports, the fiscal hawks went to Perot. That is what killed Bush Sr.
By stating that he does not like an ad, he will not lose the conservatives. They do not stay home in general elections (although they can in mid-terms, hence 2006) and McCain will capture the evangelicals because of his firm pro-life stance. That group will not vote for Obama.
The key will not be the conservatives as a whole but will be the block of hispanic socially conservative/moderate voters in NM, CO and NV. My intuition is that if McCain can keep all three states red, then the GOP will absolutley retain the White House. If he loses NM, then the Dems have a very good shot at winning. If the Dems win 2 of 3 then it is over and they will recaputure the White House.
IMO – the only true swing states are the 3 above plus OH, MI (thank you Barack Obama), WI, IA and maybe PA although that may be a stretch. Don’t believe any poll that has McCain winning NJ. It won’t happen.
April 26th, 2008 at 5:48 am
Some of the base stayed home in 92 though. The real conservatives were always not sure of Bush because he called Supply-side economics ‘voodoo economics.” So, we were never sure if he was an actual conservative or not. When he said “read my lips” and then raised taxes, the base knew he was not real conservative, much like his son.
April 26th, 2008 at 5:52 am
Those people went to Perot.
April 26th, 2008 at 7:18 am
Some, not me though. I always thought Perot was a whack job. I actually voted for Clinton if you can believe that. I knew quite a few people who just didn’t vote figuring there wasn’t a dime of difference between Bush and Clinton, which wasn’t far from the truth policy wise.
April 26th, 2008 at 7:29 am
So McCain can’t get the NC GOP to listen to him but we’re supposed to think he’ll be an effective President?
April 26th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Bob,
Based on that standard why can’t Obama get Hamas to stop terrorist attacks? They support him don’t they?
That is the type of logic you are employing in this case. Neither makes sense.
April 26th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Bob, McCain is not the leader of the party. I never remember hearing a presidential nominee telling a state party group to not do something. This is strange. Also, no one listens to Howard Dean and he is the DNC chair, so why should it be any different on the RNC side?
April 26th, 2008 at 9:18 am
I agree with MDefl, this is good strategy. Not only does it make him look good now, but it will be something to compare the Clinton-Obaama debacle to in November. Basically he can say he took the high road that Obama said he was going to take, and from all indications it looks like he’s going to keep it up. Of course this is all made easier by the fact that by the time August rolls around the Dem nominee will be so battered that he won’t have to go negative.
April 26th, 2008 at 10:23 am
MBT – trust me, while I am often the most liberal voice at my workplace (a science lab at a University!), I often will argue circles around my so-called liberal co-workers. They typify the reasons why people hate liberals. Not all of us are evil and/or brainwashed, and if we could all just talk about the issues so much could actually be accomplished!
Perfect example is illegal immigration. What is the number one reason why the Right is against it? If it is because they steal jobs, then we better be willing to ship those jobs directly to Mexico because thats where they will go if the people leave. If it is about border security, then we need to build a fence with Canada and check shipping containers better. If it is about a dislike for people that are different and might change our culture, then why don’t we work towards better assimilation like every other ethnic group that has migrated here has done.
What is the Left’s deal on it? Well if it is about preserving rights, that is bull because they aren’t citizens. If it is about the impracticality of shipping them back, that is a fallacy of logic because we still have to tackle the issue of new illegal immigration. If it is about a fence causing environmental and humanitarian problems, then lets look at the humanitarian and environmental problems the developing country of Mexico produces on its own.
Illegal immigration is a tough issue that requires more than fences or amnesty. Neither will solve the underlying issues. Instead we need to take a real hard look at what the problems are. If we can agree on the problems, we can propose real solutions.
I think the problem is that we are spending a lot of resources on this influx of poor and uneducated people. These resources could and should go to our own poor and uneducated citizens. A lot of these resources however could be saved if there were programs in place to allow them to come for specific jobs. This is where I am liberal. A little more regulation of the illegals in terms of registration/monitoring might keep them from sucking up our resources while still providing us with their needed labor and providing them with a higher quality of life.
This idea is still in its infancy and is short on specifics, so go easy on me!
April 26th, 2008 at 10:44 am
And no this is not backdoor amnesty…I still think we should have better border security (all borders especially ports) first and we need a solution for everyone already here second, but ultimately we need a solution to discourage people from coming other than a higher fence to climb. That is where regulation in the form of harsh penalties for businesses that do not register their illegals might come in.
April 26th, 2008 at 11:05 am
I totally agree with you YD. I say let as many as want to immigrate here do so, my own ancestors were of course immigrates. They have to do it legally though. However, we have to get border and port security under control. That is why we need fences, monitoring, whatever.
April 26th, 2008 at 11:30 am
[...] BuzzFlash.net – Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt Well I was just about to accept John McCain as the Republican nominee for President – when he attacks his base again. Don’t get me wrong, the guy is a genuine War Hero. In fact, it saddens me to see him walk off of the Airplane when he came home from Vietnam decades ago. I know that he clinched the nomination a long time ago. However, he was not my first choice, nor was he my second choice, but most of you folks already knew that. In my opinion, he’s not a Conservative on several issues that [...]
April 26th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Young Dem – I spent many years in a large university science lab arguing circles around the liberals too – I feel your pain!
I agree on immigration – I have always felt that we weere too stingy on Mexiacan LEGAL immigration. There are plenty of jobs here they want to do – all those housekeeping jobs weren’t taken from Americans, they were created by immigrants. However, in the words of Dennis Miller, everyone (and everything, like shipping containers) need to sign the guest book on the way in…
April 27th, 2008 at 11:08 am
It’s not just his base that he is attacking. He is clutching at straws wherever he goes. Take the Hamas bull he is trying to get us to swallow. He should start catching up with how war mentality works though. I bet you Al-Qaeda will endorse Obama if they could make another video from a cave somewhere in “alliedâ€? Pakistan. Because they know how to use reverse psychology (you idiot, McCain). How do you get your enemy to do what you want them to do? Tell them the opposite. Want war? Then endorse the one guy from the “enemyâ€? who wants peace. McDrain and the gang please note – Hamas is playing you like a little toy drum. And you are walking to their beat. McPain should wake up and think a little bit more. Think. Think. What do Al-Qaeda want? What do you think Hamas want? Chaos so they can recruit more. Anarchy so they can continue a mindless war. They want one thing and will tell you the opposite. You think you can trust what they tell you? They are playing you for a fool. You played into their hands in Iraq. And you are going to play into their hands again. You stupid, stupid man.
April 27th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
AA, I’ve actually had the same thought myself, I just wonder if Hamas is that smart. Maybe they are.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Since when did a state party manager come to represent “the base.” Party bosses aren’t “the base” whether that is George Bush as titular head of the GOP, the head of the RNC (whatever is his name) or some guys running a state party. And earth to Tina: you aren’t the base either. The problem with the GOP today is there is no agreeable definition of what represents the base, what policy positions, etc. Nobody can agree on it, so you can’t claim an advertiser in SC is the base or anyone else today. Although I suppose you could make a weak argument that John McCain represents “the base” since more primary voters voted for him. Give it a rest.
McCain was smart to give himself plausible deniability over these ads. Good to run them, and good to say he doesn’t support them. Good + good = good.
April 27th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Yes, some of the base stayed home, and a lot went to Perot. If the same thing happens, then would win this time. I would doubt McCain’s chances of victory.