Kerry begging him
Posted on 03/21/2006 9:18:39 AM PST by presidio9
John McCain has always gotten great press, especially since he started riding around New Hampshire in a bus in 1999 and conducting rolling news conferences with reporters that would last for hours.
McCain fell short in that election, of course, but he emerged as the media's favorite maverick. In the first Bush term, McCain won some battles in which he challenged his own party--on campaign finance reform and an anti-torture amendment--that further burnished his legend as an independent truth-teller. John Kerry, you may recall, even begged him to run on the Democratic ticket.
During that whole time, McCain never presented himself as anything other than a rock-ribbed conservative, albeit one who took moderate stances on a few issues. I lost track of the number of liberals who told me privately that they would vote for McCain, even though they disagreed with him on a whole bunch of things, because they viewed him as a leader, war hero and straight talker.
But now, in the early maneuvering for 2008, the Arizona senator (who has been going out of his way to back the battered Bush) is seen in many quarters as the front-runner. And, the ridiculously early CW goes, if he gets the GOP nomination, he would be a good bet to win the White House.
The result: The left is trying to rough him up a bit.
He is, some commentators are shocked to discover, not just a Republican but a conservative. Maybe it was easier to romanticize McCain when he was basically a protest candidate, but now that he's a potential president...well, I suspect that this is only the beginning.
One columnist who's gone hard after Johnny Mac is the NYT's Paul Krugman:
"It's time for some straight talk about John McCain. He isn't a moderate.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
And if nominated and he doesn't win, we already have somebody to blame. SHEESH
John McCain: Devoid of experience.
The left,including the media,won`t rough up McCain too much.
He`s a flawed character and will be easy to defeat.
Simplist way to beat McCain,bring up his nickname,
Songbird.
Talk about an angry bully.
If nominated by which party?
I don't see how he wins the nomination. He's not exactly the kind of "consensus candidate" the GOP needs right now.
If nominated by Who or Whom?
If he does win, he'll be doing it without my vote.
Imagine the field day that an amoral filthbag like her could have with that info.
Imagine the TV and radio ads she (and her willing accomplices) could run.Imagine the Internet rumors that could be launched.
If he is nominated the press will begin to question his mental stability due to him being a POW. Bet the house on it.
Sounds like a condom ad?
Wishful progressive thinking, equivalent to thoughtlessness.
And .. McCain does most of the damage to himself by sleeping with the democrats. He bought them and he can have them .. and HE WILL NOT BE THE NOMINEE!!
So all the McCainiacs can just go fly a kite!!
McCain will never get my vote of confidence.
He wants to repress freedom of speech and political dissent. (McCain Feingold campaign finance (hic) reform)
He is weak on borders in actions, strong in talk.
Savings and loans scandal re; keating 5
There is absolutely nothing in him that is different from what we are currently getting.
Kerry begging him
Most of us already do
Can't be true. The media has already told us the only ones to rough up McCain are the Republicans.
Especially after what they did to him in South Carolina. I've yet to see a flyer, or a recording or a video of what they suppposedly did. But after all, they told us it was a 'whispering' campaign.
I remember McCain and others crying the blues over what some GOTV caller told a 14 year old boy on the phone. The story came second hand from the lad's mother and supposedly some caller told the boy, "McCain was not a hero!".
If McCain is nominated, all the Dems have to do is what the Republicans didn't do, drag up all the Keating Five slime in a public forum.
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