Posted on 07/04/2008 7:17:05 AM PDT by K-oneTexas
McCain Should Play 'Pin Obama on the Donkey'
Jonah Goldberg
Hoping that the third time really is the charm, the McCain campaign has had yet another staff shakeup. As befits a press corps and Republican professional class always eager to gain favor and access to the newest man in charge, the accolades for the latest campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, are nothing short of superlative.
The argument that Schmidt is the right man for the job centers on the fact that he's a no-nonsense type who enjoys taking the fight to the enemy. That's good news given how much nonsense has come out of the McCain campaign so far.
For example, when retired Gen. Wesley Clark seemingly belittled McCain's military service as poor preparation for the Oval Office, the McCain campaign blundered by attacking the messenger, Clark, and not Clark's candidate, Senator Obama. Whether or not commanding a Navy squadron or rallying brutalized American POWs in the Hanoi Hilton is qualification for the presidency, surely this was a missed opportunity to ask whether voting "present" in the Illinois Legislature nearly 130 times is a superior qualification.
The hard truth for the McCain campaign is that this election will ultimately be a referendum on Barack Obama. A McCain presidency will be the consolation prize of an Obama defeat.
The majority of voters want to vote for a Democrat and for Obama. Hence, if they feel comfortable with the Democratic nominee, he will win. If they don't, he'll lose. This is bad news for McCain because he is congenitally discomfited from attacking his political adversaries (while emotionally buoyed when attacking his natural political allies).
As many have noted, it's ironic that Obama supporters who profess to want bipartisanship are indisputably voting for the wrong guy. There's next to nothing in Obama's record that suggests he's better equipped to reach across the aisle and work with the opposition party, against the wishes of his own party's activist base. Obama is bipartisan on popular issues, not on controversial ones. Meanwhile, that's McCain's whole schtick.
What's more ironic is that bipartisanship wouldn't be an issue for a president Obama. If, as expected, the Democrats win large majorities in the House and Senate, Obama won't need Republicans for anything, and there's no reason to expect he would find common cause with the GOP against the base of his own party. In the Illinois Legislature, Obama was a pliable creature of the corrupt Democratic machine. Why, McCain might ask, should we expect that he will be otherwise at the national level?
Obama may be moving rapidly to the center, embracing faith-based initiatives and backpedaling on Iraq and NAFTA, but he is not "triangulating." He has not picked any serious fights with his base, no doubt in part because he doesn't think he has to.
This is a potential opening for McCain to exploit. Obama's thin record offers little ammo for McCain. But the Democrats who would truly run the country if they controlled both the Congress and the White House do indeed have a long record.
The McCain campaign tried to label Obama "Dr. No" (no to drilling, no to nuclear, no to this or that) to little effect. The real issue is that Obama would be a Dr. Yes for the left-wing base of the Democratic Party, some of whom, for example, have recently called for nationalizing the oil industry. Would Obama say "no" to Maxine Waters? To Nancy Pelosi? Or would he respond to their entreaties with his trademark slogan (borrowed from Cesar Chavez no less): "Yes We Can!"
Going after Obama as the front man for the Democratic peanut gallery might divide the Democrats. It would certainly put issues in play that Obama has scrupulously kept out of the debate, from partial birth abortion to racial quotas. Obama may spin a lot of nuance when describing his own position, but the positions of his political patrons are far less malleable.
Such a strategy might also let some voters off the hook by putting the blame for voting against Obama on Congress and not on the candidate himself.
Last, by attacking Obama as, at minimum, a would-be rubber stamp of a Democratic Congress - which has an even lower approval rating than President Bush - the McCain campaign could also distance itself from the Bush years. Who can deny that many of the GOP's manifest blunders stemmed from unified Republican control of the government?
Meanwhile, John McCain, the proven bipartisan legislator, could run as what he is: the stodgy grown-up in the race who knows how to say no to Democrats and, when he thinks it's warranted, "Yes we can."
McLame and the RINO Whigs don’t have the guts to take on Osamabama.The grino Juan doesn’t know how to win. So get ready for Pres Osamabama and first lady Michelle.
First thing he’d better do is get a campaign going. I can barely tell he’s even running.
There is only one hope for Republicans. Dump McCain at the nominating convention in September.
The only “campaign shake-up” that’s going to help is to get rid of the candidate himself - JOHN MCCAIN HAS TO GO!
You nailed it!!!
That’d make a heck of a campaign commercial: Roll out some of the left’s whackiest nutjobs, highlight their proposals, then have Obama appear at the end of each one with “Yes, we can!”
I will third that emotion!
The state can't pass a budget without shorting the pension funds, the entire budget process is an annual crisis, and the legislature constantly complains about the absentee governor.
Guess that comes from electing a "Reform Democrat from Chicago" who has political connections but no useful experience.
What sort of man loves his enemies and hates his putative supporters? Sounds like some weird mental disorder to me.
Isn't that the truth?
They should use all this CHANGE stuff, too.
Against welfare reform, then for it.
Against the flag, now for it.
Same for his 20 relationship with his alleged pastor, church, friends like Resko, Ayers...
McCain is the single worst candidate that the Republicans have ever come up with.
After failing again and again to win the country with their imposition of country club Rinos on the voters, you’d think the RNC would have learned something. Instead, they have picked themselves up off the floor, where they were kicked in the last election, and are behaving more stupidly than ever.
Will McCain ever learn? Of course not. He has spent his whole life stubbornly doing the wrong thing, and he’s not about to stop now.
Obama is the most dangerous politician to run for office in the history of the Republic. And if anyone can ensure that he is elected, it’s Juan McCain.
"McCain campaign blundered" is going to be the theme of the Republicans, which is why I have given up on them.
Obama swings like a weathervane - some thing all politicians do - but this guy is a piece of work in that department. With all his flip-flops, you'd think the Pubbies would air a video of a freshly caught fishing flopping about the dock,. When the fish flops one way, intone an original Obama statement (take your pick). When the fish flops the other way, intone his new position.
Will the Pubbies do anything like this? Nah, they're too gentlemanly. (Think Country Club vs Hitler's Brown Shirts.)
I think the election is McCain's to lose, and he will take every opportunity to do so.
If they played pin Obama on the Donkey's ass, he would be pinning him onto himself.
I couldn't agree more, and what's more - it is so blatantly obvious that I think the whole thing has ended up this way - by design!
It is all been choreographed very neatly.
The powers that be have insured that America is so screwed, and I can't believe how many "R"epublicans are just sitting back and letting them. There are more of us than there are of them - if we yell loud enough - they won't be able to drown us out.
JOHN MCCAIN HAS TO GO!
“There is only one hope for Republicans. Dump McCain at the nominating convention in September.”
FINALLY! Someone else who thinks we need to engage in mutiny.
Every time I propose the delegates sit on their hands on the first ballot (thereby freeing the delegates from their obligation to a candidate), I get Freepers accusing me of smoking dope, etc.
Spread the word, contact the delegates in your state and tell them not to vote on the first ballot.
BO should be tagged hard with BO’s agenda in the swing states this weekend.
There is no rational reason to wait.
There is only ONE rational reason to wait - and that is to see that we LOSE!
The selection of a strong running mate will not provide the help that McCain would need to win the election. He is simply a poor candidate. Too cowardly, too silent on home-run issues, too afraid to “offend” the black guy, and far too liberal for the party base while showing no potential to change that deadly situation. The only “good” which can come from this election is the death of the country club, RINO republican movement. As conservatives we absolutely must take the party back, for a few years of Obama will lead to an end to both the first and second amendments.
That's not the city that Osama knew.
President Bush has been shown to possess a wee touch of this disorder.
Have you been smoking dope?
The ones who act like they’re smoking dope/crack - are the ones that think McCain can win this election.
+1
The substance that I am “on” had this label on the package:
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government”
Peace and Happy Independence Day!
Wonderful!
How?
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