Good link in that article: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/01/019681.php
A surge of dishonesty
With any luck, few Americans tuned in to tonight’s Republican debate. Those who did saw our likely nominee at his worst. McCain not only persisted in his dishonest claim that Mitt Romney supported a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq, he used one evasion after another to try to make it stick.
McCain’s first line of defense was that Romney had used the word timetable which was a “buzzword” for withdrawal. His evidence that “timetable” meant “withdrawal” was that Harry Reid, who favored withdrawal, used the word “timetable.” Guilt by association is, of course, the hallmark of a smear. McCain went one step further to allege guilt by word association. Never mind that, in the same answer upon which McCain bases his smear, Romney said he would veto any timetable for withdrawal. I bet Harry Reid never said that.
Next McCain pointed out that Romney declined as governor to take a position on the surge. But this in no way supports McCain’s claim that Romney supported withdrawal. No one disputes that McCain was way ahead of Romney (and nearly everyone else) on the question of how to succeed in Iraq. What’s now in dispute is McCain’s ability to tell the truth about this subject.
Romney noted that McCain never raised this issue against him in any debate, preferring instead to put it out there just before the people of Florida were getting ready to vote. McCain answered by saying he has questioned Romney’s experience many times. This response is too pathetic to require comment.
McCain completed his cycle of cheap evasion when he noted that Romney had engaged in negative advertising, not just against him but also against Mike Huckabee. But the issue is not negativity, it is accuracy and honesty. This where McCain suddenly and unexpectedly is struggling.
McCain’s desire to smear Romney so overwhelmed his judgment that he returned to this attack in response to a totally unrelated question about his ability to lead the economy. McCain answered the question by talking about his service in the U.S. military, during which he took another shot at Romney over his alleged proposal to withdraw from Iraq. This one had even my wife, who likes McCain and is skeptical about Romney, rolling her eyes.
More generally, if McCain thinks that invoking his military experience is going to persuade voters that he can be trusted on economic issues, he should reconsider. He’s starting to sound like Rudy Giuliani, who answered every hard question by talking about New York. McCain can probably skate past Super Tuesday with this sort of line – his persistent smirk certainly suggests he thinks he can – but it won’t work against Clinton or Obama. But then, McCain doesn’t hate them like he hates Romney, at least not yet.
McCain also took a ridiculously cheap shot at Romney when he talked about how some people at companies Romney helped turn around lost their jobs. This, along coupled with his shot at Romney for being concerned with “profit” as opposed to patriotism, makes me wonder whether even Phil Gramm can help McCain when it comes to economics — capitalist economics, anyway.
The McCain campaign has been taking the position that, since their guy is the inevitable nominee, Romney’s attacks on the Senator can only help the Democratic nominee. Under our system, McCain cannot stop Romney from damaging him through political speech. He can, however refrain from damaging himself by revealing his darker instincts when he responds to Romney. Or maybe he can’t.
UPDATE: I don’t put great stock in focus groups, but CNN’s overwhelmingly agreed with me and my wife that McCain came across very badly in his exchanges with Romney about the surge.
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Posted by Paul at 8:41 PM | |
I saw the debate and I thought McCain came off well last night on the exchange over Romney’s timetable for getting out of Iraq. He made himself clear, emphasized the timing of Romneys statement and what “timetables” at that time meant (Dem Buzz word for getting out of Iraq). Romney outsmarts himself too often by trying to have it every which way on an issue. In political terms, I was hoping McCain and Romney would both be hurt in the exchange to make Huckabee look better. Instead it was mainly Romney that was hurt in my opinion.