McCain Campaign Tanking

[Hootad Binky]

Poor John McCain! Did the famous ex-POW seriously think he had a shot at the Whitehouse while supporting continuation/escalation of the war in Iraq? And now CNN is reporting he is oput of funds. Oh, well; I sorted of liked him

The McCain Implosion Fallout

By John McIntyre

John McCain's second campaign for president has been in a slow free-fall for all of 2007. This week's dramatic purge of his campaign manager, chief strategist and estrangement of long-time confidant and chief of staff has simply put an exclamation point on the six-month collapse. While Senator McCain was never the clear frontrunner that many in the Washington establishment presumed him to be, he was well positioned at the beginning of the year to have a good shot at capturing the GOP nomination.

What went wrong?

The McCain camp made several major miscalculations, most emanating from the disease of being far too entrenched inside the conventional wisdom of the Washington beltway. First was the dismissal initially of Rudy Giuliani as a real threat to the nomination and the impact that the front-running Giuliani was going to have on the rationale for the McCain bid among Republican voters. Second was the wisdom of continuing to run a campaign as the establishment, next-in-line nominee. That strategy made some sense coming on the heels of President Bush's reelection, but as the President's fortunes soured punctuated by the GOP debacle in 2006, there was no reexamination among the McCain brain trust of running a status quo, "we're-the-next-guy-in-line" campaign in a political environment where the desire for change was large and growing. Third was an utter lack of understanding for the level of antithapy that many conservatives (outside of Washington) felt towards the maverick Senator and thus the critical need for the campaign to find an issue - other than the war - where McCain could energize Republicans.

The campaign appears to have just plodded along the first six months of the year oblivious to these major miscalculations until the poor fundraising numbers collided with the sizable spending fashioned along the lines of the Bush 2000 campaign. Reality hit this week, and in many ways it is the first piece of good news the McCain campaign has had in months. Because without some kind of change, McCain's campaign was going nowhere. The unanswered question and the real issue remains whether the McCain campaign can adapt or whether the candidate himself is the problem.

Where does this leave the Republican contest?

After three debates and with Giuliani continuing to lead in the national polls as well as 2nd quarter fundraising it is a little silly to suggest Rudy can't win the Republican nomination. Giuliani's entry into the race in many ways was the catalyst for the collapse of the McCain campaign. John McCain's central appeal to Republicans was his attractiveness to Independents and his perceived ability to win a general election in a year where the GOP knows they will be at a huge disadvantage. Giuliani appears to have won that battle among the Republican electorate and he is poised to benefit the most from the McCain campaign's fall to second tier status.

It has been the inability of the McCain and Romney campaigns to gain traction, coupled with the strength of Giuliani, that has opened the door for Fred Thompson. Romney's strategy always called for him to neutralize McCain as a serious candidate, with the theory that in a Romney vs. Giuliani race Rudy's lack of social conservative bona fides would ultimately sink his campaign. The Romney plan was to string together early wins in Iowa and neighboring New Hampshire and then - with McCain a non-factor and with Romney's ability to draw from his massive personal fortune - present himself as the sole conservative option to Giuliani.

It is an understatement to say that Fred Thompson severely complicates this game plan.

Ironically, a year ago with Giuliani dismissed as un-nominatable and Thompson filming Law & Order, both the McCain and Romney campaigns probably viewed the other as their chief obstacle to the nomination. While Romney does lead in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, it is hard to see how he becomes the overwhelming "conservative option" in a narrowed field that includes the southerner Thompson.

Just like Giuliani was the key to McCain's demise, Thompson may be what sinks the Romney campaign. This would effectively leave a two-person race between the New Yorker and the Tennessean, with Romney perhaps siphoning just enough conservative votes that allows the pro-choice, thrice married Rudy Giuliani the pathway to the GOP nomination.

RealClearPolitics - Articles - The McCain Implosion Fallout

[GooMaiRoo]

McCain committed political suicide by being super hawkish on the Iraq war (turning off almost all independent voters and moderate Republicans) and at the same time supporting Bush's immigration amnesty (enraging the conservative Republicans who were already weary of him). Not much left on the political spectrum for his potential voters after that, is there? He's toast and it's all his own doing.

[Butterfly]

he is a total loser, always been.

Big attention whore.

Good riddance.

[barbaro]

^ and ^^ and ^^^

Totally agree.

Supports GWB, the Surge, "bomb Iran song," 70 years old.....

Just go retire and then die.

[Hootad Binky]

Yeah, really, WHAT was he thinking? Egoism.

[barbaro]

What's he thinking? Hard to say. But fortunately, nobody really cares.

McCain's only solid chance was in 2000. He won the New Hampshire primary, and then lost Carolina because of GWB's racist push polling campaign.

His stance on Iraq, Immigration, and Campaign Finance Reform have him D.O.A., dead on arrival. Again, he just turned 70.

He can speak into a microphone for another 2-3 months. Then he'll hopefully burnout/fade away.

[Hootad Binky]

Ah... Mr. McCain, call from Florida for you sir...


The Worst Excuse Ever

Posted Aug 7th 2007 5:02PM by Cenk Uygur

Bob Allen is a Republican State Representative from Florida. He was the co-chair of John McCain's Florida campaign. He is the author of a bill proposed in the last legislative session to strengthen Florida's laws against public sex, lewdness and indecency. And he is stridently anti-gay rights.

So, of course, you see where this is going. He recently got caught offering an undercover police officer $20 to blow him in a public bathroom. Don't get this wrong, he wasn't receiving the oral sex, he was giving it. And paying $20 on top. If you saw him, you'd know why.



But this isn't even where the story gets good.

He was arrested last month, but his excuse for why he did it just got released. Apparently, he told officers that the undercover cop was a "pretty stocky black guy" and there were a lot of other black guys around, so he feared for his life. He didn't want to become a "statistic," so he offered to shine the dude's knob -- and give him $20 on top -- to be able to escape his blackness without harm.

Google News

[Hootad Binky]

I stand corrected!

McCain Leads Romney in Early Returns

John and Cindy McCain visited a polling place Tuesday in Nashua, N.H. More Photos >

Published: January 8, 2008

Senator John McCain has won the Republican primary in New Hampshire, according to The Associated Press and several television networks, reviving a campaign that had been given up for dead just a few months ago and further muddying a Republican contest has now has no clear leader. He defeated the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and the rest of the Republican field.

McCain Defeats Romney in N.H. Vote - New York Times

Having since seen McCain twice on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, I've come to like him a bit as a person. He likes laughing at politics and politicians, including himself. When Stewart took him to task for pandering to Evangelicals (something Mccain definitely isn't) in a pathetic and desperate speech at a highly conservative Christian college, McCain looked bashfully at the floor, and then started chuckling. Then Stewart and McCain and the audience all started laughing about it as well and not many candidates can pull that off.

He's less punitive with illegals than many of the other candidates, and at least his support of the Iraq war is consistent and based on his experience as a soldier (although I'm not sure what his "bring the troops home with honor" means specifically). His "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" (a la Beach Boys) joke didn't go over so well, either.

It was funny during the last Republican debate when Romney claimed to be the candidate for "change," having flip-flopped on so many issues in the past, and McCain just laughed at him, and then said mockingly "Yeah, you're the candidate of change alright." Romney looked stricken, McCain having obviously anticipated this belated and ill-advised attempt to get on the "change" bandwagon, which Obama is owning right now.

Here's a good clip of Stewart ripping into him over Iraq:

Video McCain bits from April 2007 - McCain, Republic, Presidential, Candidate, Iraq

[Butterfly]

He is a lunatic, and a flip flop himself, I don't think he is that well mentally, a bit unstable, those laughing reactions might just be the tip of bigger psycho problems.

[Hootad Binky]

^ Agreed. McCain vs Obama! Bloody hell. Unbelievable.

[barbaro]

I don't think McCain has nation-wide legs. New Hampshire is a small state. I still think McCain will need more funds, and he's 72, I believe. Time for the old Neo-Con to go to bed.

Remember the "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran" theme song?

I think he's a buffoon.

[Hootad Binky]

He's also known for his temper, but the other GOP candidates aren't looking so hot right now, either. Gulliani's been doing meet-and-greets but won't allow questions, and Romney is playing catch-up to everyone in addition to being disliked by evangelicals who consider Mormonism a "cult," as Iowa made plain. True, McCain hasn't had nation-wide appeal but I don't think Huckabee ever will. One's handicapped by his ardent support for the war and the other is an evangelist, both of limited appeal.

[barbaro]

The question is: How will McCain do on Tsunami Tuesday. We'll see on Feb. 5th.

[Butterfly]

I would rather see GW Bush for a third term, that see McCain as a new POTUS

[ChiangMai noon]

^
no trolling in issues please butterfly.

[Jet Gorgon]

Thanks for the news, Hootad. I was looking for it on the net. Where you been? Skiing?

[Hootad Binky]

Loafing and

(mostly)


Just heard this on the radio:

"Politicians are like diapers; they both need changing and for the same reason."

The Baby Primary: Can I get my 5-month-old daughter
photographed with every presidential candidate?

By Darren Garnick




As a resident of the "Live Free or Die" state, I'll concede that the New Hampshire presidential primary gives us ridiculously disproportionate influence. But I love the fact that my state's electoral power comes with a great fringe benefit: It's easy to enshrine the next president in your family scrapbook. A sucker for political kitsch, I set out to photograph my 5-month-old daughter, Dahlia, in the arms of every candidate with a prayer of making it to the White House.



Rudy declares that "Dahlia is a real doll," and within seconds she starts to squirm and screech in his arms. I ask for one more photo, but Rudy's done. He's panicky. He obviously doesn't want the crying baby to become a metaphor for the world he is about to take over. Giuliani's cynical instincts prove correct. USA Today uses Dahlia to symbolize the negative press coverage that Giuliani has attracted as the Republican front-runner. And in a story about the political leanings of police officers and firefighters, Rudy's hometown New York Post lunges after the shaky-leadership imagery. The tabloid brands my screaming daughter as "a reluctant baby in New Hampshire."


My rules were simple:

1. No actual kissing. No Democrat or Republican is putting saliva on Baby Dahlia.
2. No pictures with former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel. He's way too creepy.


McCain is unfazed, however. "There goes another vote!" he jokes.


With meticulously detailed campaign schedules posted on the Web, it wasn't hard to get Dahlia into the same room with all the major candidates. But this project was anything but easy. It takes tremendous patience and parental magic to make a child sit through a two-hour presentation on health-care reform. It also takes a paparazzi photographer's instincts to get that winning shot. Candidates often have access to multiple entrances and exits at events, and staking out the wrong one means going home empty-handed.



I politely block Edwards' path and hand him the baby before he has a chance to say yes. Not a word about how cute Dahlia is or how children are our future. Appearing glassy-eyed and vacant, he must be all cuted out from having his own young kids on the campaign bus.


As of the day before Tuesday's primary, I've photographed Dahlia with every candidate except Fred Thompson, who's barely shown his face around here. Now, let's explore how fun it is to transform a 5-month-old girl into a ubiquitous campaign prop!



During a pleasant exchange with Hillary across the Secret Service barricades, I notice that the baby's tush is slightly damp. The fact that Hillary doesn't mention it suggests that she's either diplomatic or has no control over her senses.



Mitt foolishly declares he can't tell if Dahlia's a boy or a girl.


With
...his wife, Janet, by his side, he calls Dahlia a "sweetheart." That makes three affectionate nicknames from the Republicans (doll, sweetie, sweetheart) and none from the Democrats.


Can I get my 5-month-old daughter photographed with every presidential candidate? - By Darren Garnick - Slate Magazine

[Jet Gorgon]

^ 555 gotta be a uni station. They have good music, too.

[Hootad Binky]

As It Happens, CBC

[AntRobertson]

^^^ That's brilliant!

[Boon Mee]

A closer look at John McCain's voting record.

McCain-Feingold — the most brazen frontal assault on political speech since Buckley v. Valeo.

McCain-Kennedy — the most far-reaching amnesty program in American history.

McCain-Lieberman — the most onerous and intrusive attack on American industry — through reporting, regulating, and taxing Authority of greenhouse gases — in American history.

McCain-Kennedy-Edwards — the biggest boon to the trial bar since the tobacco settlement, under the rubric of a patients’ bill of rights.

McCain-Reimportantion of Drugs — a significant blow to pharmaceutical research and development, not to mention consumer safety...
...
McCain-ACLU — the unprecedented granting of due-process rights to unlawful enemy combatants...

Not sure I can support this guy...

Mark R. Levin on John McCain & 2008 on National Review Online