Where's The Real McCain?

Borger: The Spark That Made Him A Sensation In 2000 Has Given Way To The Status Quo

(US News)  This news analysis was written by U.S. News & World Report columnist Gloria Borger.

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Presidential campaign staff shake-ups are as predictable as sunrise, but leave it to Sen. John McCain to provide one with a flourish. Picture this: The senator, just back from a trip to Iraq, has the political world on edge as he takes to the Senate floor to announce whether he still supports the president. (He does.) Yet just as McCain asks the country to have more patience on the war, his campaign announces that the candidate's own patience-with his stalled presidential bid-has run out. (He's mad.) Two top aides are gone, with more changes to come. The candidate, says one close aide, "hit the roof" before his trip abroad when he learned the details of an undeniable disaster: He's broke, with less money than GOP presidential contender Ron Paul. Ridiculous.

The story of the imploding campaign is not just a tale of mismanagement and political miscalculation, although it is that. It's also about McCain himself — the fiscal conservative who paid too little attention to his own bloated operation. The experienced candidate who should have known better than to believe in his own inevitability. The outsider who became the pinup for the GOP establishment — a status quo candidate in an election about change. Like most things with McCain, says a close friend, the turmoil is "all complicated and conflicted." And emotional. So emotional, in fact, that both his wife, Cindy, and Sen. Trent Lott — who has, by one account, become the "single-most-influential elected official in McCain-world" — had to intervene. Top advisers Terry Nelson and John Weaver had to go, they told the candidate. For McCain, parting with longtime friend and political ally Weaver was hard, like firing his alter ego.

Lapsed reformer. But it's just as hard to find the real McCain these days. The very brilliance of McCain circa 2000 was rooted in the reformer with a gut connection to voters because he was willing to defy his own party — or just about anyone, for that matter. Yet after losing, the iconoclast was somehow lost, too, and mired in a premature national campaign. We need conservatives to win, the consultants said. Go directly to Liberty University and hug the Rev. Jerry Falwell! Then it got worse. No matter where McCain turned, he was up against it: Conservatives still hated both his devotion to campaign finance reform and his pro-immigration stand. (Bye-bye, small donors.) Liberals and independents hated his steadfast support for the war. (Bye-bye, electability.) And so, the candidate went into free fall — in the polls, in the fundraising, without a clear message or a plan to win. Instead, "McCain became a legislator in chief, and the issues didn't work for us," grumbles one McCain ally. "We need to get back to what makes McCain an interesting person and a candidate."

Here's the problem: It's one thing to become an anti-establishment maverick, which McCain did brilliantly in 2000. But it's a feat worthy of a contortionist to join the establishment, then leave it again — and expect voters to follow through every detour. "Last time around, he was independent-minded," says GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio. "This time, he became scolding, even annoying. He used to be charming." Charm aside, there is something that hasn't changed: McCain does have beliefs, despite the occasional urge to pander. Sure, support for the war helps him with the Republican base, but that's not what it is about. McCain may be irritating all kinds of constituencies, but at least we know he's not pretending. "Nobody can ever suggest to McCain that he change what he believes," says a close aide. "Nobody would ever think to go there."

But where can McCain himself go now? He's flanked on the right on almost every issue by his GOP opponents. Even on national security — and the matter of how to handle terrorists, and torture. Front-runner Rudy Giuliani is pitching himself as the tough guy. Old buddy Fred Thompson is ready to run against McCain on immigration. And Mitt Romney is on the airwaves in Iowa and New Hampshire positioning himself as the conservative Real Deal. McCain needs to take on all three, establish his credentials for governing, and get on with it. Or get off the bus.

It's not a good sign that it took his wife, a Senate confidant, and top fundraisers to persuade him to change his campaign. (Or did he always know and not pay attention?) And now, what's left of the campaign is reduced to these talking points: "Why can't McCain start over now?" asks strategist Charlie Black. "If people in the political community assume Fred Thompson can start a campaign now, why not McCain?" Maybe it's because McCain has been running for the past eight years, and there's not much to show for it. No bucks in the bank, no clear message. Just a long road to Iowa and New Hampshire.

[toldyouso21]

will bet you dollars to donuts that a story on Dr. Ron Paul's ascending campaign will garner your site way more visits (and advertising dollars -- ka-ching, ka-ching!!!) than this story about McCain.
Posted by reblauvelt at 03:00 AM : Jul 19, 2007


Even if all of your posts were by different people, Ron Paul would have a total about 150 votes---11 which would not count since they would be you again and again and again. Whatever his views, he is not even in the running. The fact is, not enough Republicans are taking him seriously and most Independents and Democrats are sworn off Republicans for the next decade or so.

[imprisonbush]

Yep. John Boy's goose is cooked. He is finished. That became apparent months ago however when he was hugging and pandering to GW and Jerry Falwell, trying to change his own stripes and reputation. This zebra wanted to be a chimp. However, like most who attempt such a change, this will fail. That is why the Republicans are in such deep, deep trouble. Romney the pseudo Democrat has recently become a rabid conservative Republican. Angry, socially-liberal Guiliani has tried to become a tough, reasonable conservative Repub. Thompson has tried to become the anti-abortion candidate despite his legal advocacy of some in the anti abortion movement. Like the Chimp in chief, nobody can believe anything these Repubs say because they are so willing to change their politics to get elected.

[lars008-2009]

SIGN THE PETITIONS!!!

help end fascist nazi terrorislam apartheid
http://new.petitiononline.com/CDHR2005/petition.html
http://new.petitiononline.com/CDHREU/petition.html
http://www.dhimmi.com/petition.htm
http://www.petitiononline.com/dhimmi/petition.html
http://www.dhimmi.com/action_campus.htm
http://www.dhimmi.com/action_community.htm

[lars008-2009]

His steadfast support of Bush's illegal war sank his chances, just as it will others who continue to follow Bush.
Posted by clestes at 03:40 PM : Jul 18, 2007

the war is legal

the resumption of hostilities was only a matter of time since iraq broke the ceasefire agreement.....

blame saddam for iraq%u2026%u2026. Even clintoon and the dems wanted the resumption of hostilities back in 1998

"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

Moreover, no international law can prevent the United States from taking actions to protect its vital interests, when it is manifestly clear that there is a choice to be made between law and survival. I believe, however, that such a choice is not presented in the case of Iraq. Indeed, should we decide to proceed, that action can be justified within the framework of international law rather than outside it. In fact, though a new UN resolution may be helpful in building international consensus, the existing resolutions from 1991 are sufficient from a legal standpoint. - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/gore/gore092302sp.html

Oops! Sorry for the multiple posts, folks. I kept getting the message, "The Publish button will be enabled shortly. We have temporarily disabled it so everyone has an opportunity to comment." which made me think that my post had not gone through.

My apologies.

Perhaps a bigger and more interesting story is that Dr. Ron Paul's donations are increasing, while most of the other candidates are slowing down. The Ron Paul rEVOLution is gathering momentum.

By the way, I trust your use of the word "ridiculous" was directed at Senator McCain, and not Dr. Paul. Nevertheless, it is mean-spirited.

I will bet you dollars to donuts that a story on Dr. Ron Paul's ascending campaign will garner your site way more visits (and advertising dollars -- ka-ching, ka-ching!!!) than this story about McCain.

Perhaps a bigger and more interesting story is that Dr. Ron Paul's donations are increasing, while most of the other candidates are slowing down. The Ron Paul rEVOLution is gathering momentum.

By the way, I trust your use of the word "ridiculous" was directed at Senator McCain, and not Dr. Paul. Nevertheless, it is mean-spirited.

I will bet you dollars to donuts that a story on Dr. Ron Paul's ascending campaign will garner your site way more visits (and advertising dollars -- ka-ching, ka-ching!!!) than this story about McCain.

Perhaps a bigger and more interesting story is that Dr. Ron Paul's donations are increasing, while most of the other candidates are slowing down. The Ron Paul rEVOLution is gathering momentum.

By the way, I trust your use of the word "ridiculous" was directed at Senator McCain, and not Dr. Paul. Nevertheless, it is mean-spirited.

I will bet you dollars to donuts that a story on Dr. Ron Paul's ascending campaign will garner your site way more visits (and advertising dollars -- ka-ching, ka-ching!!!) than this story about McCain.

Perhaps a bigger and more interesting story is that Dr. Ron Paul's donations are increasing, while most of the other candidates are slowing down. The Ron Paul rEVOLution is gathering momentum.

By the way, I trust your use of the word "ridiculous" was directed at Senator McCain, and not Dr. Paul. Nevertheless, it is mean-spirited.

I will bet you dollars to donuts that a story on Dr. Ron Paul's ascending campaign will garner your site way more visits (and advertising dollars -- ka-ching, ka-ching!!!) than this story about McCain.

Perhaps a bigger and more interesting story is that Dr. Ron Paul's donations are increasing, while most of the other candidates are slowing down. The Ron Paul rEVOLution is gathering momentum.

By the way, I trust your use of the word "ridiculous" was directed at Senator McCain, and not Dr. Paul. Nevertheless, it is mean-spirited.

I will bet you dollars to donuts that a story on Dr. Ron Paul's ascending campaign will garner your site way more visits (and advertising dollars -- ka-ching, ka-ching!!!) than this story about McCain.