WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2008
The Mischief of John McCain
CBS's Meyer: To The Annoyance Of Both Parties, Summer's Pariah Is Now The GOP Front-runner
-
Play CBS Video Video Disillusionment: McCain As part of the CBS News series "Primary Questions," Katie Couric asks Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., what he finds the most disillusioning aspect of running for president of the United States.
-
Video A Look At The Primaries Sen. John McCain's narrow South Carolina win puts a new spotlight on the GOP primary in Florida. And the Democrats get ready to face off in S.C. next. Jeff Greenfield talks with Russ Mitchell.
-
Video McCain Wins In South Carolina Sen. John McCain continued his surge to the head of the Republican pack with a narrow victory over Mike Huckabee in the South Carolina GOP Primary. CBS News' Karen Brown reports.
-
Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, is seated with former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, left, at Baker Manufacturing Co., which makes spas and tubs, during a discussion on the economy in Orlando, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008. (AP)
-
Photo Essay John McCain Some call him a hero, some a maverick. Will Americans call him Mr. President?
-
Section Campaign Coverage News and video from the campaign trail.
The Republican knock on John McCain is that he is a Republican beloved only by Democrats and reporters.
The Democratic knock on McCain is that he is the Republican they would least like to face in the fall.
Those aren’t hard knocks for McCain to take right now.
Republican primary voters seem to be finding ways to vote for him. As they come to believe he is the candidate Democrats fear most, they'll probably find it even easier to vote for him in the coming primaries. And John McCain will be the nominee of the party he invited himself to so rudely.
The perennial McCain-haters in the party’s pseudo-establishment and right wings might cry in their milk if McCain is the nominee. But they’ll be joined by Democrats of all wings.
A McCain nomination would provide many amusing ironies. The one that would be most vexing for the disorganized assemblage known as the Democratic Party is this: the 2008 Republican primaries have been uniquely un-Republican - lacking an early front-runner, unpredictable and divisive - yet they produced the party’s strongest possible general election candidate.
The irony for Republicans is that the mischievous, anti-authoritarian party gadfly they thought they had offed in the summer of ’07 might save their elephant hide in the fall of ’08.
Intra-party popularity can be overrated. Many Democrats were downright embarrassed by Jimmy Carter in 1976. Many Republicans - especially those endangered creatures once called “moderate Republicans” - were mortified by Ronald Reagan in 1980. And Democrats were freshly disenchanted with Gennifer Flowers’ lover boy in 1992. You get the idea.
Democrats would prefer not to run against McCain because of his well-known appeal to independents. You wouldn’t know it from listening to cable news, but roughly a third of the American electorate is independent (32 percent in the latest CBS poll). America isn’t red and blue. And these independent voters, oddly enough, are the ones who tend to be open-minded. Attracting them in a general election is a good thing if you’re interested in victory. (Traditionally, Republicans are rather more interested in victory than Democrats).
In New Hampshire, for example, a jumbo 44 percent of the voters in the Democratic primary called themselves independents. In the Republican primary, 37 percent were independents and 40 percent of that crowd went for John McCain.
Four national surveys this month have polled to see how John McCain and Hillary Clinton would run against each other. McCain won in three of the four polls. In polls pitting her against Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani (three polls each), Clinton won every time. (McCain batted only .500 in the four match-ups with Barack Obama, who also appeals to independents.)
Horserace polls so far ahead of the election mean very little but they do illuminate why Democrats aren’t as happy as they might otherwise be.
After all, Democrats, the polls say, like their candidates very much. Their top two candidates are well-funded. They have had a consistent front-runner and she dramatically fought off a challenger in New Hampshire and appears strong going in to Super Tuesday. The economic news keeps getting worse, which is ordinarily disastrous for the incumbent party. And the war in Iraq, which McCain has consistently and adamantly backed, keeps going and Americans keep dying there.
Democrats should be happy but they aren’t.
Democrats aren’t happy because of John McCain.
Republicans aren’t happy because of John McCain.
I expect Republicans will change their minds long before the Democrats.
E-mail questions, comments, complaints, arguments and ideas to Against the Grain. We will publish some of the interesting (and civil) ones, sometimes in edited form.
By Dick Meyer
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
PARTNERS
     |
The secrets of tennis legend 
- 1
- 2
- 3
- next
See all 44 CommentsThere is a great struggle going on for Republicans that want Mitt Romney and a corrupt liberal MSM wolfpack that wants John McCain because they FEAR Mitt Romney the most.
..............Florida will go to Mitt Romney.....................GO MITT !!
...................... DOWN WITH THE CORRUPT LIBERAL ASSOCIATED PRESS !!!!!!!
I just do not understand the dislike.
Posted by amcalabrese at 11:13 AM : Jan 25, 2008
+ report abuse
I think the problem is that on MANY key issues he is more in line with the middle and mainstream Democrats than the present day Republican Party. McCain KNOWS he needs Democrats as Democrats need real Republican''s. That doesn''t match the leaders of the present day Republican Party or their goals.
Rush Limbaugh is trashing the REPUBLICAN front runner!!
He must be back on his meds.
Posted by im4honesty at 07:00 AM : Jan 25, 2008
+ report abuse
No Rush knows that McCain will distroy the One Party Rule Wing of the Republican Party. You see they can not exist without hate, without a "Wedge" to divide people. McCain takes away that "Wedge" in this election cycle. On the national stage, in a national debate, taken the record of the Republican Party none of these folks stand much of a chance BUT if they can hold together the radical rightwing base and keep it in control of the Republican Party, they can again resume the drum beat of "The Liberals did it". McCain though, if elected, has much more in common with democrats and would find common ground with them. Common ground is the last thing a One Party Rule person wants.
I''m voting for the only "true" conservative candidate, Congressman Ron Paul in the Feb 5th NY GOP primary.
and can the country afford to find out?
careful examination will show that Mr Straight talker is actually talking out of both sides of his mouth - sounds familiar?
Posted by jncc1701
Right on point. A McCain/Liberman ticket will be about as Hawkish a camapaign as you will ever see. They will be formidable, but America will definetly have a choice. 100 more years of Iraq, a new war with Iran or NOT.
Obama 08
and can the country afford to find out?
careful examination will show that Mr Straight talker is actually talking out of both sides of his mouth - sounds familiar?
I just do not understand the dislike.
I am a moderate conservative and my candidate of choice was pushed off the boat. The only one I would endorse, (my endorsement means less that that of PeeWee Herman) would be for Hunter, but he''s gone so, I''ll just have to check the "R" box and hold my breath. If I were to check the "D" box, I''d have to hide in shame... How embarrassing is the Democratic party!
I know, let''s vote for Norris and Stallone, Okrah can head the dept of agriculture... Oh yeah, Jon Voight endorsed Guiliani, so we could make him the secretary of Georgia and all banjo playing organizations... Might as well turn the court over to the Jesters!!!!!!!
Rush Limbaugh is trashing the REPUBLICAN front runner!!
He must be back on his meds.
He''s a genuine war hero, unlike the two LIARs in the white house, Bush and ******** who hid from the war.
But McCain''s a warmonger.
He''s responsible for the killing fields in Iraq too.
The blood of 4000 Americans are on his hands.
Instead of being elected, he needs to be investigated and brought to justice for condoning and abetting the crimes of the Bush/Cheney war profiteering conspiracy.
Given McCain''s support for corporate corruption both in the Keating days and latterly with his backing of Bush & Company''s "no bid contracts", his complete lack of government experience outside of the senate, and quite frankly his excessive age, he is not a formidable candidate for the fall.
After the last seven disastrous years of Dubya, we don''t need another president who falls asleep in cabinet meetings.
His policies are just a continuation of the Bush swill we''ve been dealt since 2001.
McCain''s opportunity was 2000. He chose back then to roll over and take it in the shorts from the Bushies. The old man''s day has come & gone.
This is just his last "hurrah".
http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=1627
.
In 2008, he received only 143,000 votes, only 60% of his 2000 total.
South Carolina voters like McCain even less now than in 2000.
He just managed to eke out a victory with only 33% support because there were so many other candidates.
He''s not another Ronald Reagan.
He''s another Bob Dole. An OLD war hero who''s been in the Senate too long, lacking in ideas, and likely to lose to Clinton in the general election.
*** meyers
*** meyers
*** meyers
Just wanted to prove a point about meyers and CBS:
They don''t know Dicckk ! !
- 1
- 2
- 3
- next
See all 44 Comments