Analysis: John McCain, Party Of One

CBSNews.com's Vaughn Ververs: GOP Nominee Is Charting A Course Of His Own

(CBS)  This analysis was written by CBSNews.com senior political editor Vaughn Ververs.

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Heading into the 2008 election, the Republican Party finds itself saddled by an unpopular war, an economic recession and a national mood of pessimism about the future of the country both at home and abroad. It comes at the end of eight years of almost total control of the federal government, and from the presidential level all the way down to state and local elections, the party appears to be in dire straights.

It’s so bad that, according to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, a generic Democratic presidential candidate beats a Republican one by a margin of 50 percent to 37 percent.

But the presumptive GOP nominee is no generic Republican candidate, and as his general election campaign launches, he’s making clear that he’s not running as one. Party orthodoxy is taking a back seat. John McCain, it appears, is going to be a party of one.

The self-styled maverick who once reportedly flirted with leaving the party he joined as a “foot soldier” has also now become inexorably connected to a war which hangs around the GOP like a political anchor. But rather than seek distance from that inconvenient political reality, McCain is entering into his campaign in a way that binds him even further to war, even while distancing himself from any party at all.

In a choreographed movement, McCain’s campaign released its first ad of the general election just days before embarking upon a tour designed to reintroduce the candidate to the electorate. Launched in the battleground state of New Mexico, the spot once again transported the candidate back to those defining years as a prisoner of war held and tortured by the North Vietnamese.

McCain’s “Service to America” tour begins Monday in Meridian, Mississippi, where he will speak about his family’s long military history, stretching from service under George Washington to George W. Bush. Stops on the week-long tour include Annapolis, Maryland (and the Naval Academy his family has attended for generations) and Jacksonville, Florida - the site of both his departure to and return home from Vietnam.

The tour is billed as a biographical reintroduction to Americans but also suggests that he will not be asking for votes based on an ideological or party platform. No talk of tax cuts or health care policy. Instead, McCain is starting off his campaign by appealing to the nation on a deeply personal level. The underlying message is service. Not only his own but that which he repeatedly talks about in his speeches, urging others to serve an interest other than their own.

Critics will be quick to shrug this approach off as a nostalgic paean to a bygone era and proof of McCain’s desire to continue, if not expand, a war that the majority of voters are unhappy with. But that ignores not only McCain’s history but also his appeal to the kinds of voters both parties will need in November.

In 1996, the Republican Party nominated a war hero as its standard bearer. But Bob Dole was also the very embodiment of the party, a loyal servant whose ascendance had more to do with rank seniority than anything else. Republicans in that election began deserting the Dole campaign almost the minute they left San Diego’s nominating convention.

This time those candidates don’t have the luxury of sloughing off a longtime party fixture facing long odds in order to save their own hides. Even a glance at the GOP’s outlook for regaining lost ground in the House and Senate shows that it’s the brand in trouble, not the candidate at the top of the ticket. In fact, their standard-bearer may be their last, best hope.

For the Republican Party, McCain’s candidacy could prove to be a godsend, despite the fact that a large segment of it fought fiercely against it. Protesting his perceived apostasies on issues ranging from taxes to immigration, conservatives rallied for every last opportunity to stop a candidate once thought to be finished. Increasingly though, even those who fought it are becoming converts to the McCain campaign. At least some GOP operatives now believe they have the best candidate they could have hoped for under the current circumstances.

With the Democratic battle continuing, the GOP is getting a head start on the general election planning. The Republican National Committee and various surrogate operations have been kicking into high gear over recent weeks, raising money and laying out organizational muscle for the battle to come. Undoubtedly a luxury, such advantages will do little to stem the overall tide running against the party.

McCain alone now represents the party’s best chance to hold onto any hope of avoiding a complete blowout in November. While a “generic” Republican candidate is swamped in the polls by a Democrat, McCain fares much better when his name is inserted.

Universally, Hillary Clinton is seen as the best candidate for Republicans to run against. She has the highest negative ratings of any of the three remaining candidates. And, at this point, her unlikely nomination would almost certainly rip the very fabric of the Democratic Party’s coalition.

But while some believe Barack Obama to be almost invincible in a general election matchup, McCain is holding his ground. The most recent CBS News poll shows him within five points of Obama and trailing Clinton by just two. More importantly, McCain leads among independent voters, leading Clinton among that group by 11 points and beating Obama by eight.

Campaign 2008 is shaping up to be a contest of personalities as much as party or policy. The Democrat will be a historic candidate, either the first black or woman nominee of a major party. And everything is going their way - eight years of Republican rule, a struggling economy, a war and uncertainty about the direction of the country.

But the Republican is not beginning his campaign with a series of policy speeches or a platform of ideology. John McCain is running as John McCain, the product of a family whose military service reaches back to the very foundation of the nation; a Navy pilot who spent five years as a prisoner of war in one of the most controversial and unpopular wars in the country’s history; a politician who has earned both the contempt and grudging admiration of his own party. Most importantly, a “maverick” whose membership in the very party he now leads has been questioned.

Someone who has long been accused of being both a shill for his party and a thorn in its side now has to carry its banner into the presidential election. John McCain is beginning his effort by running on his own, not as a member of a political party. And a party of one may be the only thing standing between Republicans and disaster.

[vmcneal2]

MUDROSE...IS THE SURGE WORKING AND DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD STAY IN IRAQ 100 YEARS IF NECESSARY? IF SO VOTE FOR MCCAIN.

HERE IS THE COST/BENEFIT..WE GOT RID OF SAADAM,HIS TWO THUG SONS AND A HANDFUL OF SAADAM''S TOP GUYS. I''M NOT SORRY THESE PEOPLE ARE DEAD. WHAT DID IT COST US? SO FAR, 4,000 DEAD AMERICANS AND BILLIONS OF TAX DOLLARS. IF YOU THINK IT WAS WORTH IT, FINE, I DON''T.

[taotxzen]

McCain %u2018Surprised%u2019 by Iraq Developments

By Michael Cooper
John Mccain - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog

MERIDIAN, Miss. %u2013 As he launched a tour here designed to highlight his family%u2019s long tradition of military service, Senator John McCain said Monday that he was surprised by the latest turn of events in America%u2019s current war in Iraq.

Mr. McCain said he had not expected Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to try to oust Shiite militias from Basra without consulting the Americans, and that he was troubled by some of the demands that were made by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr as part of his offer of a ceasefire after the militias held off the American-supported assault. And he tied some of the current problems to the Bush administration%u2019s old strategy there.

%u201CMaliki decided to take on this operation without consulting the Americans,%u2019%u2019 Mr. McCain said on his campaign bus as it rolled through downtown Meridian, saying that the move showed independence but that he had expected the military to focus on Mosul.

%u201CI just am surprised that he would take it on himself to go down and take charge of a military offensive,%u2019%u2019 he said. %u201CI had not anticipated that he would do that.%u2019%u2019

[taotxzen]

GAO Blasts Weapons Budget
Cost Overruns Hit $295 Billion

The Navy expects the costs of its first two Littoral Combat Ships to exceed their combined budget of $472 million by more than 100 percent.

The Navy expects the costs of its first two Littoral Combat Ships to exceed their combined budget of $472 million by more than 100 percent.
Government auditors issued a scathing review yesterday of dozens of the Pentagon''s biggest weapons systems, saying ships, aircraft and satellites are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.

The Government Accountability Office found that 95 major systems have exceeded their original budgets by a total of $295 billion, bringing their total cost to $1.6 trillion, and are delivered almost two years late on average. In addition, none of the systems that the GAO looked at had met all of the standards for best management practices during their development stages.

Auditors said the Defense Department showed few signs of improvement since the GAO began issuing its annual assessments of selected weapons systems six years ago. "It''s not getting any better by any means," said Michael Sullivan, director of the GAO''s acquisition and sourcing team. "It''s taking longer and costing more."

Chris Isleib, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a written statement, "We''d like to look at what GAO has said, and then at the appropriate time make an informed comment."

So what does all this have to do with McCain? McCain is Bush 2.0

[taotxzen]

Iraqi casualties at highest level since August
Tue Apr 1, 2008 9:18am EDT

By Randy Fabi

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Fighting between security forces and Shi''ite militiamen last month has driven civilian deaths in Iraq to their highest level in more than six months, government figures showed on Tuesday.

A total of 923 civilians were killed in March, up 31 percent from February and the deadliest month since August 2007, according to data compiled by Iraq''s interior, defense and health ministries and obtained by Reuters.

The figures are a blow to the Iraqi government and the United States, which have pointed to reduced overall levels of violence in recent months as evidence that a major security offensive has made significant progress.

Hundreds of people were killed and many more wounded in last week''s fighting after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on Shi''ite militiamen in the southern city of Basra. Many of the dead were civilians caught in the crossfire.

[taotxzen]

AP: Iraqi Prime Minister Left Politically Battered And Humbled

ROBERT H. REID | March 31, 2008

BAGHDAD %u2014 Rockets fell on the Green Zone and random machine gun fire rang out Monday in the southern city of Basra as Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr sought to rein in his militia after a week of battles that claimed about 400 lives.

The peace deal between al-Sadr and Iraqi government forces _ said to have been brokered in Iran _ calmed the violence but left the cleric''s Mahdi Army intact and Iraq''s U.S.-backed prime minister politically battered and humbled within his own Shiite power base.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had promised to crush the militias that have effectively ruled Basra for nearly three years. The U.S. military launched air strikes in the city to back the Iraqi effort.

But the ferocious response by the Mahdi Army, including rocket fire on the U.S.-controlled Green Zone and attacks throughout the Shiite south, caught the government by surprise and sent officials scrambling for a way out of the crisis.

The confrontation enabled al-Sadr to show that he remains a powerful force capable of challenging the Iraqi government, the Americans and mainstream Shiite parties that have sought for years to marginalize him. And the outcome cast doubt on President Bush''s assessment that the Basra battle was "a defining moment" in the history "of a free Iraq."

[mudrose-2009]

MCCAIN SAID WE SHOULD STAY IN IRAQ 100 YEARS IF NECESSARY!!!! HAS THIS MAN LOST HIS MIND?

Posted by vmcneal2

And if all you can spew is B. Hussein Obama talking points, you don''t have a mind.

[vmcneal2]

MCCAIN IS JUST LIKE THE CHENEY/BUSH. "THE SURGE IS WORKING" BS..ANYBODY WITH A BRAIN CAN SEE THAT THE SURGE ISNOT WORKING. THERE IS NO MILITARY SOLUTION IN IRAQ. THESE IRAQI GROUPS HAVE BEEN FIGHTING EACH OTHER FOR 1,000 YEARS. WE COULD NUKE THE WHOLE FREAKIN COUNTRY AND THE LAST TWO IRAQI''S LEFT WOULD STILL BE FIGHTING EACH OTHER FOR POWER.

MCCAIN SAID WE SHOULD STAY IN IRAQ 100 YEARS IF NECESSARY!!!! HAS THIS MAN LOST HIS MIND?

[kansas1946]

You all sound you were born yesterday. First, you were all probably on the band wagon after 911. The country has seemed to forget that with near complete public support that we began this war. You''''ll say you didn''''t but you lie (like all the Dems in the House & Senate).
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I never, ever, ever, supported going to Iraq. Anyone that could read and do any research would know that it would be a horrible mistake. I thought Bush handled the timing and the invastion of Afghanistan very well, but when he entered Iraq, I never listened to another word he had to say, period. Since the invasion, I have not heard his voice. So don''t act like there was near complete support. Not on your life.

[kansas1946]

Yea if you want change vote Libertarian or communist or something but not Democrat we tried that last time.


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Posted by cbscrash07 at 02:48 PM : Mar 31, 2008
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Which "last time" are you referring to. The last time, when we had peace, prosperity, 1.50 gas, could fly on an airplane without stripping, didn''t have to worry about some fed snooping through our house without a warrant?? That last time?

[kansas1946]

youtube.com/watch?v=LIe4d9Nmg9k

Obama is backing muslim extremist!

badbarack.org
Posted by Hillarygrl34 at 08:24 PM : Mar 31, 2008
+ report abuse
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If you are truly backing Hillary, this sort of stuff is going to hurt your candidate, not Obama. It is on the leve of the Swiftboaters, and I would actually like to think that the Democrats are above that kind of trash, at least in the primaries. Now if you really are a Republican are more afraid of Obama than you are of Hillary, you still lose.

[lsigalov]

When will the "Maverick" myth end? John McCain is the most compromised pandering candidate to come along in years-- he''s just lucky he has the press in his pocket. Stop coddling him already, and give us the facts. The numerous gaffes reflect significant concerns that go unexplored. Step up the scrutiny, tired of all the focus on Obama and Clinton. See TheRealMcCain.com for video of his many flip flops.

[homespunlady]

Speaking of KKKarl Rove Will WE KEEP A CLOSER eye on the VOTING PROCESS??

The sanctity of the voting process is IMPORTANT and the Blackbox people have ALREADY found some DISTURBING IRREGULARITIES in it.


Come on folks - I''m GETTING Deja Vu with the NEOCON Party claiming a majority even though their MEMBERSHIP alone is now FAR BELOW what could actually carry an election.

Think about it if the Republican Party membership is somewhere between the teens and 30 percent of the population - by WHAT VOODOO spell could turn such a SMALL MINORITY of the population the "winners".

Do we REALLY WANT MORE of the QUESTIONABLE SCANDALS and manipulations to be used as they have to SELECT GEORGE the Incompetent - History''s WORST President?

[Syndicate]

Vote libertarian for a real change. McCain is no more a Bush clone than Bush is a Reagan or Lincoln clone. Just because they come from the right doesn''t mean they are the same. I''ve disagreed with Bush but I''ve enjoyed the moment everytime he has out smarted Democrats. Just as I have enjoyed McCain sticking it to Bush. Yea if you want change vote Libertarian or communist or something but not Democrat we tried that last time.

[thitchcock]

You all sound you were born yesterday. First, you were all probably on the band wagon after 911. The country has seemed to forget that with near complete public support that we began this war. You''ll say you didn''t but you lie (like all the Dems in the House & Senate). Additionally, speaking of Obama who pays for all the "change". Do you think that if you tax the "wealthy - business owners" that all of the "poor" that buy goods aren''t going to feel that pain. Is the cost of all the free medical and everything else free - I think not. Wake up (both Obama and Clinton are rich), the decision makers in this country are the rich not the common middle class voters voter like you and me we don''t determine how we live in America. You fool yourselves into believing this line of change BS will make any bit of difference. The U.S. will just become a socialistic welfare state under Obama''s change now pay later non specific rhetoric. So, I would propose that you consider at least voting for who is going to keep us physically secure first (whether that is Hillary or McCain???). And then ask yourselves are you (not someone you''ve heard of) better or worse off than you were 10 years ago. If you say worse I''ll bet you''re lying. So, who in the long run is better for the country who knows - I do think I have to agree that we''re better off without any one party "controlling" the government.

[Syndicate]

a generic Democratic presidential candidate beats a Republican one by a margin of 50 percent to 37 percent yet McCain is tied in the polls with either Democrat. Looks like the Democrats have already lost.

[cjkent2]

If McCain is rolling out his personal history, it needs to be pointed out that every dollar he spends iss a further felony violation of the campaign finance law he himself wrote. He used the promise of public financing to secure a loan to keep his campaign afloat, and thereby limited himself to the spending caps for the primary season (through the conventions) set by the FEC. He has already exceeded them. His continued flouting of this law is outrageous and contradicts his whole self-premise as a "maverick" and "straight-shooter."

[mcvet]

EXACTLY!! Putting someone else in the office who is just another "Trickle Down" ranger is beyond stupid!!

[mcvet]

Posted by trapbreak at 12:18 PM : Mar 31, 2008
+ report abuse

Hate to break this to you Sparky but McSame put himself in Bush''s Camp and you can bet the ranch we''re going to hang Bush around his neck like an Anvil. There are states in this country that will reject him outright for that reason ALONE! Bush without a doubt is the most disliked person in this country right now. But McSame needed his money, his ability to get his rich buddies to kick into the kitty. You can''t have it BOTH ways.... Sorry. Sieg Heil Bush

[briannorwood]

John McCain plotting a "course of his own"?

GIMME A BREAK!

This guy is nothing more than Bush Three. Show me where he differs from Bush on Iraq, Tax cuts for the wealthy or anything else!

[mcvet]

Go McCain 2008!

As for any other canidate running, I intend to vote striaght democrat ticket. I think the government does the least damage when no single party controls all branches of the government.


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Posted by timetrips1 at 12:45 PM : Mar 31, 2008
+ report abuse

LOL So we''re just going to put people in a box and label them are we? Now the Republican Party had COMPLETE CONTROL for 6 years and completely messed this nation up... I mean like it''s never been messed up before. Now you suggest we REWARD a leader of that Party and someone who wants to continue the same policies of that Party by electing him PRESIDENT. That''s NUTS!! Sieg Heil Bush