JULY 30, 2008
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Both First Read and Politico's Jonathan Martin--two of the shrewdest McCain-watchers around--see an upside for McCain in the Ted Stevens indictment. As First Read puts it:
By the way, the Stevens indictment is actually a potential opportunity for McCain, who has never been a fan of the pork-barrel senator and has had his share of clashes with the man. But so far, we haven’t heard a peep on this from McCain... And the indictment certainly doesn’t hurt Obama’s quest to put this ruby-red state into play. But Stevens represents everything McCain's been running against inside the GOP for a decade. He ought to embrace his downfall before the GOP's tarnished brand stains him with this.
I agree with the basic logic of this. And lord knows McCain isn't the only GOP senator privately happy to see Stevens go down. Still, given that the knock on McCain in GOP circles is that he's too willing to throw the party under the bus to further his own ambition, isn't there some risk for McCain in such a move? There's already too much background-sniping in the GOP and conservative ranks for the McCain campaign's taste. If McCain went hard after Stevens, and the congressional GOP more broadly, wouldn't that provoke a whole new round of whispers about McCain's self-righteousness and opportunism?
I guess the response is that McCain just isn't going to win this election by being excessively solicitous of his base--and that most GOPers realize that. But, at the very least, I'd guess this is the reason McCain hasn't weighed in yet.
--Noam Scheiber
5 comments
The word "self-righteousness" started me thinking, not necessarily in a direction that means much, but the thought it began is this: When Hillary ran against Obama, one of the aspects of the campaign that was so enjoyable for Republicans was watching Democrats begin to see in the Clintons what they themselves had so long despised. And here we go again -- what the Republican base had so long disliked in McCain was what they saw as his opportunism and self-righteousness. Aren't these the qualities us liberals are beginning to recognize in McCain? Qualities we used to affectinately lump under the category "maverick."
Only the quandry for Republicans is that he's their guy, not ours. I agree with Noam. He probably should keep his mouth shut. Wouldn't do to have the Republicans reminded of the qualities the rest of us are now beginning to see.
(and what does all of the above say about the Republicans? That they are better judges of character?)
- scire
July 30, 2008 at 12:15pm
"McCain just isn't going to win this election by being excessively solicitous of his base"?
Well, then, how about his latest full gainer with a half twist ("flip-flop" is inadequate to describe this maneuver) back to "No new taxes!!!" I guess Poppy didn't explain the success of that approach during their jaunt in the golf cart.
- twodox
July 30, 2008 at 12:18pm
twodox - You missed the best part of "no new taxes" - McCain's declaration that tax increases would be "on the table," followed in turn by the predictable hissy fit by Club for Growth president Pat Toomey, then McCain's campaign manager insisting that the candidate didn't really mean what he said.
McCain's problem is that he somehow has to have it both ways in order to win - keep the base at least somewhat mollified while simultaneously maintaining his maverick image to appeal to independents and moderates. It would be a diffiicult task for a candidate tar more polished and organized. For McCain it's impossible.
- WayneJM
July 30, 2008 at 2:27pm
Yeah, wayne, it was Great Moments in Modern Presidential Campaigning when the McCain campaign spokesman said that McCain "had not really been speaking for the campaign" on the payroll tax business. This really should become the basis for a whole series of attack ads--"Who Speaks for John McCain? Obviously Not John McCain" or the like...
- cspencef
July 30, 2008 at 2:54pm
Wayne,
Thanks for the added info, but I had that sequence of events when I described his move as a full gainer with a half-twist.
If he changes direction one more time he will tie himself into a Gordian Knot, and you know how that one gets solved.
- twodox
July 30, 2008 at 5:08pm