One of the most respectable, galvanizing politicians in American history totally sells out and gets seriously spanked. Good. Let this be a lesson. What a bright way to start the day.

It's hard to tell at this point whether McCain will be successful or not at getting the GOP nomination. He supposedly has a 64% approval rating within the party, but the Republicans who hate him, really, really hate him. Plus who can tell what kind of intenecine bloodbath the primaries will turn out to be. My hope is that the straw poll turns out to be prophetic and that Frist does indeed get the nod. In which case his colorless ass will be steamrolled by the Rock Star that is Hillary.

Oops. That should read 'internecine'.

Trent Lott was reported to have said this weekend that Frist was busing people in to rig the straw poll.

McCain, it seems, is taking his political strategy from the senior Bush. After declaring that Reagan's plan was voodoo economics and that what the party and the country needed was a moderate, Bush in 1988 ran as a converted man. Someone who had seen the light of Reagan and absorbed it's wisdom. McCain seems to be trying to do that with Bush, but the Shrub is burning so badly right now that it appears as if the strategy will backfire.

Salon has a piece up on the straw poll with this comment on Clinton's prospect's, which the author refers to as the Hillary Paradox.

"Almost all the doubts that I hear about her political prospects come from downcast Democrats, who are convinced that she will romp to the 2008 nomination and then prove unelectable in November. Republicans, in contrast, seem almost fatalistic in their conviction that she would be a formidable foe, which is why they are so eager to find a champion who could unite the GOP in holy war to smite the Clintonian infidels. Never in modern political history can I recall a time when both parties were equally petrified that the same person (Hillary Clinton) might win a presidential nomination."

I just have to chime in and say that I LOVE the fact that the (obviously intelligent) poster who corrected his/her misspelling of SAT word "internecine" has the highbrow screen name Sigourney Beaver.

Kudos to you, Sigourney, kudos. Even smarties can enjoy dumb humor.

Thanks Wiggles. I like to think of myself as highbrow and low minded.

I'm no fan of McCain -- I think the way he caved on torture -- TORTURE of all things -- to Bush is reprehensible, and I think he's FAR more conservative than most of the other R's out there, but the fact is, he could win. Therefore I wish Bill Frist all the luck in the world. Because Bill Frist is like John Kerry after death: same wooden demeanor, but unable to keep even his most desperate supporters awake. Plus he's a lying sack of shit who ought to have his doctor's license taken away from him. I think Frist gets creamed in '08. Joy!

Isn't Frist under grand jury investigation?

He is a cold fish, but intelligent compared to the Moron show.

I love Hillary and will work my self to the edge to get her elected.
GO Ms Clinton and bring Bill for fund raising and homey stories.
Health care revenge movement.

McCain has been Bush's buttboy for the last few years and has lost all of his integrity IMO. No chipmunks for president! A monkey was bad enough.

I too would prefer Frist as the republican candidate for the aformentioned reasons. But don't be so sure that McCain is a dead duck: The MSM loves him. He's been heavily hitting on the Bush donors. He's been working to mend fences with the evangelical wing-nuts. Some republicans say that McCain is too moderate for their taste. But when it comes down to brass tacks, the republicans care more about retaining power than ideological purity, so if they consider McCain more electable than the others, I believe they will annoit him.

John McCain reminds me too much of Howard Dean. They're both kind of weird-looking with large heads and short necks. They both lack charisma and the ability to woo voters with bullshit. If McCain went up against a Dennis Kucinich, I could see him winning, but I find it hard to imagine him defeating any mainstream Democrat.

I really hate bringing up physical characteristics as an influence in an election and I usually mock American voters for making it a factor. Unfortunately, it does seem to make a difference.