2008 McCain Mania Strikes New Hampshire
posted by on December 21 at 15:55 PM
Posted by Ryan S. Jackson
Trying to come up with the perfect analogy for John McCain’s run for the presidency isn’t easy.
The first one that came to mind would be McCain and the zombie movie, both because he kind of looks like he’s been dead for quite some time, and because you can continue to hit him with a shovel and he just gets right back up. Remember when he was prostrating himself in front of southern bible colleges as the “frontrunner,” and everyone hated him? Or this summer, when his entire campaign staff walked away from him and he was spending more than he was bringing in?
He’s still going. McCain wants brains!
But the narrative is changing. As the finish-line approaches, McCain is getting a sudden burst of later momentum in New Hampshire, inspired possibly by the fact that he’s stopped apologizing for being the angry-old-man independent voters fell in love with:
A source close to the McCain campaign tells me that online fundraising is up 500 percent this week over the previous weekly average — a reflection of the Arizona Senator’s lift in the polls and some key endorsements he garnered in recent days, such as that of the New Hampshire Union Leader.“We had the Union Leader, and we had a kick-ass six day trip,” the source says.
In another positive development, the source says there’s been a rise in the number of people calling the campaign to volunteer their services.
All of this is setting up a situation in which nobody comes out of the early primary states as the clear winner; Huckabee wins the culturally conservative enclaves, McCain picks up the moderate states, and Romney wins his father’s old stomping ground of Michigan. Super Tuesday comes with everyone but Fred Thompson having some viable claim of being on top.
Washington Republicans may end up having a part in settling this whole thing. Prepare your votes for Alan Keyes now.
Alan who???
We get the nun's brains. He'll have to fight us for those!
McCain is surging because he's visibly sane, unlike Giuliani or Huckabee, and visibly not a lying sack of shit like Romney. Yes, he's wrong on Iraq, but these are Republicans we're talking about, not Democrats. He's intelligent, and he's got reasonably sensible Republican views on immigration, torture, religion, and the economy.
He's also straightforward and refuses to pander (by the standards of Presidential politics, at least) even when he's going again the grain of the polls. He's trustworthy, which is more important to thinking Republicans than any specific issue.
He's a formidable opponent. I think he'd cream Clinton head to head, unless he drops dead.
you guys should do a republican poll for fun.
A Keyes/Obama presidential race would be my wet dream. I would read the headline and jizz in my pants, and when my ballot came, I would too. Not only would it be a historical race between two black men for the presidency, it would guarantee that Democrats would have a lock on the White House for eight years, and also be THE most entertaining race in history:
Obama: "I have hope to bring America together!"
Keyes: "My opponent is a filthy sodomite who will use your tax money to hire fascists who will make you have sex with gay donkeys in church! He will burn in hell forever!"
It's a bit of hyperbole, but when he ran against Obama for Senate, he said that Jesus wouldn't vote for him, and refused the normal congratulatory call to Obama, saying that it would violate his integrity to congratulate a politician he thought had the wrong views.
So did the entire staff of The Stranger take the rest of the month off or what?
BTW, Fnarf, you are bang on about McCain. Hell, if it weren't for his position on Iraq, I would be tempted to say he's the best man - er, person - for the job.
@5
Obama versus Huckabee would be almost as good.
He's not the best man, because he's a Republican. You're not voting for a man or woman; you're voting for a team of thousands. The Republican could be the finest human being in the history of the world, and he's still going to pack the Supreme Court with right-wing douchebags and so on.
well at least he's not COMPLETELY bat shit crazy like huckabee and romney.
Right you are, Fnarf. And after so many years of inept, inefficient, corrupt and incompetent Republicans, it's time to admit that friends don't let friends vote Republican.
After all, if you wanted small efficient government, with fiscal discipline, you're gonna vote for a Dem.
Results matter.
McCain is definitely the GOP candidate to keep an eye on as he has the best chance to win in the general election. The evangelical morons (pardon my redundance) will vote like sheep for whoever has the letter R after their name, but McCain, unlike Huckabee, can capture the moderate Republicans and some independents. As Fnarf says, a McCain/Clinton match would be an electoral disaster and I doubt if Obama or Edwards could do much better or even as well. Don't know if McCain would veto children's health care or stem cell research like the current idiot in the Oval Office, but we would still get four and possibly eight more years of misery for the people of Iraq and the soldiers sent to serve there.
Why McCain can't win nomination, thus not worth eyeing:
10. Visibly sane
9. Intelligent
8. Sensible views on immigration -- already doomed him in the GOP.
7. Ditto re: torture. He's against it!!
6. religion: not a raving Christian.
5. refuses to pander (eg torture, immigration)
4. Has some person of color in his family. Adopted?? Vulnerable to Atwateresque smears.
3. Still might bwe a "maverick."
2. Says there were not enough troops in Iraq at start of war -- attacking Our Noble Preident.
1. Is favored by several Sloggers !
Walnuts!
Brave Republican Troll is on a smear campaign against Dan Savage today. He doesn't care about the children dying in Iraq. All he cares about is the fact that Savage supported the war at some point in the past.
My disgust cannot be overstated. When all you care about is smearing people who disagree with you while overlooking the suffering and death we are causing - and even supporting it - you are a lousy human being.
My apologies for the repeat posting. I'm hunting Troll. Big, fat, blubbering Republican Troll.
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