Hey ya’ll - having another busy day but wanted to link up quickly to this post written by the Captain where he analyzes last night’s Democrat win in what had been known to be a GOP stronghold in District 1 in MS. I think Ed’s post accurately sums up the dire straits the GOP finds itself in.
The GOP clearly hasn’t learned the lessons it needed to in the aftermath of the blowout they suffered in 2006. When you stop listening to your constituency, and your primary method of campaigning is to keep saying, “well, I’m not the other guy,” and on top of that you show no interest in learning from your mistakes, then eventually your base of support is going to get restless, irritated, and upset and will start withholding the support you’ve taken advantage of for years, and you’ll see disappointing results like you did in the MS-01 race.
I’m not looking forward to this fall’s Congressional elections at all. Our only hope of staving off a complete Democrat rout is for McCain to win. No, he’s certainly not the ideal candidate, but he’ll hold strong on Iraq, and will be a good steward of the taxpayers’ dime, something we won’t get at all from a Democrat administration and Congress that wants everything from your healthcare, college education, and 401Ks to be controlled by the federal gov’t. The only questions are if he can win over reluctant conservatives, and if he’ll be able to counter the liberal media’s overwhelming bias for Barack Obama. 
The three recent Republican losses in one-time safe GOP seats are not McCain’s fault. Congressional Republicans are their own worst enemy by far.
Having said that, McCain seems to be permanently stuck on stupid. I hear little or nothing out of his campaign lately about winning in Iraq, abolition of earmarks, and cutting federal spending, These are three issues that are winners with rank-and-file Republicans and the public at large.
Instead, he yammers on … and on … and on … about global warming, the deep sorrow he feels about not voting for the MLK holiday two decades ago, the need for “comprehensive immigration reform” (amnesty), and how dastardly the NC Republican Party is for running an ad noting the two decade connection between He Whose Middle Name Must Not Be Mentioned and His racist pastor. Is Howard Dean secretly running McCain’s campaign?
I voted for McCain in the primary when it was clear he would be the nominee. I have contributed financially to his campaign. Yet McCain is doing exactly what I feared he would: in an effort to reclaim his beloved “maverick” status with the MSM, he is reverting to his typical political pattern of veering sharply to the left while smacking conservative Republicans along the way. His arrogance is plain as day: “You rightwingers have no choice but to vote for me.” Typical country-club Republican attitude.
McCain cannot turn himself into Obama-Lite and hope to win. Yet that is exactly what he is doing. The Democrat-controlled Congress has racked up the worst approval ratings in history. Despite Democrat efforts, we are winning in Iraq - in fact, Democrats are terrified to talk about Iraq anymore. The economy continues to grow (albiet slowly) and by no stretch of the imagination are we in a recession. The Messiah is a weak candidate with a history of racism and a stuck-up attitude. Democrat Congressional leaders, governors, and members of Congress are mired in scandal. Republicans should be popping champagne corks even now.
To reclaim whatever slim chance he has of winning, McCain needs to dump his MSM-centric campaign. I don’t expect him to change his opinions about global warming, amnesty and the rest, but he need to give Republicans, independents, and even Democrats a reason to vote for him. McCain must remind voters that the Messiah is an arrogant, out of touch amateur with dangerous ideas. Promising to be an older, grouchier, watered-down version of Obama is not a winning hand.
Comment by Mwalimu Daudi @ 5/14/2008 - 7:20 pm
Even Hillary is making more overtures to conservatives than McCain. Not that I believe anything she says for a minute - but it does point up McCain’s complete disconnect with the party’s base.
If the McCain campaign thinks he’s going to get the worshipful “maverick” treatment from the MSM this summer and fall, they’re fools. Hillary’s experience is a mild foreshadowing of what awaits McCain from now until November. The mediots who swooned before her from 1992 until this January are spurning her in favor of a new heartthrob. But that’s nothing compared to what they’ll do to McCain.
I’ll give Hillary this - at least she’s fighting back. I’m not sure McCain will take on the MSM. If he doesn’t - and the party base doesn’t do it for him - then come late October he’s going to have a major image problem in the mind of the average voter. All the more reason his move to the left is ill-advised.
Comment by Great White Rat @ 5/14/2008 - 11:09 pm