come on mark, are you trying to tell me that no president or presidential candidate has ever spun things?
At this time in our country's history, I think that's a fair conclusion. We already have one President divorced from reality. We can't afford another.
im sure mccain is well aware of the reality. he's actually been in war. I just think there is a bit overreacting to his comments.
If that's true, then all the more reason to criticize him severely. It is simply nonsensical to suggest that you can freely walk around markets in Iraq. If he is "well aware of the reality," why then did he make the statement, repeat it, and go to Iraq to take a walk? I can see only two possibilities: 1. He cannot admit to making a mistake and has to go to extraordinary lengths to not admit that mistake... to himself or others. 2. He is so driven by what he perceives as the politically prudent course, that he intentionally abandons the reality of which he is well aware. Either one of these automatically disqualifies him for the presidency in my mind... again, we've already had one President that operates this way and we don't need a second. We need a President willing to accept reality and deal with it in terms that make sense for the country.
True - but one of the big reasons Bush is so unpopular that he seems to continually spin the war as a success and seemingly ignore a lot of the realities on the ground. If McCain shows indications of doing the same thing, he's going to suffer the same issues. The reason people liked McCain in the first place was the whole "straight talk express" idea which he seems to have abandoned.
Good Morning Haters! Again, I just don't see how Rudy wins the republican nomination! From a CNN interview last night, Rudy confirms he still favors public funding for abortion
The first sentance from an article in today's WSJ -- In short order, John McCain has gone from Republican presidential front-runner to political death watch. http://online.wsj.com/public/articl...gWwASwrTPX7c4jioPu6jc_20080406.html?mod=blogs ouch!
Not that I care about McCain or anything, but these political predictions so far away from any actual vote are usually wrong. The only thing that would make them right is the politician believing them, and dropping out. Did you ever see Alexandra Pelosi's documentary from the 2004 Democratic primary or read Walter Shapiro's One-Car Caravan ? I don't know how many times they said Kerry was dead during that primary...
Yes, but even then Kerry did a good job of keeping an aura of electability in the view of the primary voters. McCain has flittered that away over the last few years and has really stepped it up recently with his Iraq trip.
If we're suggesting Kerry should provide him inspiration, I think I'll call the deathwatch for his campaign officially on.
You think he is no longer electable in the eyes of Republicans? If that is the case, it would be ironic if he "frittered" away his only real asset (being electable because he's more moderate) to conservatives by trying to be more like them.
It's working so well for Bush... if this is what McCain has to do to win the Repub primaries, then it will be much easier for a Dem to win in November. Either way, McCain's a dead man walking...
Valid point, but there are some differences: 1 The Dem establishment wanted Kerry all along. The GOP establishment does not like McCain for varying reasons. 2 The Dem who charged out in front of Kerry, Howard Dean, was like a firework who was waiting to explode. Even before his implosion, Lieberman said the Bush recession would be followed by the "Dean depression". Dems were EXTREMELY uncomfortable with Dean and the establishment turned on him. It was vicious and ugly. Still, Dean himself was mostly responsible for his own downfall. The TWO guys in front of McCain, Romney & Giuliani, are both much better candidates than Dean. 3 McCain is too old. McCain is too old. McCain is too old. The man will be 72 years old in November 2008. IMO, it's evident he's a one term guy like Dole would have been. As time goes on, more voters will start perceiving that and the worse it will be for McCain. 4 McCain is tying his fate to Bush's Iraq policy. This high-stakes gamble smacks of desperation. McCain is desperate. 5 Even more than the Dems, the money-tree is the pulse of the GOP. If McCain doesn't ramp it up in a hurry, his candidacy is dead. Simple as that. That's the way Republican politics work. If McCain is still way behind in fundraising after the 2nd quarter, he's gone. Look for him to step out of the race. 6 McCain has health issues that could crop up any time. All of this is being pushed into the background right now. If the word "melanoma" ever comes up again, stick a fork in him. 7 The "Straight Talk Express" has run off the tracks. I'm not saying that McCain won't end up being the nominee, but he has a lot more to overcome than Kerry did. Anything is still possible. Like 1996, if the GOP becomes convinced they have little chance to win the general election, they may nominate a placeholder like McCain. I'm not yet ready to pronounce him a "dead candidate walking", but give me a couple of months.
I agree with the concern over McCain's age... Someone above said that he was a "dead man walking," and I was going to say, "literally... But then again, Republicans chose Reagan. I think Reagan was more lively, however. I disagree about the "Democratic establishment." If you read One-Car Caravan, or even watch the documentary of Clinton's run in '92, you would see whatever "establishment" there is, it has very little hold on what the voters in primaries decide. I don't remember who said this, but it goes something like, "Republicans like to fall in line, while Democrats like to fall in love..." Then there is the overused Will Rogers quote... There is no single establishment in the Democratic party, but there are a few coalitions. One strong coalition is made up of Clinton followers. In '03-'04 a lot of them got behind Gen. Clark. I remember reading Shapiro's description of this tense meeting Kerry had with some donors in New York. Times got tough for Kerry leading up to that Iowa caucus. I remember he had to dip into his own wealth, making a loan, to keep his campaign afloat. He definitely did not win because of any "establishment" directing things in the background. Two of the reasons Kerry won was because of the closeness of the primaries, and the work Kerry put in to make Iowans believe he was real presidential material . As already said, Kerry was definitely electable in the eyes of Iowa Dems, mainly because of his military record. I remember that meeting with James Rassman, the Green Beret Kerry saved in Vietnam. It was near the end of the Iowa campaign, and I think it was very powerful. Another important victory Kerry had was winning the support of Christie Vilsack, Tom Vilsack's wife. While that may not seem that important, I think it affected that race more than Dean's endorsements from Gore and Bradley. He was already going national, Kerry was staying in Iowa. What Dean was doing in Iowa was fending off Gephardt's attack ads. I think those two wounded each other a lot, which allowed Kerry and Edwards to climb back in to the race. After Kerry won Iowa, he sucked out the oxygen from the campaign, and because of the closeness of the other primaries, it sort of fell like dominoes. Dean's scream kind of made sure he had no shot at a comeback. Kerry won the nomination because of persistence. I don't know if McCain can win, for the reasons already mentioned, but for any candidate to believe that he is "dead in the water," at this point in the campaign, would be stupid. At least concerning the party nominations. I guess Kucinich is an exception...
