Comments on: A Glimpse of the Real McCain

By: Alan Stewart Carl

Alan Stewart Carl — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:36:51 +0000

Jim: I say he said that when he was trying to prove he was “Republican enough” to be the Republican nominee. It’s politics as usual but it’s unfortunate he’s felt so obliged to play the game.

By: Dr. Pete

Dr. Pete — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:33:52 +0000

@kranky – I don’t think the Republican party elite ever wanted McCain as their choice. They just couldn’t agree on anyone else enough to put someone over the top, and McCain had enough popular support to win by default. Since Cheney wasn’t going to run and everyone was terrified of Bush’s “blessing”, there was never a clear line of succession, and the end-result was a complete mess for the GOP.

By: rob

rob — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:32:14 +0000

@ JimS
That he’s finally got the base locked down and is now trying to get independents.

Wont work of course, it’s too late in the game.

By: Jim S

Jim S — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:07:44 +0000

When you have a fairly recent video showing McCain defending himself as having voted 90% of the time with Bush while he now says he has lots of disagreements with him what does that tell you?

By: Alan Stewart Carl

Alan Stewart Carl — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:56:39 +0000

md: McCain has a long public record from which I can draw to make my conclusions. Obama doesn’t. It’s that simple. I can be pretty sure I KNOW when McCain is pandering and when he’s speaking from true conviction. I don’t know how to distinguish the same within Obama.

That doesn’t mean I like what McCain has done in this campaign or that I don’t like what Obama has said in this campaign.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:56:11 +0000

Dr. Pete, you stole my response! Exactly what I was going to say. While I don’t think McCain will be a replica, I’m put off enough by his stance on wars and his lack of policies on the economy to not vote for him. Not to mention Miss Alaska dontcha-know.

By: kranky kritter

kranky kritter — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:43:55 +0000

Yup, spot on, Alan. Frankly, I blame the party first. Why did they nominate McCain if he’s the apostate true believers say he is?

Then I blame McCain. Why pick a ticketmate who is red meat appeasement to the faithful? Is this really what his gut said?

Someone had to make a decision between whether to target independents to expand appeal or to target the base to win via superior base turnout. Was there a way to market McCain to both? I kinda doubt it, not in 2008. As you suggest, the gap is probably too vast to be finessable.

I expect McCain to go down as himself. He’s been John McCain too long to go down like a consultant-bot. He’s 72. This is it. There’s no reason to leave anything in the tank. Let it all hang out.

By: mdgeorge

mdgeorge — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:36:12 +0000

Alan

I’m having a hard time juxtaposing your positions on “who is the real Barack Obama” and “who is the real John McCain”. On the one hand, you had a post yesterday saying that we haven’t seen enough of Obama and because we don’t have a long record we can’t judge who he really is. On the other hand, today you sieze on one of the more favorable of the many McCain’s we’ve seen over this campaign, and say that this must be the real McCain.

It’s just a little strange to me that Obama has had a consistent message through the campaign while McCain has been all over the map, yet the posts are “who is Barack Obama” and “I know who the real McCain is”.

By: gljunket

gljunket — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:37:25 +0000

Double Amen! Too little, too late! McCain and the GOP don’t deserve to win. And America in financial crisis doesn’t deserve Obama and Democrat control of all three “Houses.” Our “leadership” is pathetic (both current and potential)! It’s a Perfect Storm Nightmare! What’s a real Independent to do? Vote 3rd Party, keep the fingers crossed, and pray (if you’re so inclined) for the next few years.

By: Dr. Pete

Dr. Pete — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:26:20 +0000

I think you’re spot-on here, Alan. The GOP has run so hard on wedge issues over the past decade that the job of appealing to both the base and independents is nearly impossible at this point. Although I’m an Obama supporter, I can definitely see where it’s been easier for him to appeal to both Democrats and independents with a unified message.

Unfortunately, I think McCain’s messaging confusion began after the 2000 election, and is also where I lost a lot of respect for him. He was raked through the coals by Bush’s campaign, in part due to his moderate image, and then essentially gave up on that image to regain his party’s favor. Trying to reconcile the pre-2000 McCain with the post-2000 McCain is no easy task, either for McCain or voters, IMO.