Tuesday, September 27, 2005
The McCain Moment?
When the editor of the conservative National Review pronounces Arizona Senator John McCain "probably the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008," attention must be paid.
What many forget is that George W. Bush planned to campaign as John McCain: a "reformer with results" who was a moderate compared to the average Republican Congressman. Bush even rebuked his Republican colleagues for "balancing the budget on the backs of the poor" that year.
When McCain ran as a moderate Republican, Bush was forced to campaign to McCain's right and so became a conservative icon. But George W. Bush is still quite McCainish. Both men back amnesty for illegal aliens and support bilingual education. McCain sponsored campaign finance reform. Bush signed it into law.
This is the reason John McCain remains so angry about losing the South Carolina primary to Bush. The two men weren't that different, but thanks to the under-the-radar work of Bush operatives, McCain became Satan's liberal helper and lost the presidency.
The problem with any McCain candidacy remains that those who know him best -- fellow Senators, fellow Naval officers -- seem to think the least of him.
|posted by Jim on 7:01 PM|
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Thursday, September 15, 2005
Thoughts on the Roberts Confirmation Hearing
Here.
|posted by Jim on 10:12 AM|
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Wednesday, September 07, 2005
One Strength Does Not Mean Others
Steve Sailor asks an interesting question and attempts an answer:
[T]he press has consistently given the Bushies the benefit of the doubt. ... [T]he most likely reason is that the press admired the skill the Administration has displayed in manipulating the press.
Timothy Crouse's book on the press coverage of the 1972 presidential campaign, The Boys on the Bus, made a similar point: if the press operation was efficient, an equally efficient voter registration operation was assumed.
The tendency of McGovern staff to air their feuds to the press while the Nixon forces were buttoned up and "on message" in public inevitably led to stories about the chaos of the McGovern effort. There are no stories about feuds in the Bush Administration. Ergo, these folks have their act together.
The "assumed competence effect" is also applied to generals and businessmen moving into politics: "Ross Perot invented EDS so he would make a good president."
|posted by Jim on 9:29 PM|
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