Last year, it was assumed the John McCain was a shoe-in for the Republican nomination in 2008. After all, Republicans tend to nominate "the next in line" and it would seem like Bush's low approval ratings would play right into the hands of the man who ran against him in 2000.
It's almost as though something dramatic happened. Now McCain seems to be slipping out of the top-tier of Republican candidates in recent polls and his staffers are fleeing faster than anyone could have expected.
The main-stream media have blamed it on his unpopular positions on Iraq and immigration. While the latter is likely true, the former is incredibly false. Winning in Iraq still remains very popular with the base, the block of voters McCain seems to be losing the fastest.
So if McCain is the most qualified candidate to lead America to victory in Iraq, and McCain has walked the thin line of supporting victory while criticizing the strategy, then why is he being associated with Bush and his falling support?
They both share a sense of stubbornness that is growing increasingly unpopular.
When questioned about why his immigration bill failed, McCain was quick to blame the "small minority of anti-immigration Republicans". Not only is this incredibly alienating with the group of people McCain is practically begging for the nomination, but it's just dead wrong. It was the vast majority of the base, along with many moderates, who became incredibly upset with his immigration bill.
This isn't the move of a maverick- it's the move of someone completely out of touch with the American people.
In a presidential debate, Gov. Romney made negative remarks on McCain-Feingold and McCain responded with a low defense, blabbing about "getting rid of the money in politics".
After years of implementation, McCain-Feingold has not reduced money in politics and it has been detrimental to the Republican Party. McCain simply ignores these facts and parades on old themes that just don't resonate.
Recently when he was asked about his dismal numbers at the Iowa Straw Poll due to his snubbing of the event, he called the event "worthless". He did something similar back in March when skipped CPAC, citing a "scheduling conflict" while every other candidate spoke to thousands of attendees.
After examining the record, in the end, McCain can only blame himself for his demise.
Rudy can take unpopular positions with the base and remain high in the polls-because he doesn't alienate the base. McCain has taken less important unpopular positions (in relation to Giuliani), and yet seems plagued by them.
And this has lead the people to see the Maverick as someone who really isn't an independent thinker at all. Because of his fall, Republicans in search of an electable moderate will bypass McCain- and turn to the pro-choice, pro-civil union, and pro-gun control Mayor Giuliani.
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2 comments:
the man seriously doesn't want to be running, hes being pushed in to it.
McCain should try going to a basic campaign school. He is doing an entirely top-down, issues oriented campaign. He has completely sacrificed the grass-roots, and thus has no real solid on the ground campaign network, that he can call on for volunteers. His other problem is that his campaign is talking mostly about his pet issues: Earmarks, Iraq, Immigrants. Unfortunately for him the general public only agrees with him on the first one, and in the GOP his message about immigrants is incredibly unpopular, especially in Iowa. His thumbing his nose at CPAC and the Iowa Straw poll is evident of both of these things. Also, counting on Pawlenty to be an outreach to the right is flawed. Tpawl's popularity with activists is more so nationally (where he is still thought of as being the no-new-taxes budget balancer) than at home in MN (where his image is shifting to being the guy who thinks 9% budget increase and a tax hike is the right thing to do). Though Pawlenty's support of ethanol is popular in neighboring Iowa, it is dead wrong, and muddles McCains "no pork" image. I think the McCain ship started sinking back in march when he skipped CPAC, and I dont think it will recover.
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