McCain’s Losing Message

By Eugene Robinson

WASHINGTON—The good news for Republicans is that they have a big head start in the Fiesta of Forced Smiles—the post-primary, pre-convention phase of the presidential campaign in which former opponents and party elders pledge their support for the presumptive nominee in a photogenic show of unity.

The bad news is that the likely nominee, John McCain, intends to run on positions that most voters reject.

This inconvenient fact was evident Monday in George H. W. Bush’s gracious endorsement speech. The former president called McCain a worthy standard-bearer for the party’s “conservative values”—never mind that the elder Bush’s credentials as a true “movement” conservative were often questioned—and he gently suggested it was time for Mike Huckabee, who technically remains in the race, to wake up and smell the coffee.

I say that Huckabee is only technically a candidate because jetting off to the Cayman Islands to give a paid speech is not generally considered the best way to win the Wisconsin primary. This is an odd political year, but not that odd.

mcain is lookin to run on the rubberstamp horseshit that the polls have overwhelmingly shown that november voters are rejecting.

he thinks we should stay in iraq and continue the debacle for years and years at the expense of american taxpayers. polls have shown we've said that we want that to stop.

mcain loses on that one.

should be easy for obama to exploit.

lookin forward to it.

McCain offers a continuation of the disastrous policies of the bushbarians.

Someone needs to give all those folks a reality check.

They will ruthlessly attack however, you can count on that.

I'm sure they will, and if there's the smallest thing that can be found to use against Obama, it will be found and it will be used. However, I also believe that a majority of the American people are sick and tired of the same old tactics of "swift-boating." The very term itself is repulsive. But Obama is up against millions of racists who see his color rather than the person. Hillary Clinton is up against millions of bigots who see her gender rather than the person.

Like APL said, the young, first-time voters and people of color must come out in numbers not seen ever before for this election. We used to talk about how important the 2004 election was. This 2008 election is even more so.

I remember when Reagan was running against Carter in 1980; one of the most effective ads despite being disingenuous was Reagan running speeches given by Teddy Kennedy in his attempt to gain the nomination from Carter. The negative tack that Hillary has adopted in desperation, having fallen to second place, could well become prime sound bites for Repug use in the general election. Indeed she should learn to stop the circular firing squad that Democrats seem so fond.