WP: For Possible '08 Run, McCain Is Courting Bush Loyalists

[Pirate Smile]

For Possible '08 Run, McCain Is Courting Bush Loyalists

By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 12, 2006; Page A01

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a man in perpetual motion, flew to South Carolina on Jan. 16. His stops included a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and speeches to local Republican groups. But one of his most important events was not on the public schedule -- a 5 p.m. meeting at a Spartanburg hotel with loyalists to President Bush.

A dozen or so people were in attendance. At least two were among Bush's major national fundraisers. Virtually all had been on Bush's side in the bitter 2000 South Carolina primary that badly damaged McCain's chances of winning the presidential nomination and scarred the relationship between the two men and their rival political camps. McCain was there to woo them.

"For people who were really strong for Bush, I feel like this was a dating meeting," said Barry Wynn, Bush's state finance co-chairman in 2000 and 2004 and a Pioneer for Bush both times, meaning he raised $100,000 for each campaign. "He's not quite ready to ask us to go steady. But I was a little surprised at the reaction, including my own reaction. I was much more positive than I thought I'd be going to the meeting."

With a 2008 campaign in the offing, McCain has begun an intensive courtship of Bush's financial and political networks. His recent travels included a December swing through the heart of Bush country in Texas that put him in front of many of the president's leading supporters there.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/11/AR2006021101374.html

[saltpoint]

1. For all I know, McCain will lure many to his campaign, but his voting

record needs to be flashed onto every newspaper page in the country between the Wednesday after the 2006 elections and the night before the first Tuesday in November 2008.

McCain is essentially a right-wing kook, no matter how gifted or ungifted his staff is or will be, and I plan to vote against him no matter what.

[NMDemDist2]

2. he'll be a hard guy to beat unfortunately

too bad about this quote ".....But I was a little surprised at the reaction, including my own reaction. I was much more positive than I thought I'd be going to the meeting."

My hope was the radical right wouldn't go for McCain and they stay home in droves.

[CatholicEdHead]

3. That's alot of hugging for McCain to do

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Drum]

5. Yikes,

my contact lenses got greasy just from reading about that!

[waywest]

6. Anger management?

I Hope he can complete his ANGER MANGEMENT training before campaigning. A notorious hothead, McCain really needs
ANGER MANAGEMENT.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

7. If he puts this photo on ALL of his campaign literature, I'll respect him.

...because I'll know, at MINIMUM, that he's HONEST.



:grr:

[Piscis Austrinus]

16. He might as well

because if I were running the DNC, that picture would be on all of OUR campaign literature!

Also, I recommend we find that picture of Bush slicing cake for McCain in Arizona while the Katrina situation spiraled out of control. Can't find the link at the moment, but I'd put that picture up... above it, the date and a mention of Katrina.

Below: "Let Them Eat Cake."

Peace
PsA

[Rob H.]

8. So...

This means he's now trying to curry favor with the people who supported Bush after the Bush team (read as: Karl Rove) implied that McCain might possibly have been driven insane by his time as a POW in Viet Nam? The same kind of people who engaged in race-baiting push polling phone calls to ask voters in SC, "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?" The same people who implied that McCain may have committed treason while a prisoner of war? The same people who implied that McCain was an adulterous gay husband to a drug addict?

I can't decide if he's a coward or a masochist. Maybe both?

[rodeodance]

9. wonder if Bush has annointed him?

[mitchum]

11. No, bush's PNAC controllers have annointed McCain...

its a sham. And the reason that McCain has been willingly eating shit for the past six years. He knows that he is next in line. His "maverick" image will allow him to "distance" himself from all of bushco's disasters. There may be many republican voters who are now unhappy with bush, but that doesn't mean that they are going to suddenly vote Democrat. Watch for shills like Limbaugh to do a complete 180 on McCain in about 14 months.

[qazplm]

15. neither

he's someone who is clearly desperate to be president and doesnt care who he sucks up to in order to get it. Sad thing is, he probably has a decent shot to win it on his own without the bush backers.

[Piscis Austrinus]

17. I'm not suggesting anybody actually do this, but...

.....didn't Karl Rove give us a playbook for exactly how to derail a McCain candidacy?

Just a thought.

Peace
PsA

[Placebo]

10. He's too old and boring to be elected President.

Not to mention, not conservative enough (for most "Bush loyalists") and he's a bad speaker.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

12. Of all politicians, McCain is the biggest "jump the shark."

[neverforget]

13. McCain is just another Bush Boot Licker.

[kurth]

14. But he's a MAVERICK Bush boot licker!