WP, Eugene Robinson: McCain's Losing Message

[DeepModem Mom]

McCain's Losing Message
By Eugene Robinson
Tuesday, February 19, 2008; Page A15

....The Decider is eager to help McCain paint Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as defeatists, instead of realists (which they are) who recognize that the Iraq invasion was a historic blunder, that the military achievements of Bush's troop surge have served only to partially mitigate the damage done to U.S. national interests by the war and that a permanent U.S. occupation of Iraq -- which is, essentially, the Bush-McCain policy -- will harm our nation's security rather than enhance it.

The Democratic candidates are impolite enough to point out that the losses suffered by al-Qaeda in Iraq, which Bush and McCain love to cite, are really the vanquishing of a foe that could never have existed without the U.S. invasion. The Democrats also recognize that while U.S. forces are bogged down in Iraq, al-Qaeda is regrouping in Pakistan and plotting new attacks. They learned this from the Bush administration's own intelligence estimates.

The war is only one issue on which McCain, as the all-but-certain Republican nominee, is out of step with voters. Health care is another: While Clinton and Obama have offered far-reaching proposals to make health insurance available to millions of uninsured Americans, Republicans aren't offering so much as a bandage.

Or take the economy, which at present is the biggest issue in the campaign (and which McCain famously said he doesn't really understand that well). The Democrats have tapped into the widespread discomfort and insecurity that polls indicate many Americans feel, while McCain and the Republicans can only talk about more tax cuts and the eternal glory of free and unfettered markets.

Message: We don't care....

McCain...will be locked in his own battle -- against history and the public mood.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/18/AR2008021801536.html?nav=most_emailed

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. McCain past his 'SELL BY DATE'

McCain should go and join his pals at the senior center and call it a day. I don't think his memory will be good enough to be President. If he doesn't understand the economy he has no clue how to get us out of this mess.