Conservatives do not HATE McCain....

[Flabbergasted]

McCain is winning the primary and doing it fairly easily. He may not be the next Reagan, but they will never end up with another Reagan. Reagan is gone, and the longer conservatives focus on having another Reagan, the more they will suffer as a party.

McCain is being sculpted as being too moderate or even too liberal, in order to capture some of the middle that is, by and large, voting democratic this year. Their base will vote for McCain because he hugged Bush, but they need a good proportion of the middle to win the election.

By setting McCain up as if he were hated by the right, they are pushing him onto the ground of those who will not vote for another Bush, but might vote for someone who is hated by Bush's base.

Will this work? Possibly.

Huckabee as VP would capture the evangelicals giving the pubs a decent chance this year.

[Olney Blue]

1. McCain has several liabilities, including his controversial legislation.

He is no Reagan, and I think we will be able to win against him this fall.

But we can't relax for a minute!

[tridim]

4. Reagan was no Reagan either.

Reagan is a myth.

[Olney Blue]

6. Good point, tridim.

[ingac70]

2. Fundies hate McCain..

The South won't be a given for the GOP this year, thanks to them taking right wing radio seriously about McCain all these years.

I think a good chunk of them will stay home.

[Bright Eyes]

3. Huckabee running as VP could present real problems

Lets face it, VP is the best this guy's gonna get.

Now if(when) McCain croaks in office, and Huckabee is VP, we'll have a fundie President, probably worse then Bush!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. If McCain's doing well...

it's because the Republican primaries are mostly all or nothing.

I think the Republican party's in the process of collapsing.

[elocs]

I have a best friend who bleeds Republican and he will not vote for McCain,

ever. He was raised by a father who hated FDR. I don't know if my friend "hates" McCain, but that he and other Republicans will not vote for him is good enough for me.

[griffi94]

8. yeah

but isn't that kind of offset by people like my grandparents who have been democrats since fdr
but will vote for mccain

[elocs]

9. I think that says more about the reasoning of your grandparents

than it does about any Republicans who hate McCain. Ultimately I would rather have Republicans not vote for McCain than to have them hate McCain while they hold their noses and cast their votes for him.

[griffi94]

14. that wasn't my question

my question was what about conservative democrats that won't vote for obama but will switch and vote for mccain...and at the end of the day the repubs will vote for mccain in greater numbers than will not vote
the repubs largely vote out of fear of change.....obama will not discourage that....obama will lose the conservative democrats

[rocktivity]

11. But somebody IS voting for him.

He's managing to get by without the fundie vote. More to the point, if not him, who DO the Rethugs want to see out front?

:headbang:
rocknation

[sampsonblk]

7. Sorry, they hate him

They haven't forgiven him for running so hard against Bush in 2000. Then McCain-Feingold. Then he won't hate Mexicans. The so-called gang of 14.

They hate the guy...and he knows it.

[TheCowsCameHome]

13. You bet they do. It goes beyond just disliking him.

I've seen it within my own family.

It's bitter.

[rocktivity]

10. Well, duh--the Rethugs know that McCain can't win on the base alone

they also need attract left-leaning independents and apathetic GOP moderates. Making him look like a refreshing change from Bush without being a radical departure from Rethug principles is the only answer.

Besides, if everyone hates McCain so, why is he getting the votes?

:headbang:
rocknation

[sampsonblk]

16. No one can win with no base at all

That's why smart politicians worry about their base first and everyone else later - not the other way around.

[TheCowsCameHome]

12. McCain will come unglued at some point

and alienate the remaining portion of the party that doesn't already hate him.

Many conservatives do hate him, make no mistake about it.

[UALRBSofL]

15. I don't think the GOP likes him

He's too liberal with Amnesty and undocumented people. This is a big issue for republicans.

[Hippo_Tron]

17. Conservatives will go for McCain but they won't show up in the numbers they did for Bush

That is key.

[aquarius dawning]

18. Look for his VP choice to be a strong conservative capable of rallying the base.

They'll support him. He'll make them a deal they can't refuse.

[crispini]

19. McCain is a short old funny looking guy.

An awful lot of the vapid uniformed mass of American electorate will not vote for him just because of that.