Is McCain still the "enemy"?

[Monty__]

It seems that many on here would gain more satisfaction from their candidate winning the nomination than from a Democrat winning the White House. Please tell me I'm wrong.

[Iwasthere]

1. He IS still the enemy ...

AND Obama is the only candidate that can and WILL beat him!

[nichomachus]

2. You're wrong

Some of the most vicious fights are those between family members. However, when the family is threatened, they put aside those differences and unite against the outside enemy.

The worst Democrat is better than the best Republican -- and McCain ain't the best Republican.

[SoCalDem]

3. Not quite yet, unfortunately

Obama has bigger fish to fry right now. He must somehow thread the needle, and win the nomination soon. Frankly though, after the most recent pastorgasm, even that may not be enough for HRC to bow out. I can see her hiding in the weeds, even AFTER he arrived at the "magic number", throwing cluster-bomblets out there in the media, doing whatever she can to derail him. She does not care HOW she does it..she just knows that she MUST be president.

History has taught us one thing.. Once someone is IN office, some indiscretions can be overcome, but much smaller ones can balloon into insurmountable nightmares. We are used to "coping" with "female-troubles" and even "legal issues or "weird family members"..remember Billy Carter?.. Guilt by association is a brutal, but effective tool to use against a candidate..especially with a candidate who is a "pioneer".

[SoxFan]

4. He's the "opposition", not the "enemy"

One thing I've learned in my years in politics is that most people, regardless of their ideology, have this country's best interests at heart. While John McCain is wrong on Iraq, tax policy, and a host of other issues, I don't think it helps to call him the enemy. There are plenty of people out there in the world who have earned that distinction, but a decent, if thoroughly misguided, member of the senate is not one of them.

[Monty__]

6. I did not mean enemy in the sense....

that Germany, Japan and Italy were "enemies" during WWII. I meant the clear cut opposition. And while McCain might be "better" than Bush, he's still not the "maverick" he claims to be and has "sold out" plenty since SC in 2000.

[SoxFan]

10. I know that

I understand what you meant, and I agree with your other points for the most part. The reason I posted this was because I see a lot of posts on DU and on other sites that equate disagreements over policy with some sort of deep, moral shortcoming. With some exceptions (Rove, Delay, Gonzalez), I don't think this is the case. As a state legislator, I found that some of my strongest allies on issues relating to lobbying reform and open government were non-establishment conservatives.

[Monty__]

12. Unfortunately I don't think McCain is non-establishment anymore

pre-2000? Yes. Now? No, not so much.

[SoxFan]

13. Sadly, you're right

While he's better than Romney and Ron Paul on a few issues like campaign finance reform and climate change, he has spent way too much effort snuggling up to the litmus test groups on the hard right.

[Breeze54]

14. BS! All rethugs are the enemy!

They have tried and almost succeeded destroying this country!

They damn well are the fucking enemy!

Alls fair in love and war and this is WAR!

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0616-09.htm">This is the Fight of Our Lives!

[MaineDem]

5. See the new DNC ad...

https://www.democrats.org/page/contribute/FundIraqAd?source=NETA764

[Monty__]

7. That's a great ad

Just wish that was getting more play time than "Sniper/Bitter/Wright/Whatever else-Gate".

[DevonRex]

8. He's the opposition who can't be taken on by either candidate

until the nomination is a done deal. And since this is the board devoted to discussing the primaries, we discuss our candidates for the democratic nomination.

Had someone dropped out, all sights would be on McCain. Simple as that.

[Monty__]

11. Thanks for the lesson on what this board is for

I know very well what it's for. And unfortunately it's not as "simple" as that. If you listen to progressive talk radio, talk to people, see polls, there is a %, small, but as we found out in 2000 it doesn't have to be large, that state they won't vote for the "other candidate", meaning Clinton or Obama if they get the nomination. They'll sit home, or vote 3rd party (Green). It might be 1 in 100, it might be 1 in 1,000, it might be 1 in 10,000. But added together it could cost the Democratic nominee one state and that could easily lead to President McCain.

[DevonRex]

15. I agree. And that's why this nomination must be decided SOON.

It's doing nothing but hurting the party. However, until it IS decided, we'll keep supporting our candidate. Mine is Barack Obama. If someone drops out because they realize they don't have the numbers to win, we can concentrate on the general. I see no sign of that happening, though. Hillary has vowed to take her fight to the convention. She seems to feel very strongly that she can wrest the nomination from Obama. And that is the scenario that would cause large numbers of democrats to stay home - realizing that their votes, cast under party rules, don't count.

This IS a fight for the party. Can you imagine what will happen if the SDs override the people? Can you imagine how all the people would feel who donated money, hours and hours of volunteer work, and much anguish, to see that they might as well have done nothing? That is what would kill the party.

[Enrique]

9. I'd rather see Obama beat McCain

oompared to seeing Hillary win the nomination but lose to McCain.

Ideally it would be Hillary winning the nomination and beating McCain.