Why is the right-wing media attacking John McCain?

[AJ9000]

Does anybody have a handle on why the right-wing media is attacking John McCain? The other day my friend told me he heard Rush Limbaugh & Co. putting McCain down. Supposedly they're recommending Mitt Romney instead. Recently Ann Coulter came right out and said she would vote for Hillary Clinton before she voted for McCain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuTqgqhxVMc

Then on my way home tonight I turned the radio on, and by coincidence that Lars Larson show was playing. And guess what he was doing? Wading into John McCain.

There is no doubt that there is a coordinated attack being conducted on McCain's candidacy by the far right. My question is why, and who's behind it?

It's all a bit strange. I mean, McCain is probably the biggest war hawk of all the Republican front runners left. So there would be plenty of money to be made off of foreign wars by large corporations like GE and Halliburton who are often the beneficiaries of Republican leadership.

So what is it? (I do have a little theory, but I want to hear what some of you have to say first.)

P.S. I suppose some would argue that this is irrelevant, but I think it's better to understand your adversaries.

[Olney Blue]

1. Taxes, immigration, and campaign reform- they hate him for it

[ryanmuegge]

2. It's to distance himeslf from Bush to appeal to moderates. The RNC knows that...

everybody will rally behind whoever their nominee is if Hillary is our choice.

[Politicub]

3. Is it because of the black baby rumor by Bush from 2000 in SC?

I just don't get the GOP. I just clicked over to McCain's website and read his positions, and he seems far to the right to me. What is it about him that makes the freeper types froth at the mouth?

Maybe its because he fought in a war? :shrug:

[yardwork]

6. That's a good point. They don't like actual veterans.

Also, McCain is (more or less) against torture as U.S. policy, since he was tortured himself as a prisoner of war.

Bushco wants Romney in the White House next. They don't want McCain.

[Politicub]

9. True - the GOP loathes veterans but they love war - I think...

they are addicted to bloodlust, and have a weird fetish for sending the young to die overseas. They certainly don't want to have anything to do with the soldiers when they return - such as the Walter Reed scandal, which was a disgrace. It didn't even make the GOP radar.

[physioex]

13. That's just the tip of the iceberg....

Those A. Holes LIED about Pat Tillman's death and never told the truth....

[yardwork]

4. The right-wingers hate McCain for normalizing relations with Vietnam.

It's an irrational, deep-seated hatred that goes back to the 1990s, when McCain and John Kerry (of all people!!! - freepers heads explode) visited Vietnam and put to rest the notion that that country is holding thousands of MIA from the Vietnam War in containment camps.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. McCain is disliked because in 2000 he wasn't friendly to the fundies,

having referred to Pat Robertson (or maybe it was Jerry Falwell) as "an agent of intolerance." His more recent attempts to pander to that crowd don't seem to be working very well. McCain has also spoken out against torture, which the wingnuts love, and his position on immigration is relatively moderate (he doesn't hate Mexicans quite enough). There was also the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation (he worked with the evil liberal Feingold!) that a lot of Republicans opposed because even though it didn't close nearly enough loopholes it closed a few of them. So even though McCain is out to the right of Darth Vader on most things, the far right can't forgive him his very occasional flashes of rationality. He sucks, but he doesn't suck quite enough, I guess.

[Hamlette]

7. Tom Delay on Fox news last week said it was campaign finance reform

he said McCain has done more than any other politician to destroy the GOP with campaign finance reform.

I guess he's pissed the GOP can't buy elections anymore.

If you think that Romney raised $27 million in the 4th quarter of 2007, more than any other republican, and $18 million of it was his own money, you can see Tom has a point. If fat cats could all give GOP candidates gobs of money, the $32 million Obama raised in January alone mean nothing.

Here's Delay from Fox news:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf7e7R3gSos

[islandmkl]

8. I hate to couch it in these terms, but

Hillary is the only salvation those assholes of the Right-Wing Media have...they can chew on McCain all they want right now, it doesn't matter. This is all appetizers and finger sandwiches. They want Hillary, so the feast can begin.

[alittlelark]

10. He is the 'Lieberman' of the R-W

He is roundly hated by Evangelicals, Born agains of whatever faith, neocon 'true-believers', extreme gun nuts, pro-lifers......


The problem is that he tries to be all things to all people..... therefore he fails.

[AJ9000]

11. I don't know if he's

hated by the neocons.

I've read repeatedly for a long time that McCain, not * was the neocons first choice in 2000 because he was the biggest war hawk and the neocons had certain, eh hmmm, plans they wanted to carry out in the Middle East.

[alittlelark]

12. So long as THEIR VP is in position he will do well

He will have a 'health crisis'/ die w/in 6 moths of taking office.



The VP is the one to watch w/ him.

[physioex]

14. These days, "death" has become harder to define...

As far as being a GOP pResident, long as your heart is beating the brain really doesn't matter. Just look at Raygun and Shrub....

[alittlelark]

16. If Diebold/ES&S elects McCain he WILL 'die' w/in 6 months

his VP will take control.


A vote for McCain is a vote for his VP.


.......wait....watch....





Neocons hate him... but they need a 'front'.

[physioex]

17. Oh hey I hear you...

We are far from being rid of the Evil Neo-cons. People like Kristol, Wolfowitz, and Perele are still going to be around. And that's one reason they hate Ron Paul. And as much as I hate the guy, he is right on the issue of Iraq...

[alittlelark]

20. Whatever.... go to bed.

It's past your bed-time.

[fujiyama]

21. You could be right

Bill Kristol backed McCain back in '00 when he first ran.

McCain has followed their agenda pretty well with regards to foreign policy.

[Mithreal]

23. It's all a RUSE is my gut feeling

All these folks will still unite and call him savior to the party when he wins the nomination.

They could be airing out the dirty laundry and controlling the timing of any bad press about him. Yes, I know I may be giving them too much credit, but consider the sources of the attacks and whether there could be any strategy to it.

[napi21]

15. I think it's because they know they can't manipulate him.

You know how they always say he's REALLY not "One of them". At least quite a few times in the Senate, he's argued against tax cuts, agued FOR what they view as amnesty (which of course sided with the Dems), was a member of the 14 peace makers who stopped the fillabuster threats in the Senate 2 years ago. Things like that that were AGAINST the RW agenda! They want someone they KNOW will carry their water!

[bluedawg12]

18. They he abandons them on the hill during fights and isn't a team

player for his party- like a rebug version of joe L.

Also, rumor has it that he is nasty piece of work.

[ConsAreLiars]

19. He's a batshit crazy coward who wants worldwide slaughter. You'd think that would be enough

to get accolades from the other crazies. But they want more. They want drooling homophobia and mass roundups of the "aliens" and torture. He fails on those counts. So sick, depraved and deranged as he is, it is not enough for the purists.

[Skittles]

27. you know, CAL

at first glance your post may seem like a wild exaggeration but I re-read it twice and you are right - you are absolutely correct.

[fujiyama]

22. He's more difficult to manipulate

especially with regards to the Christian fundamentalist agenda, excessive giveaways to corporations (through pork), campaign finance reform, believing global warming, backing some measures of gun control, and of course torture (which obviously gets them off) and immigration (they hate brown people). And especially considering their differences with McCain on those two issues, they hate him....after all their combination of fun is torturing brown people.

[B Calm]

24. Mitt Romney's business experience is laying off people, closing

down factories, and moving operations to Mexico. Just what cheap labor conservatives like Rush Limburger worship!

[AJ9000]

25. UPDATE: New article discusses McCains problems with "conservative" base.

I'm going to update this since an article related to this topic just came out. I think it sheds some light on the subject.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hJU5qWdXEm5wyTpsKEehNHSA4SPwD8UIE2H80

"In four terms in the Senate, McCain has built a solid conservative record on scores of issues. He consistently opposed abortion and favored gun rights. He has challenged runaway federal spending and lawmakers' pet projects. He is a defense hawk and has been one of the strongest backers of the Iraq war.

But McCain has bucked the party over the years on high-profile issues and, in doing so, made his share of enemies on the right.

He co-authored campaign-finance reforms that critics say limit free speech, made combatting global warming a priority and supported an eventual path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. He twice voted against President Bush's tax cuts, favored relaxing restrictions on federal financing of embryonic stem cell research and objected to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage although he opposes same-sex unions."

[Quantess]

26. They are? Better yet,

Why should I give a shit about what RW media says? They can shove it right into Glenn Beck's pie-hole.