McCain is the GOP's Kerry

[BurtWorm]

No offense to Kerry supporters. I'm speaking about the relationship of the candidate to the party at this stage of the game, as inevitability begins to sink in, and the enthusiasm--and trust--he generates, and what that would seem to mean for the general election.

The right is having a very similar reaction to John McCain to the left's reaction to Kerry in 2004. About half are off the bus from the get go; a portion of those are trying desperately to talk themselves and their co-partisans into believing in him. This does not bode well for a McCain candidacy:

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/02/01/conservatives_mccain/index.html

...

Take Ann Coulter. In an appearance on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes" that's now been widely remarked upon, she told the two hosts that if McCain was nominated, and running against Sen. Hillary Clinton, she'd vote for Clinton.

The brothers Limbaugh -- Rush and lesser-known sibling David -- have been hitting McCain hard in recent days. On Rush's Web site, in a list of quotes from his Thursday broadcast he includes, among others, "McCain's kind of like the Clintons in a sense: you tell the truth about them and they think it's a personal attack" and "Lindsey Graham is certainly close enough to John McCain to die of anal poisoning." (We hope there's some sort of legitimate reference in that second one that we're just not getting, but we doubt it.) Then David, in a column on Townhall.com Friday, wrote, McCain "is the anti-conservative. He instinctively sides against conservatives and relishes poking them in the eye.

"He enjoys cavorting and colluding with our political enemies and basks in the fawning attention they give him. Adding insult to injury, he now pretends to be the very thing he is not: an across-the-board Reagan conservative."...

...McCain's chief remaining rival on the Republican side, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, is quickly racking up endorsements from influential conservatives. Sean Hannity, previously a barely closeted supporter of Rudy Giuliani's, was one of the first to jump. Hannity's fellow radio host Laura Ingraham endorsed Romney on her show Friday morning; joining her for the broadcast was former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Santorum, who has been outspokenly anti-McCain, made his endorsement of Romney official on Ingraham's show. In a conference call with conservative bloggers on Friday, Romney acknowledged the support he's gotten, saying: "When Sean Hannity says he's voting for me, when Laura Ingraham says she's endorsing me ... Rush has been going after McCain pretty aggressively. Michael Reagan has been pretty aggressive. The world of conservatism is pretty solidly behind my effort."

The right is not entirely anti-McCain, though. The New York Times on Friday printed a good roundup of conservatives ready to rethink their position on him, the New York Post endorsed him, radio host Michael Medved suggested his fellow hosts needed to come to grips with the reality of the situation, and the McCain campaign itself has kept up a steady patter of e-mails to reporters announcing new endorsements, including Ted Olson, the former solicitor general who's a favorite of conservatives.

[pacalo]

1. A little off-topic, but your first sentence made me wonder something for the first time...

I'm beginning to understand the huge disappointment felt by those who supported Dean -- ever so faithful true-believers. I didn't understand it then because I was a little disappointed that Wes Clark didn't make it, but once I learned about John Kerry, I became a big admirer.

One thing I'm hugely thankful for is the fact that I never put down Dean or his supporters for backing him &, frankly, it bothers me to see the sniping I see this time around, which is why I'm disgusted that we aren't able to hide the GD-P threads entirely. It's a big turn-off for me to see all the childishness merit an appearance on the "greatest" page, only because each candidate has the numbers to get them there to cause anguish for the supporters of the other candidate. Some of the rudest posters on this board support one candidate & they have caused me to look at the other candidate in a friendlier way. To me, the two candidates left standing are no different from the other, & there's nothing I'd like more to see the rabidness put in its proper place.

[Olney Blue]

2. This is a wonderful post, and I agree with you completely.

:thumbsup: