Can McCain Fix His Brand?

[babylonsister]

Can McCain Fix His Brand?
Posted June 14, 2008 6:30 AM
The Swamp

By Paul West

snip//


For many voters, his image today is as an outspoken defender of an unpopular war in Iraq and a supporter of Bush's economic policies, including the tax cuts McCain voted against in the Senate but now promotes as a presidential candidate.

Interviews this spring with swing voters in primary states underscored the depth of McCain's challenge.

Even some of those who dislike Barack Obama said they would not vote for McCain, because it would be like giving Bush a third term.

That line is already an Obama staple and figures to remain at the center of the Democrat's argument until Election Day.

In the three months since McCain wrapped up the nomination, he has yet to project a consistent general election message, some Republicans say, and his campaign's efforts to rebrand him as an independent have been halting, at best.

more...

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/06/can_mccain_fix_his_brand.html

[dems_rightnow]

1. No

The Republican "brand" is poison right now. It will eventually revive, but not this election. It's going to be a great election for democrats across the board.

[wtmusic]

3. The silver lining of the disastrous last 8 years

is that we may get a generational swing to the left. The world could use it right now.

[madame defarge]

8. Yeah, it took 8 years of hell to come to this.

Wish it hadn't been so painful for our country & the world.

Granted, we're really trying to undo about 28 years of crap, if you start with Ray-gun's administration, but the last 8 years have been the worst.

An Obama presidency is exactly the right cure for us. Let's show the world how great we really are.

[yourout]

2. The Pukes are the Enron of politics.

They have always been a fraud but now the scheme is out in the open.

[KharmaTrain]

4. Gramps Is A Lame Candidate...Period

First of all, he won his party's nomination by default. He was the last one standing in a demolition derby where the other candidate were either too polarizing or corrupt to have a strong enough power base...Gramps was the default candidate and his support still is a mile wide and an inch thick. His "base" is the corporate media and little else...he has no real grassroots and he's relying on a party apparateus that is cash-strapped and imploding from its own ineptness.

For two months, McLame got a free pass from the corporate media and still couldn't really consolidate his support. He actually got fewer votes in the remaining primaries and he faces a rebellion from his right...Bob Barr stands to be a "Nader" in his ass...especially if he links up with the Paulbots. Then there are the fundies who won't be flocking on the busses like they have in the past for Gramps. Some may even vote for Obama. They can't trust him...even if he picks Hucklenutz as his Veep.

The real telling number for Gramps is 45%...that's the minimum he needs to really have a chance this November and that number has been ellusive for him. The more his campaign gets bound up in its own contradictions the worse McLame looks...and it's gonna be tough for him to say something of substance that doesn't piss off one of his "bases". Thus the only game he has to play is a popularity contest...one as devoid of issues as possible.

His only chance is to play "Great White Hope:...the "consistant message" coming in the months ahead is "before it's too late". The whisper campaigns already have kicked into high gear and soon we'll see more distractions and allegations thrown that have little substance but sure will churn the media pot. The repugnicans have long learned that you throw the shit out and if it takes hold there's little anyone can do to refute it...no matter how baseless it is. Rumors that were supposed to have been debunked will never fade as those with a need to feed into fear and racism will do so in a vainglorious effort to hold onto power.

I can't think of an election in recent memory where the choices are so different.

[CODemocrat]

5. Fix his brand?

Has he publicly announced that he is 'Branded'?

You can never 'fix' a brand, as it is like a Sharpie.

Permanent!

[sharesunited]

6. There was a young man at the fair yesterday collecting signatures

to get his name on the ballot as a candidate for state legislator.

As I signed his petition, I asked him what his political leanings were.

"I'm so far left you can't even see me," he said.

I told him that I was with him, thanked him for his honesty, and urged him to never give up the struggle in this very Republican county of ours.

[rocktivity]

7. Speaking of voters with short memories

I wrote this two years ago:

A McCain/Jeb ticket would be a dream come true...What with the voting scandals, Terri Schiavo and the hurricane recovery, they can't deliver Florida without cheating this time, and if the Dems do well in 2006, something can actually be done about it. More important, with a Bush in his back pocket, McCain's "I'm a moderate independent" routine goes right down the drain. All we'd have to do is present the threat of the country being run by ANOTHER unstable flip-flopper extraordinaire with Jeb filling Cheney's shoes in the role of "the REAL power behind the throne"...

:headbang:
rocknation

[ashling]

9. Can't get his brand up?

maybe he should ask Bob about that.

:rofl:

[madame defarge]

10. Here's another interesting analysis ...

...From Open Left/Chris Bowers:

We Had to Lose to Win
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6353

Maybe we had to lose in order to start winning again. Without all of the progressive "I told you so's," perhaps we would still be struggling to chase after conservatives, rather than on the brink of building a huge working majority capable of passing progressive legislation. Maybe the only way to prove that we were right all along was for our opponents to take total control of the government, and then for them to screw it up as badly as we predicted they would. We had to be proven right in order to win, and maybe there was no other way for that to happen other than eight years of total conservative dominance.

[ColbertWatcher]

11. You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Best. Bumper sticker. Ever!

[Johonny]

12. I heard

His Brand is so full of preservatives I stays on the shelf for 100 years.