Print
Email Friend
Add to Favorites
del.icio.us
Digg It!
Slashdot It!
Political hardball - yeah! Here’s how the presumptive Republican candidate made out last week:
o McCain’s annoyance with the New York Times is wholly justified! Hiding behind the masthead - All The News That’s Fit To Print - doesn’t justify the paper’s refusal to publish McCain’s response to Obama’s July 14 Op-Ed piece! The controversy did land McCain on front pages across the nation, though.
o McCain’s announcement at a fundraiser of the likely dates of Obama’s Iraq visit ran against State Department, Pentagon and White House security policies forbidding the advance announcement of senior officials’ trips to Iraq - and it seemed oddly inconsistent with McCain’s outrage when the press reported that McCain’s son was serving in Iraq - but so what? McCain is an expert on VIP security in Iraq.
o And, with the GOP and the wackjob pundits poised to pounce on Obama’s first foreign policy gaffe during his European-Middle Eastern trip, McCain beat him to the punch with an encore to his Czechoslovakia references - he spoke of the “hard struggle along the Iraq-Pakistan border” on ABC-TV. Where’s Joe Lieberman and his atlas when you need him?
o And - Lieberman? The pro-Israel group J Street reports American Jews give Obama a favorability rating of 60% whereas Joe gets only 37%. Joe’s approval rating among his constituents has dropped to 45% and 43,000 of them signed a petition requesting the Senate Steering Committee to kick him out of the Democratic party. McCain’s seeing-eye attack dog, yes. VP timber, no!
o McCain’s 1986 ape-rape anecdote? Ancient history - just McCain being lovable ol’ gramps!
o In the context of troop withdrawal, McCain was caught in the open parroting the Bush administration’s Iraq strategy as evidence that he wins wars: if we leave Iraq, we LOSE, if we stay the course, we WIN!
o In that context, al Maliki nearly landed a knockout punch by backing Obama’s troop withdrawal timetable. It wasn’t any easier to take when it was reported that Ahmad Chalabi, McCain’s longtime friend and advisor, was instrumental in the Iraqi Prime Minister’s decision.
o Congresswoman Heather Wilson, in a brilliant Hail Mary, tried to cover McCain on troop withdrawals - even if Bush begins a draw downs in September - and she goes Obama one better by contending that McCain would like to bring the troops home EARLIER than Obama’s 16 month timetable.
o McCain has also discovered the Internets and is finally receiving credit from someone - ol’ Mitt - for being the conceptual father of the surge! No one has stepped forward to credit him with the slogan “The Surge Is Working”, though.
o The upshot of all this is the GOP Senate leadership urging their brethren to vote in any way they need to get re-elected - the Party, the White House, the RNC and McCain be damned!
Have I missed your favorite? Please add to the list!
You forgot the polling. Nationally, McBush is trailing by 6 points; worse still, McBush is getting killed in NM, MI, PA, OH, and MO. In other red states, FL, VA, NC, MT, and NV are all looking pretty close.
Check out 538 - they're an electoral statistical website. The guys also do baseball statistical analysis. Good info over there, strongly lefty, but evenhanded and rational discussion.
Report Abuse