Chaos, Panic In The McCain Campaign
Ever since McCain's housing gaffe, the McCain campaign has been in a tailspin. They are putting up a good front, keeping McCain out of the spotlight, doing their best to slam Obama and Biden with a new ad and fresh talking points. But this is all a defensive crouch. These guys are in trouble.
As I mentioned in the previous post, the Republicans have no good answers for the housing gaffe and are probably just praying that the Democrats stop talking about it or that voters don't pay attention. Good luck with that.
But I think the Biden pick might be just as worrisome to the McCain camp. As a diarist on DailyKos points out, this throws a wrench into McCain's VP plans.
Romney is already on thin ice, since like McCain he is extremely wealthy with multiple homes and no real understanding of the middle class. But can you imagine Romney in a debate with Biden? We're talking bloodbath. Romney's foreign policy experience boils down to whatever the CATO Institute's bullet point list tells him; he'd get pulverized.
Pawlenty? Again, a foreign policy rookie whose attempts to land zingers on Obama or Biden would be met with a laugh and a fist in the mouth.
Jindal? OK, this is an interesting one, since Biden once said some politically incorrect things about Indians/Pakistanis working at 7/11s. But Jindal playing the victim card would look pathetic and desperate -- no one wants a whiner in the White House. Jindal's youth and inexperience would be frightening for folks who think McCain isn't healthy enough to serve a full term.
Sarah Palin? Even if she didn't have an ongoing scandal, how the hell is she going to debate Joe Freaking Biden on foreign policy? Sorry, reading "Foreign Policy For Dummies" over the next month doesn't get the job done.
Meg Whitman or Carly Fiorina? If McCain decides that being a CEO of a tech company is qualification to be president or vice-president, he might as well just apologize for the whole "ready to lead" campaign he's been running against Obama. These folks would lose the debate before it even starts.
Tom Ridge? All Biden has to do is make a few jokes about Ridge's color-coded terror diagrams and the debate would be over. And I don't care how much Chris Matthews tries to play up Ridge's strengths, the guy is as dumb as a post. He has all the charisma of one of those wooden Indian statues you see at trading post stores.
I hate to say it, but this leaves Joe Lieberman as the only VP prospect who could hope to go toe-to-toe with Biden in a debate. His ideas are terrible and he looks like a muppet, but Lieberman's been on enough talk shows and campaigns to have his debating skills down. The big downside that they have to somehow solve? Lieberman is pro-choice and voted against Alito (a vote he now says he regrets).
Maybe McCain has another dark horse candidate out there. But it seems to be slim pickings right now. Would he really go for Joe Lieberman, hoping that the increased Jewish vote and (theoretical) jump from indies makes up for the pissed-off evangelicals and conservatives? I don't know. Most Republicans think of Joe Lieberman as a useful idiot, just a bludgeon to use against Democrats. They don't really consider him a serious or principled leader. Unfortunately, McCain actually does believe this bullshit because Lieberman is such a sycophant.
I think Lieberman would be a disaster for McCain, but he may have no other good options if he wants his VP candidate to measure up to Biden. And before you say "oh McCain doesn't care about the VP debate" let me just say this. McCain is a very proud man, he thinks he is the world's premiere expert on foreign policy, and he'd be damned if he's gonna see his VP choice get creamed on that subject on national TV.
Maybe McCain should have vetted more people, or tried harder to recruit Petraeus. It's a hole he dug for himself, and his options appear to have dwindled down to bad and worse. This is what Obama was hoping for -- to string things out so late that McCain panics and picks the wrong person for VP.
No wonder the McCain campaign is reeling.
As I mentioned in the previous post, the Republicans have no good answers for the housing gaffe and are probably just praying that the Democrats stop talking about it or that voters don't pay attention. Good luck with that.
But I think the Biden pick might be just as worrisome to the McCain camp. As a diarist on DailyKos points out, this throws a wrench into McCain's VP plans.
Romney is already on thin ice, since like McCain he is extremely wealthy with multiple homes and no real understanding of the middle class. But can you imagine Romney in a debate with Biden? We're talking bloodbath. Romney's foreign policy experience boils down to whatever the CATO Institute's bullet point list tells him; he'd get pulverized.
Pawlenty? Again, a foreign policy rookie whose attempts to land zingers on Obama or Biden would be met with a laugh and a fist in the mouth.
Jindal? OK, this is an interesting one, since Biden once said some politically incorrect things about Indians/Pakistanis working at 7/11s. But Jindal playing the victim card would look pathetic and desperate -- no one wants a whiner in the White House. Jindal's youth and inexperience would be frightening for folks who think McCain isn't healthy enough to serve a full term.
Sarah Palin? Even if she didn't have an ongoing scandal, how the hell is she going to debate Joe Freaking Biden on foreign policy? Sorry, reading "Foreign Policy For Dummies" over the next month doesn't get the job done.
Meg Whitman or Carly Fiorina? If McCain decides that being a CEO of a tech company is qualification to be president or vice-president, he might as well just apologize for the whole "ready to lead" campaign he's been running against Obama. These folks would lose the debate before it even starts.
Tom Ridge? All Biden has to do is make a few jokes about Ridge's color-coded terror diagrams and the debate would be over. And I don't care how much Chris Matthews tries to play up Ridge's strengths, the guy is as dumb as a post. He has all the charisma of one of those wooden Indian statues you see at trading post stores.
I hate to say it, but this leaves Joe Lieberman as the only VP prospect who could hope to go toe-to-toe with Biden in a debate. His ideas are terrible and he looks like a muppet, but Lieberman's been on enough talk shows and campaigns to have his debating skills down. The big downside that they have to somehow solve? Lieberman is pro-choice and voted against Alito (a vote he now says he regrets).
Maybe McCain has another dark horse candidate out there. But it seems to be slim pickings right now. Would he really go for Joe Lieberman, hoping that the increased Jewish vote and (theoretical) jump from indies makes up for the pissed-off evangelicals and conservatives? I don't know. Most Republicans think of Joe Lieberman as a useful idiot, just a bludgeon to use against Democrats. They don't really consider him a serious or principled leader. Unfortunately, McCain actually does believe this bullshit because Lieberman is such a sycophant.
I think Lieberman would be a disaster for McCain, but he may have no other good options if he wants his VP candidate to measure up to Biden. And before you say "oh McCain doesn't care about the VP debate" let me just say this. McCain is a very proud man, he thinks he is the world's premiere expert on foreign policy, and he'd be damned if he's gonna see his VP choice get creamed on that subject on national TV.
Maybe McCain should have vetted more people, or tried harder to recruit Petraeus. It's a hole he dug for himself, and his options appear to have dwindled down to bad and worse. This is what Obama was hoping for -- to string things out so late that McCain panics and picks the wrong person for VP.
No wonder the McCain campaign is reeling.
posted by Existenz | 12:14 AM
3 Comments:
Despite the Dems and the allied main stream media’s desperation to see Romney as McCain’s Veep, Mitt is clearly out, with (1) Obama doubling down on the class warfare theme (McCain’s 7 houses) and (2) McCain doubling down with ads showing the hypocrisy of Biden attacking Obama in the primaries — Romney did way more than that contra McCain.
This leaves only Govs Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty. Pro-abortion Ridge and Dem-Lieberman were never real considerations, despite relentless media goading. Pawlenty’s lackluster TV performances, coupled with Palin pizzazz, the primacy of oil drilling and the ticked off women/Hillary voters, does now portend a McCain/Palin checkmate on the Dems. This is so albeit the Dems and liberal media dare not mention Palin’s name, that is, everyone but…..
And if there’s any question as to Palin being uniquely positioned and able to more than nullify Biden in debate, see the excellent discussion at palinforvp.blogspot.com
Team McCain, well done!!!
Well, I agree with your analysis, but it's so hard to tell what's going thru their minds. They may be bold/insane enough to pick LIEbermann and risk splitting the entire party on the basis that those people dislike Obama more than they would a Pro-Choice VP. Or they may go with Palin, even though McCain has issues with women.
Minneapolis may be more exciting than Denver after all.
Pawlenty was out on August 1, 2007, the day the bridge fell. With the convention in the Cities it would be all too easy to remind everyone who appointed MNDoT management, and a very clear reminder of the cost of "No New Taxes".
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