John McCain Won’t Do The Dole

My latest story on the McCain campaign at 72 hours out.

Related Topics: Uncategorized
  • Latest on Swampland

    Pete Souza / The White House via Getty Images

    Political Picures of the Week, May 18-25

    TIME’s photo editors bring you the best pictures of the past week from the Beltway and beyond.

    Obama Administration Blocks Global Health Fund To Fight Disease In Developing NationsHuffPost Politics

    From left: AP; ABACAUSA

    The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy

    More than five months from Election Day, the back-and-forth about Mitt Romney’s record at Bain already feels played out. Unfortunately, there’s good reason to expect the campaign continues in this vein indefinitely. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney are terribly interested in dwelling on policy platforms. Romney’s plan to slash spending and keep taxes low on the wealthy isn’t especially popular, at least not at any level of detail beyond a blithe promise to shrink the deficit. Meanwhile, Obama’s signature first-term achievements, like health care, the stimulus and Wall Street reform, are all unpopular or tricky to sell. (The Dodd-Frank bill is the most popular of these, but hyping it means offending wealthy donors.) So what we’re getting instead is a superficial duel about character–and, worse, one that’s based on the largely false premise that the better man can better “manage” the economy back to health.

  • http://www.ghostnote.com Cookie Puss

    “I’m an American and I choose to fight.”

    Me too, Senator McCain. That’s why I’m doing everything I can to make sure you get your a$$ kikked on Tuesday.

  • Ohg Rea Tone

    John McCain will carry his nastiness right to the end. This gives us the choice between an Obama Nation and an abomination. ………….

    http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/11/01/obama-nation-or-abomination/

  • Paul-no not that one

    Good story MS.
    But McCain’s “I’m a fighter” stuff echos Dole’s “Where is the outrage” to me.

  • michaelscherer

    Paul-no, maybe a little bit. But the body language is very different. Dole went down fighting in public and having fun behind the scenes. McCain is all fight at this point. There is no wing or nod from staff. And maybe there shouldn’t be, since the polls are considerably closer for McCain than they were for Dole.

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    Sounds like a guy who likes to shoot craps, to me.

  • hickoryduck

    I saw a clip on the news last night of McCain at some event shadowboxing and pounding his fist into his palm. It was disconcerting and a bit pathetic to be honest.

  • http://engstudent.wordpress.com/ Eric the student

    about those mason-dixon polls they seem to be pointing to now:
    .
    http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/house-effects-in-action.html
    .
    how common is it to do a commedy skit 3 days before an ellection?
    .

  • sgwhiteinfla

    MS,
    .
    I have a legit question. People keep up this meme of McCain being a “strong closer” and that he does his best “when he is coming from behind”. Other than last year when his problems were more financial than having anything to do with voting or polls, how many close elections has McCain been in when he pulled it out at the end? How many of his senate contests were close? We obviously know he got destroyed in 2000 by GWB. So i am just trying to get a sense of how he earned the monkier of being a great closer. Any insight on that?

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Oh and btw MS,
    .
    Did you see the story on fivethirtyeight.com where they went by a McCain campaign office 72 hours out and it looked like a ghost town at the Santa Rosa office in Florida?

  • kathy

    sgwhite – I think it’s a biography meme about survival. the plane crashes, the POW experience. It’s more about “you can’t keep him down” than any experience with being a strong closer. And, as Jayack says, it’s about being a gambler. It’s about the adrenaline of a gambler and a pilot.
    .
    I wonder what made him think the American people want to fight. Very tired of fighting. Let’s cooperate for a change.

  • dumdedumdum

    Thank goodness McCain is the underdog right now, but MS, in what sense has underdoggyness defined McCain’s political career? He’s always had his back story and his wife’s wealth and connections to rely on in his adopted state. Bush sleazed McCain out of the way in 2000, but then Bush was the underdog, and he did what it took to slander McCain in a state where slander could work. Enough with the BBQ fumes already.

  • davemc321

    I wonder what made him think the American people want to fight.

    That’s the perplexing thing about this campaign to me: who is McCain talking to? From refighting the ’60s Weatherman Wars to comparing Obama to Herbert Hoover to dwelling on Joe the Plumber far too long, who was his audience?

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    No dumde, Bush was the annointed and McCain was the maverick underdog. That’s when Salter and Weaver created that character, and McCain played it through 2004. He gave it up completely when he picked Palin.
    .
    But, yes, I do believe “undecideds” will break 3-1 for McCain.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Kathy,
    .
    I would agree with you but for the fact that surrogates including Mike Scherer frame the story in terms of elections not about his POW experience. Flacks like Tucker Bounds keep saying that McCain is best when he is an underdog. I am just looking for some justification for that kind of rhetoric and because it was on diplay in MS’s article.
    .
    It is the underdog position that McCain has long embraced, and the old warrior shows no sign of letting up now.
    .
    I thought he might have some insight into it. Somehow I doubt he will be responding to my question though.

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    From refighting the ’60s Weatherman Wars to comparing Obama to Herbert Hoover to dwelling on Joe the Plumber far too long, who was his audience?
    .
    Nixon’s Silent Majority. PUMAs. This has worked for them in the past. There are just fewer of those people now, and things are considerably worse. Rove was well aware of the former; it’s why he wanted an immigration policy Hispanics would find attractive. They needed to replace their aging base.

  • wvng

    Tuesday night can’t come too soon.

  • WisconsinLiberal

    i just realized, election night is going to be terrifying until the reassuring numbers come in… (knock on wood)

  • Aaron

    Jayackroyd:

    “I do believe “undecideds” will break 3-1 for McCain.”

    Everywhere, or are you talking about Pennsylvania in particular?
    .
    Davemc321:

    “who is McCain talking to?”

    Given that he’s banking on some sort of Bradley effect in PA, and that he’s been running with a Southern Strategy for a long time now, John McCain is betting his campaign on fear and hate.

  • ivb3016

    The owner of the Phila Eagles, Jeffrey Lourie, said in an interview in the Phila Inq today that he is supporting and voting for Obama. In the past, he has made contribs to both parties, but his wife has contributed to more Democratic campaigns. They supported Hillary in the primary — said he was shocked to learn on primary day that he couldn’t vote for her because he was registered non-partisan! When she lost, they decided to support Obama. He said in his tax bracket it was against his fiscal interests, but the Obama choice was far better for the county. Very interesting.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Jay,
    .
    I will be the first to admit I might be wrong but as I remember it McCain was the frontrunner at first in 2000 because of his hero status. Didnt he win a few primaries? I think Bush was the “annointed” but he was also initially an underdog. Most people thought Jeb should have been the one running not GW. Again I could be wrong but thats how I remember it being right up to the SC primary

  • Paul-no not that one

    Thsnks for the inside view MS. Certainly the poll numbers are closer than in 1996. An even more extreme case is Mondale, he was told to “campaign to make your grandchildren proud” at the end.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    ivb,
    .
    The only thing about that though is from my short period of time in Philly I remember not that many people were very enamored of Lourie. I have heard that people are coming around to him but will anybody really care what he thinks in Pennsylvania? I always thought him an odd bird. Something he has a lot in common with a lot of other NFL owners.

  • ivb3016

    sgw, Lourie does not have a great fan base and the article was on the inner pages of the sports section. One reason he is odd in the NFL group is because he has a graduate degree. ;)
    .
    I was just interested to see someone like him who you would guess would be a Repub (particularly because Ed Snider is such a winger) felt this was important enough to want to express his support for Obama publically.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    ivb i believe that the Rooney family of Steelers fame are behind Obama as is I believe but am not sure the Colts owner. The NFL owners realize how important it is to have regular folks with money in their pockets. They are almost entirely dependent on fans and not just those who buy tickets to the game. That includes those who can afford to pay for cable or satellite every month and those who can afford to buy offically NFL licensed products. You would also be surprised how many team owners have grad degrees. I have spent some time with Lourie and he was odd to me because he just had a weird dispositon and way of thinking about things. Dare I say some what elitest also but in the same breadth wanting to be seen as a man of the people. But that was just my impression of the man and I could be wrong.

  • centfan

    I’m sure it’s been mentioned by you folks many times, but how many have really considered why McCain became the Republican nominee? The right wingers, as had been stated, HATED him. The true silent kindofmajority of the Republican Party were the moderates who figured only a moderate Republican could get elected. They thought McCain was a moderate. I bought that he was a moderate. Turns out he was just an opportunistic politician with absolutely, positively, no imagination (except what he “imagined” of Palin), no sincere ideology, no view of the future, and a passable sense of humor.

    If he ran his whole race Obama positive with white skin and brought Mitt Romney in as VP he could very well be pulling away right now. Sure, I’d rather have Obama imagination, but nobody ever accused the great un-elite of the US electorate of having much foresight or grasp of the possibilities. Why change the dern oil if the engine’sa makin’ a little noise?

  • heckslittlestangel

    I too have w0ndered about this “McCain the fighter” jive. I also w0nder, given the stories of his obnoxi0usness, why none of his Senate colleagues have ever knocked him on his @ss. I suspect in a real fight he’d start whining about how dare you pick on a cripple.
    Gee, remember when people used to like him?

  • dfh

    I certainly never agreed with Bob Dole politically but he was a true war hero and always seemed to be a decent man. He was a lifetime legislator and I always thought he ran for president because he was next in line. McCain on the other hand is a narcissist who has spent his whole life thinking he did not have to follow the rules because he was special. Loosing this race, especially to a man who he thinks is not as experienced and deserving as he is heightens the anger he has always carried. The next few days will not be fun for anyone around him.

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    Everywhere, or are you talking about Pennsylvania in particular?

    Everywhere. However,I don’t think a reverse Bradley effect is out of the question. Publicly against Obama, privately for.

  • fhmadvocat

    McCain was never the favorite of the Republican party bosses. While he was conservative, he was always his own man. He was particularly bitter from the Keating scandal and always felt he was left out to dry. After 2000, he considered becoming an independent. However, his desire to be come president prevented that, and he stayed within the Republican party because he wanted to become president so badly.

  • theoriginaljames

    The very first comment by Cookie Puss says it all for me. I choose to fight for the Constitution. The fascist Republicans play with it.

    Bush should be jailed for violation of the oath of office, to defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States. If that won’t float, he should be jailed in an international court of justice for war crimes. Think I am a nut case? You better read and study about our democracy. Bush brought it to the brink of destruction. Think what you will.

  • Chokora Fukara

    Here are several converting tools for you!drm removeripod transferipod movie converter

blog comments powered by Disqus