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What John McCain Shouldn’t Do

| @jpodhoretz 02.06.2008 - 10:20 PM

Obviously, it will help McCain in the long term to work to bring the Republican party together as soon as possible. But there is something a little lunatic in the demand that he essentially overhaul his campaign approach now, right this second. Because the thing is, he’s winning with his current strategy. It’s the other guys — the moderate-turned-movement-conservative and the Southern-Christian — who aren’t winning. He has three times as many delegates as Mitt Romney. No rational person would overhaul what’s working. There’s an echo chamber at work among those who dislike McCain — they hear and see and read mostly things with which they agree, and they therefore think that everyone agrees with them and that McCain must be in trouble.  McCain knows trouble. He was in deep trouble last year, when he fired most of his staff and was left for dead by most of the political cognoscenti. Winning 600 delegates in a single night isn’t trouble. It’s the opposite of trouble.

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21 Responses to “What John McCain Shouldn’t Do”

  1. John Hartland says:
    January 15, 2009 at 2:22 pm

    The Democats will hold their noses and vote for the second $350 billion, in exchange for more disclosure of where the money is going. The idea will be to lay out for the public the full extent of the criminality of the Bush administration. That will be an ongoing project that will be the subject of many hearings and investigations to come.

  2. Jason says:
    January 15, 2009 at 2:36 pm

    ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

    Obama will get what he wants. Why do you even bother? Congress loves spend but they need to pretend that they are being forced to. Not only will this money be released, but $850 billion in new spending is as good as gone.

  3. Ahithophel says:
    January 15, 2009 at 3:04 pm

    The Congress must be frustrated with the American public and their–common sense. Where do the American people get off, being sensible? Perhaps they thought they had seen the end of public reason in the 2008 election, and they had good reason to believe as much. But now the American public is standing up for common-sense principles such as: the best response to fiscal irresponsibility is not increased fiscal irresponsibility; the best response to a failing TARP I is not to hurry out TARP II as swiftly as possible and in the same form; the best answer to a massive debt is not to increase the debt.

    Already we’ve seen TARP I became a gigantic slush fund for those with sufficient lobbying power. We’ve seen banks hoard the money they’ve received–then find their stocks plummeting nonetheless. We’ve seen $350B vanish into the ether with no clear effect. I’m not disputing that TARP II may be necessary, but it’s entirely reasonable for the American people to expect clarity and transparency, detail and accountability.

  4. lester says:
    January 15, 2009 at 3:21 pm

    econmist du jour peter schiff is set to run against dodd in 2010. prediction: schiff in a landslide

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