John McCain does a lot of “tours.” There was the Bio Tour, the tour to forgotten places (where Republicans rarely win), and the health care tour. This week is the tour for the GOP base. He’s giving them a week of talks on judges, abortion, pornography, and other topics which many social conservatives contend McCain has essentially ignored. This may help him. But the McCain team seems to be missing some more fundamental concerns of conservatives, social and otherwise.
Some are tactical. Why is McCain spending so much time crabbing about media coverage? This simply reinforces the sense among conservative establishment figures that McCain is too thin-skinned. They do have a point: it seems a bizarre waste of energy to grouse when mainstream media coverage of him, as in the “100 day” fight, generally has been quite fair. And if he and his team expect perfect accuracy from the New York Times, they are living in a political fantasyland.
Also high on the list of conservative grievances is McCain’s criticism of conservatives. His slamming of the North Carolina state GOP for its ad tying Democratic gubernatorial candidates to Barack Obama is a case in point. This perpetuates the nagging feeling among many movement Conservatives that McCain would rather jab his allies than attack his real foes.
On a broader level, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out, McCain is still lacking an overarching theme or message for his domestic policy. So finding and articulating a consistent message might be a better strategy than three or four days of speeches on a select list of issues.
Now, it’s true that the vast majority of the Republican base (according to polls) has “come home” and is satisfied with McCain as the nominee. And it is likewise true that the election will be decided primarily by independents and those famous Reagan Democrats. Nevertheless, it would certainly help McCain to make sure he has his base secured–but to do it in a way that is meaningful and constructive. It’s not clear that he’s figured out yet how to do that.
The corrupt Eric Cantor, whose wife got hundreds of millions from the Paulson bailout, cannot be trusted and should not be humored. Republicans will never support Obama regardless of what they say. At least Rush Limbaugh was honest enough to admit that the only hoped for Republican salvation are if Obama fails. There are enough votes in the Senate to pass the stimulus and the radical GOP crackers in the House needs to learn that “elections have consequences.”
What was the most egregious example?
In the NYT story about the appointment mess up there was strangely no mention of the “journalist” Caroline is having an affair with. Ahem. It wouldn’t be Pinch by any chance? That makes four dynasties the hapless governor pissed off.
in the midst of bush bashing? that’s what you got from that column? Bush bashing? man the kool aid around here is extra strong stuff
Robert Gibbs is on track to be the worst press secretary since, well, Scott McClellan. “Abundance of caution” will be the byword for every WH press conference, as Gibbs inarticulately iterates talking points that add absolutely nothing to our understanding. He probably prays that the POTUS Blackberry is the main topic of every briefing.
So Gov. Paterson botched selecting a repalcement for Comrade Hillary in the U.S. Senate.
What do you expect? Paterson himself is an accidential governor. He never was ready for that position; he got it becasue Spitzer …. well, we all know the Spitzer story.