Why Republicans are mad as hell at John McCain.
John McCain's failure to inspire the Republican Party is not a surprise. He has spent the last eight years boasting how he opposed the party on fertile issues such as campaign finance reform and offshore-drilling. He has devoted more time in his campaign to making up with the Democrats who mock his appeasement—that facile "reach across the aisle" bromide—than he has to making up with the GOP, who want to believe him despite his boastful indiscipline called the Gang of 14 and his loony immigration apostasy with his Republican-bashing pal Ted Kennedy. What is a surprise is that after one year of listening to the hoarse, pedantic voice of the oldest man ever to run for the first time for president repeat tiresomely how qualified he is, how traveled and tested, what a world historical figure he will be staring down Comrade KGB, it is unclear why he wants to be president, why he thinks he is a Republican, and what in Creation he could be?
Why does John McCain want to be president? It's not good that, with hours to go until the vote, the answer is uncertain. A McCain-friendly radio host told me that the candidate's recent reply to the question was something pompous, patriotic, and vague about "service." How about a translation for the 98 million voters who have never worn a uniform, please, Mr. McCain? An electrician on a Coast Guard ship, or a volunteer school crossing guard, believes in service, but doesn't aim to be POTUS. John McCain has claimed elsewhere that he runs to balance the budget, keep America secure, find Osama Bin Laden, hold faith with the veterans, reform entitlements, and get rid of those pesky earmarks, none of which is are a reason to be more than a cranky senator. How about a vision, a plan? How about a destination? How about stating that you are going to find out who wrecked Fannie Mae and Lehman Brothers and AIG and make them answer to you, to the law, and to us?
The only thing worse for the GOP than a Democrat in the White House would be the charming, whimsical, intractable, purposeless John McCain.
The frustration at Mr. McCain's random inarticulateness is so commonplace in the party that a Republican columnist joked with me by paraphrasing a witticism told by Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona. "The good news is that John McCain believes in country, duty, service. The bad news is that that's all he believes in."
Why does John McCain think he is a Republican? Again, the party is perplexed. On campaign finance reform, he is dead against the party and for the Democrats, and no one I know has forgiven him an inch for the inert McCain-Feingold in 2002, which has now been trashed by the gargantuan unfettered fundraising by the Obama-Biden campaign. "It was his vanity," an always charitable conservative columnist told me. "There are people who have been hurt by that law," a young Republican legislator seethed. "It's why we hate him."
It is the same with ANWR, wherein Mr. McCain spent years siding with the holy thinkers at The New York Times and The Washington Post and their progressive protégés. The result is that the newspapers disdain him anyway, and when the polls this summer showed the public overwhelmingly siding with the Republicans on drilling, the Democrats switched sides, leaving John McCain unloved and uninformed. Even when his running mate is Governor Drill, Drill, Drill, Mr. McCain does not awaken to his own knuckleheaded pride and say, I'm wrong. Instead, he talks about cap-and-trade as if he is Al Gore's acolyte and Barack Obama's fellow student.
As a founding member of the Munich-inspired Gang of 14, John McCain's record with the court fights in the Bush administration is so treacherous that no one speaks of it without scoffing. "He pledges he won't compromise," a major conservative editor told me of recent McCain promises about his presidency. "He says he'll stick to his guns." There is no confidence that John McCain means what he says. The charge John McCain heaves at Barack Obama, that he'll say anything to get elected, is a charge the Republicans aim at Mr. McCain. "He's running a campaign divorced from the Republican Party," is the verdict.
Tracy Quan's latest novel is Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl, set in Provence and praised in The Nation as a "deft account of occupational rigors and anxieties before the crash." Tracy's debut, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl, and the sequel, Diary of a Married Call Girl, are international bestsellers. A regular columnist for The Guardian, she has written for many publications including Cosmopolitan, The Financial Times, and The New York Times.
Joe Mathews is a journalist, an Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation, and a contributing writer at the Los Angeles Times. He previously served as Justice Department reporter for the Wall Street Journal and as a city desk reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He is the author of The People’s Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy.
Gerald Posner is the award-winning author of 10 investigative nonfiction bestsellers, ranging from political assassinations, to Nazi war criminals, to 9/11, to terrorism (www.posner.com). Posner lives in Miami Beach with his wife, the author Trisha Posner.
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
Renata Espinosa is the New York editor of Fashion Wire Daily. She is also the co-founder of impressionistic fashion and art blog TheNuNu and a sometimes backup dancer for "The Anna Copa Cabanna Show."
Amanda Fortini has written for The New Yorker, Slate, Elle, and New York, among other publications. She lives in Los Angeles.
John Batchelor is radio host of the John Batchelor Show in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
John Batchelor is radio host of the John Batchelor Show in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
John Batchelor is radio host of the John Batchelor Show in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
I found this article, much like John McCain left to his own devices for too long, rambling and somewhat incoherent.
It sounds like a peeved Republican who likes to leave windy comments on MSNBC message boards, especially the last paragraph.
Is there no other, more cogent argument for why Republicans don't like McCain?
In short, why would anyone in his right mind want a maverick, a lone wolf, someone who marches to his own drummer running a country? We need someone who comprehends team playing. McCain has has said over and over "I know how to" do this, that and the next thing. We need someone who gets "we." Palin's remarks regarding the role the VP plays suggest she suffers from the same one-man-army sort of thinking.
How is this Primal Scream different from any of the other screaming the GOP has almost religiously branded itself to over the last decade? While Pelosi, Reed, and the left has ignored mandates from its base (ending the war, health care), the *only* thing the right did correctly was try to ignore its ownbase's mandates by making McCain its candidate.
Only when McCain straddled the bloody carcass of GOP policy, as decimated by the Bush administration, did he lose any chance of becoming president. In other words, despite the press and the vocal faithful of each side, voters don't want parties to own issues in this election. They only want directional slant, with "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" written in the margins of policy.
McCain was more perfect for the electorate now than 2000, until he tried to become what I agree with you he is not- a republican. The party could have changed with him, as it will have to do to remain viable. Instead, he signed on to the campaign of 4 years ago, to win over people who've not thought much about defining victory in the last long while.
Well, riddle me this: Everytime i read a thing about John McCain it's to try to understand what i am missing about McCain-Fiengold. McCainites wave that colaboration like a banner and no one ever asks, "If McCain-Fiengold was such a triumph, then why is this election bleeding money?!" Don't launch about Obama refusing public funding either. The Obama camp's crucial question to the McCain campaign was always, "Can you control your sideshow? Obama can control his Moveons, can you control yours?" The McCanites did not answer honestly and so Obama stuck with private money and good for him. But... what about McCain-Fiengold? It is much tooted, but did not amount to a hill of beans.
Yes, at a time when our economy is falling apart, we should all get under the covers and sob about McCain-Feingold. Campaign finance reform is the cause of the crash!!
'The only worse thing for REPUBLICANS than a Democrat...' Don't act like you care about your country; you just want to see the Democrats get destroyed.
there's a much more simple reason that Republicans don't like John McCain. It's because he isn't winning. If he was you'd be hearing from this writer and others about how he represented the "new" Republicanism of bipartisanship.
The Republicans ended up with McCain because of their "winner take all" primaries. If McCain had had to appeal to the party as a whole, winning delegates that represented a majority of the vote, he wouldn't be where he is. And yet the media touted the Republican system as sensible and the Democratic system as odd.
I'm not saying that some other Republican candidate would be winning, but I think a candidate that was forced to win more primary votes might be able to put together at least a less bizarre campaign.
Wow, the author of this article clearly has no interest or concern for this country beyond his Party. You seriously are sick.
This story contains the following:
"...pedantic voice of the oldest man ever to run for the first time for president...
I think bob dole was older when he ran. I think the deal is if he wins, he'll be the oldest person to begin a first term...
When McCain won his party's nomination so early, while the Democrats dragged on and on, I expected a well-run, strategic campaign. McCain looked like a high-schooler who slept in all summer, and realized the week before school that he had not finished his summer reading list.
McCain's mistake is that he was not McCain...for some reason he began to bow to GOP preasure, especially from the right. And, probably because he was uncomfortable with his situation, he didn't sell the right wing position nor did he execute their tactics very well. This is especially obvious when he claims to being a maverick when many of his statements are inconsistent with his prior positions. He was not a Bushite, but he had to act like one, he was not a right wing religious nutcase, but he had to choose one for his vp (despite her obvious short comings). I don't know what changed John McCain (although I believe that his defeat following Bush's extreme dirty tricks had something to do with it) but I know that he has changed. He used to be (or so I believe) was a true independent, but no more. If he had been a true maverick and not some right wing extremist puppet, I would have supported him....but I loath the right wing, racist, hate & war mongering, fanatical, sick, (the list goes on) "christians" and I believe that this election will demonstrate that most people in the US agree with this assessment. As soon as the GOP gets rid of them or regulates them to the fringes and back woods of American culture the sooner that the GOP can become a viable party again.
I'm a strict vegan and pro-choice advocate, but a strong second amendment supporter; so I support John McCain.
I like Obama's great sounding voice, his tall good looks, his education, his articulateness, indeed his eloquence, but I don't trust any politician who wants to ban so called assault weapons that according to the FBI statistics are used in the commission of around only 1% of the crimes committed.
If Clinton had succeeded in dismantling our second amendment I wouldn't have been surprised if he might not have tried to change the law to allow him to serve as President forever. And, he wouldn't have had to worry about the electorate rising up against his attempt, because he would have disarmed the electorate. American citizens are one of the best armed populations in the world (Switzerland is better armed). Let's keep it that way to disuade any ambitious politicians from even considering remaining in office way over the two term limit now in place.
I'm a little embarrassed to be a voter who bases their vote on only one point, but I don't think there is any more important point other than possibly free speach that allows me to say Bush is an asshole, without fear of being jailed. So, despite all that's been said about John McCain, I'm voting for him because he supports our right to keep and bear arms; Obama doesn't, and that's a real concern to me.
You can find the leaders of MORTGAGE PROBLEM easy..3 of them are on Qbama staff, 1 was on search committee all 3 left with 200 million parachute.. only one returned any money & that by court order..& 50 million.This is 2 party election REPUBLICAN / SOCIALISM DEMOCRATS have no dog in this fightchuck pearce
Like Bush, McCain has legacy issues. He's been quoted as saying if he wins the Presidency, maybe his mom will get off his back for leaving the Navy.
History teaches us that by the time you get to the third generation of a powerful family (Bush and McCain) you're usually riding on legacy, not merit.
McCain never would have been at the Naval Academy, nor a reputedly reckless and substandard pilot if not for his father and grandfather. The Presidency is not a consolation prize for being a POW.
And Bush.....Bush would be an assistant manager at WalMart had he not been born into his family. Both he and the world would be better off for it too!
McCain is the perfect foil for Obama and it's apparent the liberal newspapers picked him and supported him during the primaries because of that. After Obama was clearly going to win the nomination, they turned on McCain. The problem with McCain is not that he has had to pander to the right or be a Bushite: His failure is that he hasn't presented any ideas that are cogent, practical and effective. Couple this with a campaign that looks like it has been run by spanky and alfalfa, it was doomed from the start. The big picture with the republican party is that they seem to adopt a philosophy of primogeniture. McCain felt it was his turn and it reminded me of 1996. It's high time for some bloodletting in the party and to get fresh uncorrupted blood in it. The party has lost the ability to see itself for what it is. At least we won't see McCain running in another four years.
But he loves Freedom!Country First. I am not hearing any of this!I will repeat my pledge until Nov. 4th - hopefully it will be Liberty Day not Terrorist Day!
Say it with me. I pledge allegiance to the Flag...
John Batchelor defines the views of the Republican Party as anti-campaign finance reform, pro-offshore oil drilling, anti-bailout, and most importantly anti-Democratic Party. The last is the key, as the problem Republicans really have with McCain is that he doesn't hate the other side. Why does this matter? Because the only thing holding this eclectic party together is the fear all conservatives (economic, social, or otherwise) have of change. As a Republican, if you see John McCain as willing to compromise with the enemy on certain issues, who is to say he won't on the issue that matters to you. How can you believe that a pragmatic guy won't sell you out on abortion, taxes, entitlements, etc.?
It's a damn shame the Republican Party is so uncertain about a man who would make a fine president, while they were so certain about the worst president in the nation's history.
It wouldn't have mattered who the republicans ran. Their philosophy is wrong. If you can't understand that than your party has know hope for the future. Government isn't all bad. Republicans love deregulations and you see what happens when you let the wolf in with the chickens. God would approve of government helping people afford healthcare and I think he would approve of Social Security. Just look what would have to people who already retire on social security. No republicans have the attitude me first. When democrats worry about the whole country. If it was up to the republican party we would have no social security, no medicare. The funny thing is even working class republicans know these programs help the working class families.
John McCain mistake was wanting to be president so bad that he sold his soul to the rightwing extremes of the republican party. People want a president that has faith in god but they don't want the president to run the country like he is a minister. People see how far right the republican party has gone and thank god they have pulled back from that. The religious right picked Palin and now she is a running train they can't stop. I say let her keep talking because she is showing how shallow and stupid she really is. She is no hockey mom, or Wal Mart mom. She has an income of $2.5 million dollars and that doesn't make her a working class mom from small town USA. There are questions on her dealings in AK that worry me if she becomes President.
From the perspective of a conservative, this piece was well argued. I'll summarize my own thoughts which are in synch with this article. If John McCain is going to adopt the same policies as a democrat president would, policies which I believe will be a disaster for the economy, elect an in-fact democrat and let the democrats be hung with the debacle.
My husband jokingly sais "a Republican is someone who doesn't listen"
How true this has become: At McCain rallies he scoffs that Obama who wants to help 90% of the working class. McCain supporters who cannot all be in the rich 1% all stand and boo, because they're not listening to the fact that McCain wants to continue to "re-distribute the wealth" but his way, to the richer than rich and leave his boo-ing supporters poor.
He has Palin using scare tacticts to say that because he was locked up during Vietnam, he's paid his price to society and terrorists would only come and attack us if Obama gets in. Hello, 911, George Bush in power, why would they not attack you John? He's the less educated candidate, who miss quotes and lies to get votes, and probably suffers from neurological disturbances since he was locked up so long, it doesn't qualify him to be President. Really sick of hearing he's a whiz on the 'war on terror' because he served his country, he was locked up and had no option, he wasn't studying down there. Then he came home and was unfaithful to his swimsuit model wife who had become a cripple from an accident and still boast of his great Christian valuesto us.
Wants to give us all the freedom to find and purchase our own health care in any state. If I'm sick, his measly health care package won't pay for the travel expenses for me to get out of the state, take care of my home, kids, pets, buy meds etc, not to mention I don't want to leave my town. Give me affordable health care where I am. Wait! Obama got that one covered too.
He didn't listen to Obama when he said he didn't believe in late term abortion either. Obama just wanted to ensure that in the event a mother may die due to the risk of giving birth, that she could still have a decision on that alone.We need to educate young women not to use abortion as a form of contraception, and support and encourage adoption, but still have an option for those few exeptions, who may die from the result of not having an abortion. McCain's abstinance idea hasn't worked and never will. Palin herself who preaches it, actually ran away with her 'now husband' to elope because she was pregnant. Her daughter has proven again that abstinance doesn't work no matter how well you are raised.
McCain graduated low in his class as he goofed off, and his life experience is all about "being rich and not getting it". Obama is better educated, dedicated and loves the American people, and most of all he listens and then puts a plan in place to benefit us in every way, health, taxes and national security. McCain is no Maverick and Palin is a joke and an insult to the American people.
in answer to riddle who is afraid obama is going to take away his automatic weapon. news flash. bush has infringed on your civil rights ,your telephone is being tapped by the nsa and if mccain gets elected he will throw all your rights under the bus to get "terrorists. note i did not say bin ladin. your current goverment and john mccain have no interest in going after the murderers of 911 because it would stop our looting of iraq for oil. yeah keep that gun that obama has said he is not interested in taking away . you are not dangerous to anyone who wants to make this a better country. when the far right comes to put you in jail for speaking your mind however are you going to use it?
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