Sen. John McCain’s rivals never understood how to tackle him, and DNC Chair Howard Dean’s talking points were generally lame (and inaccurate), but the Politico’s Jeanne Cummings reports on what the pros on the Dem side are mulling for Maverick:
The appeal of a flip-flop assault is that it could undermine McCain’s reputation for taking tough stands and sticking with them no matter how the political wind blows.
Carter Eskew, a former adviser to Vice President Al Gore, puts it this way: “Go right after his strengths. Take the Straight Talk Express and push it off the rails.”
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McCain will have to square his previous comments with his call today to make Bush’s tax cuts permanent and add new cuts for the middle class.
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…his opponent could note that McCain’s campaign is being led by Tom Loeffler, whose lobbying firm has made millions inserting earmarks into spending bills.
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Obama this week on CNN seemed to be testing a line for a McCain match-up.
McCain should be honored for his “half a century of service to this country,” the 46-year-old Illinois senator said, but he’s “not the person who is going to lead this country in a new direction.”
And so on, including painting McCain as extension of the Dubya era on economics and Iraq.
They get that McCain’s support came from people disenchanted with Dubya and looking for the same halo of bipartisan change Obama wears. They get that establishing McCain as a flip-flopper is potentially more damaging to McCain than focusing on the substance of any particular issue. Inasmuch as none of the Dems are thinking about running for the GOP nomination in 2012, they will likely be a lot less genteel about making their points.
(h/t Memeorandum.)
McCain versus Obama. I like it. Both are good Americans who’ll make good Presidents.
Well if they go after McCain for economic policies like President Bush had, that’s hardly going to hurt him. Almost five straight years of incredible economic growth to the point that in some areas economists didn’t even think it was possible? Yeah, that’s gonna be a killer…
I think that one of the problems the Dems will have attacking McCain is that his position on important issues are remarkably like their own. How can they, for instance, attack McCain on immigration? the environment?
Really? What economists are you talking to?
From Kennedy through to George W. only one president ranks lower than George W. on average economic growth during his term, and that’s his father.
GDP increases under Nixon barely edge out George W., under Carter it was significantly higher, next comes Reagan, then Clinton, then Kennedy/Johnson.
issues IS — after a full day of haranguing students about subject/verb disagreement, sheesh!
With John McCain poised to win the Republican nomination, Democrats are already gathering ammunition to use against him in the general election.
In more than a few instances, the best fodder has been provided by the candidate himself.
This is going to be an advantage for the Dem candidates, especially Obama. The reason senators are usually unsuccessful as presidential candidates is they have a history of votes that can be used againt them. With all the candidates being from the senate, the one with the least experience (and non-committal “present” votes) will have the least ammunition that can be used against them.
Bring on the Obamessiah! I don’t know where he stands, but I BELIEVE!!
Davebo must begetting his economics from Paul Krugman or perhaps MotherJones, or some equally disingenuous source. Policy takes time to work its way through the system, which is why people with half a brain do not attribute the recessions that Reagan and Bush II inherited to them in the way that Carter gets stuck with the one that happened at the end of his watch and the one at the outset of Reagan’s first term. That’s why Carter did not get reelected and Reagan did.
However, not being as blindly partisan as the folks giving Davebo his delusions, I will note that Carter appointed Paul Volcker and Reagan gave Volcker room to make the painful decisions that wrung the inflation out of the system.
What is it about ignorant trolls all having some variation of “dave” in their handles?
What sucks is that my real name is David. And so many idiot trolls have the same name. Just makes me crankier.
What is it about ignorant trolls all having some variation of “dave†in their handles?
Perhaps they should just take a stress pill and try to relax.
What is it about ignorant trolls all having some variation of “dave†in their handles?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqif3ud7Q5c
They should prepare their tactics to attack McCain. The latter seems prepared to battle at this very moment.
Anybody see Instapundit’s link to the Post-Traumatic Presidency piece? The claim is that one line of attack that’ll be used against McCain is the one we saw deployed so egregiously in the NYT last month, the “crazy psycho vet” thing. I don’t like McCain much, but geez.