Reason magazine editor Matt Welch (who has Sen. John McCain pegged) thinks there is a “bizzare disconnect” between McCain and his voters, who are angry at Pres. Bush and disapprove of the conflict in Iraq. At Captain’s Quarters, Cap’n Ed seems equally baffled.
They should know better. The support for McCain, like this election in general, is not about issues. It’s about personal qualities and changeyness.
If smart guys like Welch and Morrissey cannot wrap their heads around this, there is little hope that the casual voter will do so.
Am I the only person left in the world that realizes that disconnect is a noun and the verb form is ‘disconnection’? This has bugged me since that bald Cajun guy who worked for Clinton coined that silly phrase.
You got it the wrong way around, but you’re right.
er ooops :).
As an only slightly OT point, I’m way past sick and tired of McCain claiming the current strategy is what he had been calling for all along. The only thing the dumbass was calling for was more troops to “lock down” Iraq. That is not at all what is going on. It may be too nuanced for Mr. Maverick but the extra troops were not sent to “lock down” anything. They were sent to provide a continuing presence in small locations to help stand up local Iraqi assets and build relationships at the sub federal level since it became obvious that clearing and handing over to Iraqi forces wouldn’t work until competent Iraqi organizations were available and they weren’t coming from centralized training fast enough to do the trick. If some of the Iraqi’s see our troops as an occupying army think of how many more actual moderate Iraqi’s would have joined any sort of resistance force if we had tried to “lock down” Iraq with more troops. For many Iraqi’s our troops have simply become members of the Amerika tribe and are allied with their tribe and country. Never could have happened under McCains “plan” (BTW, sending more troops is not a plan it’s just sending more troops). Sorry all. /pet_peeve
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I might vote for Mad Mac, if I thought for one second I could trust him not to turn into Jimmy Freakin’ Carter right before my horrified eyes. I don’t think I can, though. He’s given me no reason to trust him, and has years of mendacious bullshit for a track record.
Pass.
I’ve decided if McCain is the nominee I won’t sit out the presidential part of the November election, nor will I pull the lever for either Her Inevitableness or His Articulateness.
I’ll find the minor-party candidate closest to my views and vote for him/her/it/them.
Actually it is simple. What Matt fails to consider is that many of those who are anti-Iraq-war are first and foremost anti-Bush. (They are so anti-war because they view it as Bush’s war.) McCain is also anti-Bush hence the alliance.
Like I’m going to support the moderate/independent voter’s McCain choice after the last six years, when things were really tough against the vicious Left, it was moderates/independents sitting on the fence never coming to the defense of our fine military or, who joined the ‘bash Bush’ party because it was fashionable to do so or, the ‘Conservatives are stupid repugs’ party because it made them feel superior.
If independent/moderates don’t want either Hillary or Obama then they’re going to have to bust their asses and spend shitloads for their own money getting McCain elected however after the last six years of sitting so high and mighty on the fence I don’t believe they have a clue as to how to get up Saturday mornings to make thousands of calls or go door-to-door. I’d even go so far as to say they think donation button is money meant to be given to them.
The ball in the moderate/independent fence-sitter’s court, they better play it better than the vicious Left plays.
This is why it is important that party get the base on board first then get the moderate/independent voters to join the battle, if you don’t have the base who will fight the heavy-duty battles.
[…] anyone has lingering doubts that Sen. John McCain’s current success rests more on image than issues, one need look no further than his own campaign and […]
What’s really difficult for ‘conservative’ wingnuts is the realization that their ideas suck so bad that they can’t even convince their own party. And they can’t even pretend the the US electorate believes ‘conservatives’ actually mean what they say. After years of kissing Dubya’s butt now you jerks have decided that he doesn’t measure up to your standard. Yeah, right. After decades of talking about ‘limited government’ we get the NSA snooping in our emails and a President who claims he can pick anyone up on any street in the world and hold him in a military brig and never give him the rights that real Americans fought for. Yeah, right.
You guys are self-deluded creeps.
You managed to get a real conservative in the Vice-Presidental slot of the ballot in ’88 and again in ’96. Then we get the Chimp and his surrogate parent. And you guys fell in love. Way to go, fellahs. Congratulations. Does anything in history tell you that you own the damn republican party?
If your stupid ideas had any beef they’d be found somewhere besides AM radio–between the colon-cleansing ads.
Faux Johnny Mac is even wackier than the real thing. McCain is the candidate who has won the Republican vote in one primary, and has yet to win the conservative vote, despite conservatives being the majority in every exit poll.
As for the rest, John McC can save time in the future by simply cutting-and-pasting the instant leftist boilerplate provided to trolls as a free service of PW.
If your stupid ideas had any beef they’d be found somewhere besides AM radio
Like in the Constitution, for example, or in the Federalist Papers, or how about Common Sense?
Our ideas don’t suck–the problem is that the other side promises freebies, an easier life, free healthcare, protection from imaginary disasters, Unity, Compassion, Coolness, and an end to life’s risks and dangers.
Unfortunately, when people become prosperous, as we have, it’s easy for us to forget that Life Is Pain, and anyone who says otherwise is selling something. The Narcissists in our midst (and they’re always around, like flies and MRSA) promise to take care of us in exchange for undying fealty, and people who feel they are entitled to an easy life are total suckers for it.
Isn’t that what Medieval Europe looked like? The Soviet Union? Liberty leads to innovation, prosperity and greatness, but it also can be chaotic and difficult to navigate. Someone gives people the chance to be rid of all of life’s inconveniences, they take it, because they don’t value their own autonomy and sovereignty.
True — but as a slogan for the conservative movement it needs work. ;-)
“JohnMcC on”
You are an utter imbecile. Make sure to keep your brain in your butt, so that there is never any connection to reality for you.
Sweet dreams, original thinker.
JohnMcC admitted that he communicates with terrorists. Fucking traitor.
McCain is a big womanly Narcissist but he is not in our midst. We get to sit at the kiddie table.
Between Hillary or Obama versus McCain, my decision would be simple. Vote for McCain and see what he does for his first term. Does he nominate an acceptable jurist for the Supreme Court? Does he control government spending? Does he keep our taxes down? Does he prosecute the war on terror with greater subtlety and lethalness, including solidifying recent gains made in Iraq? Give him four years. You might find yourself pleasant surprised. If not, some other Hillary or Obama will be waiting to benefit from your vote, or from throwing it away– great country that we live in. But I must say, I find the vitriol being levelled at McCain quite extraordinary. Many of the qualities he posseses, stubbornness, righteousness, pride, etc… are the very qualities that saw him through six years of torture and confinement in Vietnam (By the way, I cut him slack on torture and Guantanimo, as someone who wouldn’t have lasted a few steps let alone a mile in his boots, and can appreciate, if not entirely agree, as to why he ends up with the positions that he has. Anyway, getting back to the man’s personal qualities…), are the very same qualities that allowed him to stand up for Petraeus and the surge. True, like most things, such qualities are a double-edged sword and are perhaps part and parcel to his “stubborn” holding of positions many of us don’t find dear, and what’s worse for some, perhaps figure into his absolute lack of understanding of why so many of us are angry with him; and a bit more recognition, at the very least in speech if not deed, of this fact would be most welcome. Hello CPAC. But I must add, in finishing, much of the kind of vitriol being projected at McCain was very present during the Reagan years, and on many issues including immigration McCain is in fact very close to Reagan. Same can be said for the attacks on GWB from within the party. I’m confident that in twenty years Bush will have a makeover similar to Reagan’s, Reagan became the Republican’s FDR and Bush will become our Truman. I say give McCain a chance. Can’t be worse than Hillary or Obama, and it could be much better. I wouldn’t be against betting, I must confess, that a McCain presidency could be very good. But I don’t necessarily trust it will be. And–again because of my good fortune being an American–I’ll have four years to verify and vote appropriately. If he wins the nomination, I plan on supporting McCain with money and time. How much of both somewhat dependent on who his running mate is. I like McCain/Gingrich or McCain/Steele. Romney, Thompson or Giuliani I could also be enthusiastic about. Some others too. Cheers.
[…] fact is the commentor RC at Protein Wisdom is exactly right. Every time I hear John McCain and his idiotic ranting about “leading the way on the […]
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[…] of why Mitt’s lead even among the core is so marginal. Politico has the answer, although Karl had it before they did. It’s not about policy, it’s about character — or perceptions […]
Voting nowadays has become very confusing for the public. They do not know whether to do this because one thing or the other. A candidate’s platform says much about his or her stand and how good of a leader s/he will be in the future. But a candidate’s qualities should most definitely be considered given that it is his innate being. Platforms can be spoon-fed to him anytime but no one could dictate one’s personality, beliefs.
[…] support among those who self-identify as “somewhat conservative” for reasons I have already beaten to death, but which Romney seems disinclined to address. Posted by Karl @ 7:30 am | […]