The Politico’s David Paul Kuhn surveys the “striking level of discord and mounting criticism” of John McCain’s campaign among top GOP officials:
“It’s not just message or not having just one single meta-theme to compete with Obama,†said a veteran Republican strategist with close ties to McCain’s top advisers. “It’s not just fundraising, which is mediocre. And it’s not even just organization, which is [just] starting or nonexistent in many states.â€Â
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[S]ome Republican officials who spoke to Politico noted that there is still time for the campaign to find its footing and that no campaign is without its detractors. But the bulk of those interviewed expressed serious concern about what has appeared to be an aimless campaign so far, one that has failed to take advantage of a four-month head start on Democrats and has showed little sign of gaining traction.
The Hill notes that McCain has also raised concerns in the GOP over his lack of fundraising help on behalf of his party’s House and Senate campaign committees.
McCain’s sluggish organization has been noted here previously:
[T]he organizational and fundraising problems have a certain negative synergy. If McCain is going to rely on public financing, he will also be far more reliant on free/earned media than his likely rival Obama. It is therefore more important for McCain’s organization to develop stories and events that will garner that sort of coverage.
Instead, McCain’s campaign has been worse than a pudding without a theme. Kuhn notes the example of the campaign’s “recent launch of an ad touting his challenge to the president’s position on global warming  at the same time that McCain traveled to Texas to advocate lifting the federal moratorium on offshore oil drilling.” Today’s stories tend to confirm my suspicion last month that campaign manager Rick Davis was doing more spin and tactics than strategy… which may be why Steve Schmidt has been called off the trail to help manage the national HQ. Whether Davis and Schmidt can play together remains to be seen and — as Steve Miller would tell them – time keeps on slippin’ into the future.
Big Update: The Politico’s Jonathan Martin details a further shake-up at McCain HQ. Steve Schmidt is taking over day-to-day operations, assisted by Matt McDonald. Both are veterans of the Schwarzenegger re-elect campaign and Bush-Cheney reelection effort. Longtime advanceman Greg Jenkins is being brought onboard to improve the staging of McCain’s events, which were lackluster even before the much-derided lime green background for his general election kickoff. Rick Davis istechnically still in charge, but is being shunted off to jobs like helping plan the convention, picking a vice president, and donor maintenance. The last is rather ironic, given that Davis’s tenure is one reason major donors were nervous in the first place.
It’s like watching a re-run of Bob Dole’s 1996 campaign!
I’m not kidding he needs to put Fred to work. He needs to co-brand with someone other than Al Gore I think. Lindsey Graham as a surrogate makes me uncomfortable cause even through the tv it’s like he’s staring at my crotch.
Right about now, bringing Dan Quayle onboard would be an improvement.
McCain makes Bob Dole look like he doesn’t need viagra.
Apparently, McCain thought the media’s lovefest for him would continue once he became the nominee. He did not count on the national fellatio that Baracky is getting.
Thing is, Fred wasn’t all that interested in going to work for Fred, to my continuing dismay.
Froggie – When the HopeShaft TM (h/t to that racist bastard BJ) stays hard for longer than 4 hours, consult your physician.
You know, he should eat his oatmeal. It’s the right thing to do.
– As for me, I’m still hoping Rudi will make a showing at the convention, and in more than just a supporting role. I still think McCain is just a crash test dummy to fill the dead time until we get down to some real voting.
– Obama may be a ticking time bomb just looking for the right moment to self destruct, (this recent faith based initiative is a prime example), but by running McDinosaur the Reps make me think they have a political death wish in this campaign.
– Maybe its the ole’ rope-a-dope….Let O! exhaust himself against the cabbage patch RINO, and then hit him between the eyes with an October surprise.
Forget it. McCain’s biggest problem isn’t organization. It’s that he has no idea what he’s up against, and no stomach to take it on even if he did. But it hardly matters. No conservative does. It’s the story of our time. And it needs to play out, for only then will a new story and new men emerge.
This fertility myth nonsense is getting really stale. This is America. Baracky is a socialist. It’s disturbing, especially how the media is debasing itself for him, but it’s not fearsome beyond stomaching. Your country needs your help is all. Did you have more important things planned or something?
All true, happy. So I’ll remove the fertility coda and leave you with a simple tragic fact: McCain’s refusal even to engage the Left much less to make up for Bush’s eight years of nonfeasance in calling them out. Really, I’ve no reason to expect that even Barack Obama’s certain total failure will regenerate the conservative movement. But I hope it will. I suspect it will at least do what George Bush and John McCain have completely failed to do — make clear to the country the wonder and fragile beauty of freedom, the bounties of our free-market system, and the constant threat and tragic failure of statism. That’s where we are — we have made a Barack Obama not only possible, but inevitable. McCain can’t stop him. He hasn’t the stomach to say even what you just said in your post. And even if McCain defeats him, it won’t really stop him, or stop his movement. In case you haven’t noticed, we have entered an age of madness. Bush opened the door to it. Now the only way out is through. I wish it weren’t so.
All you have to do is imagine one, just one little congressman wannabe in a primary challenge beating a sitting Republican by pledging to be the guy who will stand up to McCain. It only takes a spark and all. If Baracky wins, then we have the Baracky Pelosi Reid administration. There’s not enough lipstick in the world for that pig.
McCain’s ad was STUPID FUCKING CRAP with windmills and sunshine and maverickism and FUCKING STUPID CRAP.
They should cut out the CRAPPY FUCKING STUPID and engage one theme: America is prosperous and protected and needs OIL! ITS OWN OIL! DRILL EVRYWHERE. PROMISE NEW REFINERIES! PEOPLE HATE STUPID FUCKING CRAP ROLLERSKATE CARS! Soccer moms and dads want big-ass, gas-guzzling SUVS, and NOT STUPID FUCKING CRAPMOBILES and FUCKING STUPID NEON BULBS and FUCKING STUPID WINDMILLS!
Ah, thank you. I feel better now. You can untie the restraints now, nurse.
Not until you spit out the pieces of the muzzle, Geezer.
Dear Senator McCain:
I am a 63 year old white woman with very few axes to grind. I have voted a straight Repub. ticket since my first vote for Richard Nixon. I supported you in the 2000 primary and worked for your campaign in San Diego. So, why am I having such a hard time generating any enthusiasm for you now?
The #1 reason is a trust issue. I don’t trust you to watch my six. You seem far more interested in thwarting my interests than in working for them. I get the feeling you wish you were running as the dem. candidate rather than the Repub. candidate. I’m afraid to defend you because you’ll do an about face and attack me for it.
I am not one of those “pure” conservatives. In fact, I’m not really a conservative at all, except maybe on the issue of abortion. I am first and foremost a Republican, a small government, personal liberties kind of person. I believe in hard work, playing hard, and taking personal responsibility for my own actions.
I do not understand this wishy washy attitude you’ve developed. I do not understand why you continue to praise Barack Obama and disparage those wanting to support you. I do not understand your willingness to knife our current President in the back all the time. I do not understand the kissy face you engage in with the far left moonbat loonies.
My husband and I gave 26 years of our lives to this country thru his Naval service. We know what combat is from both the family left at home and the man who must face the enemy and survive. We remember what those years were like for military families while you were being tortured in that far away prison. And our memories are not happy ones.
At this point, I’m wondering why you wanted the nomination so badly, since you seem to want Obama to get elected president? Were you just playing a game to prove you could win and give the finger to GWB? Was that enough that you are willing to concede the race now to a communist sympathizer and terrorist lover whose only claim to fame is he can head up a cult?
Why don’t you want my vote?
Respectfully,
Sara G
McCain’s inability to get funding and his organization problems stem from the same source. I think Limbaugh summed it up pretty well with his superbowl analogy: “If your team isn’t in it, you root for the team you hate less. That’s McCain.â€Â
It’s enough to get some votes, but to get money and volunteers you need to be able to fire people up. The only fired up conservatives I know are fired up because they’re pissed off at McCain.