With McCain, There’s Plenty To Love And Hate
With the hat tip to Academic Elephant, here’s another good piece on John McCain, this time from Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board. Moore finds plenty to cheer with McCain, and plenty that makes him nervous. Indeed, it seems McCain is a bit of a chameleon; if you like him, or want to, you won’t have to search very hard for reasons; ditto the opposite.
On the positive side of the ledger:
More than any other first-tier GOP candidate in 2008, Mr. McCain has shrewdly tapped into the rage that conservatives are feeling over President Bush’s $800 billion Medicare drug bill (which he voted against), the highway bill with its 6,000 earmarked white-elephant projects (which he also voted against), and the infamous $500 million Alaska Bridge to Nowhere (which he led the crusade to defund). Mr. McCain whips out a spreadsheet detailing the legislation he drafted with Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn to cut the budget by $100 billion by canceling the highway pork, delaying the prescription drug bill, establishing a commission to end worthless government programs, and so on. Give the man his due: He has monopolized the anti-big-government Reaganite message of late.
The negative:
Where some see the vast virtue of entrepreneurial wealth-generators and job-producers, he too often sees “robber barons.” He seems forever in search of the next Joe Camel, Charles Keating, Ken Lay or Jose Canseco (Mr. McCain has been a prominent crusader against steroids in baseball).
Of course, that sort of economic populism can play well with independents and Democrats, and is anathema to Republicans – once again, a nutshell of the political microcosm in one candidate.
Perhaps this is one reason for the media fascination with McCain – he embodies all the messy contradictions of the nation he serves.
I’ve just read the Journal and Nation essays on McCain, and found them both enlightening. I think the TR analogy the Journal came up with is particularly apt, and explains my own ambivalence about him. McCain always seems to be looking for dragons to slay (and some extent, this applies to Giuliani too). I think his crusades are genuine, in that he’s driven by an honest impulse, but I think the way he goes about addressing the issues is to use a sledgehammer (e.g. campaign finance, baseball and steroids, etc.).
But while I think economic populism is often misleading and divisive, there’s no doubt that by definition it’s popular. If McCain’s message is he wants middle-class tax cuts, not tax cuts for the rich, I think that will play very well. At the very least, it would be hard for a Democrat to disagree.
We never get an ideal candidate. I disagree with President Bush on some issues, but I still voted for him twice. I’m worried about McCain’s populist instincts and I’m hoping (but not convinced) that Sept. 11th forged a new Giuliani who isn’t as thin-skinned and personally petty. Yet I’m pretty sure I’d vote for either of them, because on the whole, I’d rather have a president I disagree with a little bit than a president I disagree with a lot.
And a McCain nomination would be fun to watch if only because all those lefty pundits who love him now when he’s a thorn in the side of the GOP would twist themselves into pretzels trying to figure out ways to demonize him when the campaign heats up.
It would also be fun to see how he responds to a newly-hostile press corps. I would expect fireworks the likes of which we have not seen with George Bush. Maybe with McCain in the driver’s seat, the whole truth about the Iraq war and the media’s disingenuous anti-Iraq campaign will finally be uncovered.
By the way Mark, what’s with all of the McCain posts recently?
mCcain voted against the bridge to nowhere????
in OK you would think coburn was the only senator to vote against it.
the OK media are crucifying him.
Colin, re: all the McCain posts, it’s just turned out that way…he’s been making a push to be seen and heard, and Rudy seems to have adopted a lay low strategy, so McCain is the man of the hour…
I think the lay-low strategy is very, very wise. Wonder if that’s what Tom Ridge is doing?
I think Senator McCain is bad news for Republicans in ‘08’. He probably can’t win the nomination, but he can get a significant amount of primary voters. Some of his primary votes will be Democrats who would never vote for a social conservative, some will be moderate Republicans who would never vote for a social conservative, but many will also be moderate Republicans who would vote for a social conservative Republican. Also, some of his support and votes will come from moderates who could win the nomination if given a chance without Senator McCain in the field. However, at the end of the primary process, these moderate Republicans will be so upset with how the social conservative nominee trashed McCain, many will stay home in the general election.
There should be no doubt Senator McCain will go for the nomination. Then there will be talk of a third party in the Big Media as he fails to cross the finish line. Finally, it will depend on how much effort McCain puts into supporting the Republican nominee. He may not be Prez, but he still wields a tremendous amount of power now and for the foreseeable future. I have to admire his Machiavellian achievements.
If the opposite would happen and McCain would get the nomination, I would vote for him, but also think there would be many social conservatives who would stay home. I don’t like where this is headed, but it is a scenario that usually does always happen to the party in power and it will have to run its course. The result may be the second President Clinton. How does one couple get so lucky?
If the opposite would happen and McCain would get the nomination, I would vote for him, but also think there would be many social conservatives who would stay home.
One can only hope.
David, you make some very good points…my prognosticating ability is hazy at the moment because of Rudy G.’s deliberate silence. I think any challenger who doesn’t count on facing both of them (and they’ll both be formidable) will be making a big mistake…
Hi Mark,
I think the best scenario for Republicans is if Rudy and Senator McCain both run and both stay in the race through Super Tuesday. Social Conservatives would not need to coalesce around a single candidate until late in the game and Senator McCain would have to be more than an alternative candidate. The voters would have more choices and the best candidate would have to rise to the top by articulating the best vision, not raising the most money.
Perhaps you could use some of your considerable influence to twist a few of the right arms in order to make it happen. : -)
I don’t know how any of us can really predict what will happen in ‘08’. Those of us who have been around the block a few times can use history as a guide, but every election has its quirks. Logic tells me that Senator Clinton is a quirk that has no chance, then I remember that Gore was inches from being elected, Kerry received more votes than any Democrat in History, and Ross Perot hasn’t popped up in about nine years.
Hi Ryan,
I’m not sure of your point in your comment. Are you claiming it would be great if McCain got the nomination or are you claiming it would be great if social conservatives didn’t vote?
David, I think they both will run…and that will make for a very interesting primary season, no doubt…but my considerable influence? I know you’re kidding…I can’t even influence my beagle, much less those two…have a good one!
McCain’s a backstabbing snake and will never get the nomination.