Hewitt Misses the Boat on McCain
Here’s Hugh Hewitt’s take on John McCain’s performance at the SRLC:
McCain’s transparent dodge only reinforced the undeniable reality that he cannot be considered a frontrunner to win a GOP nomination after his primary meltdown in 2000, McCain-Feingold, and the Gang of 14. To resurrect his presidential ambitions McCain needs to go head-on at his party weakness, but he refuses to do so, expecting a coronation instead of a campaign. (Whoever advised him to throw a ruse towards the Beltway pundits who want to be persuaded that Senator McCain is a front-runner as opposed to the activists who could make him one should be dumped. No one can run a winning campaign with camouflage.) If McCain wants to be a contender, he needs to ask for and earn Republican votes, not declare that he doesn’t need them.
This strikes me as false on several fronts – first, McCain need not toady up to the conservative activists – he has the name recognition and the fundraising prowess (and, yes, the good press) to bypass them and appeal directly to the voters.
Second, he is doing just that, with his support for the President at his weakest political fortunes. Would that we could say the same about supposed front-runner George Allen (who is only the frontrunner among hardcore activists – the general public is not even aware of his existence, outside of Virginia).
Let’s face it, the average voter is not going to give a rat’s behind about the Gang of 14 (a huge triumph, by the way), McCain-Feingold, and other esoterica. The nomination is not McCain’s to lose (it’s far too early for these sorts of pronouncements), but Hewitt’s insistence that the ‘undeniable reality’ is that McCain can’t be considered the frontrunner smells like willful self-deception.
Writing in the Washington Post, Dan Balz is more perceptive:
No one stole the show at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference here this weekend, but Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) demonstrated why every other prospective 2008 presidential candidate must figure out how to get around him.
More than any of his potential rivals, McCain found a way to balance embracing a weakened President Bush — at a time when many Republicans are running away from the president — while appealing to those in and out of his party who believe Bush and other Washington Republicans have lost their way. No other candidate could claim to offer continuity and change almost simultaneously.
The Arizona senator was full-throated in his support for Bush on Iraq, Iran and even the now-defunct Dubai seaports deal. In doing so, he continued to establish his bona fides as the Republican most likely to defend and extend the president’s controversial foreign policy record. At the same time, McCain delivered a stern condemnation of fiscal profligacy and corruption in Washington that was rooted in his reputation as an advocate of change and an antagonist of pork-barrel spending.
There is a real hunger, especially among conservatives, for a return to the bedrock principle of smaller government. If McCain can use his bona fides on the issue of fiscal rectitude to tap into that, he’ll be an even greater force to reckon with.
Those conservatives who think McCain is anathema to all Republicans just because he is to them may be in for one hell of a rude awakening…
Oooh, getting close to home.
I sincerely hope Hewitt’s right and you’re wrong, Mark. The thought of McCain in the White House frankly makes me retch.
Well, put it this way, fatman – would you rather have McCain or Hillary in the White House? Because I don’t see George Allen beating her…
There is something about McCain that just doesn’t appeal to me. He comes across as a snake. Maybe this is just my perception. However if it comes down between McCain and Hilda-*itch, I will easily vote for McCain.
We survived eight years of Billary once. If we have to, we can do it again. Particularly if John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg retire before George W. Bush does. And losing the White House in ’08 might actually be–in the long run–the best thing that ever happened to conservatives and the GOP.
“There is a real hunger, especially among conservatives, for a return to the bedrock principle of smaller government.”
I think this is the key, Mark. The Republicans have their divisions, but I think this is one area where just about all of them agree, and I’ve got to give McCain credit here because he’s been banging his spoon on the high chair about this for years. I respond to that; I don’t respond to someone saying we need heftier FCC fines for boobies on TV.
While it’s true that hardcore activists play a bigger role in the primaries than they do in the general election, I think it’s quite possible to overstate their importance, or at least their determination to nominate some unknown who is ideologically pure. If you look at the history of GOP nominees in the primary age – Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush, Dole and Bush – you see mostly consensus figures, people who were pretty much frontrunners from start to finish.
If Giuliani doesn’t run, it’s hard for me to picture any of the non-McCains taking the nomination. Unless there’s some real ball of fire hiding out there, the potential rivals are all running as resumes. McCain is the only one who has a known personality, and that makes a big difference in these races. If McCain says he wants to cut spending, I know from his personality he’s likely to mean what he says. If Mitt Romney or George Allen or Mike Huckabee says it, why should I necessarily believe them? I have no idea if it’s something they’ve been railing about for years or if they’re jumping on it because it polled well.
McCain would be in bigger trouble if there was an ideologically pure alternative in this race, but there simply isn’t. Jeb, Sanford, Pawlenty, Owens are not running.
Both George Allen and Mitt Romney have Pro-Choice pasts. We all know what problems Rudy will have.
The only ideologically pure candidates are the Brownbacks and Gingrich’s – and they won’t win the nom either.
I think people thatclaim that McCain has no chance for the GOP nomination are just delusional.
The latest poll 2008 primary poll of GOP South Carolinians shows McCain with a 30 point lead! Can you really tell me that these people don’t have an idea of who John McCain is by now?
I’m sorry … I was a McCain Republican in 2000 but he’s lost me. I’m with Fatman … I can take Hillary for 4-8 years (not happily) but McCain … not with my vote.
McCain-Feinstein (finance reform), McCain-Kennedy (amnesty for illegal aliens) …
I respect his military service and some of his service as a senator … but respect and a vote are two different animals. My dog ain’t in his hunt.
The lack of support for Brownback surprises me. I didn’t think he would actually put together enough support to win the nomination, but I did think he had a good chance at emerging as the conservative alternative to the eventual nominee. The only explaination I can think of is that the type of voters who would otherwise be drawn to a true believer like Brownback (at least during this stage of the campaign) are throwing their support with more traditional concensus Republicans in an effort to prop up an anti-Rudy/ anti-McCain sooner.
McCain is no one’s first choice in the primaries but get out there and chat it up, even with Democrats and he starts shining up pretty quick. Let’s face it, sad to say but name recognition (unless it’s Hillary) is half the game. McCain has a serious deficit with me on many issues, CFR probably Numero Uno but seriously, if you voted for Dub, Daddy Bush and/or Reagan can you really say that McCain is not preferable to ANY likely Democrat? And I’m on board with those who say the base is not nearly as predictably Hard Right as folks simplistically declare. If it were, W would not be where he is, the views of DU and the Kossacks notwithstanding. McCain’s support for W, NOW when support is so hard to find among Prez aspirants and in Congress will not be forgotten by me. I suspect that is the case for many primary voters. He might be a sonofabitch, but hey!
[...] Decision08 gives him a fighting chance and takes Hugh Hewitt to task in his post: Hewitt Misses the Boat on McCain There is a real hunger, especially among conservatives, for a return to the bedrock principle of smaller government. If McCain can use his bona fides on the issue of fiscal rectitude to tap into that, he’ll be an even greater force to reckon with. [...]
I’m not a huge fan of McCain, but he’s making some politically savvy moves. He is absolutely the candidate who could beat anybody the Democrats nominate handily, possibly bad enough to damage the Democrats all the way down the ticket.