Posted on 07/15/2007 5:48:54 PM PDT by Eric Blair 2084
It wasn’t so long ago that Terry Nelson and John Weaver, the two newly departed leaders of the McCain for President campaign, were widely considered to be political geniuses, whose presence in McCain-land was a sign of the then frontrunner’s strength.
Nelson was a key player in past Bush efforts, who brought other Bush veterans with him; Weaver was one of those who helped McCain in his almost successful 2000 effort, widely described as McCain’s “Karl Rove.” Today, the two are widely written off as the “fools” who lead the frontrunner down the path of spending too much, mucking up his message, losing his lead, and heading headlong into debt.
Their replacement, by prominent lobbyist Rick Davis (who himself has a long list of politically incorrect clients who will be in the news any day now) will, if you believe the spinners, turn the once promising and now sickly campaign around, the way John Kerry’s shakeup of his staff did in 2003.
Don’t believe it. As the Greeks say, “the fish rots from the head.”
Staff members tend to get too much credit when things go well, and too much blame when they go poorly. Nelson and Weaver are, for better and worse, the same guys they’ve always been, no smarter and no dumber. Having been in both places, genius and fool, I can say that genius is more fun, but generally no more deserved; fool stinks, but since you can’t replace the candidate, loyal staffers have little choice but to fall on their swords. It rarely works.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
But let's be fair and cordial. The man is a great American patriot. He served his country well as a warrior and a public servant in the legislature. He has never been found with cash in his freezer.
Let's thank him for his great service and say: Please retire John so we can give you the retirement party that you deserve. Open bar, farewell speeches, gold watch. Thank you for your service.
The McCain campaign has only one thing needed to turn it around— a new candidate. The Angry Unstable Arizonan, even though I highly respect his work lately on the War, is not right for President.
Didn’t Juan Kerry try this trick back in 2004?
If there's one candidate who's done more to delegitimize the big government, anti-Constitution, open borders wing of the GOP I haven't seen him.
I hope his campaign sputters past Super Tuesday myself.
Don't forget that Juan McCain also voted for shamesty and witched us out when we complained. He also voted against tax cuts and supported granting civil rights to terrorists as well as shutting down Club Gitmo.
This guy is supposed to be a Republican?
He could fix this with a time machine. He could undo all the really asinine things he has done and said.
IMHO the thing that did him in was when the MSM cozied up to him and he actually thought they were on his side. Once that happened he started doing unexplainable things like McCain/Feingold, amnesty for illegals, and other just bizarre things.
He *was* as I recall, involved in the Keating scandal, which is close enough for me...
the infowarrior
*snicker* have any of his advisers recommended he try running the campaign with a different candidate yet ?
A Keating Primer
Anyone vaguely familiar with the political career of John McCain knows about the “Keating Five” scandal. For those not clear on the specifics, we’ll do a quick review:
In the midst of the savings and loan implosion of the 80s, federal auditors begin investigating the practices of S&L magnate Charles Keating.
McCain, along with four other Senators, meets with Keating to discuss ways to derail the investigation.
McCain and his colleagues meet with Ed Gray, the chairman of the regulatory board, and persuade him to delay seizing the S&L.
Two years later, regulators finally have to seize the S&L for a federal bailout, costing taxpayers $2.6 billion. In the meantime, 17,000 investors in Keating’s S&L lose $190 million.
For someone with a stainless “reform” halo, McCain looks pretty dirty here. So, what does the “straight-talker” do? Take responsibility? Apologize? Nah:
McCain defended his attendance at the meetings by saying Keating was a constituent and that Keating’s development company, American Continental Corporation, was a major Arizona employer. McCain said he wanted to know only whether Keating was being treated fairly and that he had not tried to influence the regulators…
Oh, well we have no problem, then. After all, McCain’s job is to look out for his constituents, right?
But Keating was more than a constituent to McCain–he was a longtime friend and associate…Keating raised money for McCain’s two congressional campaigns in 1982 and 1984, and for McCain’s 1986 Senate bid. By 1987, McCain campaigns had received $112,000 from Keating, his relatives, and his employees–the most received by any of the Keating Five…
Okay, so that’s pretty fishy. Still, I guess you could say that just because someone gives you money doesn’t make you best buds…
After McCain’s election to the House in 1982, he and his family made at least nine trips at Keating’s expense, three of which were to Keating’s Bahamas retreat. McCain did not disclose the trips (as he was required to under House rules) until the scandal broke in 1989…And in April 1986, one year before the meeting with the regulators, McCain’s wife, Cindy, and her father invested $359,100 in a Keating strip mall.
Cripes! This is some Tom DeLay stuff, folks. So, here we have McCain conspiring with a campaign crony to rip off shareholders and American taxpayers. What does McCain do to atone for his sins?
…he contributed $112,000 (the amount raised for him by Keating) to the U.S. Treasury.
Oh, thanks John. Now, according to my calculations, you only owe American taxpayers about $2,599,880,000.00. We’d like that in cash, please.
http://www.stopjohnmccain2008.com/category/keating/
Wow, that is an absolute slam of McCain by Estrich. Did you catch her last paragraph though? McCain is the Republican the Dems fear (or feared) most in terms of keeping the White House. I am hoping that he wasn’t our best shot for ‘08...I can’t bear the thought of Hillary Clinton being president.
EEEEEEEEK! Don’t scare me like that!
We need anger, less the instability.
We have more than enough instability now.
The only mistake they made was going to work for a ragin' lunatic.
Sen McCain, thank you for your military service. However, it has become very obvious that in the last 10 years or so, you are losing it.
And "it", Sen. McCain, I define as, 1) your party affiliation, 2) your self-respect and most importantly of all, 3) your mind.
Now go away and shut the hell up, OM. You are nothing but a joke to both political party's. You are such a fool, you don't even see it.
Just stop. Shut up. Go quietly into the night. Just go.
A quick question for you. Have you ever heard of the "Keating Five"?
Not anywhere at a level like this, Kerry just dumped off the deadwood, and brought in some pro's.
McCain dumped the pro's and is keeping the deadwood.
That said, Kerry didn't even have to do much, but just sit around and wait, and let dean fall apart.
The dems have always had a misunderstanding with the mainstream.
They "feared" McCain because THEY liked him, and assumed everyone else does too.
The dems always think that if a republican has liberal tendencies, or is moderate, then that person has a better chance of winning.
So was Benedict Arnold and we all know what he is famous for. For those of you not familar with that part of American history, I would suggest a little reading.
Benedict Arnold was a great American Patriot, considered at that time to be one of the best Generals during the American Revolution. That is until he sold us out to the Brits. Sound familar?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.