In 2000, McCain came out of nowhere to surprise GWB, the consensus pick of the Republican governors (his real base of support), and win some early primaries. McCain did this by playing the maverick, and attracting independent and crossover votes. Not to mention some adulatory press coverage.
My view was, and still is, that McCain at that point had Bush on the ropes and could have beaten him. Bush was reeling, and he moved right to rally a last ditch firewall among the base. But McCain had the momentum, and the buzz, and a favorable press, and a personal biography that commanded universal respect. To take Bush, all he had to do was reassure the base, by giving rank and file conservatives a couple of things to cheer about.
McCain instead let the press gaggle and bad advisors lead him astray. Instead of rallying the base, he went to South Carolina and picked an entirely unnecessary fight with Christian conservatives. Bush seized the opportunity and never looked back.
Had McCain gone to South Carolina and pushed for school choice or entitlement reform or energy independence or parental notification on abortion -- or any of many other such issues -- he would have won. All he had to do was give wavering conservatives a reason to cheer, not on everything, but on a couple of things to allow them to rationalize voting for a maverick. Instead, he kicked sand in their eyes.
Jeb Bush had better be careful what lessons he gleans from Team McCain.
Yeah, the “maverick” McCain (who loved that title) was called that by the libtard media because he became a GOP who sided with Dems...
That is the SOLE SOURCE of his “maverick” status
First, throw Jeb into a cold steel prison of war for a few years and torture him. Then we might talk. Maybe.