Posted on 05/27/2005 11:14:36 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Because politics is the ultimate zero-sum game, John McCain's role in brokering the deal over President Bush's court nominees makes him the big winner from a mixed result.
The senior Republican senator from Arizona was the moving force on his side of the aisle for the compromise that angered both parties' extreme elements.
In Washington, where score is kept daily of such things, it may well go down as a significant step in his road to the presidency.
Of course, conservatives hold great sway in the GOP nomination process, but those who see this matter as a nail in McCain's coffin misunderstand the history lesson of Republican nomination fights.
In the end, competence and gravitas trump ideology with Republican primary voters as long as a candidate can convince them he shares their views and values.
There is no clear front-runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, unlike among Democrats, for whom Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York is a heavy favorite.
Those who see McCain's role as a problem for his presidential ambitions wrongly interpret it as branding him insufficiently Republican.
But McCain did not cave on matters of ideology. He didn't reverse his opposition to abortion rights, vote for a major tax increase or undercut President Bush's foreign policy.
McCain got something important done, made sure the Senate kept functioning and got several of Bush's nominees confirmed.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
Is this person a regular political commentator? This is the biggest bunch of nonsense I have ever seen. McCain will never be president.
The mentally insane (IMHO) John McCain deludes himself into thinking he is loved.
The man is truely insane.
After this week, you can stick a fork in McQueeg. He may be a media darling, but the media does not decide presidential elections.
-Dan
1. He p!ssed off the base.
2. He made sure that the Dems could keep their filibuster option open for later use when it comes time for Supreme Court Nominations.
3. And he made sure that several of Bush's nominees will never see the light of day.
http://jewishworldreview.com/0505/peter_brown.archives.asp
some of his archived articles
I would go so far as to say that the virulent anti-Bush attacks by the media last time actually helped our president's re-election. If they push McCain next time, they may be doing him more harm than good, and we'll nominate someone REAL.........like Condi. Thus, John McCain will have done all of his fancy footwork for nothing.
Frankly, I'm thinking that it's looking more and more like Condi is our only hope......unless Allen makes some "giant leaps forward" on the electability scale.
Char
I looked at a couple and he seems consistently clueless to me. No wonder he writes for a paper that has been out of step forthe last 45 years that I know of.
The Orlando paper was conservative back in the days of civil rights. And naturally it has turned liberal as the problems of big government have become more and more obvious. An inverse oracle, that is the Orlando paper.
Not several. ONE. He gave us ONE judge. Brown and Pryor are no sure thing now that the Democrats are filibustering Bolton. If Frist goes ahead with the nuke, the "compromise" is over and everything returns to normal. And Frist better make damn sure he has browbeat every one of those seven cowards into voting with him after the Dems rubbed their noses in it. If Frist can't get 51 votes now - after the Democrats have literally shot the finger at them, then we need a leader who will. Hardball them if you have to. But get it done!!
He helped himself towards '08? Yeah, causing his base to completely think he's a traitor is really going to help him for a White HOuse bid.
Liberals are seriously delusional.
If any Republican who runs for President against SmuckCain in 2008 had any brains, he would also mention the Lincoln S&L Scandal of 1990 where SmuckCain helped four Democraps (Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, Don Riegle and John Glenn) give money to Charles Keating to EMBEZZLE and DESTROY the Savings & Loan Industry.
You want to know why you been getting CRAP Savings Rates for the past fifteen years? SmuckCain did that to you!
I thought McCain made an excellent speech at the National Convention. I knew he had a questionable reputation as a conservative, but hadn't really paid much attention. However, the direction he took with compromising on the judges should me what a disaster he would be if given any leadership power as President.
As has been discussed on the handicapping the 2008 threads, Senators don't win the presidency. That last was Kennedy barely, maybe and he did not win the popular vote and possible stole the election 45 years ago and the last before him was in the 1920s. There is a reason for this. McCain nor Frist will win the White House and probably neither will even be nominated.
If either wants to be president, they need to run for Governor of their state. And McCain is from too small a state and is too old anyway. That might be a good path for Frist.
God help America if McCain or Hillary, either one is ever elected president.
I don't think Frist has much of a chance either. I'm actually taking a look at Newt.
If he can't stand up to the Dems, how would this guy ever stand up to Iran, North Korea, or any other hostile power. The Chinese, for that matter? No way, no how.
Enough with letting the minority party set the agenda, time for Republicans to start acting like Republicans have control of things--or have Hillary's old FBI files got the dope on all these dopes?
At least Newt had the guts to play them to the edge and then step down.
McCain picked up lots of Democrat's votes. Trouble is , he will be running as a Republican. Too bad as he has lost a ton of Republican votes.
Think governors of medium to large states. That would include JEB, Romney, Arnold but he is not eligible, etc. An ex-Speaker the MSM has already defamed is a way to lose.
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