Posted on 05/28/2005 1:32:29 PM PDT by echoBoomer
Craig Crawford's 1600: The Lone Arranger.
Democrats are wrong to think that John McCain is their favorite Republican. The Arizona senator could be their worst nightmare in 2008. By leading his colleagues from the brink of disaster in the Senate filibuster debate, McCain proved to be at the top of his game — and, for now, he’s standing almost alone as a nationally known leader with the instinct and skill for commanding the politically profitable middle ground.
Rather than pander to his party’s activist ideologues in the bid to silence minority voices on judicial nominees, McCain helped forge a coalition of Republicans and Democrats to muzzle, at least momentarily, the left and right wings of both parties.
“This is what John McCain has always done,” said Paul Alexander, author of “Man of the People,” a 2003 biography of McCain. “He genuinely believes in finding the political center on any issue. That’s why he is so popular with so many Americans.”
The social conservatives who dominate pivotal Republican presidential primaries now despise McCain more than ever, thanks to his high-profile thwarting of their drive to shut off debate on President Bush’s judicial picks. Conservative firebrand Pat Buchanan called McCain a “sellout.”
But to broaden its base and entrench its power further, the Republican Party can no longer remain addicted to the extremist agenda of social conservatives, whose growing influence threatens to repel general election voters. McCain could be the political Houdini his party needs to make this difficult transition.
McCain’s appeal to independents and to moderates in both parties poses as much of a danger to Democrats as it does to his own party’s right wing. It will be no easy task for him to change the dynamic of GOP primaries and win the nomination. But he is clearly aiming to try and, if he succeeds, Democrats could be on the losing end of yet another presidential election. If they nominate someone perceived as too liberal, such as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, social conservatives would have no one to vote for. Sure, they might stay home on Election Day, but McCain has the potential to make up the difference with his almost unparalleled appeal to centrist voters.
Will McCain run? “I think I can wait a couple of years and then decide,” McCain told radio host Don Imus on May 26. “There’s no reason to make that decision for a couple of years.”
That means “yes” according to the Washington art of non-denial denials. Indeed, a recent New Yorker magazine profile concluded that McCain is running.
While McCain is heralded as the big winner among 2008 GOP possibles in the filibuster showdown, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is widely viewed as the big loser. The Tennessean hoped to lay claim to the conservative mantle by delighting evangelical Christians with a maneuver that smoothed the way for “pro-life” jurists. Instead, he got neutered by the “gang of 14” that cut their deal in McCain’s office. Conservative Hits
Frist’s debacle probably ended his play for the hearts of social conservatives, seriously hampering his White House aspirations even at this early, but critical, stage of the next race — when consultants, junkies and pundits of all stripes are already handicapping the field and, in some cases, quietly making commitments to a candidate.
How odd that the driving force of GOP presidential politics, the social conservatives, have no obvious horse to ride. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania would like to be their choice, but he let Frist take the lead — and the hit — in pursuing a filibuster ban.
Amazingly, only Republican moderates such as McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani are fueling the Republican buzz machine. Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska is angling to join the field of moderate hopefuls, but for reasons that aren’t yet clear, he did not seize the opportunity in the filibuster debate to move out of McCain’s shadow as a leading GOP maverick.
The conservative leadership vacuum allows McCain to dominate this beginning phase of the race. (While Giuliani earned credentials as a national hero after Sept. 11, he lacks the high-profile platform that McCain enjoys in the Senate.) Democrats should not be too gleeful about the disarray among conservatives, however. If moderates such as McCain rise, the GOP could move much further down the road toward the permanent majority that Bush’s political architect, Karl Rove, has so often predicted. So it might even have been better politically for Democrats had Frist been able to push his filibuster gambit and win it. Letting Bush pack the courts with arch-conservatives would play well into the Democratic 2008 strategy of portraying the GOP as under the thumbs of wackos.
But how can Democrats pursue that labeling if no one like Frist can emerge as the poster child for right wingers? Let McCain become the national face of the Republican Party and the Democrats’ extremist attack has no punch at all.
Contributing Editor Craig Crawford is a news analyst for MSNBC, CNBC and “The Early Show” on CBS. He can be reached at ccrawford@cq.com.
I hear you and don't necessarily disagree, but Ted will never be able to damage the conservative cause as much as a political insider with and additional six sellouts in his pocket.
Hillary with Mclaim as her Veep will run against a Republican Metro-sexual.. who cares which one.. They are just cross dressing democrats anyway..
Pure BS.
A sobering statistic, over 8 years in office, President William Jefferson Clinton nominated 440 judges to the federal judiciary with lifetime appointments.
The average age of a Clinton appointee was 51 which means most of them will be on the bench for the next 20-25 years.
You may want to look into that.
...think of a Democratic President and a Democratic Senate majority...
I do not have to think about it...I lived through it for decades.
The mere presence of the filibuster option keeps for judicial appointments... IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
McCain and the other 6 traitor need to get bounced from every committee they sit on.
A coach would bench a basketball player for trying to undermine his authority.
They need to be shown that actions have consequences.
They need to be shunned.
Yes. In the same way that Petain was the Nazi's favourite Frenchman.
Perhaps those party to this "deal" should be called "Vichy Republicans" from now on.
Regards, Ivan
And you think that in that situation the Democratic Senate would actually hesitate more than a minute before changing the rules to invalidate judicial filibusters? If so, you're extremely naive.
I wasn't aware that he'd ever stopped.
He is a double striped politician who is a bloviating braggart and is "looking out for number one" only!
He is repulsive and is not to be believed!
True.
The anti-Zell.
'A sobering statistic, over 8 years in office, President William Jefferson Clinton nominated 440 judges to the federal judiciary with lifetime appointments.
The average age of a Clinton appointee was 51 which means most of them will be on the bench for the next 20-25 years."
oh come on.... that's purely a coincidence..../sarcasm
Speaking as a moderate Republican I'd support Mccain in the primaries if I knew he had the best chance of defeating Hillary but ONLY if the this compromise results in the Democrats stopping the filibusters.
If not I'll just say to hell with it and back a conservative candidate just out of principle not matter what it means in the general election.
Mccain just better sure the Democrats don't get away with filibustering federal judicial nominees if he wants any chance - otherwise he can take a long walk on a short pier.
This article proves once and for all what I always suspected: Craig Crawford leans to the left an is full of shit!!
McCain didn't "forge anything". He joined 7 Democrats to thwart his own party. That doesn't take political smarts or courage.
When the rolls are reversed and the Republicans try to filibuster a Socialist Democratic nominee, the Democrats will exercise the Nuclear option in a heart beat. The press would not cover it and it would not make more than a handful of newscasts or newspapers. 98 percent of the population would not even know the Democrats did it.
The Republicans will never fillibuster even the most liberal apointee to the federal bench, they never have and they never will. When Democrats controlled the Senate and Clinton was in office, his appointees had nearly a hundred percent approval rate, while W's now is below sixty percent in the same circumstances.
All we've done is create a double standard for conservative versus libers nominations to the appeals courts (which taken all together are more influential the the Supreme Court).
And, of course, if Hillary becomes president there will be a ton a vacancies for her to fill up with the most liberal jurists imaginable, which the Republicans will barely make a peep about let alone stage fillbusters.
Truer words were never spoken. Very few Republicans, and even fewer Democrats, would now support John McCain in a Presidential election.
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