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A Shift in Political Landscape Seems To Favor McCain in '08
The New York Sun ^ | 11/28/05

Posted on 11/28/2005 10:15:28 AM PST by areafiftyone

Senator McCain of Arizona is emerging as an early favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 as a result of a shift in the issues dominating the American political landscape, according to political analysts.

Intensifying public concern about the war in Iraq, the prospect of protracted corruption trials in Washington, and renewed qualms among Republicans about federal spending are all putting wind into Mr. McCain's sails while setting back most of the senator's rivals for the nomination.

"If Iraq and foreign policy and national security and deficit spending are important issues, that will benefit people like McCain," the publisher of a leading political newsletter, Stuart Rothenberg, said.

A Republican political consultant with national campaign experience said looming decisions about when and how to withdraw American troops from Iraq should boost the prospects of Mr. McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. The senator has vocally opposed calls for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, but he has also clashed with the White House over a measure he sponsored to prohibit Americans from engaging in torture.

A former aide to the senator, Marshall Wittmann, also said he believes the stars are aligning for a McCain candidacy.

"My sense is there's a significant amount of momentum shifting to Mc-Cain within the Republican Party over the past few months," said Mr. Wittmann, who served as the senator's communications director for two years before quitting last year to join the centrist Democratic Leadership Council.

(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Arizona
KEYWORDS: hellnomcmaniac; mccain2008; noway
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To: fieldmarshaldj

LOL! That's a priceless photo.


141 posted on 11/28/2005 1:39:58 PM PST by saveliberty (Conservativism - the commitment to live within your own means and to take care of yourself & family)
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To: fieldmarshaldj
"You do know McCain is senile, don't you ?"

You didn't make the mistake of thinking I would support McCain did you?

I was pushing Fred Thompson...

I would vote for a third party before I would vote for McCrazy.
142 posted on 11/28/2005 1:43:09 PM PST by babygene (Viable after 87 trimesters)
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To: penowa

Me either... It is a good thought... but it wont happen... Just have to stay tuned i guess....


143 posted on 11/28/2005 1:44:59 PM PST by BigTom85 (Proud Gun Owner and Member of NRA)
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To: babygene

You had me worried for a moment. As for Fred Thompson, my former Senator, he couldn't get out of DC fast enough. There's been some quiet lobbying to get him to return to Nashville to run for Governor against our ethically-challenged incumbent 'Rat (and he would defeat him, even with Pharoah Phil Bredesen sitting on a mountain of cash), but he doesn't seem particularly inclined to do so. I don't see any scenario that Fred would consent to to go back to Washington, even as President. To say he was disgusted and disillusioned by the place, especially with his 'Rat colleagues, would be the understatement of the year.


144 posted on 11/28/2005 1:48:45 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (Cheney X -- Destroying the Liberal Democrat Traitors By Any Means Necessary -- Ya Dig ? Sho 'Nuff.)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

"I don't see any scenario that Fred would consent to to go back to Washington, even as President"

I don't know. When I first mentioned him in post 19, it was as a republican I thought could win not only the nomination but the presidency.

Assuming he's clean, I believe he could.

Do you know what his position on abortion is?


145 posted on 11/28/2005 1:57:47 PM PST by babygene (Viable after 87 trimesters)
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To: PeoplesRepublicOfWashington

McCain having a ten-point lead over Allen at this point is meaningless...McCain is far better known nationally. What will matter is who can build an effective campaign organization in 2007 and develop a message that will appeal to the people who will vote in the primaries. Whether Allen is the best conservative hope is unclear at this point. Anyway, the 2008 general election is nearly 3 years away.


146 posted on 11/28/2005 2:02:36 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: princess leah
A New York paper pushing an AZ senator over their own Rudy G.? That smells to me !

Doesn't smell as bad as having hillary as a senator/neighbor!

147 posted on 11/28/2005 2:06:43 PM PST by mcmuffin (About time to open up a vintage can of '94 GOP WhoopA$$-before it goes flat-again)
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To: Clemenza

McCain and hitlery running off to the northpole for private chats every secret chance they get and the media reporting it with page 12 single paragraph glossovers, or single one liners on any alphabet channel, puts McCain in hitlery's pocket, with a zipper.

Screw McCain. He's not just a rino, he's a clintonite.


148 posted on 11/28/2005 2:07:05 PM PST by JoeSixPack1
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To: babygene

Oh, I'm sure he would be an acceptable candidate for President. He's pro-life to my knowledge. But, as I said, he just was too disgusted with the mass-scale corruption in Washington that he personally witnessed that he'd be quite happy to never return to office again. He just doesn't need the aggravation. I can't say I blame him.


149 posted on 11/28/2005 2:13:07 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (Cheney X -- Destroying the Liberal Democrat Traitors By Any Means Necessary -- Ya Dig ? Sho 'Nuff.)
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To: areafiftyone
What party would he run on? There is not a single chance that he can get the GOP nomination and switching parties would end his career in a heart beat. This is wishful thinking from an uninitiated person who must be new to politics.
150 posted on 11/28/2005 2:40:56 PM PST by jmaroneps37 (We will never murtha to the terrorists. Bring home the troops means bring home the war.)
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To: Verginius Rufus

I'm not opening the window in preparation to jump yet, but Allen has been running neck and neck with, and even slightly ahead of, McPain at Tradesports.com until fairly recently. The thought of having to choose between McPain and Ms. 'Toon (she's way ahead at the site) is unpleasant.


151 posted on 11/28/2005 2:49:26 PM PST by PeoplesRepublicOfWashington (Dream Ticket: Cheney/Rice '08)
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To: areafiftyone

Ah, yes.

The polls.

Signifying name recognition.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Hillary tops her polls too, but do not try to sell me that she's a guarentee. Warner has low name recognition but he'll be a force in their primaries.


152 posted on 11/28/2005 2:58:33 PM PST by Soul Seeker (Mr. President: It is now time to turn over the money changers' tables.)
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To: CPaleocon

Your theory holds no water.

People didn't vote for 41 in 'the year '92 because Clinton was on the ticket.

They didn't vote for Dole because Clinton was on the ticket in '96.

G.W.B. squeaked out a win over Gore in 2000 largely on the basis of his strong Character, Faith and name. Support of fiscal and social conservatives, with emphasis on the latter.

In 2004 he won the majority of the vote because a Majority felt they had a reason to vote FOR him as opposed to sitting out the election or voting For Kerry. Judges and WOT for the primary reasons. Tax Cuts another, etc...

History of Republicans/Conservatives is to sit out or split to a third candidate if available if they don't like the nominee. Hillary on the ballot will be NO different.

I certainly will NOT vote for McCain. But then, I am a conservative, not a Republican. And given only a little over 30% identify as Republicans, the RNC needs people like myself. A McCain or a Hagel and they can kiss '08 goodbye.


153 posted on 11/28/2005 2:58:34 PM PST by Soul Seeker (Mr. President: It is now time to turn over the money changers' tables.)
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To: areafiftyone

Doesn't McCain have to get nominated by the base (us) first? And to say McCain is the answer to "corruption" in the party is like hiring Mike Brown to help design a disaster plan.


154 posted on 11/28/2005 3:09:52 PM PST by kerryusama04 (The UN wants our guns so they can rape our children and steal our money)
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To: OrangeBlossomSpecial

I never "sit home". However, I do not vote for socialist scum, regardless of what party they claim to be supporting. I go to the polls, and either vote 3rd party in that specific race, or leave it blank.

I didn't vote for Bush the elder for a second term for exactly this reason. I did vote for W the second time around, but it was serious "hold my nose and vote" time. I was able to vote for W because he is not quite the leftist trash that his father is. Close, but not quite.

I am not "indecisive" or "less than thrilled" by politicians like McCain. I regard them to be far too leftist and dangerous to this country to get my vote under any circumstances, and I could care less who they are running against. McCain could be running against a Kennedy/Feinstein ticket and the socialist POS from Arizona still wouldn't get my vote.

If the choice is between one blood-sucking communist and another, I spend my time on more local races.


155 posted on 11/28/2005 3:47:26 PM PST by wyattearp (The best weapon to have in a gunfight is a shotgun - preferably from ambush.)
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To: rhombus

"But if that is how you feel, why play word gams, just vote for another Democrat to try and do whatever it is you hope to recreate from the 90s."

Because the Democrats are no good.
One does not vote for people who are no good.


156 posted on 11/28/2005 4:50:11 PM PST by Vicomte13 (Et alors?)
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To: saveliberty

"Vicomte13 seems to have forgotten the 1994 Congressional elections and the Contract with America, that forever changed the Clinton Presidency in that they could not do what they wanted, being hamstrung by the polls and all.

But does Vicomte13 really think it was a fabulous idea for Clinton to send Carter to North Korea in 1998 to give Kim JungIl $1 billion of taxpayer money to fund their nuclear "power"?"

I forgot none of that.
George H W Bush was not much of a conservative. He hiked taxes. He was pro-choice. His contribution to the Supreme Court was Souter. He didn't give anybody any good reason to give him a second term. So the people fired him, and deservedly so.

Clinton was an immoral scumbag. But once the decks were cleared of Bush and his cronies, the conservatives, led by Newt Gingrich, rode to the fore and effected the 1994 revolution. That was a good thing. And it would never have happened had Bush been re-elected.


157 posted on 11/28/2005 4:53:06 PM PST by Vicomte13 (Et alors?)
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To: areafiftyone

McCain has all his fingers in the wind. He is not trustworthy nor is he presidential material. He has no abiding convictions except ambition and ego.


158 posted on 11/28/2005 5:53:04 PM PST by amihow
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To: CPaleocon
To get the quote from the former post in your reply, you can copy and paste (control-c and control-v work fine) and then either put quotation marks around it or italicize it. If you are not familiar with basic HTML, put < i > before and < / i > after your quote WITHOUT the spaces inside the brackets.
159 posted on 11/28/2005 7:24:33 PM PST by RebelBanker (If you can't do something smart, do something right.)
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To: oldleft

What's that hags platform? "My raison d'etre is to force Israel to make concession after concession after concession after concession to the PLO! VOTE FOR ME! Elect me so I can fulfill my evil plan!"
160 posted on 11/29/2005 6:30:46 AM PST by adam_az (It's the border, stupid!)
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