1. His tendency to chose unpopular and non-Republican positions at the exact time we look like we could be making progress. (Examples, CFR and his position on global warming).
2.His inability to make friends. He is known in the Senate as a loner, and has no real friends there.
3. His deliberately undercutting Frist with that gang of 11 thing which, while it didn't do that much harm, did erode Frist's position.
4. His tendency, in unscripted moments, to make inappropriate comments or go off on rants. (See Death Star, jokes about Chelsea Clinton, etc.)
5. His inability to accept blame no matter how much a problem is his responsibility. (See his repeated disparagement of the Christian Coalition, his sour grapes when he lost the SC primary, etc.)
6. His tendency to make coalitions in the Senate with those who are the WORST senators from the other side...Hillary Clinton, Russ Feingold, etc.
8. His naivite on his friendship with the press. He is certainly in for a surprise should he get the nomination, because the press will dump him in a New York minute and immediately start hitting him with his personal life, his history with the Keating Five, his health, and all of the "off the record" comments he made in that "Straight Talk Express" bus.
I will vote for McCain should he get the nomination. My hope is that he would be surrounded by people who would declare him unfit for office should he go bonkers.
Hi Miss Marple,
A lot of what you wrote has also given me pause over the years. For me, some of it comes from places where McCain and I don't see eye to eye (CFR, global warming). But a lot of it comes from what I consider to be an almost urgent desire of his to promote comnity, to return us to a time of respectful disagreement. He may be naive about that, but I understand what he's trying to do.
As far as his rants or his temper, this doesn't bother me. Many of our presidents have had awful tempers and from time to time spoke out this way.
But I wouldn't consider anything you posted to be a sign of "backstabbing" or "insanity" as has been proposed by some other people here.
You've well outlined several of McCain's flaws (except for the "loner" thing--given the questionable character of many Senators, perhaps this is a good thing). But for me, his steadfast support for the War on Terror outweighs nearly all of this. I also believe he is one of the GOP's two strongest potential candidates right now.