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McCain Inc.? (The New Republican Hope?)
Washington Post ^ | 14 December 2006 | Robert D. Novak

Posted on 12/14/2006 7:54:50 AM PST by shrinkermd

Some 30 invited corporate representatives and other lobbyists gathered at the Phoenix Park Hotel on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to hear two senior mainstream Republican senators pitch the 2008 presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain. They were selling him to establishment Republicans as the establishment's candidate. Nothing could be further from McCain's guerrilla-style presidential run in 2000, which nearly stopped George W. Bush.

Invitations to Tuesday's event were sent by Trent Lott, the newly elected Senate minority whip. Over coffee, Lott and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) pushed McCain, though neither previously was seen as a McCainiac. They were not for McCain in 2000, and neither were the assembled party activists.

It is beginning to look like "McCain Inc." -- that is, party regulars, corporate officials and Washington lawyers and lobbyists moving toward John McCain, the man they feared and loathed eight years ago. The GOP, abhorring competition and detesting surprises, likes to establish its presidential nominee well in advance.

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


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: hope; mccain; pubbie
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To: OB1kNOb

McCain generally polls the best out all Republican candidates in head-to-head matchups against Hillary.

What evidence do you have the McCain would lose, other than you don't like the guy?

Now, a President McCain may not give us all of the policy we want, but that is a question distinct from whether he can win. All of the evidence today suggests he can.


21 posted on 12/14/2006 8:10:17 AM PST by JHBowden (President Giuliani in 2008! Law and Order. Solid Judges. Free Markets. Killing Terrorists.)
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To: OB1kNOb

Wrong. You get "less evil."

You want "more evil?" Just stay home and don't vote. You will get "more evil."


22 posted on 12/14/2006 8:11:13 AM PST by TSchmereL ("Rust but terrify.")
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To: shrinkermd

A longstanding and proud member of Straight Talk America, I joined his exploratory venue the day it was founded. I sincerely hope he is the nominee and the eventual president...had he won in 2000, I am firmly convinced that the current debacle ongoing in the GWOT would not have happened because "Shock and Awe" would have been supported by more than 1M kick-ass combat troops on the ground; Bin Laden as well as Saddam would be long forgotten executed ogres, and Iran and N. Korea would be scrapping plans for any nuke tests!


23 posted on 12/14/2006 8:11:44 AM PST by meandog (If it feels good, don't do it!)
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To: TSchmereL

Voting Mcpain IS electing a RAT, so what's the difference?


24 posted on 12/14/2006 8:12:50 AM PST by Nathan Zachary
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To: lowbridge

You vote in elections to maximize the good and minimize the evil.

You do not vote to minimize the good and maximize the evil.

If you're voting for a candidate that will give you 80% of what you want, then your vote isn't a vote for evil, unless you consider anything less than 100% issue purity to be evil. And that would make almost all of our candidates from Brownback to Hunter to Newt and so forth evil.

Moreover, the office you're voting for counts for something. A person who has a crappy views on foreign policy can still be a good choice in a local election since foreign policy views don't matter there. While in a national election for president foreign policy is the single most important issue.


25 posted on 12/14/2006 8:14:49 AM PST by JHBowden (President Giuliani in 2008! Law and Order. Solid Judges. Free Markets. Killing Terrorists.)
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To: shrinkermd

Some insertions of reality into the discussion:

1) McCain campaigned for President Bush in the 2004 election; and if he hadn't, Bush may not have made it. McCain also raised millions of dollars for the Republicans in that election.

2) In the 2006 Congressional election, McCain raised about ten million dollars for the Republicans. He emphatically supported conservatives such as Ken Blackwell in Ohio and raised money for their campaigns.

That counts for something, especially with the national Republican organization.

It is not just the money raised - and the possibility of a great deal more of it down the line - but the factor of loyalty to someone who has helped others politically; and who has the ability through name recognition and war record to be able to win - and thus help others on the ticket win.

McCain has also unequivocally supported the American mission and our men and women in Iraq.


26 posted on 12/14/2006 8:15:42 AM PST by mtntop3
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To: Nathan Zachary

The difference is between bad and worse.

You want worse? Fine, just say so.

Support whomever you want in the primary. I will support someone other than McCain.

But if McCain is nominated, I am voting for him. By doing so, I am voting against something worse.


27 posted on 12/14/2006 8:16:09 AM PST by TSchmereL ("Rust but terrify.")
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To: shrinkermd

McCain is a first class jerk and if he runs it will all come out. However, at his age, he may not be around in 2008 with his history of melanoma.


28 posted on 12/14/2006 8:16:29 AM PST by hgro
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To: TSchmereL
By not voting, you are electing the Democrat candidate

By showing utter contempt for their base, the Republicans are exhibiting a death wish. Don't blame the base - blame the power brokers

29 posted on 12/14/2006 8:17:58 AM PST by don-o (Proudly posting without reading the thread since 1998. (stolen from one cool dude))
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To: JHBowden

McCain couldn't even win the GOP nomination in 2004 without self-destructing. You honestly expect him to win the Presidency in 2008? If this is the best the GOP can offer, then they are forfeiting the next election. This type of rational (i.e. that the dhimmis can't win back control of Congress, or Hitlery or Obama can't win the Presidency) is what lost the GOP the November elections.


30 posted on 12/14/2006 8:19:08 AM PST by OB1kNOb (This is no time for bleeding hearts, pacifists, and appeasers to prevail in free world opinion.)
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To: shrinkermd
I really feel I should have an amendment to my reply #8. I should have attached a sarc tag on that one.

I would not call him incompetent as in Jimmah incompetent, I just do not like how this man plays the political game.
31 posted on 12/14/2006 8:19:41 AM PST by Kimmers
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To: don-o

How can people who refuse to vote Republican be considered the base?

Is this "base" the same group of people who sat home and watched Talent, Allen, Santorum, and other "RINOs" lose?


32 posted on 12/14/2006 8:20:05 AM PST by JHBowden (President Giuliani in 2008! Law and Order. Solid Judges. Free Markets. Killing Terrorists.)
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To: OB1kNOb

McCain didn't run in 2004. He was supporting President Bush and the Republicans 100%.

Goldwater always warned us social conservatives would stab us in the back in the end, and I fear he was right.


33 posted on 12/14/2006 8:21:40 AM PST by JHBowden (President Giuliani in 2008! Law and Order. Solid Judges. Free Markets. Killing Terrorists.)
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To: TSchmereL

What a self-fulfilling prophetical defeatist attitude. Vote for the lesser evil. Why not work to change it by getting a candidate that represents good conservative principles, or are there just none remaining?


34 posted on 12/14/2006 8:23:01 AM PST by OB1kNOb (This is no time for bleeding hearts, pacifists, and appeasers to prevail in free world opinion.)
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To: shrinkermd
2008?
The only person who can beat Clinton is Dick Cheney.
I know, I know...he said he's not running...
but people do change their minds.
35 posted on 12/14/2006 8:24:19 AM PST by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots. Semper Fi)
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To: OB1kNOb

Sometimes when you vote for Katherine Harris, you send Bill Nelson to Damascus.


36 posted on 12/14/2006 8:26:09 AM PST by JHBowden (President Giuliani in 2008! Law and Order. Solid Judges. Free Markets. Killing Terrorists.)
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To: don-o
"By showing utter contempt for their base, the Republicans are exhibiting a death wish. Don't blame the base - blame the power brokers"

Precisely. And I'm not putting up with it anymore. As far as "more evil vs less evil", what a load. It's all evil. There is no point delaying what will become evident. The sooner this country goes down the toilet the better, maybe then people will smarten up and realize what's going on in the world.

37 posted on 12/14/2006 8:27:17 AM PST by Nathan Zachary
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To: shrinkermd
The only thing I like about McCain is that his voice reminds me of Vincent Van Gopher from Deputy Dawg...
38 posted on 12/14/2006 8:28:35 AM PST by Solamente (Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out...)
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To: JHBowden
If you're voting for a candidate that will give you 80% of what you want, then your vote isn't a vote for evil, unless you consider anything less than 100% issue purity to be evil.

I dont expect my candidates to mirror my views 100 percent of the time (though admittedly that would be nice). I realize that can be practically impossible. I've had a few disagreements with even Reagan.

But, that aside, there are many other people who are more ideologically pure than McCain, not nearly as unpredictable (and alot less wacky).

39 posted on 12/14/2006 8:31:10 AM PST by lowbridge
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To: OB1kNOb
McCain couldn't even win the GOP nomination in 2004 without self-destructing. You honestly expect him to win the Presidency in 2008? If this is the best the GOP can offer, then they are forfeiting the next election. This type of rational (i.e. that the dhimmis can't win back control of Congress, or Hitlery or Obama can't win the Presidency) is what lost the GOP the November elections.

Ditto.

40 posted on 12/14/2006 8:33:00 AM PST by lowbridge
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