Posted on 07/10/2007 10:03:35 AM PDT by Ghayyour
WASHINGTON - Republican John McCain's top two aides quit his struggling presidential bid on Tuesday, dealing a sharp blow to the Arizona senator and casting the future of his 2008 campaign in doubt.
The campaign announced the resignations of manager Terry Nelson and longtime chief strategist John Weaver while McCain was on the Senate floor defending President George W. Bush's strategy in Iraq.
"I believe that our military in cooperation with Iraqi security forces is making progress in a number of areas. In other areas they are not," McCain said as the Senate launched a new debate on the future of the increasingly unpopular Iraq war.
McCain, who visited Iraq last week, has been Bush's biggest Republican Senate ally on Iraq and on an immigration bill that died last week, costing the one-time front-runner support among both moderates and core Republicans.
McCain announced last week he had raised a disappointing $11.2 million over the past three months, placing him third in the Republican money race and prompting firings and pay cuts in the McCain camp.
He also reported he had a paltry $2 million in cash on hand, prompting a flood of criticism and questions about spending and strategy within his campaign.
McCain started tanking when he defended amnesty for lawbreakers. I don’t think anyone wants to support a candidate who wants to reward criminals.
I was a McCain supporter in 2000. It wasn’t because I didn’t like Bush. I liked McCain better.
Having said that, I’ve grown more and more disenchanted with McCain over the last 8 years.
McCain-Feingold was bad enough. It took a good idea and turned it into an advantage for the Democrats.
His support of the Shamnesty bill was beyond forgiveness though.
That, and his absolute willingness to whore himself in front of the MSM, made him absolutely unpalatable.
My hope is that he drops out soon and goes back to the Senate and tries to get some positive things done.
Amnesty, amnesty, amnesty. I hope politicians (GOP anyway) everywhere are taking note.
Out the door they went....
He's one of the better qualified and successfull consultants out there and is excellent at tailoring campaigns to communicate with moderates.
Is Wesaver one of the individuals going to Fred?
Shamnesty and campaign finance were bad enough - but I’m sick of watching him in thge debates talk about how his compromises with the liberals is some sort of virtue that we should be pleased with.
“He’s one of the better qualified and successfull consultants out there and is excellent at tailoring campaigns to communicate with moderates.”
Ahem, NOT the way to win this particular nomination, IMHO.
We need a CONSERVATIVE.
Don't know, there is going to be some competition for him.
That said, I also don't know the inner personal relationships inside the Thompson campaign to know if they would welcome Weaver in or not.
But Weaver would be a great asset in tailoring campaigns in "blue" states, and is very good at drawing independents, I hope Thompson's people grab him.
What will Vice President Lindsey Graham do now?
Fine, use him for the general election, but sign him up anyway.
FWIW, he tailors campaigns and markets well, the views do not necessarily reflect his own (as has been made clear over and over again several times in his career).
Exactly.
Friday, July 6, 2007
In interview Bettencourt explains switch from McCain to Romney
"It was known for a quite a long time that while I believe McCain is an American hero, I was very upset over his position on immigration," said Bettencourt in his first interview on the situation. "I have a lot of respect for Senator McCain and I wish his campaign well. I just thought Mitt was a better candidate."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.