The "Straight Talk Express" is off the rails.
Posted on 07/11/2007 9:03:39 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Republican Senator John McCain's waning White House bid was rocked Tuesday by the loss of its top two strategists, as they paid the price for shaky fundraising and plunging poll numbers.
News broke that campaign manager Terry Nelson and top consultant John Weaver had quit as McCain was on the floor of the US Senate backing US policy on Iraq -- the issue that has done more than anything to dent his campaign.
Once the presumed Republican establishment front-runner, McCain, a Vietnam war hero, is now short of cash, alienated from many key conservative voters and facing questions over whether his 2008 crusade is about to fall apart.
"Every campaign has ups and downs ... I am very happy with where the campaign is," he told a crush of reporters on Capitol Hill.
McCain has tied his White House bid to President George W. Bush's unpopular troop surge strategy in Iraq, warning that an early withdrawal would be tantamount to handing the country over to Al-Qaeda.
He also dismayed many conservatives key to the Republican race by backing Bush's immigration reform drive which collapsed in the Senate last month, killed off by opponents who branded it an "amnesty" for illegal workers.
McCain has failed to recreate the maverick spirit of his plain-spoken 2000 campaign for the Republican nomination, where he gave eventual nominee George W. Bush a serious run for his money.
Slumping in opinion polls, the 70-year-old Arizona senator was left with only two million dollars in the bank after a limp second-quarter 2007 fundraising drive which wound up last week.
In total this year, he has raised around 24 million dollars, but aides admitted last week they had assembled a bloated operation that was spending money as fast as it could raise it.
Nelson, who some reports said was fired after McCain got back from a trip to Iraq, was already working without pay in a bid to cut costs, after the campaign reportedly fired 50 campaign workers last week.
Recent polls of the Republican field have shown McCain, once the presumed establishment front-runner in the Republican field, shedding support, and trailing former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and ex-governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney.
Both McCain's ex-aides issued statements praising their former boss, and his campaign's chief-executive Rick Davis stepped in as campaign manager.
"This campaign has always been about John McCain and his vision for reducing federal spending, defending traditional values, and winning the war against Islamic extremists," Davis said.
"Today we are moving forward with John's optimistic vision for our country's future."
In a message to supporters late Tuesday, McCain tried to rescue his White House dreams.
"Challenges are nothing new to me. Whether political challenges, physical challenges or even personal challenges -- how you stand up, face them and move forward defines your character and your strength," he said.
An American Research Group poll in early-voting state Iowa between June 26 and 30 published Monday had McCain in fourth place on just 13 percent, behind leader Romney, Giuliani and former senator Fred Thompson, who has yet to formally enter the race.
The same polling firm had McCain third in another crucial early state, New Hampshire, behind Romney and Giuliani.
Shot down as a naval aviator over North Vietnam in 1967, McCain was captured by an angry mob, beaten, bayoneted in the groin, and taken prisoner.
He spent five and a half years as a POW, including two years in solitary confinement in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison.
I don’t think the staff “purge” (if that what it was, and not a mutiny) will make him look like a better investment.
It’s all about his support for amnesty (there’s no other word for it).
The Democrats are going to learn next year that they too were on the wrong side of the Amnesty Bill.
I don’t want a guy who is as obviously hot-headed as he is anywhere near “the button.”
The best thing McCain could do for the republic as a whole and the Republican party in particular would be to retire and let Arizona find a genuine conservative to take his place.
The "Straight Talk Express" is off the rails.
He’s not “on the brink” at all . . . he’s finished.
The big donors are waiting on Thompson and Thompson is waiting for McCain to accept the reality that his campaign is over and drop out.
His king-sized ego won't allow him to do that.
He shot himself down this time with his support of amnesty for the invaders.
I know of men who went through far worse than McCain and NEVER would do a millionth of the damage this vile scum has done to our Republic. When men (and women) who hold elected office willfully participate in the creations of laws and regulations that seriously damage our Republic and our children's futures,then those people deserve not pity, but our scorn. I say good riddance to McCain, and hopefully Lindsay girl.
Our Republic needs leaders who revere our Constitution and desire limited government.
Hey Johnny! You might get a couple of pennies on the dollar for the Straight Talk Express with an Ebay auction.
What happens if McCain throws his support to Thompson?
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Further threads regarding the North American Union topic for today...
Immigration battle line no more
Breaking News.. Second Fatal Shooting At The Border This Week. (Campo, CA) (Vanity)
Opponents of U.S. sovereignty plan to sneak their agenda around Congress
McCrazy’s biggest problem was running as a Republican when he’s in fact a Democrat.
A large chunk of CFR was declared unconstitutional by the SCOTUS about two weeks ago.
But we knew that when McCrazy was touting it, when Congress passed it, and when George Bush signed it.
That’s been obvious to many of us for months.
Fred is McCain’s understudy.
Too bad there are so many inexperienced players who will have to find out the hard way.
Bye bye Puffy.
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