Coburn and McCain, once "outsiders", now just the Washington establishment.
Posted on 01/27/2008 10:43:45 PM PST by gpapa
WASHINGTON -- You would never realize how big the stakes are in Tuesday's winner-take-all Florida Republican primary if you judged only the behavior of the leading presidential candidates these last few days.
Their final pre-primary debate was bland to the point of apathy. Mitt Romney, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee and even iconoclastic Ron Paul were on their best behavior -- as if oblivious to what the 57 delegates available in Florida could mean to anyone who pulls out a plurality victory.
A win could establish either McCain or Romney as the man to beat in the massive round of Feb. 5 primaries. It could launch Giuliani into a late rush for the nomination, wiping out his weak showing in the earlier contests. And an upset by Huckabee would force an upper revision in his prospects, which have been diminished since he surprised the field in Iowa.
But their televised confrontation in Boca Raton on Thursday was haunted by the spirit of the departed Fred Thompson. It was as if the actor and former senator had left a blanket of boredom behind when he exited the race after finishing third behind McCain and Huckabee in South Carolina.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Sure. Now, everybody loves Fred.
Republicans are waking up to the fact that McCain is our Hillary, Romney is our Obama, and Huckabee is our Edwards. Just like the Democrat race, the GOP race has come down to the broken Washington establishment candidate vs. the outsider advocating change, with a southern populist spoiler who doesn’t know when to drop out thrown in.
Look at McCain’s list of endorsements.
It reads like a Who’s Who of everything that is wrong in Washington.
McCain is the broken Washington Establishment’s candidate.
He has all the endorsements from the pork-barrel Senate, the open-borders governors, and the New York Times and liberal establishment MSM.
Fred, Fred, Fred, we hardly knew ya!
Was the race really that much more lively when Fred was in?
Ultra conservative Senator Tom Coburn has endorsed John McCain. Coburn is a spending and tax reform hawk.
And Romney is still running as the GOP chameleon. LOL
It’s a down raht cryen’ sharme
:(
Exactly.
Romney won that debate hands down.
Without Fred Thompson, the rest are free to dissolve into the amorphous goo of political gamesmanship. Fred Thompson's echo of true conservative principles has been left behind as they offer their shallow and pithy cooing to woo the masses.
I am sure Broder was going to endorse him .
Zzzzzzz.
Every race gets “boring” as the candidate field is pared down, especially when they’re as large as on the Democrat side in 2004 and our side now in 2008.
Besides, the race isn’t about excitement. It’s about the best candidate. Luckily for us, Romney has always been a fairly strong candidate.
We could be in far worse position here, folks.
Great post.
MMmmmm. Urrrgghhh. Uuggghghhhg.
Agreed.
(There, I said it. Flame suit on!)
No flames here, but I won’t pretend to be excited over Romney.
Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.)
Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.)
Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.)
Sen. Susan Collins (Maine)
Sen. Pete Domenici (N.M.)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.)
Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.)
Sen. Mel Martinez (Fla.)
Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.)
Sen. Gordon Smith (Ore.)
Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine)
Sen. John Thune (S.D.)
Sen. John Warner (Va.)
The entire open-borders crowd is behind McCain.
Thought you might like this one.
"Repeatedly, he emphasized that the only reason he saw to run was to raise issues that the other candidates were too timid to address."
If that is true, he accomplished his goal.
Interesting...and true.
Excellent insight.
I’m still mourning...
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