Posted on 02/28/2008 7:00:23 AM PST by xzins
Will the "Willie Effect" Impact the Election?
Some speculate the controversy could cost McCain the White House
By 700WLW News
Thursday, February 28, 2008
( Cincinnati ) -- Some reports claim the on-going controversy involving 700 WLW talk show host Bill Cunningham (Willie Cunningham) and presidential candidate John McCain has the potential to impact the results of the 2008 election.
Ohio is a key state in the presidential election. For Republicans it is essential that they win as much support as possible in southwest Ohio to counter the strong Democratic party support in the Cleveland area.
Political Science professor Jason Johnson from Hiram College spoke to the Cincinnati Enquirer and told them John McCain needs radio talk show listeners and Willie fans to go his way, "John McCain needs those people if he has any hope of winning in November."
With other national talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity rushing to Willie's defense, it widens the rift between the party's conservative base and John McCain even further, at a time when the Republican party has only recently started to solidify around the likely nominee.
Which post is yours?
With his suit with too wide shoulders he reminds me of a cartoon character of a zoot-suiter and Cindy as she sticks to his side of Nurse Ratchet.
McCain has consistantly harrassed and agitated IN PUBLIC, against the President, VP, and the DOD. He made daily runs to Dan Rather and his ilk, instead of going to the President in private, he threatened to run as Kerry’s VP, and said during an election that Kerry would make a good CIC, FGS. He sits on entertainment shows telling Americans that our troops lives were wasted, smiling to applause, he accused the President of lying aboard a aircraft carrier where GWB was welcoming home men who had been at sea over a year, having turned around on 9/11.
He uses leftwing parlance to condemn the CIC during wartime, and has expressed his opinion that we should never have gone to remove Saddam and Sons.
He only of late says he wants to “win”, but the evidence shows that he wants win the Presidency worse. He cannot talk about Iraq without a million caveats about how we shouldn’t be there in the first place.
His heart is with the Dims, and the “world”, and has said as much, he agrees with them on Gitmo and interrogation, and has announced there are lines he will not cross to protect Americans.
As President he will give speeches apologizing for GWB and Iraq, and will take the tone of getting out ASAP.
I have written a few weeks ago, that McCain intends to win the same way that Rudy did....with no official support from conservatives.
He intends to take the Republican Rino base up against Obama's liberal base and compete with him for the moderates/independents.
If he gets a few conservatives, then that's just gravy, but he'll owe them nothing.
If he loses, he still has his Senate seat, which he has not yet stepped down from. Republicans should REQUIRE that a presidential candidate give up any other office. They must require that their campaign be ALL or NOTHING. Without that, you could even have a liberal in disguise intentionally throw an election.
I have read in the local papers that Cunningham did exactly what the McCain crowd asked of him.
There were witnesses.
I doubt if the McCain campaign crowd would ask Cunningham to call Obama a 'hack.'
I didn't attend a Ronald Reagan rally, but I'm sure they were upbeat, and speakers didn't call other candidates 'hacks.'
They told him to whip up the crowd with “red meat.”
Be honest, and tell me if that means pulling out all the stops.
Nonetheless, I don’t think using a rightful middle name or calling someone a “hack” even comes close to what I think of as “red meat.” It’s probably closer to “medium with a pink center.”
Some would consider it to be infant formula.
It surely isn’t “red meat.”
Time between a conservative attempt to help McCain and getting one's teeth kicked in...mere seconds.
Those of us who will not support McCain need to form some kind of action group so that we can still get conservatives to the polls to vote for Senators,congressmen, etc...
“”As it is, McCain is doing everything he can to make it harder to hold your nose and vote for him.””
Throw Cunningham under the bus - poke us in the eye.
Criticize the Tennessee GOP for pointing our that Louis Farrakhan is anti-Semitic and anti-Israel?
Poke us in the eye again.
So if we have to use both hands over our eyes to keep from getting the daily poking, how are we going to be able to hold our noses????
if he’s demanding an apology, he’s just whining.
Sorry, he can call people names all he wants, but McCain has the right to distance himself from petty name-calling. And since McCain didn’t call on Bill to apologize, this really isn’t about Bill at all, it’s about McCain not adopting the childish name-calling that the conservative movement has now too-often adopted in place of serious policy discussion.
Making fun of Barack’s middle name suggests we don’t have any serious issues with him. Since we do, making fun of his name is detracting from our message, and it’s time conservatives figured that out.
And now your talk radio blowhard heroes are urging you to give the election to Obama because they don't like McCain and winning the war is as important to them as yesterdays garbage.
.... and have not returned repeating enemy propaganda, as has McCain. McCain has consistantly harrassed and agitated IN PUBLIC, against the President, VP, and the DOD.
I am speaking about the real McCain and not the McCain of your imagination and the imagination of your talk radio heroes.
The real McCain was championing The Surge that is now winning the war back when Bush and Rumsfeld opposed it along with the Democrats and their liberal media allies.
Go ahead and help Obama win the White House and lose the war for America. That will boost the ratings of your talk radio heroes for the next 4 years and that is what seems to be most important to you.
**********
Obama 13 months ago:
**********
McCain 14 months ago:
**********
It was just broadcast on the news that the Tennessee GOP has been TOLD by the National GOP to stop using Barak Hussein Obama’s MIDDLE NAME!
Exactly right...
Now, what does “red meat” mean to you?
“It was just broadcast on the news that the Tennessee GOP has been TOLD by the National GOP to stop using Barak Hussein Obama’s MIDDLE NAME!”
Officially the wuss party.
I agree in part, but it's still our fault. Why have conservatives reached the point where they clearly hold no serious sway in the party?
It's not because of anything the non-conservatives have done. It's because conservatives have neglected -- perhaps even forgotten how -- to do the work needed to remain the driving force of the party. We've become lazy and complacent ... again, and as usual.
If this campaign season is any indication (and I think it is), conservatives no longer carry any intellectual weight -- we've devolved to campaigning by buzzwords like "gay marriage!" "Amnesty!" "Liberal!" and "RINO!" Those were issues for which conservatives used to be able to offer a reasonable and compelling intellectual justification, but no longer do. It's only buzzwords and name-calling now -- and nobody pays much attention to buzzwords anymore.
To press the point, just look at who leads "conservatism" these days. Talk show hosts who can't reason their way out of a hat; and single-issue zealots who denounce anybody who doesn't agree with their position 100%. It's pathetic.
Oh...you won’t get any argument from me AT ALL about McCain’s issues. If he is the nominee, I will hold my nose and pull the lever for him, same as I would do for Huckabee. My guy was Newt, then Duncan and then Mitt. Now I have no horse in the race, so it’s whomever.
And? Why does "red meat" have to take the form that Cunningham used? Answer: it doesn't.
"Red meat" would much more profitably include something that's actually constructive like ... oh, I don't know ... maybe laying out the serious issues the country will face in the next few years, and why John McCain is the one to address them, rather than Obama or Hillary Clinton.
Campaigning on adult topics is maybe not as fun as name-calling and such ... but maybe it's the sort of thing conservatives might want to get back to doing.
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.