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.
Why is it that McCain has to apologize? Why can't Cunninham back off a bit? After all, he's the one who did the "saying" that led to this tempest in a teapot.
Or is Cunninham just another narcissistic talk show host who thinks he needn't consider the consequences of what he says?
“What was Cunningham’s crime that required the level of rebuke he got from McCain...”
The McCain boosters are conveniently forgetting that McCain’s people INVITED Cunningham to introduce him, told him to get the crowd fired up with red meat, and then when the MSM took exception to Cunningham’s statements, threw him under the bus.
And, in the process of throwing Cunningham overboard, McCain compounded his error by saying that Obama is “an honorable American,” has integrity and is honest. That stupidity gives the media an opening to call McCain a flipflopper even when he tries to attack Obama on legitimate issues. (”You say Senator Obama is being disingenuous about the war in Iraq, Senator McCain? But didn’t you say he was honest and had integrity? How do you reconcile those two statements, Senator?”) McCain is systematically disarming himself before the battle is even begun.
This is another case of McCain’s repeated pattern of sucking up to his enemies while dissing his friends, and it will be his undoing.
I also looked up some numbers for Ohio. In 2004 there were 5,722,443 votes cast. The winning difference for the President was about 118,000 votes, just a little over 2% of the votes cast. IOW, McCain can’t afford to lose any votes in Ohio.
How about McCain just wiping off the look of disgust, like he just stepped in dog crap, when he speaks to a conservative.
Possibly, roses of sharon...
Do you really think that McNasty can win without the base? I don’t think he can. But he’s sure playin’ it like he can!
And McCain will work very closely with his "friend", the new President, to sponsor and pass liberal laws just like he did with his "friends" Kennedy, Feingold, Lieberman, Edwards, etc.
Cunningham jumped because McCain’s rebuke, if you look at the text of it, accused Cunningham of reprehensible behavior.
McCain went way overboard in his attack on someone who was trying to help him out.
It would’ve been better to have said in a light tone, “Well, Bill and I disagree on using the Hussein middle name, but we’re both conservatives and on the same team. I realize he was warming up a crowd for a political event.”
Still, my heart is damn near outvoting my brain, and the phrase "teach them a lesson" is struggling to force it's way up my throat. Attacking Willie in Ohio is about the stupidest thing McCain has done yet, and IS going to lose him votes, if only because if he can't keep his temper with those IN his party, he's going to give some the impression that he is too volitile to deal with foreign leaders without "going off".
Thanks, Lady. Outstanding post and stats.
Brilliant move on the campaign’s part starting a rally with a “narcissistic talk show host who thinks he needn’t consider the consequences of what he says?”
The consequences are that Cunninham probably will get a national talk show now and McCain will lose even more supporters.
And the McCain people really stepped on their own crank. They had to know what he was going to say.
They are either ignorant or cynically pulling a Sister Solja, which the Maverick did not need to do.
AMEN!! My thoughts exactly!!
No, jveritas! We want him to withdraw from the race—with honor!
That would be a good plan if Huck were a conservative.
see #83
There are locals who were there when McCain’s people made the “red meat” request. They heard it, and the local papers are reporting that these folks stand beside Cunningham’s report of what he was asked to do.
Using a guy’s middle name is hardly a crime, so I’d call what Cunningham said more like “medium with a pink center.” It wasn’t over-the-top at all, and isn’t what I think of as “red meat.”
I don't know that you can do any real electoral calculus based on this incident. Which votes will he lose? The "pout in the corner conservative" vote? Would he have gotten it anyway? Will this actually lose him votes?
By the same token, how many votes might he gain from the undecideds, by setting himself apart from "talk radio conservatives?" How many votes might he steal from Obama?
My guess is that it probably helped McCain more than it hurt him. And I don't know that it actually hurts him even among conservatives. For example, I'm a conservative who has come to loathe conservative talk radio, as it tends to actively discourage any actual intellectual engagemement with serious issues. I'm kinda glad to see the loudmouths get slapped down now and again.
Well, let’s not jump the gun, roses! McClintock couldn’t carry CA in a Presidential election, so let’s not get carried away. McClintock is not a charismatic guy. He’s THE most solid conservative in the CA legislature, but he’s lost at least twice running for office in CA. I love the guy, don’t get me wrong. He’s to the right of Bilbray and other conservatives in So. Cal. He’s no McCainite!
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