What’s wrong with bringing up the war and judges?
Those are huge issues.
Why would you insist on purely generic arguments when we have critical times facing the nation and must choose a leader to address them?
Arguing over trivia is a waste of time.
Those are huge issues.
I think the complaint is that those issues have been discussed ad nauseum already. Essentially, McCain's supporters think that he will do well on those issues; his opponents do not trust him.
One major problem with things like ACU ratings is that it's very easy for politicians to boost their ratings with minimal risk by taking positions that they know will win or lose overwhelmingly. It was, to be sure, very gratifying to see Fred Thompson on the right (albeit losing) side of some 99-1 votes, but what's actually more important is how a candidate does on the squeakers.
Trying to change the Senate rules so that it would carry out its Constitutionally-mandated advise-and-consent duties was a squeaker where John McCain gave victory to the enemy. Many judicial posts are still unfilled because of his treachery. While it is true that he's allowed some good judges in, we could likely have gotten them in even without his stabbing us in the back.
Likewise, while John McCain was correct in noting that U.S. strategy was sub-optimal, many of us believe he made those observations not to benefit the U.S., but rather to attack the President. Given that McCain's proposed strategy would have been even worse, I tend to share in such beliefs.