Posted on 10/25/2008 7:18:49 PM PDT by SmithL
Republican nominee John McCain heads into the final week of a historic presidential election beset by a wave of high-profile GOP defections and the second-guessing and recriminations from ostensibly friendly quarters that losing campaigns attract like flies.
McCain still could pull out an upset on a last-minute wave of voter hesitation about Obama, much like Hillary Rodham Clinton came back in New Hampshire after the polls counted her out, but political professionals are putting their bets on McCain going back to Phoenix, not rising like one.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell's broadside on Sunday was only the first of the recent GOP defections. The latest arrived Friday from former Republican Gov. William Weld of Massachusetts, who had endorsed former Gov. Mitt Romney over McCain in the GOP primary. Now Weld endorses Obama, calling the Democrat "a once-in-a-lifetime candidate who will transform our politics and restore America's standing in the world."
On Thursday, former Republican Gov. Arne Carlson of Minnesota endorsed Obama and ripped McCain in an essay for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Carlson said he saw in the Democrat "a remarkably disciplined and focused leader who has the potential to become a truly great president."
Just as striking as the tone of the GOP endorsements for Obama was the noticeable chill coming from the state parties in such McCain must-win states as Virginia and Florida.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, whom McCain considered and rejected as his running mate, said he had not appeared in any McCain ads because he wasn't asked. Reports aired that the state GOP is saving some of its war chest for the next election cycle. Similar tensions between the McCain campaign and the state party have surfaced in Virginia.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I was just reflecting today how the Virginia GOP is nearly useless. I have yet to see one sign for Jim Gilmore...
After the Sen. Allen's "Macaca Meltdown," the only guy with future promise seems to be Rep. Eric Cantor.
I am not going to lament the retirement of Sen. John Warner.
I spent today working at GOP HQS in Mobile and you cannot imagine the anger everyday folks have towards the media....and they keep publishing horses&*t like this and all it’s doing is moving them closer to their demise!
One has to wonder how these defectors will try to reestablish themselves after they find themselves out in the cold when McCain Palin win.
There are RINOS left to the left of Juan?
There’s no news in the truth and no truth in the news.
My wife and I were talking about this this afternoon. All the news reports (even FOX now) are so negative, so demoralizing. My wife was saying how if they would just stop with the negative “It’s all over” tenor at FOX, maybe Republican voters wouldn’t feel like it’s a lost cause. I replied that maybe this is exactly the strategy.
It is my belief that more Republican voters are aware of issues, knowledgeable about the candidates, aware of what’s at stake than the Democrats (think of who comprises their base—no demeaning intended, but how many college kids, lower-class, unemployed, under-educated folks make up the Democrat constituency?)
Anyway, by airing over and over the absolute overwhelming onslaught against sanity revealed in the polling data, it just may be the tonic to motivate EVERY LAST REPUBLICAN-VOTER in the nation to get up out of their seats, march over to the voting booth, draw back the curtain and shout, “I’m mad as hell! And I’m not going to take it anymore!” and then pull that lever for Palin and whatshisname...
Just a thought.
Those RINOS come crawling from under the rocks suck and stink.
I just heard one of these sxuzzes on National Pubic radio today - a wise guy who was a speechwriter-turned-columnist lackey for Bush 41 - praising Obama to the skies for his “style” and ability to shuffle and jive.
EXACTLY!
Let us show that we stand for fiscal integrity and sound money and above all for an end to deficit spending, with ultimate retirement of the national debt.
Let us also include a permanent limit on the percentage of the people’s earnings government can take without their consent.
Let our banner proclaim a genuine tax reform that will begin by simplifying the income tax so that workers can compute their obligation without having to employ legal help.
And let it provide indexing—adjusting the brackets to the cost of living—so that an increase in salary merely to keep pace with inflation does not move the taxpayer into a surtax bracket. Failure to provide this means an increase in government’s share and would make the worker worse off than he was before he got the raise.
Let our banner proclaim our belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people.
Let us also call for an end to the nit-picking, the harassment and over-regulation of business and industry which restricts expansion and our ability to compete in world markets.
Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine.
Our banner must recognize the responsibility of government to protect the law-abiding, holding those who commit misdeeds personally accountable.
And we must make it plain to international adventurers that our love of peace stops short of “peace at any price.” We will maintain whatever level of strength is necessary to preserve our free way of life.
A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.
I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view.
And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.
Ronald Reagan, March 1, 1975
to stand athwart history and say “Stop!!!”
THIS IS TOTAL BULL and EVEN THE OBAMA INSIDERS are CONCERNED .... This is nothing more than a ploy to keep people home, guess what OBAMA PEOPLE, this will “NOT” Work.
MCCAIN/PALIN 2008!!!
AP has also!
My exact same thoughts — San Francisco?? No wonder!
Let’s see — Marxist or hero?? Which to choose? Who are these people, and why do they call themselves Republicans?
Carolyn Lochhead has been the San Francisco Chronicle’s Washington corresondent since 1991. Prior to the Chronicle, she wrote for Insight Magazine, as well as newspapers in California and Louisiana. Lochhead holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
I need a barf bag...
"There's a great deal of discontent in the Republican party and among the intellectual, the conservative intellectual elite that has powered the Republican Party since Ronald Reagan."
We are just the yahoos that don't matter. According to Carolyn it's the 'intellectual elite' that decides who gets elected.
Powell may have been SoS but I never really considered him to be a Republican. As for Weld, Carlson etc, they're history, who cares ?
What is news, going largely unreported, is Palin's enormous drawing power at campaign stops. Have to think this will make a difference as state/local media cover them.
I read somewhere that Obama's camp has definitely noticed so we must expect even more negative stories about her. The latest tack seems to be she's "divisive" and "going rogue".
I noticed all the Republicans that defected are “former” Republicans... This article is bogus and is nothing more than biased reporting... How come no mention of Senator Joe Leiberman?
Powell, Weld and Carlson.
These are the typical “Conservatives” McCain thought he could get to support him. Cross the Aisle type.
McCain, you have nine days left.
No more Rodney King Can’t We All Get Along Speeches.
Hammer the one for his Socialism, hammer him for his Racism(Wright), and hammer him for his plans for slicing and dicing the military while at war.
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