Today's Article
All in all, John
McCain simply is
too reasonable for
current GOP leaders
to take to their
hearts.
McCain simply is
too reasonable for
current GOP leaders
to take to their
hearts.
The American Spark
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McCain's Problem
By Cliff Montgomery - Apr. 3rd, 2008
Senator and presumed GOP presidential nominee John McCain (R-AZ) said Wednesday that he's in the
"embryonic stages" of choosing his vice-presidential running mate. McCain hopes to reveal his pick before the
start of the Republican National Convention in September, apparently as a means of improving weak support
for his candidacy.
The Arizona senator told reporters he's considering "every name imaginable." His running mate list currently
contains about 20 names.
But McCain would not say whom he has considered. He in fact even refused to identify those who are aiding
him in making this choice.
There has been the usual early speculation on who would make a good running mate for the senator. Among
those thought by many to be in the running had been McCain's most prominent former competitors for the
Republican presidential nomination.
Many have mentioned former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as a good choice. Presumably he may
convince many on the radical Christian Right to actively support the McCain ticket.
A number of sitting GOP governors also have been mentioned--Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty and Florida's
Charlie Crist among them.
But perhaps McCain's biggest hurdle to the White House is the simple fact that, however much he tries, he
probably will remain too much of a mismatch with the current Republican leadership.
Despite his obvious misunderstanding of the Iraq mess, John McCain is still too reasonable for the lunatic
religious fringe now filling Republican Party ranks to take to their hearts, and still far too fair-minded and
concerned for democracy to be a favorite of America's would-be corporate masters.
For sheer lust of higher office, McCain has made a half-hearted pretense of being a neo-conservative--at the
very moment in which that decades-long threat to freedom apparently has run its disastrous course.
By 2000, Republican leadership already had to masquerade a barely-known George W. Bush as a
"compassionate conservative" just to have a chance at the White House. The majority of Americans won't be
so gullible in 2008.
The GOP was a once-great political party. But it has been reduced by an inept, radical Right-Wing leadership
into a socially bankrupt edifice which can only elicit love from the corporate boardroom and the Deep South.
That's not enough to win national elections anymore.
The final result of such hubris? A somewhat independent-minded politician is unconvincingly pretending to be
a rabid ideologue to appeal to a group of right-wing lunatics who will never accept him. But these very labors
are making this politician seem far too right-wing for the vast majority of Americans to ever embrace him as
president.
McCain's best hope in the 2008 presidential race may be the almost routine political incompetence of the
Democratic Party. Will it once again find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of a near-certain victory? The
Arizona senator's presidential dream may ride on it.
Like what you're reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of the The American Spark
e-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be
delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!
By Cliff Montgomery - Apr. 3rd, 2008
Senator and presumed GOP presidential nominee John McCain (R-AZ) said Wednesday that he's in the
"embryonic stages" of choosing his vice-presidential running mate. McCain hopes to reveal his pick before the
start of the Republican National Convention in September, apparently as a means of improving weak support
for his candidacy.
The Arizona senator told reporters he's considering "every name imaginable." His running mate list currently
contains about 20 names.
But McCain would not say whom he has considered. He in fact even refused to identify those who are aiding
him in making this choice.
There has been the usual early speculation on who would make a good running mate for the senator. Among
those thought by many to be in the running had been McCain's most prominent former competitors for the
Republican presidential nomination.
Many have mentioned former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as a good choice. Presumably he may
convince many on the radical Christian Right to actively support the McCain ticket.
A number of sitting GOP governors also have been mentioned--Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty and Florida's
Charlie Crist among them.
But perhaps McCain's biggest hurdle to the White House is the simple fact that, however much he tries, he
probably will remain too much of a mismatch with the current Republican leadership.
Despite his obvious misunderstanding of the Iraq mess, John McCain is still too reasonable for the lunatic
religious fringe now filling Republican Party ranks to take to their hearts, and still far too fair-minded and
concerned for democracy to be a favorite of America's would-be corporate masters.
For sheer lust of higher office, McCain has made a half-hearted pretense of being a neo-conservative--at the
very moment in which that decades-long threat to freedom apparently has run its disastrous course.
By 2000, Republican leadership already had to masquerade a barely-known George W. Bush as a
"compassionate conservative" just to have a chance at the White House. The majority of Americans won't be
so gullible in 2008.
The GOP was a once-great political party. But it has been reduced by an inept, radical Right-Wing leadership
into a socially bankrupt edifice which can only elicit love from the corporate boardroom and the Deep South.
That's not enough to win national elections anymore.
The final result of such hubris? A somewhat independent-minded politician is unconvincingly pretending to be
a rabid ideologue to appeal to a group of right-wing lunatics who will never accept him. But these very labors
are making this politician seem far too right-wing for the vast majority of Americans to ever embrace him as
president.
McCain's best hope in the 2008 presidential race may be the almost routine political incompetence of the
Democratic Party. Will it once again find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of a near-certain victory? The
Arizona senator's presidential dream may ride on it.
Like what you're reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of the The American Spark
e-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be
delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!