John McCain makes a play for Latino voters on patriotism.
John McCain is in an interesting period. But not an especially good period. Today, as yesterday, when they were both in New Mexico, the Arizona senator showed the obvious, that he will contest the Mountain West with Barack Obama. He gave a speech in Denver, where he somewhat defensively began with talking about the spirit of youth carrying on in America, notwithstanding the fact that it is now an old country. Funny, I can think of some countries whose citizens still view America as a very young country. (Incidentally, I’m hearing a cable news host in the background talking knowingly about the West and repeatedly mispronouncing “Nevada.”)
McCain’s speech, on stopping nuclear proliferation — can you say “Iran,” Barack? — was interrupted four times by anti-war protesters — and was not one of his better performances.
On Monday, not long after I praised him to the skies in my Memorial Day column, McCain was in Albuquerque where he declared that Obama “has wanted to surrender for a long time” in Iraq.
Aside from the fact that that sounds a lot more like the Dick Cheney of 2008 than the John McCain of 2000, it’s not the sort of thing you say on Memorial Day. Clearly, McCain and Obama disagree about Iraq. McCain supported the war from the get-go; Obama opposed it. To his credit, when McCain saw that the early forecasts about Iraq were, not to put too fine a point on it, flat wrong, he urged a different approach. Which has met with some notable success, though nowhere near ultimate to date.
Incidentally, with McCain having floated January 2013 as the date by which most US troops will be out of Iraq and those left in-country will not be engaged in combat operations, perhaps he and Obama don’t differ so much as either would have us believe.
Last Thursday, I followed McCain around as he campaigned in California. He was not an ebullient figure. The Vietnam War hero spoke condescendingly about the tyro Illinois senator, repeatedly describing him as a very young and very inexperienced man who had no standing to criticize him for his views on veterans affairs, since Obama “never bothered to serve.” Here he was referring to Obama’s rather cheeky criticisms of McCain for opposing Virginia Senator Jim Webb’s new GI bill, which would increase educational benefits for veterans. Webb, a former Navy secretary described by many as the best Marine company commander of the Vietnam War, saw his bill — backed by Obama — pass the Senate on a bipartisan 75-23 vote.
McCain says he opposes the Webb bill because granting the benefits too soon would discourage service personnel from continuing their tenures, thus depriving the Armed Forces of needed non-commissioned officer cadre. Webb’s view is that the benefits are owed to veterans for serving throughout a very long war, and to make sure that the military can get the highest quality volunteers. Standards have recently been dropped to maintain recruitment quotas.
John McCain is very much in this race, as the Democrats may end up with too exotic a candidate, even in this bad year for Republicans — Obama is clearly an exotic figure, and Hillary Clinton, in the unlikely event she were to somehow become the nominee, is also exotic and carries historic amounts of baggage — but he seems off-key to me.
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27 Comments
1. Ann:He’s becoming a bore.
May 27, 2008 - 4:09 pm 2. Jonas Blane:That’s not a good ad.
May 27, 2008 - 4:13 pm 3. Capitol Boy:McCain sounds almost hysterical. He wants to “surrender” a year or two later than Barack.
May 27, 2008 - 4:25 pm 4. Ann:lol
May 27, 2008 - 4:31 pm 5. Len:He’s not the man he used to be.
May 27, 2008 - 4:35 pm 6. Bill Bradley:Who is?
May 27, 2008 - 4:46 pm 7. Bill Bradley:Perhaps.
>Ann:
lol
May 27, 2008 - 4:46 pm 8. Bill Bradley:May 27, 2008 - 4:31 pm
Unless what they are saying with any semantic content is irrelevant, their positions are actually not all that far apart.
>Capitol Boy:
McCain sounds almost hysterical. He wants to “surrender” a year or two later than Barack.
May 27, 2008 - 4:47 pm 9. Bill Bradley:May 27, 2008 - 4:25 pm
It’s a stretch.
>Jonas Blane:
That’s not a good ad.
May 27, 2008 - 4:48 pm 10. Bill Bradley:May 27, 2008 - 4:13 pm
Not the word I would use.
>Ann:
He’s becoming a bore.
May 27, 2008 - 4:48 pm 11. Chris M:May 27, 2008 - 4:09 pm
Not that Obama is error-free, but he has shone in comparison to both Clinton and McCain as a steady, disciplined, composed campaigner.
May 27, 2008 - 5:02 pm 12. Brasky:Republicans are running the Bush 2004 playbook in 2008 for McCain. That’s a losing proposition.
You wouldn’t use a 1981 49er playbook for the 2007 Giants. It just doesn’t work.
These guys need to think outside the (Bush) bubble.
May 27, 2008 - 5:15 pm 13. Brasky:To paraphrase West Wing, “Let McCain be McCain” is the only way Republicans win this year. Their candidate is stronger than their party positions and standing, but they’re campaigning from the opposite side of the looking glass. Reminds me of 2005…and I hear Murphy is coming back…this could be great for Democrats.
If they’re going to be this dim, maybe they could make a floor fight at convention and get Meat Romney nominated. I mean, that’s who they really want, right?
May 27, 2008 - 5:20 pm 14. marcus:Well, we don’t want America to lose. Do we?
May 27, 2008 - 6:00 pm 15. marcus waldron:We lost it at the start.
May 27, 2008 - 7:57 pm 16. Hattie Caraway:I wonder if Senator Clinton could simply engineer a convention floor fight and force Obama to take her as vice-president even if he personally picks someone else.
May 27, 2008 - 10:03 pm 17. Jonas Blane:What video today?
May 28, 2008 - 6:38 am 18. Bill Bradley:Rovian video.
May 28, 2008 - 7:56 am 19. Bill Bradley:Since Hillary has a minority of the delegates, she would have to get Obama delegates to go against the will of Obama and install her as vice president.
Not happening.
>Hattie Caraway:
I wonder if Senator Clinton could simply engineer a convention floor fight and force Obama to take her as vice-president even if he personally picks someone else.
May 28, 2008 - 7:57 am 20. Bill Bradley:May 27, 2008 - 10:03 pm
Perhaps.
>marcus waldron:
We lost it at the start.
May 28, 2008 - 7:57 am 21. Bill Bradley:May 27, 2008 - 7:57 pm
We don’t want America to lose.
But what constitutes victory?
>marcus:
Well, we don’t want America to lose. Do we?
May 28, 2008 - 7:58 am 22. Bill Bradley:May 27, 2008 - 6:00 pm
“Let Bartlett be Bartlett.” I like it.
It may be, incidentally, that Mike Murphy has some good ideas this time around …
>Brasky:
To paraphrase West Wing, “Let McCain be McCain” is the only way Republicans win this year. Their candidate is stronger than their party positions and standing, but they’re campaigning from the opposite side of the looking glass. Reminds me of 2005…and I hear Murphy is coming back…this could be great for Democrats.
If they’re going to be this dim, maybe they could make a floor fight at convention and get Meat Romney nominated. I mean, that’s who they really want, right?
May 28, 2008 - 7:59 am 23. Bill Bradley:May 27, 2008 - 5:20 pm
To a degree. But remember that Bush himself stepped all over McCain’s independent speech with the appeasement stuff.
>Brasky:
Republicans are running the Bush 2004 playbook in 2008 for McCain. That’s a losing proposition.
You wouldn’t use a 1981 49er playbook for the 2007 Giants. It just doesn’t work.
These guys need to think outside the (Bush) bubble.
May 28, 2008 - 8:00 am 24. Bill Bradley:May 27, 2008 - 5:15 pm
… Incidentally, I like the 1994 49ers playbook. Try stopping that offense.
May 28, 2008 - 8:01 am 25. Bill Bradley:Obama has survived and thrived amidst challenges that have sunk very capable and far more experienced candidates than he.
>Chris M:
Not that Obama is error-free, but he has shone in comparison to both Clinton and McCain as a steady, disciplined, composed campaigner.
May 28, 2008 - 8:02 am 26. Brasky:May 27, 2008 - 5:02 pm
“… Incidentally, I like the 1994 49ers playbook. Try stopping that offense. ”
Agreed, but you wouldn’t run it with a team heavy with run blockers and four backs. reeps are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and it ain’t happening.
RE Mike Murphy having any good ideas this time, even a broken clock is right twice a day.
May 28, 2008 - 9:20 am 27. Bill Bradley:Murphy is actually a very bright guy. The whole 2005 agenda with Arnold, that was a unique situation. I will write about it after Arnold’s governorship …
May 28, 2008 - 12:40 pm