Next Pres: Not McCain

I can get pissed off at the performance by some of the Democratic front runners. To cool off, I shift my razor like focus to the Republicans, and guffaw.

To win the GOP nomination, a candidate must focus on the 26% of the population still loyal to W. That of course is the batshit portion of the population, and to connect with them one has to disconnect from reality, a task for which the current group of candidates is remarkably well suited. In the GOP, today's front runner is always tomorrow's loser - as soon as the press focuses on a candidate, rational Republicans cringe at what they see.

McCain seems to be next in line for the guillotine. He has not won among Republican voters anywhere yet. His only victories have been in states where independents are allowed to vote in the primary, and there are not many such states still to come.

But even if he were to get the nod, he'd still lose in November.  His recovery from his near death experience in the race can only be attributed to the fact that he is running against losers. He did get a temporary surge from the supposed success of the other surge.  Since the success in Iraq is illusory, so too will be his surge.  To date in January 23 of our soldiers have been killed. Our worsening economy will make the billions wasted seem ever more inexcusable. The disastrous cost/benefit ration will only be increasingly obvious to all.

Whether or not we are in a recession, we have hit a very rough patch, and McCain, cheerfully and charmingly, admits he hasn't a clue what to do about it. A few recent statements by McCain will be as nails in the coffin of his candidacy:

"People talk about a stimulus package. Fine, if that's what we want to come up with. But stop the spending first."

"Every time we have cut taxes we have increased revenues.

“The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” he says. “I’ve got Greenspan’s book.”

They'll be no reincarnation as President for Senator McCain. At its best, politics is a high wire act between a devotion to principle and a need for compromise -McCain fell off the wire and there is no net.

(memeorandum)

Comments

[Rick]

Former President Clinton owes his current status and earning ability to H. Ross Perot, as he never had the support of the majority of Americans. So, if one is able to discount that fact with an ounce of intellectual honesty, it has been decades since the dems have put up a candidate that can be elected. So you got that goin' for you. This field is typical. You may like the top two candidates personally, but they are both fatally flawed and not electable.

[bbbustard]

And G.W. Bush owes his current status to R. Nader, H. Chad and A. Scalia?
R.Reagan won his first election with fifty point something. At this time of year it's normal that an obsession with the statistics of the game (politics or football) takes the place of rational thought.
On the other hand you might be right that Obama and Clinton may be too "liberal" to win. If so, more's the pity.
How do you reconcile your party's dominance for decades with what you see as the decline of America for decades?

[Rick]

Florida is the gift that keeps on giving. I love it so. The Florida Supreme Court overturned Florida election law. The USSC recognized this and warned them first then correctly reversed their error. That aside, the myriad of counts that would follow found that Gore never won under any scenario. He does have a distinct place in history though. He is the first Presidential candidate to attempt to overturn an election in the courts. And, while everyone else is peeking at dimpled chads, he is in court trying to have 25,000 military absentee votes tossed. A classy guy! He is becoming a multi billionaire shouting the sky is falling. That's his lot in life.

You do draw an excellent distinction which defines a lot. You view America as declining for decades and I do not.