Centerfield

The Mac is Back!?!

I found myself giddy after reading this. I have been looking to support the John McCain of 2000, only to find a tired old pol propped up by a Karl Rove-like political campaign... you know, the kind that called him a traitor against his own country, and accused him of fathering a black child out of wedlock in South Carolina.

The media has been wrong all along about McCain. They said Kerry was dead in 2004, and Bob Dole was dead in 1996, and Clinton was dead in 1992, and Reagan was dead in 1980, etc., etc... and it was a broke enough to fly commercial, finally see the light, fire everybody in sight type of turn around that sparked their paths to the nomination. What is that Richard Nixon once said about not being able to see how truly magnificent it is on the highest mountain, until you have been in the lowest valley?

Furthermore, they are also wrong about the issues. It isn't the Iraq War that killed McCain. In fact, it probably helped with Republicans, and although general election voters probably disagree, I am willing to bet that most independents found McCain's stance courageous. I did.

This was about immigration, and if Bush had the poll numbers to make the party faithful hold their nose as they did with "No Child Left Behind" and the Medicare bill, it wouldn't have mattered. McCain's problem is that he has been doing his best to get in the good graces of a failed President since he lost South Carolina in 2000. Don't get me wrong, I support McCain-Kennedy, but the Senator was doing the President's bidding without the political capital to do so. His effort was a profile in courage, but the political landscape was wrong. It was the right position, at the wrong moment in history. However, there is time.

General Patreus may give McCain yet another chance to show unwavering support for the cause in September, and IMO this helps with the party base. McCain's best answers in the debates have been about men and women in uniform. He is going to get another shot at it in New Hampshire on September 17th, and I have a hunch the You Tube format actually helps McCain which is why he isn't ducking the challenge like Romney and Giuliani.

Furthermore, the Republican Party is lost. There is a reason that "none of the above" is leading in the polls." The average Republican is bored with its own leadership, which leaves McCain an opening to do what he does best by lecturing those in his own party. It is time he start talking about what is wrong with George W. Bush, and stop talking about where he agrees with him.

The difference between now and 2000 is that most Republicans agree with McCain that the party has lost its way, and they are longing for the small government, budget hawk, strong defense, free trade rhetoric of Ronald Reagan. Nobody produces that better then Barry Goldwater's predecessor.

There are no rose colored glasses here. It is a long shot, but a reasonable one. That been said, I am glad the Senator has gotten some spring back in his step, and at least there is a reason to watch with some interest.