I note with some degree of satisfaction, McQ saying: [1]
Ed Morrissey brings us his take on the surprise chat [2] between John McCain and Hillary Clinton on yesterday’s Fox News Sunday:
Part of the conservative complaint against McCain is his deference to Democrats while treating conservatives much more harshly. That got put on full display yesterday, as the two exchanged not just pleasantries but assurances that a general-election contest between the two would be “respectful”. Republicans may want someone less inclined to put the gloves on against Hillary than taking them off against fellow Republicans.
Both candidates got taken by surprise, but Hillary hasn’t got Democrats wondering if the Clintons can fight hard enough against Republicans.
It appears, given the probability of a McCain nomination and either of the Democrats as their nominee that the choice for small/less intrusive government voters will be lacking.
If it is McCain/Clinton, it’s hard to decide who the less attractive candidate may be. If it is McCain/Obama, I don’t think McCain will come off well against Obama. McCain is not a great speaker (in fact, as he stumbles and bumbles along, he reminds me a bit of Bush), and that particular stark difference may be enough, in the minds of uncommitted voters, to overshadow the supposed stark difference in issues – especially with the “change” mantra so popular and seemingly powerful at the moment. As most will decide, when they listen to McCain, he is anything but change when compared to Obama. And, given the “respectful” pledge above, I have to wonder, as does Ed Morrissey, if McCain will actually go after either of the possible Dem nominees effectively. I get the impression he’s more worried about being in good standing with his Democratic colleagues than doing what is necessary to win.
No kidding. Look, most of the left isn’t going to vote for McCain, anyway, because regardless of how much he panders to liberals and cozies up with the open borders crowd, he still has that troublesome (R) by his name. OTOH, despite having that (R) by his name, Republicans aren’t going to vote for him either… The real ones, I mean… because of the pandering to liberals and cozying up with the open borders crowd, and so on.
I happened to hear Rush mention Ed’s posting. [2]while in the truck on my way to an appointment. I’m glad that on Fox exchange occurred, because it exposes quite clearly what we’ve been talking about all along with McCain. I actually had a post in pre-release on that post of Ed’s which I pulled, when Rush made note of it, because Rush pretty much made the same points, saying:
Fox News yesterday kind of tricked Hillary and McCain. They had them both on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, and the idea was that they would both be on separately. After Hillary finished, they asked Hillary to stay there and stay connected so she could hear what McCain said. They kept her microphone live. After McCain finished, she and McCain were asked if they’d like to speak to each other. They had no choice; they did speak to each other and very civil about it. Ed Morrissey at Captain’s Quarters said that the McCain camp was not particularly happy about this (properly so) because “Part of the conservative complaint against McCain is his deference to Democrats while treating conservatives much more harshly. That got put on full display yesterday, as the two exchanged not just pleasantries but assurances that a general-election contest between the two would be ‘respectful.’ Republicans may want someone less inclined to put the gloves on against Hillary than taking them off against fellow Republicans.” Morrissey is exactly right here. McCain is far friendlier to his enemies, the people that are going to try to bury him, than he is to… well, he’s making friends with his enemies, let’s just put it that way.
Here’s the bottom line, and Captain Ed is exactly right about this. “Hillary hasn’t got Democrats wondering if the Clintons can fight hard enough against Republicans.” The Democrats know that either one of their candidates — Hillary or Obama — are going to take it to McCain and us. But we on the Republican side do have a concern about how hard Senator McCain will go out and fight these people, since he wants to adopt their ideas since they’re “poll[ing] better”.
That ought to raise serious questions in the minds of McCain supporters… Rush has this one correct. And even assuming McCain can win against someone whom he’s stated flatly on live, national TV, that he won’t take on, I’m still not convinced there’s enough policy difference between Hillary Clinton and John McCain, to make fighting for McCain worthwhile.