Clintonista Warns: McCain Isn’t Bush III
Sidney Blumenthal, a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and strategist for Hillary Clinton’s Democratic presidential campaign, went “off message” (his words) today with a warning to his party: Don’t run against GOP nominee John McCain by painting him as Bush III, because he’s not. Bucking the Democratic National Committee’s talking points that characterize a potential McCain administration as tantamount to a third Bush term, Blumenthal told our Liz Halloran that running on that strategy in the fall would be a mistake. “I understand people’s political reasons for doing that,” he said. “I think it’s more helpful to describe [political opponents] as they are.” Bottom line, Blumenthal calls the strategy “a mistake and adds: “The public doesn’t see [McCain] that way. That’s a hard sell.” At an event to promote his new book, The Strange Death of Republican America: Chronicles of a Collapsing Party, Blumenthal also predicted that McCain has “lots of room to maneuver” politically before the fall election. What hurts the presumed Republican nominee? His need, Blumenthal says, to reassure conservative Republicans about the kind of nominees he’d make to the Supreme Court.
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Wrong
McCain has announced to all the world that he is Goerge W. Bush II on all key issues, including the war, the economy and dealing with our potential enemies.
America is sick of Republican incompetence, corruption, arrogance and irrational adherence to failed ideologies.
McCain has not distanced himself on any of those issues and still is 7-8% points behind both Democratic candidates as of this date, even thought the media has been focusing all of its attention and venom on Clinton and Obama for months and months, leaving McCain scrutiny-free during that time.
If he's that far behind now, he'll be 12% points behind by the time of the election. I know that Republicans are used to getting away with murder without the publiuc noticing, but I think that November 2007 should have sent a message to them that they are still not hearing.
This November will be a massacre. And the Republicans will not be on the winning side.
Blumenthal is right!
All anyone needs to do is read Hillary blogs and see the discussion of McCain. Or better yet have a conversation with a neighbor who is a moderate. Many people respect McCain and do not see him as anything like Bush. Many women, including a fair number of Republican women if given the choice of McCain or Obama pick McCain. These women would vote for Hillary. It is a myth that Obama has accounted for the rise in Democratic registration. Hillary won most of the states with the biggest turn out. Obama benefited from low turn out caucaus states that will vote for McCain in the fall. Holding Roe over women's heads is not going to work.
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