While a number of my favorite bloggers wrote about their recent conference call with my man McCain, it was Roger Simon’s Pajamas’ piece on the tête-à -têtes which really hit home with me. In commenting on the call, Roger got at some of the things about John McCain which strike me as a presidential and which contrast him with his Democratic rivals for the White House.
Unlike Mrs. Clinton, he doesn’t seem threatened by his ideological adversaries:
I think one of the most laudable things about McCain is that people who disagree with him do not seem to threaten him. He relishes the rough and tumble of political discussion.
On the North Carolina GOP’s ad attempting to link both Democratic candidate for Governor to the anti-American rhetoric of Barack Obama’s former pastor:
The one bone of contention on the call was the North Carolina Republican Party campaign ad, using Wright and Ayers to bash Obama. McCain, as most know, asked for that to be taken down. He is taking the high road, as well he should, since he is running for President of the United States. If he wins, he’s going to have to be president of all Americans. Not only that, as everyone knows, national elections are won in the center. The wise candidate keeps his eye on that.
Again, a distinction from his Democratic rivals, particularly Mrs. Clinton. He knows he’s going to be president of all Americans and doesn’t delight (as she seems to) in the increasing animosity of the opposition’s rank-and-file (and lading pundits) to her, her campaign and her family’s political reputation.
Finally, in contrast to his likely rival this fall, John McCain, as Roger observed, enjoys talking to bloggers and others covering the campaign:
What most impressed me though is that McCain seems to genuinely enjoy talking to bloggers—and not entirely because we may be “in the tank†for him.
The Democratic frontrunner gets testy when he has to answer eight questions, as if it is beneath his dignity to take even that many.
I still have my problems with John McCain. I wish he did not go out of his way to gain media attention when he differed with his party.
That said, anyone confident enough not to be threatened by opposing ideas is certainly comfortable in his own skin. As president, such a man would be able to stand up to media pressure to follow their dictates or worldview, would not obsess about his own legacy nor would he act rashly on a momentary whim. Such a man would not hesitate to make tough decisions in the national interest.
And for that reason, I have confidence he’ll make a fine chief executive. It’s why I’m becoming ever more enthusiastic about his candidacy and increasingly optimistic about his chances for victory this November.
I think one of the most laudable things about McCain is that people who disagree with him do not seem to threaten him.
WTH are you talking about? This is the guy who cursed out a fellow Republican senator who disagreed with him on border enforcement, and who called social conservatives “agents of intolerance.”
The reason he doesn’t feel “threatened” by liberals is because he agrees with them. The reason he co-sponsored bills with Kennedy, Feingold, and Lieberman is because they agree with him. When he runs into actual ideological opposition … from conservatives … he is rude, arrogant, and insulting to them. John McCain has *never* heaped the abuse on Democrats he routinely heaps on members of his own party.
One aspect of McCain really rattles me. I do not think that he understands that the democrats
will notcan not do bipartisanship. They bluster and carry on about coming together, but they will give up to only 10% when they have gotten more than 90%. That is their firm understanding of 50-50.I believe that McCain will play by those rules.
The role of the Gang of 14 is largely misunderstood by those who do not know the arcane rules of the Senate. When McCain and friends joined this mongrel group, they tacitly agreed that the nomination of judges has to pass the 60 vote threshold. Thank you, John McCain.
The Senate should have been forced to do the heavy lifting of filibuster and left Harry Reid with the job of fending off cloture. The Gang of 14 made all of that moot.
In the end, John McCain helped make the seating of judges more difficult and more political than ever before.
If he is elected and he fails in the appointment of judges, he will taste the full wrath of of voters who oppose setting national policy from the bench.
Perhaps McCain’s “quirky” nature is somewhat akin to that of Harry Truman and he will find a way to cut some Gordian knots. More power to him, if it is so.
I am amazed at his New Orleans performance. Fema is not set up to be the “first responder.” When sheer incompetence on the part of the New Orleans mayor and Louisiana governor became clear, perhaps Bush should have called Congress to authorize him to bypass the Constitution and do their business for them. But to infer that the C-111’s full of cash we dumped on Louisiana was a national response inadequacy is remarkable.
McCain has a few months to read his grassroots before it becomes critical. Maybe his New Orleans and North Carolina goofs will educate him a bit. He claims to have learned from amnesty idiocy.
I am a conservative and a lifelong Republican. I will vote for this guy, but he doesn’t impress me as a candidate who is working to earn my respect.
Sorry, but when Sen. “F— You” McCain demands that the North Carolina Republican party take down a television ad contrasting the friends of Sen. Barack-and he admits he did not see the ad-it is another case of slam your friends and allies and suck-up to the lefties. Come on, it is an innocous ad that is a contrast. And, for him to buy into the opposition without SEEING the ad, I do not know. I have never known a candidate in my 43 years on God’s green earth that the conversation starts with, “There are a lot of things (issues, policies) I disagree with John Mccain on”. And yet, like all of these people, I will vote for Sen. “F— You” McCain. SIGH!
Re roger simon:
Poppycock. Complete contemporary myth promulgated by Democrats who DO have to move hard to the right (ie lie their asses off) in order to win.
What was centrist about Bush’s campaigns? What was centrist about Reagan? Bill Clinton veered hard towards the center yet he never won with even a bare majority. Had it not been for Perot, he never would have even been president.
American elections are won on economic and other conditions, character, personality and conservative-leaning policy. All other things being equal, the conservative will always win.
That’s more accurate.
McCain knows that people are sick to death of the poisonous political atmosphere, and knows that its going to be the elephant-in-the-living-room issue this election. More so than in any other recent election because this time it’s not confined to DC, it has overflowed the capital and is seeping into people’s everyday lives.
It’s not “moving to the center” thats going to win it for him — indeed, moving left threatens to lose it for him — its the perception that he really has and will continue to work to “get along”. He just needs to figure out a way to get that across to voters without stabbing his base in the back — and quickly!
And unlike you, the more he talks about “greedy Wallstreet”, “manmade” global warming, the need to DO something about it, Bush’s “Katrina failure”, slamming Rumsfeld, temporary gas tax relief…. ugh! The more he talks the less enthusiastic I am about his candidacy.
I’ll tell you one thing, no matter who gets elected, President Bush is gonna look reaaaaal good in a couple of years.
George W Bush’s 2000 campaign was based on the following “centrist” themes (amongst other themes)
– He had a history of bipartisan cooperation in Texas
– He advocated a Compassionate Conservativism (which meant he advocated an oxymoronic big government limited government)
– He would restore honor to the White House
– The US Foreign Policy would be reexamined with emphasis on few international actions