More Strategic Forecasting
Has anyone yet pushed hard on the maverick thing? I mean, I have seen the ads and read the talking points showing McCain voting with Bush 90% of the time. I think we need to go that step further and start saying things like, "How can one be a Maverick while earning an A grade in politics as usual?" Well that last part can be tinkered with. "A grade in establishment politics?"
And re change?
Beyond being a woman, Gov. Palin is just another in a long line of right wing extremists.
The label fits. Anyone who can energize the evangelical wing that much is by definition one of THEM.
Most Americans consider the evangelical wing of the GOP to be extremists. Most people do not want some evangelical extremist having any say in how they should live their own lives. Most people resent that shit.
McCain made the choice to embrace the extremists. He should live with the consequences of that, and instead of being a maverick he has shown himself to be just another garden variety pandering, calculating, hypocritical republican.
Maverick my ass! Again, I highlight the rank hypocrisy. How two-faced can one be? Doing the usual thing republican POTUS wannabes do, by pandering to the extremists of the right wing, while at the same time trying to pass oneself off as a maverick and agent of change?
If McCain was a maverick and a real instrument of change, if he really was the kind of politician who puts country first, he would NOT pander to the extremists, but instead tell them something like:
"I know you all love your ideology but your ideology turns off most of the country. I know you are not gonna change your mind, but the GOP will remain a minority party in this country if we have to have that extremist shit in our platform. You people need to get over yourselves and what you all believe in. Most people resent that shit. And by that shit, I mean all that God says we are right and if you disagree with us you are evil, shit."
Oh, and since I was more meaning to talk more about what our Dem strategy should be, here is my favorite idea for a campaign ad.
John McCain picked a right wing extremist for his running mate.
McCain. Ideology first. Political expediency, second. Country? At best, third.