I was thinking tonight, while watching bits of John McCain's CPAC speech on "Countdown" tonight ... what if John McCain were to actually pull it off?
What I mean is, John McCain seems to have been pursuing a single goal for at least the last decade, and very likely many, many more, and what if the only way for him to achieve his dream of being president of the United States, is to give the "base" what they want? (I say "base" lightly, because it's becoming increasingly clear that what we call the base is actually just the last, sputtering remnants of a dying chattering class that backed George W. Bush in 2000, only to find out that he wasn't competent to carry out their agenda even if he wasn't faking his way through it... the loud mouths who have granted themselves the authority to choose the Republican Party's leaders ... forgetting that in the end, actual voters get to decide, and don't have to follow blindly behind them ...)
Anyway, what if John McCain decides that the only way to win the White House is to promise to give the Limbaugh-Ingram-Gingrich axis everything they want -- permanent, deep personal and corporate tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans (in other words, them...) an end to talk of global warming, clearing the way for Big Oil to drill into every square inch of undeveloped soil across this country, consequences be damned ... the abandonment of government regulation of coal mining, foresting and anything else that rapes the natural landscape while sapping the health of the human beings who labor to extract the resources ... and the simultaneous ramping up of government regulation and monitoring of the speech, movement and personal habits of every Americans, from emails to phone calls, marriage to child birth ... the abolition of all gun laws, opening the door to a Baghdad-style arming of the American public, with Uzis and bazookas and Tommy Guns brandished openly in every car, on every street and in every home or business ... sealed southern borders and mass deportation of Mexicans ... and the legalization of torture, secret detention and whatever degradations the CIA can cook up ...
Because frankly, that -- in short -- is the "conservative agenda"...
Lets say John McCain promises all of that, satiates the chattering classes of the conservative movement, and with their help and zeal ... he wins the presidency.
And what if he then keeps his word to his newfound base?
He will have gone through all that he has gone through, from Vietnam to South Carolina in 2000 to his acrimonious climb to the nomination, only to become precisely the opposite of the president he seems to have wanted to be. He will have gone through it all ... gaining the nomination of a party that in some measure, doesn't want him ... only to become George W. Bush.
How depressing is that?
... and how fitting ... John McCain feuded with George W. Bush in 2000, was bested by him in the nastiest way, and then, strangely, embraced him (literally). McCain became Bush's best friend on Iraq (even when dissing his Secretary of Defense, Baron von Rumsfeld -- convenient, actually, because it meant he wasn't dissing the president) ... and even though the punditocracy keeps insisting that he can't stand the man ...
McCain bore the brunt of Bush's desire to open the Southern border to Mexican indentured servants by pushing what's now derided as the McCain amnesty bill. He took the incoming for Bush on both of these issues, and never -- and I mean never -- complained, even when Dubya signed his and Russ Feingold's campaign finance bill into law (funny, you don't hear conservatives braying about Bush's part in that...) and didn't even invite him to the signing ceremony.
And what did John McCain get for his teeth-gritting fealty to his commander in chief?
Well ...
He got Bush's advisors -- the same ones who did him in in 2000 -- they work for Johnny Mack, now...
He got Bush's top fundraisers ... they suddenly decided the so-called "maverick" was A.O.K. with them...
And, it seems, he became Bush's choice to be the next president (you didn't think it was Rudy, did you? Not after that Bernie Kerik mess...) From a prescient column by E.J. Dionne in the Washington Post back in 2005:
Times change and politicians do what they have to do. For years, McCain and the president couldn't stand each other. The surest way not to get a job in the early Bush administration was to have supported McCain over Bush in the 2000 primaries.
But McCain made a crucial decision to alter the relationship in 2004. Courted hard by John Kerry as a potential running mate, McCain said no. He decided he wanted to be president and that it was unlikely he would ever get a Democratic nomination -- and implausible that he could win as an independent. His one shot was as a Republican.
Once this choice was made, everything else fell into place. McCain joined the Bush crowd. He gave a powerful speech endorsing the president at last year's Republican National Convention in New York. The address was perfect for both McCain and Bush. Unlike the speeches bashing Kerry and the Democrats by Zell Miller, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rudy Giuliani, McCain's stuck to policy and praised Bush for his decision to go to war in Iraq.
This allowed McCain to keep his reputation for clinging to the high ground, but it was also important for Bush, whose central policy legacy, for better or worse, will be Iraq.
The standard view of McCain's choice, especially among Democrats, is that he sold out to Bush for nothing. This assumes that McCain can't win the 2008 Republican nomination because of the intense opposition he will face from the Republican right, especially from Christian conservatives. It also assumes that Bush will never lift a finger to help McCain.
In Bush's ideal world, that would probably be true. But the current moment is not ideal for Bush, and the economy, Iraq and the political situation may be even less ideal two and three years from now. ...
Natch! A bit more:
The situation in Iraq shows no sign of turning around quickly. Who would be willing to stick with Bush's adventure? Bush would like to hand over power to a president committed to his Iraq policy. McCain -- who is close to the party's neoconservative wing -- has been steadfast in defending the president's decision to go to war, despite doubts about prewar planning and mistakes early in the occupation.
And if middle-class income growth is sluggish, bread-and-butter discontent will benefit any Democrat running on a throw-the-bums-out platform. McCain could promise just enough change to win the election. He voted against Bush's tax policies, yet he is also among the most fiscally conservative members of the Senate.
For all these reasons, Bush and McCain could end up as each other's best friends. Bush has been battling, with Rove's help, for a long-term political realignment in favor of the Republicans. The president could well come to see McCain as the only Republican with a chance to push a Republican era forward. McCain, in turn, knows that his only way around the Republican right is to run with Bush's open blessing, if not his outright endorsement. ...
The rest of the column is Dionne's explanation of why Jeb Bush might be the ideal running mate for Baghdad John. I rather doubt that -- the Bush name is pretty badly tarnished thanks to his brother, although stranger things have happened.
But there is another Bushie whom McCain could put on the ticket who might well satisfy the loudmouths, blunt the Democrats' chances of stealing away Republican women and wavering Black GOPers and draw him even closer to Dubya (and his fundraising Pioneers...)
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
