The 2012 Campaign Has Now Begun!
Posted in: 2008 Election, Conservatism, John McCain, Republicans
As he reminded us the other day, John Cole nailed it way back in February, when he noted the number of GOP rats bailing from the sinking ship of Congress and McCain in a move they hoped would inoculate them from blame when, among other things, the subprime time bomb blew up:
So here is why they are sabotaging McCain- they want him to lose, or at the very least are hedging their bets. They want and need to paint him as not conservative, not pure enough to really represent the wildly successful (in their minds) conservatism that makes up the Bush dead-enders. That way, when they are blown out of the water in 2008, they don’t have to do any reflection, they don’t have to assess, re-prioritize, or re-think their policies. They can simply pin it all on McCain, claim he lost because he didn’t offer the voters a “real” conservative alternative, and get back to championing the end of the “death tax” and other important issues without skipping a beat.
In other words, McCain is the fall guy, and they are just distancing themselves from him.
Well, surprise, surprise, surprise! Doggie Daddy Mitt Romney, the GOP’s lead prospect for 2012 for the simple reason that he’s the only guy with enough cash to self-finance a campaign, is already trying (along with Tommy "Are You Freaking Kidding Me?" Thompson) to boost his street cred among the Fundies by kicking McCain when he’s drooling helplessly on the curb:
Two former rivals for the party nomination, Mitt Romney and Tommy Thompson, went on the record over the weekend about the disarray in the Republican camp. And a string of other senior party figures said Mr McCain’s erratic performance risks taking the party down to heavy losses not just in the presidential race but also in contests for Congressional seats. Mr Thompson, a former governor of the swing state of Wisconsin, said he thought Mr McCain, on his present trajectory, would lose the state, and he told a New York Times reporter he was unhappy with the campaign. "I don’t know who is," he added.
And in case it wasn’t clear what was happening, here’s a Romney surrogate stepping up to the microphone:
"He doesn’t need an attack strategy, he needs a comeback strategy," said Alex Castellanos, a longtime national GOP media consultant who worked for McCain primary rival Mitt Romney.
That’s nice. But how will your guy, the Mittster, make it through the primary when the Fundies are going to be lying in ambush for him with Huckabee and Hunter and several other favored sons?
This ought to be interesting.
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