nytimes.com— It’s not just the economy. And it’s not just President Bush. John McCain is to blame for his own campaign’s disastrous course.
Oct 19, 2008View in Crawl 4
This was the crux of the article in my opinion. Rich quotes a Bush appointee describing how the White House has been run.“There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus. What you’ve got is everything -- and I mean everything -- being run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis.”Rich himself continues: "If politics strongarm everything, you end up with the rampant cronyism, nonexistent long-term planning and abrupt, partisan policy improvisations that fed the calamities of Iraq, Katrina and the economic meltdown. Incredibly, McCain has nakedly endorsed the Bush-Rove brand of governance in his own campaign by assembling his personal set of lobbyist cronies and Rove operatives to run it."Lack of policy has been a big problem for McCain from the start. But one thing you could add is that the people who are left in the GOP don't care about policy, except maybe on abortion. They only care about partisan rhetoric -- talking tough about all their many bogeymen -- and conspiracy theories. McCain had to choose between the base and going for the middle. The brave thing to do would've been to call the bluff of the base and just hope they'd vote GOP in the end as what they see as the lesser of two evils. But I think McCain took the easy way perhaps because he himself didn't want to make the hard decisions on new policies and a break with Bush early in the campaign. It might also because he had to run to the right to win the primaries and didn't want to tack again. Or it might just be because he really has become Bush 2 by choice and not just by default.
FTA - and absolutely dead nuts on target - "The candidate who believes in “country first” decided to put himself first and sell out his principles. That ignoble decision is what accounts for both the McCain campaign’s failures and its sleaze. It’s a decision McCain made on his own and for which he has yet to assume responsibility."
nbgillOct 19, 2008
Amen, Brother Rich.
louisecalabroOct 19, 2008
McCain: the next GWBush! Wasn't the last one bad enough? Do we really need another?Vote Obama & Biden!
mujokanOct 20, 2008
This was the crux of the article in my opinion. Rich quotes a Bush appointee describing how the White House has been run.“There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus. What you’ve got is everything -- and I mean everything -- being run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis.”Rich himself continues: "If politics strongarm everything, you end up with the rampant cronyism, nonexistent long-term planning and abrupt, partisan policy improvisations that fed the calamities of Iraq, Katrina and the economic meltdown. Incredibly, McCain has nakedly endorsed the Bush-Rove brand of governance in his own campaign by assembling his personal set of lobbyist cronies and Rove operatives to run it."Lack of policy has been a big problem for McCain from the start. But one thing you could add is that the people who are left in the GOP don't care about policy, except maybe on abortion. They only care about partisan rhetoric -- talking tough about all their many bogeymen -- and conspiracy theories. McCain had to choose between the base and going for the middle. The brave thing to do would've been to call the bluff of the base and just hope they'd vote GOP in the end as what they see as the lesser of two evils. But I think McCain took the easy way perhaps because he himself didn't want to make the hard decisions on new policies and a break with Bush early in the campaign. It might also because he had to run to the right to win the primaries and didn't want to tack again. Or it might just be because he really has become Bush 2 by choice and not just by default.
snotrokitOct 20, 2008
FTA - and absolutely dead nuts on target - "The candidate who believes in “country first” decided to put himself first and sell out his principles. That ignoble decision is what accounts for both the McCain campaign’s failures and its sleaze. It’s a decision McCain made on his own and for which he has yet to assume responsibility."