The Dead-Ender

There's an excellent piece by Elisabeth Bumiller in The New York Times which makes the point that one area in which Bush and McCain now differ is foreign policy. Specifically, Bush has -- without explicitly admitting any errors -- moved away from his earlier, disastrous policies on a number of fronts.

McCain, by contrast, has stayed much closer to the true faith. Bumiller explains that "as the administration has taken a more pragmatic approach to foreign policy, the decision of Mr. McCain to adhere to his more hawkish positions illustrates the continuing influence of neoconservatives on his thinking even as they are losing clout within the administration." Of course it's relevant here to recall that McCain reached these positions first running as the neocon candidate in 1999-2000 while Bush tried to straddle the neocon-pragmatist divide. Now the two men have returned to form, with McCain promising a return to the sort of policymaking we saw from Bush in 2002-2005.

Comments

the continuing influence of neoconservatives on his thinking even as they are losing clout within the administration

Be nice if people on our side would start pissing on neocons, as such, rather than--as sometimes seems to be the case on the op-ed pages and elsewhere--rushing to stick their tongues down the neocons' throats.

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | July 26, 2008 5:17 PM

I call bullshit. Bush is one of the least pragmatic people in history.

Bush could be A) bored with being President, B) busy shredding documents to keep himself out of jail, C) secretly plotting more criminal idiocy or D) all of the above - but GWB sure as shit isn't embracing pragmatism as a governing doctrine. It's possible that some level of "If I suck TOO bad I'm jeopardizing hundreds of millions of earnings as an ex-President" pragmatism is creeping in but that's unrelated to U.S. foreign policy.

Posted by joejoejoe | July 26, 2008 5:22 PM

McCain: More Bush than Bush! On to Tehran!

Posted by anonymous | July 26, 2008 5:24 PM

This suggests the perfect ad for Obama: "John McCain supported George W. Bush's policies before George W. Bush did, and he's sticking by them longer, too."

Posted by Eric | July 26, 2008 5:33 PM

Bush Jr's more 'pragmatic' turn allows McCain to appear more the hawk. That's an advantage among certain voters.

Posted by El Cid | July 26, 2008 5:54 PM

McCain is going to be sunk when he accepts the nomination at the Republican National Convention. Democrats won't need to attack McCain that week, just repeat "Republican" a million times. People will figure it out. Swing voter: "Republicans...don't those guys suck? Yeah. I'm voting for the black Muslim guy...it's not like he can do worse."

Posted by joejoejoe | July 26, 2008 5:57 PM

Hit me! Hit me! This just makes so much sense that I don't understand why it isn't obvious to everyone. But as discussed before most people and never will read this blog. Shame.

Posted by Chris Dornan | July 26, 2008 6:27 PM

I agree with joejoejoe - Bush is planning more insanity in the last months of his Presidency. Like Clinton pardoning Marc Rich as a way of giving the finger to the US electorate, Bush will start a war with Iran just to show his contempt for the US electorate - and to continue making money for his oil company and military-industrial complex cronies.

Bush is like the Joker in that just when you think he can't get any worse - he does.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | July 26, 2008 7:06 PM

McCain is worse than Bush when it comes to war.

Remember, he wanted to attack Iraq before Bush, and even wanted us to go to war with North Korea in the 90's.

Here's something you can take to the bank: if elected McCain will start a war with Iran, and you can kiss several thousand more American lives goodbye, along with over a trillion dollars.

I never thought I would come to hate McCain as much as Bush, but now I do. I realize how sick he really is, and how much of a threat to this country he is.

We must crush him in the election.

Posted by cm | July 27, 2008 12:57 AM