Time for a Time Out

As he got his presidential campaign going, John McCain wound up flip-flopping on several crucial issues saying he would vote against his own immigration bill, repudiating his record on taxes to embrace Bush's record, etc. But lately the campaign just seems to be off the rails, and unable to decide what McCain's stance is on various topics. For example, McCain and McCain's spokesman can't agree on whether or not increasing the payroll tax cap should be "on the table" in terms of changing Social Security. It's a point McCain has gone back-and-forth on many, many times over the course of the campaign.

Similarly, just yesterday we had McCain surrogates suggesting that McCain was going to abandon his support for cap and trade. Is he? Maybe with the Olympics coming up and the expected attendant lull in campaign coverage, Team McCain can slow down and huddle for a couple of weeks in Arizona to just go down the checklist and figure out where they stand on these issues. Hold some conference calls. Something. Is it possible that if McCain knew how to use email that he could maybe send some remarks out and get everyone on the same page?

Comments

It's really pretty simple: in order for McCain to win he needs to start making the positive case for himself instead of just the negative case against Obama.

Good luck.

http://strategy08.wordpress.com

Posted by Dan | July 29, 2008 5:46 PM

Hmmm, does this post mean that Team Obama is getting scared given the latest poll showing McCain actually leading?

Posted by Al | July 29, 2008 5:48 PM

It's becoming increasingly obvious that McCain sustained his popularity over the years because of his remarkable capacity to pander. (This would also explain why the GOP base hates him -- he abandons his positions whenever they become politically untenable.) He has no principles, except to please his current interviewer or audience.

Posted by Seamus | July 29, 2008 5:56 PM

It's becoming increasingly obvious that McCain sustained his popularity over the years because of his remarkable capacity to pander. (This would also explain why the GOP base hates him -- he abandons his positions whenever they become politically untenable.) He has no principles, except to please his current interviewer or audience.

Posted by Seamus | July 29, 2008 5:57 PM

It's also becoming increasingly obvious that McCain is dumb as a stump. The man can't keep ANYTHING straight, including facts, goals, history, or what he said last year/month/week or even an hour ago. Is this really the best that the GOP had to offer?

Posted by LFC | July 29, 2008 6:00 PM

It's also becoming increasingly obvious that McCain is dumb as a stump.

Of course, he's not as dumb as the moron the Democrats are nominating, Barack Obama, who apparently doesn't know (a) which committees he's assigned to in the Senate, (b) how long Presidential terms are, or (c) how many states there are in the Union.

You have to be an utter moron like Barack Obama to be a Senator and not know those things.

Posted by Al | July 29, 2008 6:06 PM

Al bitter. Al smash.

Don't worry. You'll soon learn to love your new Blue overlords, Al.

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | July 29, 2008 6:12 PM

Poor, Al. He's spent so much time listening to the right-wingnutosphere tell him that George W. really is a genius, he now thinks McCain is one too.

Obama: Once made an error on number of states, corrected self.

McCain: Mixed up Sunni, Shiite, and AQ 4 times, had to be corrected on national TV by Jokin' Schmoe Lieberman.

Obama: Once made an error on presidential term length.

McCain: Couldn't remember that he explicitly supported Social Security privatization. Still can't figure out that the changes to Soc Sec he supports are the exact ones he used to call privatization.

Poor, poor John. Poor, poor Al.

Posted by LFC | July 29, 2008 6:20 PM

While we're on the topic, here's the BHO gaffe to top them all. Yeah, that's the ticket.

As for the bill mentioned in the post, MattY does realize that bills frequently change over time as things are added and taken away, right? MattY does realize that McCain, Bush, BHO, the MexicanGovernment, and all the rest all support the same basic thing they just slightly differ on how to get it, right? I mean, MattY isn't just a hack spouting MMFA lies, right? (Don't answer that!)

Posted by TLB | July 29, 2008 6:41 PM

just yesterday we had McCain surrogates suggesting that McCain was going to abandon his support for cap and trade. Is he?

Last I heard McCain was for a cap and trade program but against a mandatory cap. Straight talk!

Posted by ed | July 29, 2008 9:41 PM

Al's such a strange guy -- one gets the sense, from looking at the totality of his comments, that he's a pretty smart guy, perceptive, someone who is perhaps a corporate lawyer, an MBA-type, or maybe a GOP political operative -- he normally even has the glimmerings of a sense of humor.

Then he goes and spouts ridiculous nonsense about Columbia- and Harvard-educated, former U. Chicago Law School (what schlubs!) prof. Barack Obama is a "moron."

One senses that he knows this is a silly, even insipid, line of attack, especially with 894 out of 899 McCain as his candidate, but goes ahead anyway, regardless of the truth value.

There's a word for that, and it's "sophistry." There are other words to describe Al, however.

Posted by Daniel Shays | July 29, 2008 11:12 PM

"Hmmm, does this post mean that Team Obama is getting scared given the latest poll showing McCain actually leading?"

My thoughts exactly, but then again I believe in the toothfairy.

Posted by LOL | July 30, 2008 8:31 AM

While we're on the topic, here's the BHO gaffe to top them all. Yeah, that's the ticket.

And in that same article Fox News states: "As the Illinois senator concluded his remarks a few minutes later, he appeared to realize his gaffe."

Senator McCain rarely catches himself and even when confronted with video evidence continues to deny and flail. I've had enough over the last two administrations of that kind of crap.

Posted by Observer | July 30, 2008 8:52 AM

The basic issue is that the McCain Campaign may be trying to solve an unsolvable problem, namely: what combination of positions and tactics will allow McCain to beat Obama in a year where core Republican positions, and Republicans in general, are so unpopular? The plausible answer to that question is that there is no such such combination, and thus that unless Obama commits some serious unforced errors or some unexpected external event intervenes, McCain is doomed.

So, no amount of thinking it through may be enough for the McCain Campaign to come up with a cohesive strategy that is actually likely to work, and I personally predict that they are likely to keep flailing around in the hope that they will eventually come up with something that works.

Posted by DTM | July 30, 2008 9:18 AM

As a partisan Dem, I am very pleased that the right is trying to push the "Obama is dumb" meme. He's a lot of things - inexperienced, a bit of a cipher, has a strange back-story - but dumb isn't one of them. That's just not going to stick.

So please, keep selling that line. Nobody's going to buy it.

Posted by hubcap | July 30, 2008 11:54 AM