With John McCain poised to win the Republican nomination, Democrats are already gathering ammunition to use against him in the general election.
In more than a few instances, the best fodder has been provided by the candidate himself.
A case in point: As the economy was rising late last year as a major issue for voters, McCain in New Hampshire delivered this grenade, with its pin still in it: "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should," he said. "I've got Greenspan's book."
...
Doug Schoen, a former adviser to President Clinton, says the Democrats must act quickly. "The trick is to get him on the flip-flops and not let him get back to the center where he can be a real force," he said.
The appeal of a flip-flop assault is that it could undermine McCain's reputation for taking tough stands and sticking with them no matter how the political wind blows.
Carter Eskew, a former adviser to Vice President Al Gore, puts it this way: "Go right after his strengths. Take the Straight Talk Express and push it off the rails."
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On the economy, McCain has tried to distance himself from his self-deprecating comment about his understanding (or lack thereof) of the economy. But his attempts have fallen flat in part because he's made the mistake of alluding to the weakness more than once.
In 2005, he sat down with Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal, and said: "I'm going to be honest; I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."
On the campaign trail, he's also suggested he'd look for a vice presidential running mate with strong economic credentials to balance weaknesses of his own. He tried to take that one back, too.
Those comments, coupled with McCain's relatively thin economic message, could leave him vulnerable to recasting by the opposition.
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McCain should be honored for his "half a century of service to this country," the 46-year-old Illinois senator said, but he's "not the person who is going to lead this country in a new direction."
Friday, February 08, 2008
Gloves off
The Dem plan to hit McCain
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2 comments:
mccain is going to be under a lot of pressure to change positions on issues that are angering conservatives:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/07/politics/main3805674.shtml
so mccain is really in a tough spot: if he sticks to his positions, he angers a good percentage of conservatives. if he changes position to appease them, the dems should jump on him for flip-flopping.
I'm sorry, but I see the same damned thing in this advice that has lost the Democrats 2002 and 2004, namely the pipe dream that they can run on the economy and ignore security when the executive branch is wholly peopled by accomplished scaremongers who will use their positions shamelessly in order to advance the interests of their party. How many times do you think we're going to be getting terror warnings this summer?
The GOP has one perceived strength: Security. They are going to run on it again and if we try to make it about the economy, we're going to lose. Americans already trust dems on the economy. Go after him on security and foreign policy.
It's still the security, stupid.
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