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McCain Has Given His Enemies a Reason to Count Him Out
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02/20/07 06:37 AM ET
Over the weekend I bumped into a Republican activist I know and of course we started to chat about the GOP '08 field. "McCain's done," he said before I could even ask how Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was faring these days among his type. "He's Bob Dole," he said, shaking his head.
For months now McCain, once the presumptive frontrunner, has been faltering and the worst part is that he knows it. How else to explain the visual shift? Just read the coverage of him of late — "dour," "grim," "subdued" — it isn't subtle.
McCain's debut in Iowa this weekend was interrupted by Saturday's procedural vote on the Iraq debate, just as the Iraq war has now interrupted the rise to the presidency McCain has plotted and worked at relentlessly for the last six years. McCain chose to skip the Senate vote and stay in Iowa. And he continues his campaign, choosing to ignore the nation's burgeoning opposition to the war as he supports it.
McCain is standing on principle on the war, and has said he is willing to fall on that principle. For that he deserves respect. McCain answered all the questions about the war directly this weekend, as he always does. He expresses his frustration and empathizes with voters' frustration over the lack of progress in Iraq. And as Phil Gramm pointed out when introducing him, McCain has a son at Annapolis and a son in the Marine Corps. For someone who supports a long fight in Iraq, he clearly shares the sacrifice.
Many conservatives were always looking for a reason to count out McCain. Unfortunately, with the war, he has given them one.
For months now McCain, once the presumptive frontrunner, has been faltering and the worst part is that he knows it. How else to explain the visual shift? Just read the coverage of him of late — "dour," "grim," "subdued" — it isn't subtle.
McCain's debut in Iowa this weekend was interrupted by Saturday's procedural vote on the Iraq debate, just as the Iraq war has now interrupted the rise to the presidency McCain has plotted and worked at relentlessly for the last six years. McCain chose to skip the Senate vote and stay in Iowa. And he continues his campaign, choosing to ignore the nation's burgeoning opposition to the war as he supports it.
McCain is standing on principle on the war, and has said he is willing to fall on that principle. For that he deserves respect. McCain answered all the questions about the war directly this weekend, as he always does. He expresses his frustration and empathizes with voters' frustration over the lack of progress in Iraq. And as Phil Gramm pointed out when introducing him, McCain has a son at Annapolis and a son in the Marine Corps. For someone who supports a long fight in Iraq, he clearly shares the sacrifice.
Many conservatives were always looking for a reason to count out McCain. Unfortunately, with the war, he has given them one.
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