GOP Worried About McCain

By Eric Pfeiffer | June 9, 2008 3:13 PM | | Comments (0)

The Huffington Post talks to a few anonymous GOP "insiders" and pulls public quotes from a few other disgruntled movement conservatives about John McCain's chances in the fall. The post has generated more than 700 diggs, but there's really not much there. Why should it be news that McCain is viewed as both unpredictable and vulnerable in a general election against Obama? That unpredictability is what has been McCain's biggest liability with fellow Republicans for nearly a decade. And those same Republicans who dislike McCain have created the conditions which made his election all the more of an uphill climb.

The most accurate assessment in the piece comes not from author Thomas Edsall, but from conservative columnist Bay Buchanan who is quoted in this piece. Buchanan makes a point that is starting to gain traction in conservative circles: for whatever strengths and/or weaknesses McCain possesses, this election is about Barack Obama. That worked well for President Bush in 2004 when his strategists succeeding in making the election about John Kerry. But there's no guarantee that past success equals a winning formula for Republican candidates. Buchanan:

[I]n reality there is only one candidate.  Barack Obama.  In November he will win or he will lose.  John McCain is relevant only in so far as he is not Barack Obama.

Tags: Blogger Theories, John McCain

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