Bush hits trail for McCain, sparking Obama attack

Wednesday 28th May, 04:40 AM JST

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smithinjapan at 06:08 PM JST - 28th May

Sushi: the only thing funnier than the current Republican quagmire is watching those on the right try to defer from the topic!

super: you don't have to be from the US to know Bush always has been and is an absolute moron, that McCain himself doesn't want to be seen with him but desperately needs the money, and the resulting transpency of this 'secret' meeting is evidence that McCain is as much an idiot and has no chance of winning the White House. In fact, it's even better to be from other countries because (not only are you not American) even though the number of people like you have dwindled to an all-time low in American History, you are living proof that there are still a number of Americans who can't see the forest for the trees.
SuperLib at 06:40 PM JST - 28th May

smith and super..... Why don't you guys take it down a notch and stop taking everything so personally. Get over yourselves.

The man chasing the Republican nomination isn't even a true Republican.

Sushi, you're probably confusing "Republican" with "conservative." There's really no question that McCain is a Republican, but some people on the far right are struggling with his conservative credentials. In reality the only people who would say he isn't a "true Republican" are probably only on the far right since they're more hard core than everyone else.
SezWho2 at 07:07 PM JST - 28th May

Everyone in the Senate is a republican. Now if we could only figure out what Republicans and Democrats are.

When, throughout the debates, Bush kept insisting that Kerry was a liberal, Kerry correctly responded that the term was meaningless. Fat lot of good it did him.

There is no "is liberal" or "is conservative". These are rather meaningless terms except when applied in a narrow and rigorous sense. Otherwise, they just devolve into "your side" and "my side".

I think McCain has shown an ability to think for himself and to work with both sides of the aisle. I think these are good qualities in a President and would be an improvement over what we have now. However, I also think that he is too old and hopelessly wrong on Iraq and on taxes.
Madverts at 08:01 PM JST - 28th May

"but some people on the far right are struggling with his conservative credentials"

Yeah, but as true partisan hacks, they'll vote for McCain anyway.
Madverts at 08:07 PM JST - 28th May

Uh, sarge;

"The history books will record that he made unpopular but largely correct decisions."

Dream on. Even inner-circle member Scott McCellan has come out to say in his new book that Bush was not "open and forthright" on Iraq and rushed to an unnecessary war and that Bush "veered terribly off course". He also apparently blasts the White House's handling of Hurricane Katrina saying White House staff spent much of the first week after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 "in a state of denial".
Madverts at 08:18 PM JST - 28th May

Heh, and it's the state of Denial in the Bush sect over the McCain candidacy that is making me quietly chortle.
super delegate at 09:00 PM JST - 28th May

"The Bush sect" ?

Heh, madverts. Got something just for you:

http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2008/05/

Scroll down to May 13 entry. Can't miss it.

"Coming soon to the side of a Chevy van near you."
WhiteHawk at 10:16 PM JST - 28th May

SushiSake3:

McCain's appearance behind closed doors with the most unpopular president in modern U.S. history is playing right into Obama's hands.

McCain met with Carter? When? ;)

When it comes to The Grand Master of Total Failure, Jimmy Carter is king.

Sarge:

"sparking Obama attack" Obama is beginning to resemble an ankle-biting poodle.

Hey Sarge, have you noticed how every little thing sparks an "Obama attack"? Even if Bush doesn't specify him, Obama takes it personally. The guy is just too thin-skinned to make a good president.

...or maybe his adoring fans in the media are trying to make him look tough...

SushiSake3:

The man chasing the Republican nomination isn't even a true Republican.

Correction: The man chasing the Republican nomination isn't even a true conservative.

And Super Lib would be correct in indentifying me as "far right-wing". But it's my definition of right-wing, not yours, Sushi.

Republicans are up against 2 historic firsts among the Democrats - a female and a black candidate.

Identity politics are so shallow. Republicans are up against two Marxists. Nothing historic about that.

Sen. McCain is being out fundraised by 3:1.

Are you combining Clinton and Obama? Because that doesn't count. As for the parties, just a couple of weeks ago, I read an article that the RNC was raising quite a bit more money than the DNC, so much so that Dean is really worried.

There are no guarantees for this election. There are Obama supporters who have vowed to vote for McCain if Clinton "steals" election, and there are Clinton supporters who have made a similar threat. (But then liberals often threaten to move to Canada or France if so-and-so gets elected, and they never do.) Some pundits have claimed that McCain needs to pick a VP candidate that will help him capture swing voters (I disagree, I think McCain is a big enough switch-hitter to do that himself), while others have said he needs to pick a staunch conservative to salvage the conservative vote he's thrown away with his Senate voting record. For cryin' out loud, there's no guarantees who will win this quagmire of a DNC nomination yet! So calling the general election now is a bit premature.
Betzee at 10:19 PM JST - 28th May

There's really no question that McCain is a Republican, but some people on the far right are struggling with his conservative credentials.

Yeah I heard the "he's a liberal" comment but never really understood the Right's deep-seated antipathy to the man. The real problem is the state of conservatism. Some have written off GWB as having betrayed the cause by running deficits eight years in a row and expanding entitlement programs (his drug plan for seniors).

The other view is that conservatism itself is in trouble, having lost its raison d'etre after the USSR was disbanded (communism didn't collapse). Small government was in fact an alternative to state socialism. But once communism was gone, it ceased to have relevance. As a result, ideological conservatives had to attract social conservatives to the Republican Party and get them to turn out on election day to win elections. Pro-life, marriage is between a man and a woman, etc. It's not a natural fit. Social conservatives want to harness the power of the federal government to regulate private behavior.

More generally, it's questionable whether small government fits the needs of society and national defense in this day and age. It doesn't have any solutions for persistent trade deficits, for example. Better regulation is probably needed to keep tainted foreign-made goods out of the American marketplace. Ditto for security; airport screeners do a much more through job now they are federal employees than in the pre-9/11 era when the profession experienced high-turnover owing to lack of benefits and low salary. If the employer has no commitment to its workers, well the workers generally reciprocate in kind and bail as soon as they find something a little better.

"Privatization" of government functions was the answer of small government advocates to reduce Uncle Sam's costs and size. But it easily degenerates into "crony capitalism" which any visitor to a third-world country has had a chance to appreciate. Shoddy services at a high price.

In my opinion, conservatives elevated the importance of winning elections, as opposed to governing, since they really had no specfic policy prescriptions for current ills. Few able bodied people are recipients of government-entitlement programs, it's mostly the elderly (who vote). So you really can't do much on that front, as Ronald Reagan (the last real conservative President) discovered when his administration ran up significant deficits after cutting taxes.

Anyone running for higher office who talks about reducing the size of government needs to be treated skeptically. And the American electorate needs to demand candidates stick to the issues rather than allowing the campaign to degenerate into a lot of mud-slinging.
Betzee at 11:07 PM JST - 28th May

I thought this columnist really had a good point. Obama will have to pick a seasoned running mate, just as GWB did in selecting Dick Cheney, to allay voter concerns over lack of experience. For McCain it's a somewhat different matter:

John McCain spent some time the other day looking over possible vice presidential nominees, including Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, former rival Mitt Romney and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

The choice of a running mate is especially important for McCain because he would be the oldest person ever to become president, at 72. So his first priority should be to find a vice president who is ready from Day 1 to take over if the worst should happen.

None of these prospects qualifies. Crist has only 17 months' service in the statehouse. Romney is a one-term governor whose presidential race exposed him as a man of weak political skills and weaker political convictions. Jindal is 36 years old, barely above the minimum age for the office, and was elected governor only last fall. All are conspicuously lacking in experience on matters of national security.

Any of these candidates would make it hard for McCain to exploit an issue that should work greatly to his advantage: Obama's skimpy political resume. If it's unwise to entrust our security to a neophyte, how can McCain expose the nation to that very risk? And how can the GOP say national security should be paramount in choosing a president if it is irrelevant in choosing a vice president?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped0525chapmanmay25,0,1076497.column
WhiteHawk at 02:02 AM JST - 29th May

Betzee, that was one of your best posts ever. And it's a very good point about McCain's options for a running mate.

Jindal needs to stay in Lousiana and salvage that state the best he can. He's echoed that in interviews.

Romney isn't a great debater, but one of his sons sounds like a young William F. Buckley Jr. So perhaps we'll see him again in 2012, with his son playing a more prominent role.

Crist and McCain are good friends. That may be his only qualification, but it's likely enough for McCain.

There is someone with strong political convictions, a good record and plenty of executive experience who could salvage the conservative vote for McCain, but the same people who chided right-wingers for making fun of Obama's middle name would recoil in disgust at Jeb Bush.
RomeoRamenII at 03:32 AM JST - 29th May

Romney isn't a great debater .... perhaps we'll see him again in 2012

Don't count Mitt out just yet, WhiteHawk. Remember, he only suspended his campaign. He and Huckabee are splitting a lot of conservative votes; a voting block that Sen. McCain needs to woo.

Besides, when it comes to the economy, Mitt's the only one still "running" who is qualified.

Jeb? Not this time around. Look for him to run in 2012.

RR
Madverts at 04:51 PM JST - 29th May

"Look for him to run in 2012."

Heh, getr real. The Bush Co dynstay is over after the last muppet.
LFRAgain at 04:53 PM JST - 29th May

Jeb hasn't got a snowball's chance in hell of sitting in the White House, particularly after debacle of Bush's two terms.
Betzee at 08:18 PM JST - 29th May

White Hawk,

Conservatism, introduced by William Buckley in the 1960s as an antidote to the Roosevelt New Deal, has in many ways been successful and been incorporated into the mainstream. My primary issue with people like Buckley is he simply counted the number of federal employees and if it went up that was necessarily a bad thing. Insufficient recognition has been paid to the fact that privatization of government functions, presented as the alternative, creates perverse incentives for those pursuing public sector careers.

In Japan this is a well-known phenomenon called amakudari which means "descent from heaven" a process whereby high-level personnel retire from plum positions in the bureaucracy only to be hired as "advisors" by none other than the very companies and industry groups they had been in charge of regulating.

The problem in the United States even extends to the intelligence community where people like George Tenet and Richard Armitage consult for companies trying to land a piece of the action in the form of national security contracts. According to a book review of Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing "Booz Allen was conducting a study for the Director of National Intelligence, a position that was about to be filled by one of the company's own -- Mike McConnell. The shadow IC was now helping the real IC prepare for an immediate future when the real IC would be led by the shadow IC. This was more than a revolving door: The private and the public sides of intelligence were now sharing the same room...."

Ironically, Mitt Romney's candidicacy represented a throw-back to an earlier era when men who'd done well in the private sector then pursued second-careers as public servants (rather than the reverse). Almost all the Republicans I know voted for him, impressed with his business success and what it might bring to the government. But after pouring in the resources which he did and then losing Iowa to Huckabee indicated his was not a strong candidate.

Romney no doubt realizes the path to the Oval Office leads through the Vice-Presidency and that's why he's eager to sign on as John McCain's number-two. In this regard the career of George HW Bush is the one he will try to replicate. But I doubt McCain will chose him.