In article >,
blake murphy > wrote:

> On Sun, 31 Aug 2008 06:55:41 -0400, Stan Horwitz wrote:
> >
> > If anyone's a political whore, its McCain. He wants Bush to campaign
> > with him and raise money for his campaign, but he says he's opposed to
> > Bush's policies, yet he voted for over 90% of Bush's policies. Talk
> > about shameless flip flopping!
>
> yet the media keeps talking about what a 'maverick' he is. maybe in 2000,
> no more. it's maddening.

Up until 2000 when McCain last the primary to the draft dodger in the
White House now, he really was a political maverick. Then after he was
swift boated by Rove and Bush, McCain made a conscious decision to
remake himself into a politician like the Shrub. As it happens, he tried
to emulate a man who turned out to be one of our worst presidents. Oops!
If I am not mistaken, the only key area where McCain parted company with
Bush since 2000 was in stem cell research. Big deal.

McCain literally sold his soul to the devil. Now he thinks we Americans
are too stupid to realize that. McCain's days in politics are numbered,
as are Karl Rove's. If Rove really thinks Palin will win over a lot of
far right conservatives and Hillary supporters, he's living in a fantasy
land.

The far right has already made their decision. Obama will never get
votes from the far right, yet McCain seems to be chasing after voters
who are already in his column. That's a huge tactical error.

Hillary Clinton's supporters will no doubt vote for McCain, but only in
small numbers because they are republicans with a small "R". Those
moderate conservatives voted for Hillary only because she has a uterus.
When Hillary bowed out of the primary, those moderate Republicans when
back from whence they came. Most Hillary Clinton supporters are
Democrats with a big D (many are long-time union members) and they will
vote for Obama over McCain in a heartbeat. Selecting Palin to run with
McCain changes nothing for the liberals who voted for Hillary and it
chances nothing for the Republicans who supported her because most of
the people who supported Hillary already made up their minds on how they
will vote.

So what voters does that leave McCain? The independent voters are still
up for grabs. Selecting Palin for McCain's ticket won't win over many of
independents because she's far too conservative. The voters Palin
appeals to are already in McCain's camp, so what does she bring to the
table in terms of getting more voters to vote for McCain? Probably a
great big nothing.

McCain needed to find a running mate who appeals to the independent
voters. If he had selected Tom Ridge from Pennsylvania or maybe Olympia
Snow, he might have secured more independent voters, but selecting a
political unknown with a history of far right views certainly won't win
any points with independent voters. At best, McCain's VP choice will
prompt a lot of independent voters to say home on election day or vote
for a third party candidate.