I know the dogmatic conservatives are grumbling about the bold Maverick McCain being the presumptive Republican nominee for President. But I have a strong feeling that there's less to this than meets the eye.
Okay, so Rush the OxyContin Man and Glenn Beck and other luminaries of the "conservative movement" are badmouthing the legendary Straight Talker. But there are several reasons I'm having a hard time taking it too seriously. Remember back in 2000 when George W. Bush was the "compassionate conservative" candidate?
One is that the bold Maverick is conservative as all heck, voting virtually down the line with Cheney and Bush on everything - even though the Dark Lord's daughter Liz Cheney was a Romney partisan for his presumably more reliably conservative stances. (Or maybe he made a secret commitment to never allow Dad to be prosecuted?) The polling data as analyzed by Josh Marshall and TPM don't show the hostility toward McCain among the Republican base that the prominent talking heads of the OxyContin crowd are expressing. And even if the poobahs of Republican hate radio continue to nominally oppose the bold Maverick, it's hard to imagine they won't focus more on the impending horrors of Marxist revolution and race war if the Democrats win than they will on the Straight Talker's supposed shortfalls in True Conservatism. And it also helps McCain's fake image as a Maverick if there's some bitching and moaning from the Cheney fans in the Party's right wing.
Far more problematic than hate radio, though, is going to be the mainstream press corps with their shameless adoration for the great St. McCain. We've seen it in their eagerness to annoint their beloved Maverick as the nominee. As Chris Matthews once put it, "The press loves McCain. We're his base, I think, sometimes." And because their script for McCain says that he's a Maverick, so they won't be much inclined to dig into how serious the alleged conservative hostility to St. McCain really is.
The media adoration for the bold Maverick is going to be a powerful advantage for the Republicans, presuming that he is the nominee. The Huck is still in the race and McCain doesn't actually have the nomination wrapped up yet. Though it does seem almost inevitable with Romney departure. But their love for the Straight Talker will lead them to frame the whole general election campaign according their warped script idolizing McCain. In PunditWorld, McCain is a bold Maverick; he's a strong and principled man; he's a Straight Talker; he looks like a Commander-in-Chief, etc.
The PBS Newshour featured a piece Thursday on the Maverick's issues with conservatives. (With Romney's Exit, McCain Courts Conservative Base 02/07/08) They brought on an "expert panel" of two guests to talk about it. One was David Bossie, who Eric Boehlert calls the "professional Clinton-era agitator and renowned Republican dirty trickster" who "was often at the epicenter of churning out stories about President Clinton, deftly feeding the press and Capitol Hill investigators outlandish - and usually unsubstantiated - assertions about White House wrongdoing". (You can't teach an old attack dog new tricks Salon 07/20/04) Who better to provide sensible political analysis than a notorious sleaze-slinger and general slime-bag.
The other guest was Richard Land, president Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the country's largest Protestant denomination. He talked like a Party official and/or kingmaker. This is what the Republican Party - and the SBC - have come to. They haven't merged Chuch and State yet. But they have merged Church and Party, or at least that's the way it sounded listening to Land. I'm for wide discretion for religious groups taking stands on issues. But Church organizations that are engaged in partisan politics shouldn't be tax-exempt. But I'm quite sure that if Attorney General Mukasey won't enforce Congressional subpeonas or prosecute officials using the drowning torture, he won't be investigating partisan activities by official bodies of the largest Baptist Church.
I watched Wolf Blitzer and Jack Cafferty talking about Romney's withdrawal today and what it meant for the race. Surprise, surprise! They said it was ... good for the Republicans! That's not entirely far-fetched. In theory, unless God makes the Huck's campaign take off, the Maverick can focus on campaigning against the Dems and raising money for the general while Clinton and Obama continue to compete.
And PBS is the quality TV!
But that's not necessarily the case. The Democratic race so far in 2008 has been McGovern vs. Humphrey 1972 or Carter vs. Kennedy in 1980, both divisive races with substantial policy differences and considerably more intra-party rancor than we've seen this year so far. Another month or more of the Democratic race could provide the Dems a lot of publicity and continue to generate interest and excitement.
And let's not forget: McCain is committed to endlessly fighting the Iraq War.
Tags: christianism, establishment press, mccain, richard land, mainstream media, mainstream press, separation of church and state
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