McCain’s Character Issues
February 6th, 2008 by 
Kevin
John Hood of the National Review nails it on what has surprisingly become McCain’s biggest handicap:
McCain’s behavior in this episode is revealing. It demonstrates that regardless of how compelling the political case is for GOP conservatives to swallow their many issue disagreements with McCain, the biggest obstacle is the character of the senator. A leader is someone capable of inspiring confidence and articulating a shared vision. McCain’s limitations as a leader are clearly illustrated by the past 24 hours. Typically, when someone tries to form and lead a coalition and can’t seem to pull it off, the blame belongs to him, not to the audience he’s trying to reach. By reveling in the kind of identity politics commonplace on the Left (substitute veteran status for race or sex), McCain is sabotaging his own attempts to persuade his target audience.
This is an event far more telling about one’s capacity for leadership than are past efforts to pass bipartisan (bad) legislation.
I would have thought that McCain’s biggest obstacle to the nomination would be being wrong on virtually every important issue. But the last week, and especially the last 72 hours, his character has left an ugly stain on the race.
Let’s see:
John McCain.
Wrong on the issues.
Irrationally Ill Tempered
Questionable Character
Zero Political Integrity
Yup…sounds like the perfect banner carrier for the GOP. Someone stop the ride, I want to get off now, I’m feeling a bit ill.
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2 Comments »
February 7th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I voted for Romney at my caucus on Tuesday, and I’ve registered my deep reservations with McCain here and elsewhere. That said, I am annoyed by the petulance of some of the conservative punditry over his candidacy. Here are folks who take great joy in prodding liberals for behaving like children at every possible turn, and they are now having screaming hissy-fits that would make a 2-year-old blush.
I won’t recite the litany of wrongs wrought by McCain, which reads like the middle section of the Declaration of Independence (the part they don’t read before the Super Bowl), instead I will quote my Congressman, one of the most steadfast conservatives in Washington: “Any of ours is better than any of theirs”.
There is a process for selecting a nominee- folks announce that they are running, they campaign, and then people vote. We conservatives failed by not coalescing behind a strong candidate early enough to make a difference. Some conservatives eschewed the race for having gotten macaca-d or fearing a re-airing of dirty laundry. Brownback, and Hunter, and a couple of Thompsons failed to get steam while security hawks flirted with Rudy and Evangelicals found their own favorite son.
Romney’s political past made his authenticity as a conservative doubtful, but he had resources that left him the last hope standing.
Now Romney had done the honorable thing by hanging up his campaign and seeking to help reconcile the party. An authentic right winger? Maybe yes, maybe no. A genuine class act? It certainly looks like it. If he succeeds at applying his considerable skills toward mending the rifts in our party, he will raise his profile ever more.
If he wants to take it a step further, and carry the mantle of the “party of Reagan” he can do what Reagan did after his 1976 defeat (and before it, as well), and spend his time being the positive, optimistic champion of the conservative cause. The time Reagan spent talking and listening to people in his times “out of office” helped to galvanize his views, and be able to define how conservative principals and values applied to nuts and bolts “dinner table” issues. Perhaps Romney, or another conservative, will do the same.
“Any of ours is better than any of theirs” is a crucial distinction, especially when there is a war to win.
February 12th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
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