McCain Conspiracy Theories

There is no conspiracy. What we are seeing is the true McCain: An opportunist who'll change his stripes on a whim if it's politically beneficial to him or to save his own ass.

There's actually a pretty interesting article in the New Yorker about the Palin selection.

That said, I think #1 is virtually impossible and #2 is improbably (though there's tons of circumstantial evidence to support it).

I think the idea that McCain is an honorable man etc. etc. had been slaughtered by the Rolling Stone article and the last three months. so there's no need for elaborate theories to explain this.

As per the Republicans giving up, the ACORN shit says they're using what they've got.

They're intentionally stirring up violent and or religious nuts purely to fuck with Obama's presidency and to give them an "enemy at home" to campaign against in 2012.

This is political forces at work, no conspiracy theories.

After eight years of Bush administration the GOP just didn't have any one that encapsulated the party. If anyone better than their candidates exists (and the only people I can think of is Charlie Crist or the terribly named Jeb Bush), they had little incentive to run. At the time people were deciding to run for the presidency 2008 was clearly designated as a Democratic year and it was equally obvious that Clinton and Obama, two absolute rock stars, were going to run. So why put yourself through that?

So the GOP got as their nominees people that each represented a different facet of the party:

• Mitt Romney (empty suit, fiscal conserative with moderate social views economic "expert")
• Rudy Giuliani (ridiculously unlikeable, inexperienced, socially moderate, foreign policy "expert")
• Mike Huckabee (folksy, fundamental Christian, fiscal liberal)
• Fred Thompson (as seen in The Hunt for Red October and Necessary Roughness)
• John McCain (Hey... he was a POW and the press likes him)

John McCain was the person determined to be the most electable... but the truth is that none of the group were electable this year.

This bit the Dems in the ass last cycle. When people were deciding to run it looked like Bush was unassailable. Hillary didn't run. We got Kerry as a nominee. Then the war started dragging on and opinon of Bush soured and we had a pretty lackluster nominee. I think Kerry would have been a fine president but he lacked a little sumtin sumtin as a candidate.

There's always the theory that John McCain is playing the game of getting elected but when he gets in, he'll be the 2000 model Maverick McCain we all know and love.

When you think of it, John McCain has the same essential problem Kerry had in 2004. And that is enthusiasm. I voted for Kerry but I sure as fuck wasn't excited about the guy. I just wanted Bush out. The same thing is happening on the McCain side. Nobody is actually inspired by the guy. They're just scared of Obama. The irony is that if McCain just ran on the brand he cultivated over the years, we'd be seeing a very different election right about now. I mean a year ago, I wouldn't have minded McCain winning. Now with the Palin pick and his actions, I don't have that same confidence in him being okay for president.

I don't know. Over the last several months, I think there's been ample evidence provided that McCain 2000 was simply McCain playing up to the press and the image he'd created for himself. Very little in his career before or since 2000 paints him as a "maverick" (can we be done with this, please?). Aside from campaign finance reform and environmental issues and perhaps one or two other things, he's a pretty down the line GOP water carrier and always has been. He just got stuck with the image of being a rebel in 2000 and decided to run with it.

That's kind of fudged up by the fact that what we all loved about 2000 McCain was that he was principled. Our evidence of this was that he wouldn't run the kind of campaign that he's now running just to get elected.

I could see the GOP sacrificing McCain this year so they can settle back for the next 4-8 years and have the big ole US bank account filled to the brim again (they know that only the democrats know how to generate a surplus), so they'll have money for their next war (Iran probably).

I think it's partly what myk said and partly theory #2. McCain won by being last man standing, not by being the one they wanted. They're up against a very strong candidate and their own party is sort of in shambles at the moment thanks to 8 years of Bush.

What's happened is that the GOP leadership has just given up on this campaign. The ACORN shit, the anti-American shit, the Ayers shit, this is McCain's campaign dudes, but you're not getting the enthusiasm from the party itself. They realize that they can't win with this guy and they're not sure they want to win with this guy. Especially because the next 4 years will be horrible years for this country no matter what, and that time will allow them to groom the next players. I bet Bobby Jindal goes places. Running him against Obama in 2012 could do nicely.

Please, God, no.

Just an errant lightning bolt or something. Please.

I still get a Bob Dole vibe from McCain's candidacy, the sense that it's the old guy's turn since he's been around so long.

Bobby Jindal is a religious nut, though. The exorcism story is pretty disturbing stuff. I think 2012 will not bring forward any charismatic candidates from the Repugs. If they do take back the presidency, it will be because Obama fucked up on a massive scale.

Hopefully we're not looking at Jimmy Carter redux. Not that I think he was a bad president, he was just preaching a message the country was in no mood to hear at the time.

The thing I find funny about Jindal is that the people for whom his religious fundamentalism will actually appeal will probably be scared off by his skin colour. Maybe after four years of Obama the national mood will be different, but I doubt it.

I know very little about Jindal other than some anecdotes and press clippings here and there.

What I do know is a person who "prays for Jindal" and openly begs for the man to run for President. Said person is rather intelligent but a certifiable, right wing Catholic nutjobber of the highest order. So I suppose that's all I really need to know about Jindal.

Eh....We elected him. If he was able to overcome the race hurdle here, he should be able to clear it anywhere.

Jindal isn't a guy to write off. Despite his definite neocon leanings and unabashed social conservativism (but one must ask how much of that is a front put on in order to be elected in a deep south state when your name is Piyush Jindal and your wife is named Supriya..), he's a very intelligent, charismatic guy that came up through the Louisiana political system and thus knows how to play politics as dirty as they come. If he avoids any major fuckups* he's a GOP star on the rise. Perhaps the only one.

*And that's a major if. He already had one close call over the summer when he said he wouldn't veto the pay raise the legislature voted themselves, despite that being one of his major campaign promises. He later relented and did veto, but before he did there were recall petitions being circulated and his approval rating dived.

Jindal is (hopefully) way too much of a fucking nutjob to really have a run at the oval office. He was for making the Patriot Act permanent. Ugh.