Whatever happened to John McCain?

Last week a number of media reports surfaced indicating that Senator John McCain, Republican candidate for president in 2008, has been having difficulty raising/keeping money and has dismissed ("parted ways"?) a number of campaign staff. This had led the piranha-minded media to speculate that his candidacy is on the verge of death, although the McCain campaign strongly denies this. So this begs the question: What happened to the McCain campaign, that it finds itself in this position? I offer a few observations....

It has nothing to do with his age. Much Americans have no idea how old he is.

First of all, he has already long ago alienated the right-wing of the Republican party. They remember that in 2000 he ran as a moderate, slamming George Bush a bit too viciously...and now they're aghast that he is trying to portray himself as the second coming of Ronald Reagan...which he isn't.

And, he alienated the left-wing of the Republican party with his strong support of the president's stand on the Iraq war. Personally, I think he should be commended for this. The lesson remains, though: They who take strong stands on controversial issues will displease some people. Those who don't take strong stands should not be president.

Then, of course, he alienated nearly every intelligent member of the Republican party (not currently in Congress) by being a big supporter of the ludicrous immigration bill which—hallelujah!—died a proper death in the Senate a few weeks ago. I don't claim to know why he supported it; I would certainly think that a senator from a state overrun with illegal immigrants would have instead supported far more reasonable legislation.

Could it be, that in attempting to read the political winds, he miscalculated? Could it be, that by hiring scads of political consultants months ago, he spent too much time "positioning" himself and too little time taking the stands that republicans want their president to take? Or that he lost touch with the electorate? There are lessons here; and the good news for other republican presidential candidates is that there is still plenty of time to learn them.

Which Republican would I like....(Part 2)

Today, I was introduced to the website http://www.selectsmart.com/president/2008.html .
The purpose of this website is to ask you your views on issues and candidate qualities, and once you do that, it tells you how closely the candidates' views match with yours. Each candidate is assigned a percentage rating compared to your "theoretical ideal candidate" and then the candidates are ranked in order from most matching your viewpoint to least. They have nearly every human being who has announced any degree of intention of running for president next year, including the Libertarian and Green Party candidates. This appears to be a non-partisan, but highly useful, website.

So what did it tell me after I indicated my views and preferences? First of all, the 25 candidates landed in the following order:

• All of the Republicans were at the top of the list, and then we had...
• The Libertarian (you should see the picture—he looks like a cowboy with hair longer than my wife's). After him, we had...
• All of the Democrats, and then...
• The woman from the Green Party. She and I had precisely 0% agreement. Even Dennis Kucinich, the lowest democrat, had a 5% agreement with me.

On the democrat side, the most-in-agreement democrats were Joe Biden (23%) followed by a Gore/Clinton tie (22%). Least in agreement: Kucinich and Obama (7%).

There was a tie for my top Republican between Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo (89% each). Following them was another tie between Mitt Romney and Sam Brownback (76% each). Guiliani and Paul were the lowest Republicans on my scale, which I understood. The credibility of this tool was iffy in the middle of the Republican pack, where Hagel and McCain came ahead of Gingrich, Huckabee, and the two Thompsons.

The site also gives fairly detailed positions the candidates have taken or votes they have cast on a variety of important issues—the same ones you are asked about. I would encourage you to take a look at it, and even take the survey and see what it tells you. If all you want to do is read or compare the positions of the candidates, go straight to http://selectsmart.com/president/2008/comparethem.html, where you can open two candidates' information at once, side-by-side. I am curious to know what you think!

Which Republican would I like to see President?

As you may be aware, there's a presidential election next year, and there are a few people who are interested in the job. I am aware of some of them, being somewhat involved with the Republican party here in Michigan. There also happen to be a couple democrats, including the junior senator from NY and the junior senator from IL and a few others who would like George W. Bush's job.

I have already been asked, "Which one do you like?" "Do you support any of them?" And I have to this point made no allegiances. I prefer to choose who will receive my vote by looking at several criteria and seeing who matches them best.

Here are some of my criteria:

• What is their stand on basic moral issues? Do they support traditional marriage—and only traditional marriage? What is their stand on abortion? If a candidate favors the legalization of this wicked practice, he or she is highly unlikely to receive my vote. After all, if one cannot be trusted to protect the right to life, what confidence should we have that the same will protect our rights to liberty, the pursuit of happiness, or anything else?
• Does the candidate support the Constitution and what it upholds? This would include those pesky issues like freedom of speech and religion, right to bear arms, un-twisted interpretations of "the equal protection of the laws," and so forth.
• Does the candidate support the Bible, both in principle and in his or her own lifestyle and speech?
  
• Is the candidate consistent? Do they support the same things today that they supported yesterday, or ten years ago, or that they will support when they visit their next target demographic? In a related issue, does the candidate better resemble an unflinching eagle, standing on principle, or a slinking chameleon, changing colors in the prevailing winds (i.e., the junior senator from NY on various Iraq-related votes)?
• Has the candidate done a good job at whatever he or she was doing before? Was the candidate a good representative, senator, governor, businessman, or bus driver? Hard worker, or slacker? Someone you're proud to know, or someone who brings embarrassment?
• What does the candidate want to do with my tax money? How much of my money does he or she want? I prefer candidates who want as little of my money as is reasonable, who want to spent it frugally, and who want to eliminate the mass of useless, foolish, wasteful, or flat-out unconstitutional programs our state and federal governments spawn.

There are other criteria, too; I'll probably remember more of them later after I post this.

So how does the current Republican field look from here?

• Giuliani: He's OK with abortion and weak on family issues, so he's not too OK with me. This saddens me, because despite his persona, I kind of like the guy...as the mayor of the city in which I was born.
• McCain: Today, he's the second coming of Ronald Reagan. Seven years ago, he was no friend of the Religious Right [Aside: Does anyone remember his disdain for Bob Jones University in 2000?] and was openly pandering to moderates and independents. And then there was that whole McCain-Feingold thing—perhaps the only piece of legislation in the last decade Republicans caved on that was worse than No Child Left Behind. I would have a hard time voting for him to be my president.
• Romney: He's popular here in Michigan, because his daddy was the governor way back when and he grew up an hour north of my house. One wife, several kids, family man. But his record as governor of Massachusetts gives me great pause. Do I believe what I know he was then, or what he says he is now? Of the "top three," I'd pick him. That Mormon angle, though, is problematic.
• The Rest of the Field: Do any of them have a chance? Probably. I haven't studied them enough yet. A couple, like Ron Paul and Chuck Hagel, are already scratched off. Duncan Hunter and Tommy Thompson and Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback and Jim Gilmore and Tom Tancredo are all possibilities that will merit more attention in the days to come.
  
• The Not-Yet-In-The-Field crowd: If it weren't for the three marriages and that nasty affair/divorce a few years back, I'd already be ordering "Newt Gingrich for President" paraphrenalia. I like him. I like Fred Thompson, too. His record as Tennessee senator was a good one. They're both going to run, by the way. Mark my words.
  
• For the record, I have not yet announced my own candidacy for the office of the president, nor have I formed an exploratory committee at this time.

Thankfully (or not so much?) there's still plenty of time to study matters! But in summary, the Republican I want to vote for has two key things I like:

• He thinks like I do.
• He thinks like God does.