A Theory
Is it possible that the right wing of the Republican party has a two-fold agenda in its recent vocal series of attacks on John McCain (see, from the past week, Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, James Dobson)?
- The straightfoward – they genuinely would prefer that Romney was the nominee and they’re not all that thrilled by McCain’s ideological divergence from standard conservative values.
- The devious – they recognize that they’re facing an uphill battle this year to win moderate conservatives and a very strong uphill battle to win moderate liberals, especially if Obama is the Democratic nominee. To confront this problem, the far right of the Republican party is publicly making a lot of noise to show their displeasure with McCain, advertising that their displeasure is because McCain is SOOOO moderate. Every time Ann Coulter tells Fox News’s right-leaning audience not to vote for McCain, she’s giving him credibility in the center. Notice that these attacks didn’t ramp up until it seemed clear (or at least likely) that he was going to win the party’s nomination — this sort of strategy wouldn’t work if they actually derailed him. For this to be functional, they have to loudly complain only after he’s essentially locked up the nomination. The efforts they’re making will both scare him to the right AND encourage moderates to vote for him. Pretty good strategy, eh?
Anyone agree?
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:04 pm
i did think it was weird. My guess was that they were scared McCain wouldn’t “play ball” when it comes to the back-door dealings, but given that you’re making this guess, I’m tempted to believe it. What does your brain trust say?
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February 3rd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Nope, they just don’t like McCain. His stance on immigration, tax cuts, and torture fill them with great displeasure. I think all the people you mentioned (except for Coulter, see below) are genuinely unhappy w/ McCain, and are hoping that their whining will help Romney.
Coulter is an exception. She *is* being devious with her recent statement that she’d campaign for Clinton before voting for McCain. Why? Because she’s not selling as well as before. And maybe she’s trying to hurt Clinton by calling her more moderate than McCain.
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February 3rd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
I happened to hear a few minutes of right-wing talk radio earlier this week, and the host was frothing about how you shouldn’t vote for McCain because of his perceived or actual stance on immigration. “McCain and Clinton want to put illegal immigrants in limousines!” So I’m pretty sure that this guy, at least, genuinely dislikes McCain. My guess is that the right just doesn’t think he’s conservative enough. Which is funny, because none of the major presidential candidates are LIBERAL enough for me on immigration (they all support the useless boondoggle that is the border fence).
I also don’t think it’s clear that McCain is going to get the nomination. I don’t think Romney is all that far behind. The only thing that’s clear to me about presidential candidates right now is that Huckabee is wasting his time and money at this point.
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February 3rd, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Huckabee may be wasting his time and money, but he’s wasting it in a way that draws votes from Romney and, therefore, helps McCain. It’s been mentioned to me that both he and, previously, Thompson were staying in the race longer than they otherwise would have because they would prefer McCain to win over Romney and sticking around keeps the harder-edged conservatives from coalescing around Romney.
People seem to think that all the other Republican candidates hate Romney on some broader personal level.
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February 4th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
romney’s a fucking dickwad.
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