Feb 10 2008
Brit Hume’s Message To “True” Conservatives: Give McCain Space To Operate
McCain and Huckabee basically tied the LA and WA races, and Huckabee got a huge win in KS. So it seems the “true” conservatives are still in the ‘any one but McCain’ mood if you look at the numbers. Which is why I liked what Brit Hume said this morning on the Fox News Sunday panel. Brit said it was actually time for the ‘true’ conservatives stop demanding homage from McCain and give him some space to do what is required to beat the Dems. If he needs to tack to the center to win then he needs the freedom to make that decision. The Dems are still seeing record turnout in these primaries and the GOP needs to do what is necessary to get McCain elected.
Unless Chris Mathews is right and the truth is conservatives want Hillary in power so they can do what they enjoy (and make the most money from) – which is bashing government. Personally the country needs to have McCain win so we don’t sink back into the liberal abyss of their failed policies.
Brit Hume is right.
Unfortunately, the Democrats will go back to do what they are very good at…bashing a Republican president.
If McCain wins, then he has to do the things that will guarantee a win in 2012.
If the Democrats win the WH, they will screw up so bad that a 2012 loss for them is guaranteed.
I think everyone knows that there is a difference between how you run in a primary vs general election. I don’t think McCain will need to adjust that awful much because of what the main issues will be (economy, GWOT, immigration).
Obama’s speech last night showed the Dem strategy. They will paint McCain as a flip-flopper, as being just like Bush, as being a war-monger who practices the politics of fear. They will point out the times he was with the Dems on policy (saying he has strayed now merely for political gain). It ain’t gonna be pretty.
Karl Rove pointed something out with some stats on his dryboard this moring (FoxNews). Head to head match ups are neck and neck. But, what he pointed out was that McCain has a higher per centage of support from Republicans than either Hillary or Obama from Democrats. And, not only that……he draws a higher per centage of Democrat support his way than either Hillary or Obama do drawing Republican support their way.
Of course, he was talking about “per centages” and not actual “voters”. So, it is critical for Republicans to support McCain in November for him to win. I think most conservatives will do so (but,not all). And, the tone of the conservative bloggers, radio hosts, etc is much, much kinder. It will warm up a bit.
Give it time to play out.
I don’t like McCain because he undercut the President on Gitmo, waterboarding, tax cuts for the rich, embryonic stem cell research. Now that is in the past, and I must look to the future. Our future looks brighter in McCains hands then in Hillary’s or Obama’s, and that is an undeniable truth.
Some really need to go back and actually look at the numbers and remember how they got to what they were.
2004 was a totally weird year in that Kerry was anointed so early in the process that most of the primaries on the left were near ghost towns unless they had a local issue on the ballot. The right side was also lower in turnout since Bush was the man and the competition knew it and there was no contest on the right.
For example in 2004 NJ had 4% turnout and 20% this year. Two factors made that change. One is the Obama/Clinton match up has people choosing sides, but the much larger reason people are ignoring is that in 2004 NJ held their primary on June 8th , long after the Kerry crowning had been done.
Don’t get all tied up in the emotional, look at the data, it will tell you a whole story all by itself.
It is no accident that right now we have the two most unlikely candidates seeming to lead both sides of the aisle.
The exit polls show exactly why. It is the sequencing arrangement of which states and in which order they occurred this cycle that was a major factor in dictating just who would slide to the top.
Factor in a lackluster set of candidates on the right and all the story plays itself out to where we are now.
It is just a repeat of what we witnessed here in Florida after two terms of Jeb Bush as Governor followed up by a lackluster set of candidates to replace him with not much interest in the election by many, only now it is being repeated on a national stage.
Even look at all the states that have voted right up to this morning , even including all the Super Tuesday and the 4 elections last night.
Look at the near non existence of conservative strongholds with power behind them. Sure there are some southern conservative states there and most went for Huck, but I said strongholds with power. Those are still yet to come
What has the conservative side had so far Wyoming and South Carolina and Oklahoma against places like NY, California and Massachusetts. Yup thats a fair match up to be sure.
Look at the exit polls and look at just the list of states who have voted so far. It says a lot of why we are where we are.
As if this whole elections cycle isn’t bad enough take a look at this nightmare
Oops missed that one big boy total turnout per CNN with 96% in 31621 with 363 uncommitted caucus participants
Repeating something for emphasis
Nobody believes me it seems about game playing in the primaries, especially with Michigan and Fl both having penalty boxes from the Dem party which Hillary is trying now to reverse to get those delegates she is gonna need.
Now listen to what the left is saying over at a thread on TalkLeft
McCain are you listening?
That was a commenter talking about Wisconsin where you vote early and vote often!
Rack em up again and we will take another shot at it….Btw Hill is now pushing for a later caucus for the Dems in Florida which ‘will count’..oh gee a do over!
Read the rest of that comment thread , you will find it entertaining , bring lots of popcorn.
Kathie:
McCain stood with the president on the war and immigration and how did that work for him with conservatives?
The thing about the whole Gitmo business, is that this will have to be resolved sooner or later. I don’t think Gitmo was ever meant to be a permanent thing. However, I would rather someone like McCain be in the White House when that situation is revolved rather than Obama. At least McCain helped write the Military Commissions Act and showed some understanding of what we are dealing with.
I also think that Brit is right. These guys might be complaining about McCain, but he is winning for a reason. The last thing he needs to do is take advice from Delay and Santorum.
AJ:
I don’t think Ks and La are about some anyone but McCain things, I think those folks voted for Huckabee because they like him. He has done a lot better than anyone ever imagined he could.
Terrye
Look at the exit polls and part of what helped Huck is he picked up the religious non Catholics Mitt had voting for him.
90% of voters showed some religious affiliation, only 10% said none for religion.
Mc only has strength among Catholics and even loses them for those that attend multiple times in a week. He also picks up some votes from non Catholics who infrequently attend church.
Simply saying here that religion plus conservative trumps just conservative in the south.
It is instructive to go back and look at the Republican poll graphs over at RCP and up until the first votes were getting ready to be cast, Huck was in the basement and holding steady, but then he now is up there in the charts.
Now if he has all this great support , why weren’t those numbers higher to start with instead of the bottom feeder baseline he had held for so long?
Like I said Terrye, that was the past, now is the future, and this country is better off in McCains hands, that is undeniable.
Kathie:
I understand what you are saying, my only point is that most Republicans have disagreed with Bush on all sorts of things.
I saw this over at Captains Quarters:
Newsweek also helps by publishing a poll today in the all-but-finished Republican primary race, showing John McCain with a commanding national lead over Mike Huckabee after the Mitt Romney withdrawal:
McCain was widely perceived to have practically sealed the Republican presidential nomination Thursday when his chief rival, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, suspended his presidential campaign. Indeed, the senator from Arizona leads the GOP race with 51 percent of registered Republican voters and those leaning toward the GOP, according to the poll, which is based on telephone interviews with 1,394 registered voters Feb. 6-7. Huckabee draws 32 percent support, followed by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, with 6 percent. When voters were asked to choose between just McCain and Huckabee, McCain wins out by 20 points, 57 to 37 percent. A full three quarters (76 percent) of all Republicans and two thirds (69 percent) of conservatives say they would be happy with McCain as the nominee–indicating that the maverick’s troubles with the right might not run as deep as some have suggested.
Still, McCain is not home free on that score. By a large margin, self-described conservatives are more likely to see Huckabee, not McCain, as the true conservative (53 percent to 22 percent). Huckabee’s religious credibility appears to be a key factor in his appeal among evangelical voters. In a head-to-head contest with the ordained Southern Baptist minister, McCain wins the moderate-to-liberal vote by a large margin (73 percent to 25 percent) but only manages a marginal lead among conservatives (49 percent to 43 percent). Huckabee wins the evangelical vote by a 10-point margin (54 percent to 44 percent), but McCain wins the non-evangelical vote by an even wider one (66 percent to 26 percent).
I’d be tempted to cast the conservative split between Huckabee and McCain a little more positively towards the latter. McCain leads Huckabee among self-described conservatives, a result that should surprise a few readers. He also comes within 10 points among evangelicals — against a Baptist minister. That doesn’t exactly come across as weakness.
Yes Terrye Republicans have disagreed with Bush over many things some more publicly and with sanctimony then others. But 2 are standing to represent the Republican party for the future of this country. John McCain is one of those Republicans. I disagreed with his methods and words then, and still do, however looking forward he is the better person to lead this country in a time of on going war which will also have economic challenges for us.
Brit said to give McCain some space but he didn’t think they would do it.
Wrong. I have already seen a pattern emerging. They intend to give him …..lots….of space. The only MSM that the ‘true conservatives’ rule is radio. Then there are a few blogs that seem to lead the internet parade. This group has learned a few MSM tricks along the way.
Terrye, you remember I said they gave Rudy the Silence? You said it was his own fault because of such a poor campaign. Actually, I agree. It was terrible and I kept wondering if he was sick or someone had pulled out some mighty smelly dirt that made him hide in FL. My point was regardless, the parade did give him the Silence.
I watched Malkin on FOX today. When asked if she would now support McCain (dunno, could have been if she would vote for him) she gave the exact same answer as Ingraham (FOX) the other night with Newt. This has to be their new plan. They go into this spill about how all the true conservatives can get out and support the ‘true’ ones at the grassroot’s level. “Get fired up” is their new motto, I believe. When asked the second time the same question, she dodged with a support the candidate against amnesty, etc.
So the answer is NO, they will not be supporting McCain. This was their behavior with Miers. They get to choose. They do not give a rat’s azzz who is CIC for the troops.
owl:
No, they don’t. They did not support the war because they wanted to win, they supported the war because they thought it would get them the support they needed for their agenda. Once that larger agenda is threatened, they forget the troops.
I think that if Rudy had started earlier, he might have been beat in Iowa, but he would not have been forgotten. That might have helped him more in the long run.
BTW, I read that the guy Malkin was supporting to go after Lindsay Graham’s Senate seat, was a former KKK man. Somehow that does not surprise me. I guess that once his not so distant past came to light he bowed out.
I can not remember his name..Buddy something.
That is the problems with grassroots, you don’t know who is down there.