I'm not a bad prognosticator. I predicted the invasion of Panama in 1988 and Gulf War I the day Saddam went into Kuwait (when my friend at a Petroluem lobby said it would never happen). I nailed the '88, '92 and '96 elections. I even nailed the '96 election in the fall of '93, saying the GOP had no first string to take on Bubba. I only missed 2000, because Al failed to win his home state. And my prediction is the only way the GOP is competitive in 2000 is if it's Hillary Clinton vs. John McCain.
Disclosure: I support Edwards, but I am not especially anti-Hillary. My wife saw her in NH and switched from Edwards to Clinton on the spot. But the press's fetish for John McCain and animus towards Hillary is legendary and well documented. I don't think it needs to be re-hashed.
I believe that any Democrat not named Kucinich or Gravel can beat any Republican in 2008. But McCain might be able to beat Clinton. And that scares the shit out of me.
It's not just the fawning press, gushing over McCain's "maverick" status, despite the oceans of water he's carried for the Bush over the past seven years. Hillary is running on her experience and competence. McCain can effectively negate that.
I will stress now that I don't especially like McCain and I think his policies are odious.
But people have made up their minds about Hillary and McCain. Some love Hillary, some hate her. Some (like me) just don't want to re-fight the bullshit fights of the '90s. But people of all political persuasions seem to like McCain. They admire his military service and - despite the lack of evidence to support it - they believe he's an independent thinker and actor in DC.
He can plausibly run as a change candidate in the minds of many citizens who don't pay as much attention to politics as Kossacks do.
Which is why we need to sink him.
We need Teddy Kennedy to talk about how close he is to John McCain and how much he admires him. We need Barney Frank to express how he and John McCain see eye to eye on many issues. Hell, even Hillary should say nice things about him. About how moderate he is, about how he really isn't really all that conservative, about how he's a Republican the left can live with.
I realize this is risky, should he win the nomination. And it would be moot if Obama wins the nomination.
But wouldn't you rather run against Mittens or Huckabee?
I think Hillary can still beat McCain, especially if we do bottom out into the Recession everyone says is coming.
But why risk it?
Clinton v. Thompson!
Think of the possibilities.