Here are the reasons why John McCain is having a tough time catching up in the polls according to McCain’s advisers in the Washington Post article titled The State of the Races, By David S. Broder, Dan Balz and Chris Cillizza Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, November 2, 2008:
McCain advisers said yesterday that they think the race has tightened but acknowledged that the senator has a difficult path to victory, given the economy, Bush's unpopularity and the sour public mood.
The poor thing! Those reasons are supposed to justify McCain’s inability to regain the lead. Here’s my take on these scapegoats.
The economy
What McCain’s advisers fail to mention is that the poor economic outlook is being suffered by both Democrats and Republicans, and every one else across the board for that matter. Why do they say that a poor economy favors Democrats? Could it be that they acknowledge that they are on the wrong side of the issue?
A floundering economy is not necessarily one party’s expertise. If McCain had a smidgen of a clue how to move the country forward economically, and he had a smidgen of a clue about how to sell the plan to the public, then the poor economic situation may just favor the Republican Party. In other words they scapegoat their candidate’s lack of judgment and foresight as something that automatically favors Democrats. (The MSM has swallowed this one hook, line, and sinker.)
Bush’s unpopularity
Okay, this one is easy. Obama has a huge lead because Bush’s approval ratings are the worst of any president ever. By saying that, they admit that McCain=Bush. The point that McCain’s advisors won’t admit is that Obama has successfully conjoined Bush and McCain at the hip. It rally wasn’t that hard to do. He just blew the dust off some old YouTube videos featuring Big John himself gushing over Bush and viola! There you have it. McCain couldn’t see this coming? After all, he had a five month lead on Obama to define him but he squandered that opportunity campaigning willy-nilly and having doughnut socials with the press who he called his base. So Obama got the opportunity to define McCain and he does it every time he opens his mouth. Brilliant.
The sour public mood
I love this one; I mean I absolutely love this flimsy excuse. Sour mood? I think it goes a bit deeper than that. Here are just a few reasons that the public mood has soured:
- By violating the United Nations Charter by launching an illegal war of aggression against Iraq without cause, using fraud to sell the war to Congress and the public, and misusing government funds to begin bombing without Congressional authorization.
- By violating U.S. and international law by authorizing the torture of thousands of captives, resulting in dozens of deaths, and keeping prisoners hidden from the International Committee of the Red Cross.
- By violating the Constitution by arbitrarily detaining Americans, legal residents, and non-Americans, without due process, without charge, and without access to counsel.
- By violating the Geneva Conventions by targeting civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances, and using illegal weapons, including white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new type of napalm.
- By violating U.S. law and the Constitution through widespread wiretapping of the phone calls and emails of Americans without a warrant.
- By violating the Constitution by using signing statements to defy hundreds of laws passed by Congress.
- By violating U.S. and state law by obstructing honest elections in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006.
- By violating U.S. law by using paid propaganda and disinformation, selectively and misleadingly leaking classified information, and exposing the identity of a covert CIA operative working on sensitive WMD proliferation for political retribution.
- By subverting the Constitution and abusing Presidential power by asserting a "Unitary Executive Theory" giving unlimited powers to the President, by obstructing efforts by Congress and the Courts to review and restrict Presidential actions, and by promoting and signing legislation negating the Bill of Rights and the Writ of Habeas Corpus.
- Committing gross negligence in failing to assist New Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina, in ignoring urgent warnings of an Al Qaeda attack prior to Sept. 11, 2001, and in increasing air pollution causing global warming.
McCain’s advisers can nonchalantly point towards the economy, Bush’s unpopularity, and the public’s sour mood as extenuating circumstances why their candidate can’t gain ground, but maybe they should try to point toward the real reason, McCain himself.