It's no secret that President Bush is radioactive this year. In fact, he was radioactive in 2006... I'm not sure there's even a word for the danger he poses to Republicans on ballots in the 2008 election. But now John McCain, who's running for George W. Bush's third term, is trying more desperately than ever to separate himself from his former rival.
A poll by CBS has found that Obama beats McCain by 6 points in a general election; that came out this morning. But Huffington Post is focused on one question from the poll that spells doom for the "maverick" from Arizona. Apparently, McCain is panicking; he's canceled a fundraising dinner with President Bush scheduled for June 18.
Seems like just a week ago that McCain had no problem attending fundraisers with Shrub. Add this to the list of flip flops.
According to the CBS numbers, 64% of participants think that McCain is either an extension of Bush or MORE conservative...
What do you think John McCain will do if he is elected president: do you think he will generally continue George W. Bush's policies, change to more conservative policies, or change to less conservative policies?
Continue Bush policies 43
Change to more conservative 21
Change to less conservative 28
DK/NA 8
This is true at the beginning of the general election campaign; Obama will now have the attention of the entire nation for 5 months during which to hammer home the same point over and over again: that Bush's policies would live on in a McCain presidency. I don't need to tell you folks how effective Obama's team is at developing and executing a long-term electoral strategy. Indeed, David Plouffe tells us exactly what to expect:
"By November, every voter will know that McCain is offering a third Bush term," said Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe.
For better or worse, when the American people are told the same thing over and over again, they believe it. It appears we have a nominee who's finally going to use this to our party's advantage (link to Plouffe's comments). Translation: McCain's screwed.
So how does McCain respond? There's no good response, but panicking seems like a particularly bad option. So of course, that's the path McCain's campaign chooses for him. They leaked the news that he'll be skipping the NRCC fundraiser scheduled for June 18, which President Bush will attend.
On the same day that a CBS News poll found that 64 percent of Americans think Sen. John McCain is the same or even more conservative than President Bush, news has leaked that McCain will be "snubbing" Bush at an upcoming fundraiser.
"McCain will not attend President Bush's fundraising dinner for congressional candidates," The Hill reported, "in another indication that the GOP nominee is distancing himself from the man he wants to replace."
But a look at McCain's public schedule finds that the presumptive GOP nominee has no other public events scheduled for the day of the Bush event.
McCain and his team obviously don't understand how vulnerable he is to Obama's strategy if they think "snubbing" Bush at a fundraiser is going to make one bit of difference. Might as well show up... he and Bush are going to be handcuffed together in terms of public opinion before either one of them knows what hit them.
So to recap...
- John McCain attended a private fundraiser as recently as 10 days ago with President George W. Bush. Now he magically has a campaign event scheduled for the same day as a Bush fundraiser he might be expected to attend. See?? He hates Bush!!!!!1 (although the article says someone familiar with McCain's schedule said he'll be in Texas. The loyal Bushies might give him a pass after all)
- The numbers are terrible for McCain before Obama even starts pounding him in earnest. I mean he's been pounding him, but nobody's really noticed but us. This message will take a little time to sink in, but sink in it will (like how I channeled the Obama-Yoda sentence structure there?). David Plouffe is a master giant-slayer.
- As has been noted by lots of Kossacks lately, the GOP base will be none too pleased if McCain throws their neo-conservative standard bearer under the bus.... to woo CLINTON supporters. Hahaha!
4.