McCain faces big hurdles for 08: Can he survive a pro-war position?
From day one of his campaign for the Republican nomination John McCain was marketed as the all-American war hero. The Arizona Senator certainly had an interesting life story equivalent with that of a living legend. McCain has gained a reputation as a tough maverick and during his career in the Senate has become an important voice on foreign affairs. But McCain is also notorious among Republicans for refusing to trail the party line on big issues.
Sen. John McCain, once perceived as a front-runner but who now trails Giuliani in public opinion polls, has reported raising $12.5 million during the first three months. McCain is expected to show a high spending rate and a significantly smaller amount in the bank than Romney and Giuliani.
McCain’s campaign is tied to Iraq,” says GOP strategist who hasn’t signed on with any campaign for ’08. “He’s trying to find a way to make it a net positive for him.” That will be tough, at least among Democrats and independent voters who were McCain fans when he ran for president in 2000 but have since turned against the war, and subsequently against him.
“I know the pain war causes. I understand the frustration caused by our mistakes in this war,” the former Vietnam prisoner of war said. He added that while he sympathizes with Americans’ war fatigue and regrets the casualties, “I also know the toll a lost war takes on an army and a nation.”
“Democrats, who deny our soldiers the means to prevent an American defeat, have chosen another road. It may appear to be the easier course of action but it is a much more reckless one,” McCain said as Democrats, who control Congress, continued their standoff with Bush over war funding and a withdrawal timetable.
On CBS’60 Minutes, Scott Pelley-reporter, got McCain to criticize Bush and his administration but couldn’t get him to agree that the public’s disapproval of the war in Iraq should prevail today. “I think you have to stick with what you believe in,” McCain said.
That attitude used to thrill the press. Reporters and commentators infatuation with McCain the political maverick and straight talker who was willing to take on his own party and president is clearly fading a way. McCain, in truth, has continued to do this, saying in the 60 Minutes interview that Bush should talk to Syria and Iran and shut down the Guantanamo prison. He’s persisted as well in criticizing Bush’s management of the
War. McCain also added, “I would rather loose a campaign than to loose a war.” Many political experts perceived this as a good and dignified reason in case he loses his bid for the presidency in 08.
There’s a potential silver lining in the media’s turning on McCain so firmly. With the press on his side, McCain lost the Republican nomination in 2000. With the press against him, who knows what might happen in 2008?