New York Magazine Asks ‘Is John McCain Bob Dole?’
New York Magazine Asks ‘Is John McCain Bob Dole?’
“If McCain is no longer the bracing iconoclast he was in 2000, who the hell is he?” asks John Heilemann in New York Magazine today. The answer, according to at least one GOP operative, is that McCain has “morphed into Bob Dole.”
According to “an operative who worked for Dole,” one commonality beyond biography and temperament that McCain and Dole share is that like Dole in ‘96, McCain currently refuses to talk about the pressing issues facing the country:
Republicans cite deeper, more worrying commonalities between McCain and Dole. “You’d fly around with Dole in 1996 and try to talk message, and all he wanted to know was who was going to be up onstage with him at the next event,” recalls an operative who worked for Dole in his pre-Viagra days. “Same deal now with McCain. He has no message outside of Iraq. What’s John McCain’s health plan? What’s his tax plan? What’s his high-tech plan? No one in a million years can tell you.”
Beyond examining the similarities between McCain and Dole, Heilemann also reveals several interesting tidbits about the contours of McCain’s campaign and his lack of knowledge about the economy:
McCain’s lack of “intellectual interest” in the economy:
Even the most loyal Republicans express concern about McCain’s economics gap. “He’s never been particularly fluent in or showed much intellectual interest toward economic matters,” says Pete Wehner, who ran the Office of Strategic Initiatives in Bush’s White House. “Can he speak fluently or compellingly about them? We’ll soon see. But it would require him to lift his game.”
McCain’s cozy relationship with lobbyists:
Even some Republican stalwarts are appalled at McCain’s coziness with the influence-peddling industry. “Can you imagine a bunch of people working for Halliburton trying to elect Cheney?” says a prominent GOP consultant. “How can that be legal? Even if it is legal, it’s never happened before. And it says a lot about what McCain has become. In 2000, he was the candidate of reform, of anger, of screw the system. Now he’s the candidate of lobbyists, endorsements, and special deals with Beltway banks.”
Karl Rove’s role in McCain’s campaign:
There are even rumors that Rove, the Architect himself, is funneling ideas through the pipeline. “There’s no official/formal relationship with Rove,” McKinnon e-mailed coyly. “Karl is on Fox a lot. We watch a lot of Fox. Karl has become an open-source consultant.” But one of the savviest Karlologists I know suspects that Rove is providing a steady stream of advice through multiple points of contact with the campaign and the national party.
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Quick - shove a pen into McSame’s right hand!
April 14th, 2008 at 3:17 pm“Same deal now with McCain. He has no message outside of Iraq. What’s John McCain’s health plan? What’s his tax plan? What’s his high-tech plan? No one in a million years can tell you.”
Hm. Weird. I went to his website - his positions and plans take much less than a million years to access. Perhaps if you don’t agree with the plans or deny they would work you get to deny they exist, too?
April 14th, 2008 at 3:17 pmWe all know the McCain is running on bushies tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate world his health plan that won`t cover any preexisting condition even if you don`t know you have a preexisting condition, and we all know he is a WARMONGER. What else do we need to know ?
April 14th, 2008 at 3:18 pmMcCain has a plan for Iraq?
April 14th, 2008 at 3:21 pmWATCH OUT! Old Bob Dole will come out of retirement in his boxing shorts doing the “windmill” with his good arm and BOOM, BOOM OUT GO THE LIGHTS!
April 14th, 2008 at 3:24 pmMcDole thinks McCrazy is gonna need a McDraft to explore more of the ME in search of WMDs…onward Christmas soldiers. Support the troops…by lowering taxes on the filthy rich.
April 14th, 2008 at 3:26 pmIt’s GREAT that McCain’s single message is Iraq. His message is distastful to most Americans (”stay the course” “100 years” “significant progress” - the same crap Americans are rejecting from Bush). This is the perfect opportunity to steal a successful tactic from the Repups - hit them in their “strength.” Repubs are supposed to be strong on security, but McCain’s strategy for security is the same as Bush’s and it failed. McCain can’t even define the enemy correctly. His strength is his weakness.
And, as this post pointed out, if he tries to change the subject, he has to change it to his weaknesses. This should be an easy win for Clinton OR Obama - unless the Dems miss the opportunity (again).
April 14th, 2008 at 3:47 pmKeltoi Says:
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“Same deal now with McCain. He has no message outside of Iraq. What’s John McCain’s health plan? What’s his tax plan? What’s his high-tech plan? No one in a million years can tell you.”
Hm. Weird. I went to his website - his positions and plans take much less than a million years to access. Perhaps if you don’t agree with the plans or deny they would work you get to deny they exist, too?
April 14th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Like global warming , d-bag ?
April 14th, 2008 at 3:50 pm“There are even rumors that Rove, the Architect himself, is funneling ideas through the pipeline.”
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Oh, come now. McCain is even using Rove’s electoral college charts. Rumors? Please.
April 14th, 2008 at 4:10 pmmisshusseinmolly Says:
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“There are even rumors that Rove, the Architect himself, is funneling ideas through the pipeline.”
______________________________________________
Oh, come now. McCain is even using Rove’s electoral college charts. Rumors? Please.
April 14th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Hopefully , he uses Turd Blossom’s 2006 election year outlook and plan………
April 14th, 2008 at 4:11 pm“Can you imagine a bunch of people working for Halliburton trying to elect Cheney?”
WOW,just wow! I can’t believe the balls of these people.I guess they count on their dumbed down and well to do base,huh?
April 14th, 2008 at 4:25 pm“Same deal now with McCain. He has no message outside of Iraq. What’s John McCain’s health plan? What’s his tax plan? What’s his high-tech plan? No one in a million years can tell you.”
McSame: “What’s a plan?”
April 14th, 2008 at 5:03 pmJohn McCain is the new Dubya.
April 14th, 2008 at 5:26 pm“Is John McCain Bob Dole?”
No. I had respect for Bob Dole.
April 14th, 2008 at 5:36 pmMcDumbya?
April 14th, 2008 at 5:39 pmJohn McCain is definitely NOT Bob Dole……Dole was somewhat honest about his past. And he was smarter. And younger.
April 14th, 2008 at 7:57 pmMcCain is RONALD GUMP…..!!!!
.
McAgra anyone?
.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:07 am