Talk Radio, Blogs Alarmed Over McCain's Campaign Strategy

'RUNNING AS A DEMOCRAT'

Focus Shifts To McCain's Left-Leaning Campaign







Can John McCain out- liberal the Democrats all the way to a November victory? As the presumptive Republican presidential nominee builds a campaign strategy based on support from moderates, independents and even leftists, snubbed conservatives are reacting with alarm.

In fact, McCain's courtship with the "progressive" left has now become so pronounced that it has begun to take attention away from the bruising Democrat Party presidential nomination process.

Between McCain's overtures to eco-cultists, which won praise from the ultra- leftist Seattle Post- Intelligencer, to his move to hold conference calls with "progressive" bloggers, conservative pundits are taking notice.

In response to the latter development, conservative commentator Michelle Malkin has written to the Arizona senator's campaign, wondering when she can join the fun. Though she has since been told she will be invited, it took a public appeal to get "a seat at the table." And there is no indication other right- leaning bloggers will be granted a similar opportunity.

For his part, talk titan Rush Limbaugh says he considers McCain to be "running as a Democrat":

He's running for Democrat votes. He is trying to out-Democrat Barack Obama. Isn't it interesting that Barack Obama claims to be the uniter, yet he doesn't give an inch on his ideological views? He doesn't give one inch. He hasn't practiced the art of compromise as a senator in Washington. He's not practicing the so-called great art of compromise. The politics of compromise is a crock anyway, as it's currently constituted because it's always our side ends up compromising and giving things up. But isn't it interesting?

Obama is the uniter, Obama is the messiah, and he is as partisan as any Democrat in Washington -- and our nominee is running around saying it's time to end partisanship 'cause it's just about selfishness and pointless bickering and that we're all friends and that we all want to do what's right for our country. No, we don't! I think Senator McCain's going to have trouble defining who he is because he's trying to become all things to most people. He doesn't really have a consistent worldview.

He doesn't have a reasoned approach to governance, which is why he can reject national health care but embrace global warming -- and while embracing global warming, talk about ending earmarks and having tax cuts and getting rid of Big Government.

"Yep, we gotta get rid of Big Government," then we're going to do the global warming plan, which is one of the fastest, surest ways to government growth to come down the pike in a while. I don't think he expects to have any coattails, either. He's not seeking to have any coattails. He's out there running on his own. The New York Times today says that McCain's guy is going to run against Bush, is going to run against Congress.

Running as a maverick, running as an independent, not running as the head of a team. His entire strategy is make sure the quarterback gets protected. The rest of you guys can blow out your ACLs, but you gotta protect the quarterback. One more sound bite from Senator McCain's speech, and, let's see... Well, this is how he plans to end partisanship. Listen.

Meanwhile, Democrats are said to be worried that McCain has already begun to steal their thunder:

Democratic adviser Maria Cardona who helped shape her party's Hispanic-outreach strategy in the 2004 presidential campaign said she thinks Mr. McCain will have strong appeal to the nation's large Hispanic community — a key Democratic constituency and one that largely went for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton over Sen. Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries.

"There is no question that McCain would be more competitive with Hispanics than any of the other Republican candidates, starting with the fact that he was one of the original authors of the comprehensive immigration-reform bill, which bears his name with Senator [Edward M.] Kennedy," said Mrs. Cardona, who backs Mrs. Clinton.

Democratic strategist David Sirota said Mr. McCain's pro-immigration stance and the fact he has ripped into lobbyists and campaign-finance abuses makes him appealing to independents.

"I'm not one of those who believe this will be a runaway election for the Democrats. This could be a very, very close election," said Mr. Sirota, who helped mount the party rebellion that defeated Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut in the 2006 Democratic primary. Mr. Lieberman went on to run as an independent and win the general election.

In the end, your Radio Equalizer believes that trying to out-lib the Democrats is a fatally- flawed strategy. Why would "progressive" Democrats choose McCain when they already have Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton?

And how is it a good idea to abandon (or alienate) the conservative base when they could very well prove the key to victory in November?


FOR New England regional talk radio updates, see our other site.


Your Honor System contributions keep this site humming along. Thanks again!


Technorati tags: talk radio john mccain campaign obama campaign mccain liberal bloggers mccain global warming michelle malkin rush limbaugh democrats