McCain on SNL

McCain completes the Kubler-Ross stages


Bargaining



Anger



Denial



And finally, on Saturday Night Live, Acceptance. The self-deprecating ease of a man who knows what is going to happen on Tuesday and has come to a personal peace with that.

Walter Mondale said that, when he knew a couple weeks out that there was no way to win, that he wanted to finish the campaign the way he would want his grandchildren to see him. I hope John McCain does the same with the last couple days.

McCain's Mystery Tour

McCain's Mystery Tour

Several cringe-worthy McCain just don't get it moments, bst captured in the headline:

McCain surprised by Iowans' strong immigrant views

You're outside the Beltway now, John, deep in the dark heart of the Steve King constituency, where people don't like hearin' folks talkin' Meskin. If he didn't get it then, this nativist paranoid question should have clued him in:

"This is a little different than some of the questions," one woman said, before asking McCain if he knew of a plan for the United States to unite with Mexico and Canada.

"Ma'am, I want to assure you," McCain replied, "we will not be united with any of those two countries."

Of course, that's just because we're skipping over that step and going straight to the One World Socialist Government.

Other wacky happenings:

McCan says "tar baby" even though Mitt Romney got trashed for saying the same thing last year. At least he didn't say "pickaninny."

And another attendee asks him about handicapped access to a building in Waterloo, which reminds me of an old joke:

New Congressman William Hughes of New Jersey held a town meeting to keep in touch with people back home. He explained that he is a federal legislator, "I don't take care of your potholes, I don't pick up your trash."

A woman asked a question about why her trash wasn't being picked up on the day it was supposed to be and dogs were getting into it. He explained, "You know madam, as I indicated to you, I'm a federal legislator. I work on the federal budget and national issues. And what you should do is contact either your mayor or your local commissioner of public works."

Without a hint of sarcasm, the woman looked her hot new Congressman directly in the eye and said, "I didn't want to start that high."

But in a sign that maybe he does get the GOP base, Mac tells the New York Times: "he has never appeared in drag." And he knows the base well enough to leave out the Seinfeld Disclaimer.

Profiles In Contrast

Profiles In Contrast

"This is a rare Saturday vote. We’ve had only a handful of votes on Saturdays in the last 20 years. Even though I had to cancel a couple of speeches in Iowa, this is the place to be because the War on Terrorism is the most important issue facing Americans"
-Chuck Grassley, speaking today in Washington DC

John McCain in Des Moines today blasted the Democrat-controlled Senate leadership for calling a Saturday session to debate a "meaningless resolution" of disapproval for President Bush's Iraq war strategy.

"It's insulting to the public and our soldiers to pretend we're discharging our responsibility in any meaningful way."

Thanks to O. Kay for pointing this out and pushing the objectivity envelope.

Vote was 56-34, but needed 60. Ten absent, including McCain. Washington Post adds to his sense of false priorities (i.e. me, me me):

Most Democrats were already seated at their desks when the roll call began shortly before 2 p.m. The only Democrat who missed the vote was Sen. Tim Johnson (S.D.), who is recovering from brain surgery. Democratic Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. (Pa.) and Max Baucus (Mont.) canceled plans to visit Iraq this weekend and were present on the floor. Their traveling companions, GOP Sens. Jon Kyl (Ariz.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.), went ahead with the trip and missed the Senate action.

All actual Democrats voted to stop the surge - Joementum, of course, showed his true colors and voted like a Republican. But seven GOP senators defected from the Bush line:

Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Susan Collins of Maine, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Gordon Smith of Oregon, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and John Warner of Virginia. All but Snowe and Specter could face the voters in 2008.

Norm Coleman. How will his vote affect me, Al Franken?

Biden Goes To Work, McCain Goes To Campaign

Biden Goes To Work, McCain Goes To Campaign

I've dissed Joe Biden's long-shot candidacy recently but give him credit: he's cancelled some (all?) of his Iowa campaign events in order to participate in the Senate vote on the anti-surge resolution. He also had to cancel a Marshalltown event Friday due to an unscheduled plane stop reports Common Iowan.

But John McCain? He's skipping work, blowing off the most important Senate debate of the year, and sticking to his full weekend campaign schedule. And Straight Talk (sic) Iowa Style is damn proud of it:

The foolish cowardice of Senate Democrats will not keep John McCain from hearing out the good people of Iowa.

Here's more credit where credit is due: the 17 House Republicans who crossed party lines to vote against Bush and the surge.

Castle (DE)
Coble (NC)
Davis (VA)
Duncan (TN)
English (PA)
Gilchrest (MD)
Inglis (SC)
Johnson (IL)
Jones (NC)
Keller (FL)
Kirk (IL)
LaTourette (OH)
Paul (TX)
Petri (WI)
Ramstad (MN)
Upton (MI)
Walsh (NY)

Saving their own butts or principled opposition? Some of each, perhaps, but they did the right thing. Two Dems went the other way: Jim Marshall (GA), who's in one of the gerrymander districts, and museum piece Gene Taylor of Mississippi, who votes like an old fashioned Southern conservative Democrat but resisted many attempts to get him to cross over in the Gingrich-Hastert era.

McCain in Iowa

McCain in Iowa

Register takes a look at the ground war in Iowa 21 months out, reminds folks that McCain blew off Iowa in 2000:

"His relationship with Iowa at best has been lukewarm, and in some quarters it appears to have been hostile," said Johnston Republican Dave Roederer, Bush's 2004 Iowa campaign director.

Lots of goodies here if you know the names and faces in the Iowa GOP. Message seems to be: train leaving station. But will the theocrats get on board - or would they prefer a train wreck?

McCain Has Broad, but Not Deep, Appeal

McCain Has Broad, but Not Deep, Appeal

Gallup crunches the numbers and it's really interesting. The key findings: John McCain's appeal is flat and actually drops off among conservatives, while Hillary Rodham Clinton's popularity is directly correlated with ideology.

This looks like a plus for the Democrats to me: McCain may be liked by moderate to liberal Democrats, and against an unpopular Democrat would have some pick-off appeal. But Clinton is beloved be Dems, insulating them from Republican raids. Of course, she's loathed by Republicans but there's nothing to lose there.

Here's the other interesting finding (I'm out of time and having layout issues, scroll down):

Preference for the Republican Nomination August 2005 CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll
	All Republicans	Liberal/Moderate Republicans	Conservative Republicans
	%	%	%
Rudy Giuliani	27	29	27
John McCain	24	27	22
Condoleezza Rice	18	19	16
Bill Frist	8	4	11
Mitt Romney	4	6	3
George Allen	3	3	4
Sam Brownback	2	3	1
George Pataki	1	4	3
Chuck Hagel	<1	1	<1

HUGE huge gap on the right. Giuliani and McCain are leading on sheer name ID. Rice is the one I'm scared of (as a tough opponent - they'd ALL be pretty scary as president!) but she's untested in electoral politics and waiting for a draft. That strategy gets her off to a slow start and fools no one. If you want the job, apply. Frist is floundering and sinking, pandering in both directions with Schaivo and stem cells, and instead of winning both sides over he's alienating everyone.

It's a real opportunity for a wingnut.

Politics

McCain Tops First NH '08 GOP Primary Poll

McCain Tops First NH '08 GOP Primary Poll

More on this morning's topic.

2008 NH GOP Primary - American Research Group

John McCain - 39%
Newt Gingrich - 14%
Mitt Romney - 8%
Bill Frist - 5%
George Allen - 1%
Tom Tancredo - 1%
Sam Brownback - 0%
Chuck Hagel - 0%
Mark Huckabee - 0%
Undecided - 32%

The most notable omission here is Rudy Giuliani, who polled second to McCain in the most recent Gallup poll among national GOP primary voters. Interestingly, a notable omission from that poll was the man who polled second to McCain in this poll, Newt Gingrich.

And that's almost as scary as Cheney. Speaking of The Newt, he's a-headin' to the Iowa State Fair...

And I'm not sure if American Research Group or MyDD made the typo but it's MIKE Huckabee.

I'll stay with my analysis that McCain is un-nominatable. He beat W in NH in 2000 only to get wringered in the South. The Money Republicans whill accept him, but the Theocratic Republicans won't - and they're the ones that control the nomination.

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