Question.
Has Joe Lieberman been banned from the McCain bus?
Since his speech at the convention, he hasn't been seen anywhere near McCain. (Or anywhere at all, really.)
Since his speech at the convention, he hasn't been seen anywhere near McCain. (Or anywhere at all, really.)
posted by mikevotes at
12:42 PM
14 Comments:
I wonder if it has anything to do with this Ahmedinajad visit thing? Palin seems to have wandered off the script and turned it into a PTA meeting.
By
Anonymous, at 5:33 PM
I dunno.
I guessing one of two things. Either when Lieberman came back from the GOP convention, his Congressional colleagues laid down the law , or, McCain has decided that he wants the Palin sidekick (young not of Washington, etc) rather than Droopy Joe and Lindsay.
By
mikevotes, at 5:37 PM
Well it's too late to have second thoughts about Palin now. I'm wondering if she's not a bit too much for McCain's advisors to handle.
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Anonymous, at 5:47 PM
I dunno. I think the media coverage and stir she's created is proving hard for them to control.
(And she does seem quite full of herself. Wonder if she thinks "God chose her" for this?)
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mikevotes, at 5:51 PM
I hadn't thought much about Lieberman. Good observation. I think his absence is probably due to the GOP Rove machine taking over much of the "McCain campaign." They don't need Lieberman. They're going all-in on pumping up the base... screw the independents. I really don't know how much say McCain has in the running of his campaign at this point.
Probably every community has a "Sarah Palin." Yeah she's full of herself. The Gibson interview proved that. She lacks any dimension of humility or self-examination. And, yes, I'm sure she believes she was divinely chose. She belongs to that flavor of Christianity that treats god like a genie. A supernatural being who's powers are directed by the commands, er, prayers of the faithful.
By
-epm, at 6:59 PM
I can see Joe being uncomfortable with her. Israel's relationship with that kind of Christian has always been a little uneasy.
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Anonymous, at 7:58 PM
EPM, definitely a switch to base (although there's still the very open question of whether Lieberman is/would/could draw any inde[pendent voter.)
And, as for "God chose her" I meant that in the way the early George Bush believed god chose him for after 9/11, giving an absolute blindspot to anyone who might have questioned his judgment (on Iraq, for instance.) Certainty in infallibility is a dangerous thing in a leader.
....
Anon, good point. Or maybe his whole thing was a tryout for VP, and when that went away, he went home and sulked.
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mikevotes, at 9:12 PM
au contraire, Mike. Lieberman is back in Connecticut, where he made an appearance:
http://video.nbc30.com/player/?id=653061
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MarcLord, at 11:41 PM
I think the Palin sidekick/Rove imagery management theory is best. The three guys together looked like part of a corporate board getting ready to go out for martinis and cigars. That HAD to change for them to have a chance.
Lieberman could be a bit bitter though if you think about it. There was probably all kinds of talk between them that he was going to get the nod, and then at the last second he gets the rug pulled out from under him.
Hard to say, but I'll go with Rove and imagery as being most likely. Still, is the father/daughter team really an improvement? (or worse, the old letch and the ambitious young hottie?)
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Praguetwin, at 2:36 AM
Hadn't seen it Mark.
But he's still not really campaigning for McCain. It's not like Lieberman brings Connecticut.
....
Praguetwin, sort of, except that those three weren't exactly polished. They definitely looked old establishment, but kind of a goofy old establishment, you know?
And, the storyline was that McCain wanted Lieberman into the week he chose Palin and was talked out of it by a collection of his staff nd GOP bigwigs.
But, yeah, I think it's imagery as well. Abandoning "experience" to try and get freshness.
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mikevotes, at 2:02 PM
Lieberman was McCain's claim to "bipartisanship", but that was quashed as many in the media pointed out that Lieberman wasn't really a Democrat anymore.
"Bipartisanship" was a shot in the dark that was abandoned when the recent flurry of negative ads started coming out. "Freshness" will hard to pull off for someone who has been in the Senate for 27 years and who has yet to put credible daylight between his positions and those of the Decider.
McCain has gone all in on a "base vs. base" confrontation as I always suspected he would. This is remarkably stupid, since McCain was nominated precisely because he did not represent the core base of the GOP and could allegedly appeal to independents and conservative Democrats. He was the worst possible choice for a "base vs. base" election, which is why he needed Palin.
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Todd Dugdale , at 3:17 PM
It's funny because "bipartisanship" is how McCain wanted to run, but he was talked out of it.
And, let me say, base v base is stupid if you're trying to win the presidency, but high turnout base v base may be better for the Republican party as it will make holding on to downballot items, Congressman, governor, local reps, easier.
If McCain had cost them fundie turnout, the election could have been a rout downticket.
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mikevotes, at 3:43 PM
And, let me say, base v base is stupid if you're trying to win the presidency, but high turnout base v base may be better for the Republican party as it will make holding on to downballot items, Congressman, governor, local reps, easier.
Good point.
But what I meant was that if you are going to go "base vs. base", then McCain was a poor choice to begin with. They should have gone with someone who stood for the core Republican beliefs. So the GOP foisted Palin off on McCain to consolidate the base that McCain didn't have the cred to attract.
It's like choosing a boxer for a fight and then deciding that it's going to be a wrestling match instead, because wrestling draws a bigger crowd.
For a base election, Romney/Huckabee would have been the way to go.
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Todd Dugdale , at 7:01 PM
Right.
Frankly, I think somebody/Rob Portman wouldn't have been bad because he oozes competence and knows the economy.
Of course, he's got ties to Bush.
By
mikevotes, at 9:16 PM
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