How John McCain Can Win!

The way John McCain can win the general election is to emphasize in word and deed that he's a superior human being. In The Almanac of American Politics (2008), conservative guru Michael Barone, who disagrees with McCain on several issues, says the following about him:

"For many Americans, John McCain is the closest thing our politics has to a national hero, a presidential candidate widely admired in 2000 and an independent leader of great force in the years after. His personal story is a dramatic one, told beautifully by Robert Timberg in The Nightingale's Song and by McCain himself in the 1999 bestseller Faith of My Fathers."

"McCain is the son and grandson of Navy admirals, a decorated Navy pilot himself. He volunteered for service in Vietnam and in July, 1967, was injured in a flight deck explosion on the carrier Forrestal. He could have returned home, but refused, and in October, 1967, was shot down over [North] Vietnam. He spent five-and-a-half years, most of it in pain and torture, in Communist prisoner of war camps. He refused to be let out ahead of those who had been in longer when he was offered release because of his father's rank."

"McCain returned to the United States in March, 1973. His final assignment in the Navy was as Senate liason. In 1980, he retired and moved to Arizona, his wife's home state. In 1982, he ran for an open House seat. Attacked as an "outsider," he responded, 'The longest place I ever lived was in Hanoi.' He led 32% to 26% in a four-way primary, and won the 1982 and 1984 general elections and then the 1986 Senate contest easily."

If John McCain runs as that man, which should be fairly easy, because he IS that man, he has a good chance to win. He's a hero, and Hillary Clinton (like Barack Obama) is not. McCain must continue to run as an exceptional human being, someone whose life is a model for all Americans.

McCain will not win merely on his "positions." Instead, he will win on personality and character. To the end, surrogates -- like Rudy Giuliani and Arnold Schwarenegger, as well as the two Georgia Senators (Saxby Chambliss and Jonny Isakson) -- can play important roles in citing McCain's key qualities.

In short, the best approach is for John McCain is to run as himself. For someone like Hillary Clinton, the best strategy might be to run as someone else. The American people vote largely on likability, courage, and integrity, three areas where she's lacking.

I hope everyone who visits this blog will visit the following site for McCain volunteers:http://mccain08olc.blogspot.com/

Here's the note McCain operative (par excellence) Brad Marston sent me today:

Stephen,

I look forward to working with you as well. I would hope as a first step you will join the MV08 Bloggers. I have cc'd Michael Schuyler, our National Chair for Blog Out-Reach on this e-mail and I am sure he will get in touch with you.

I would also invite you to join MV08 as a National Co-Chair. Your political insight, tireless efforts on behalf of candidates, recognition of the imprtance of the internet in today's political campaigns and finally, yes, your contacts will prove invaluable.

McCain does put a huge emphasis on involving veterans in his campaign. In fact one of our National Co-Chairs, Sheridan Folger is on the NH Veterans Council with the campaign.

Note: I'm honored to join as a National C0-Chair of MV08. I hope all those of you who back Sarah Palin for V-P will get on the McCain Team. He's the one who will make the choice of a running-mate, and we need to "help" him choose Sarah.

Greg and Sharon say it well. The following short comments were made today by two members of the Rudy Giuliani group on Yahoo:

Never want to be at a watch party again where someone talking about a Governor's race that was just lost 2-1 says that it is OK because we stood on principles (?) and that is more important than winning." (Sharon Callien, head of Rudy Group)


"As bad as it sounds, politics is about winning, and about having the opportunity to move your ball further down the field. If one's "principles" are rejected by 66% of the voters, maybe that person shouldn't have trotted out those principles in the arena of politics. I'm all in favor of people staying true to their convictions, but if their convictions mean landslide losses at the polls, maybe they shouldn't leave their day job." (Greg Alterton, Rudy Group)

Greg added: "The Unappeasables, those who would condemn Ronald Reagan were he alive today because he wouldn't be "conservative" enough for them, don't amount to much of anything in the GOP. If they want to vote for the nominee, great. If they want to take a walk, that's fine too. Either way, they won't impact the results of the election much."

Note: Both these strong Rudy supporters are now backing Senator John McCain. They will be assets to his campaign.