Fresh from his bucket-stepping tour of Iraq, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz), will stake his bid for the republican presidential nomination on escalating America's role in Iraq, Michael Shear reports this morning in the Washington Post.
To me, this is a news story that saddens, more than angers me. What McCain proposes is just not going to happen. Americans do not want it, Iraqis do not want it and the world does not want it.
I would guess that this will be John McCain's final act in the political arena because it shows that he has wandered off in a different direction than the American people and I have to wonder if the health issues connected to advancing years may be playing a factor.
Through most years of his career, McCain has been a speaker of simple truths. A staunch conservative, in the old-fashioned meaning of the word, he has always been the sort of Republican many moderate Democrats would have considered voting for. Now, there is not a chance.
This causes a problem for Republicans. It leaves Rudolph Giuliani as the front runner, with Newt Gingrich as the most viable alternative. Giuliani, a hero of the 9/11 tragedy, who cleaned the streets of Manhattan when he was mayor is mired in more than a few controversies, including backing someone with Mob connections to be Homeland Security secretary. Gingrich, who has spent recent years trying to move from the political right to its center is still remembered bitterly by Clinton Democrats as a divisive and mean-spirited force.
Giuliani and Gingrich also have a problem with the family values set. Between them they've had more wives than your average Middle Eastern Sultan. Gingrich is noted for dumping his first wife while she was in the hospital with cancer and Giuliani married someone younger than a daughter of his first marriage.
Meanwhile, the top three Democratic contenders all look stronger and better financed than ever. For the first time, Democrats have raised more campaign financing than Republicans--about 50% more.
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