http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/08/AR2008020800964.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=ARHistory and Necessity Unite Bush, McCain
Old Rivals Need Each Other to Unify GOP And Maintain the President's Iraq Policy
In the same hotel ballroom where conservative activists greeted John McCain with a mix of cheers and boos just 16 hours earlier, President Bush tried to calm his party's base yesterday. Without naming McCain, Bush assured the group that the eventual Republican nominee will "carry a conservative banner" to the White House.
Eight years after they battled it out for the presidency, Bush and McCain find their fates linked again by history, but this time they are on the same side. With McCain virtually guaranteed the Republican nomination to succeed Bush, they head together into a general election campaign depending on each other. McCain needs the president to help reunite their splintered party, and Bush needs the senator from Arizona to validate his presidency and carry forth its strategy in Iraq.
The latest chapter in their tumultuous relationship will play out over the next nine months against the backdrop of a war that both support, even if the public does not. Whatever their differences over the years on taxes, torture and other issues, they have forged a powerful bond as the two leading champions of the Iraq war and the decision a year ago to send more troops, according to associates of both men.
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"On just about every major vote on Iraq, McCain has been right there, voting for Bush's position," said Eli Pariser, MoveOn's executive director. "When you look to the future, McCain is more Bush than Bush. He seems determined to keep us there for a long time."
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