Alternet: What Dems Need To Know About John McCain

[Hissyspit]

Mods, this is about the General Election, but feel free to move if necessary.

http://www.alternet.org/election08/76573

What Dems Need to Know About John McCain

By Allen Raymond, AlterNet. Posted February 11, 2008.

A former GOP operative gives the background on what it will take to compete with the likely GOP nominee.

The adage in Republican presidential politics is to run right in the primary, then left into the general election. After Gov. Romney suspended his campaign, Sen. John McCain bolted off the line of scrimmage into an end zone post pattern. What Democrats need to know about Sen. McCain is that he is no easy pickings for the Democratic presidential nominee and that he has the record to compete heavily for the sweet center of the American electorate.

Democrats should keep in mind the fact Rush Limbaugh, Dr. James Dobson (founder of Focus on the Family) and a collective booing by attendees of this season's CPAC convention adds up to a Sister Souljah moment for Sen. McCain. Sen. McCain can't be a Bush Republican if all of those people despise him. No amount of ribald applause from that crowd is enough for Sen. McCain to want to emulate the Bush Administration, which is much like a wounded animal looking for a cool, shady place to die.

Democrats know well that Republicans are relying on Sen. Clinton winning the Democratic Party presidential nomination so that her polarity delivers a victory for the GOP in November. While conservatives distrust Sen. McCain - they will shelve it and vote for him if Sen. Clinton is the presidential nominee of her party.

Democrats should also know that if Sen. Obama is the nominee then a larger than anticipated portion of Democratic white males may balk at casting a vote for him - reluctant to give up the franchise when they can cast their vote for a white male with war hero status and an ability to work with the most liberal Democrats in Washington, DC to get things done.

The list of bipartisan endeavor is prolific: the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act (with Sen. Feingold), bipartisan legislation addressing immigration (with Sen. Kennedy), climate change (with Sen. Lieberman), patient bill of rights (with former Sen. Edwards), and the Gang of 14 (good luck to Dr. Dobson using the Gang of 14 argument in a persuasive way - his radio listeners will fall asleep at the wheel before grasping his convoluted argument). If it is true that America is looking for a president who is more about problem-solving and less about dogma, no candidate currently in the contest boasts a record that rivals Sen. McCain's ability to reach across the partisan aisle.

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[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Important things to know

These are McCain's perceived strengths. How do we go about dismantling them?

One way, I think, is to stress his temper--there have been numerous times when he has exploded and thereby not gotten things done.

Another is pragmatic--can someone who is out of touch with our economy (in January of this year he said that we were in worse shape in 2000 than we are now!)and who insists we must stay in Iraq for 100 years someone we can trust to get us out the financial hole we're falling in?

Any other ideas of what we can say and do?

[lies]

2. This is all I needed to hear

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2844709

The fact that he listens to Kristol for foreign policy advice is enough to make him an unrealistic candidate in my books.

[DeeDeeNY]

3. He also feel asleep at the 2007 SOTU address, and also