GOP Turns to Senator John McCain to 'Reinvent Party'

[oldpol]

Source: The Politico.com

GOP turns to McCain to reinvent party
By JONATHAN MARTIN | 5/18/08 6:47 AM EST
In an delicious piece of irony, many dispirited Republicans, devastated by Tuesday’s special election loss in Mississippi, now believe their savior to be John McCain — a not-so-constant conservative many of them have long intensely disliked.

The logic: McCain, the vaunted maverick, can move the party away from President Bush and reinvent a Republican brand that, at the moment, is in tatters.

“The public is prepared to believe that McCain is a different kind of Republican,” said Republican Deputy Chairman Frank Donatelli, McCain’s point man at the committee. “This is not some political idea that was cooked up.”

But for all the talk and expectation that McCain will run from Bush like a scalded dog, the reality is different; so far, he hasn’t drawn many stark contrasts at all. Since winning the nomination, his policy proposals and high-profile speeches have included more conventional conservative dogma than nonconformist deviation. In order to not inflame his party’s base — or turn his back on a right-leaning record and his oft-stated claims of being “a proud conservative” — McCain’s attempt to distance himself from an unpopular incumbent and limping party have been so far more stylistic than substantive, more at the margins than at the core.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10406.html

[DJ13]

1. "The 'NEW' GOP ... So easy a caveman can do it"

:shrug:

[onehandle]

12. It's funny, because McCain is so old!

Grandpa Simpson couldn't reinvent to save his life.

[Barrett808]

14. LOL!

:rofl:

[Vinca]

2. From evil to senile? nt

[napi21]

3. McCain CAN'T WIN! He's too damn old! I'm only 6 years younger than him

and i KNOW I could never have the stamina to be able to be Prez! I'm actually healthier than he is too! He's nothing more than the Pub's sacrificial lamb because they know they have next to NO CHANCE of winning in Nov. Don't tell him tough.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

24. He might be old, but I wonder who he'll choose for V.P.

huckleberry is also old, probably choose someone like Cheney

[napi21]

25. He won't chose Chney. The public hates him and everyone knows it.

Hucj is debatable. Maybe. We'll see.

[MilesColtrane]

36. He'll have to choose someone even more angry and unstable than himself,...

...just to make him look good.

The inescapable conclusion: Bill O' "FUCK IT!!" Reilly for VP.

[KansDem]

35. "...the Pub's sacrificial lamb..."

He's the "Bob Dole" of 2008. Let's see which Bush runs in 2012...

[A-Schwarzenegger]

4. McGyro Gearloose is on the case.

:*

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. Here are his youthful inventors and supporters.

They are already working on a new inventive fashion line and plan
on taking their latest trend setting gear to the NY, Paris and LA.

[jimshoes]

8. Is that WIld Bill Hickock

there in the background?

[Zorra]

31. No, but I believe it actually may be Wilford Brimley - a bonafide RW

asshole.

[Ian David]

6. The Republicans should start by impeaching Bush, Cheney and Pelosi. But...

... he'll probably just tell them they should all start wearing onions on their belts.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3302153

[speedoo]

7. Yeah. Good luck with that! nt

[sutz12]

9. It's always about the "Brand"...like they're a bunch of Madison Avenue hucksters..

Snake oil in a silver flask is still snake oil.

Good luck polishing that Republican turd, Johnny. Now you know how Bob Dole felt.

:shrug:

[crim son]

10. LOL. Yeah, good fucking luck with that.

McCain ain't the guy to reinvent anything unless it's the definition of torture.

[ToughLuck]

11. A different kind of bastard, but a bastard none the less..whoopee for the Republicans..lol

[rasputin1952]

13. They really are scraping the bottom of the reality barrel...

McCain...

[tanyev]

15. Hang on...he's a little busy right now purging all the lobbyists from his campaign.

[Ilsa]

43. Except for the Kimberly-Clark lobbyists (the makers of Depends). nt

[Mz Pip]

16. The Change You Deserve.

Why does the GOP hate America? Do we really deserve what they intend to dish out?

[maseman]

17. If McSame actually held a few different

beliefs than Bush maybe he could change the face of the party. But when he stumps on more conservative supreme court judges, more war with Iraq and Iran, we love Israel, keep the tax cuts and screw the workers...then it is hard to "change" the party.

[GoldenOldie]

18. The same McCain the GOP slimed in 2000???

It's a Miracle! In 2000 the GOP declared McCain mentally unfit due to to POW treatment. In 2000 the GOP declared McCain unfit due to his siring a black child. In 2000 the GOP declared him unfit because his wife was a druggie. In 2000 the GOP declared McCain unfit because he lacked the blessings of their God. In 2000 the GOP declared McCain unfit because he didn't play well with his fellow GOP'ers.

No matter how the GOP tries to clean him up and try to forget their previous attacks against McCain, the stench still lingers.

[maseman]

23. Unfortunately the right has a very

short-term memory when it comes to their own. Of course they don't forgive and forget if it is a democrat.

[mdmc]

19. that is very sad

[Doctor_J]

20. A serial adulterer who sleeps with lobbyists and lives off his wife's inherited money

is going to change their image?

Seems to be a run-of-the-mill Repuke to me, except that he sleeps with adult females.

[BlueStater]

21. The only thing McCain reinvents is his positions on the issues every five seconds n/t

[mcollier]

22. Thats right - it will be clear to the world in about a week...

McCain's Problems Must See... Pass on... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TbN2fkPoQE

[vixengrl]

26. That's right--the only thing McCain's reinventing is himself!

He won't take the party anywhere--if the party is strong, it'll drag him. If the party is weak, it can't hold him up. He's driftwood.

(No, really, I can spell "party".)

[lonestarnot]

27. LOL snort

:rofl:

[NewEnglandGirl]

28. McCain = Bush 3

If he should ever win (and he won't) nothing at all will change. He will just follow along and keep everything as it is right now. He is a Bush clone.

[Zorra]

29. Sorry, no one is buying. We've already seen the "kinder, gentler nazi", and

"compassionate fascism".

Even republicans can't be that stupid...:scared:can they?

Somebody please tell me that such a large chunk of the American populace is not that stupid.

It's like, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Fool me three times, well, just shoot me.

In tight Senate votes, McCain not a maverick
When it matters the most, he seldom bucks his own party
Ronald J. Hansen
The Arizona Republic
May. 7, 2008 12:00 AM

Over the years, Sen. John McCain has publicly condemned Republican Party leaders and occasionally voted against the GOP on selected issues.

But an Arizona Republic analysis of his Senate votes on the most divided issues in the past decade shows that McCain almost never thwarted his party's objectives.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0507mccainvotes0507.html

No third term for Bu*h McBu*h.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

30. Good Luck

So far he hasn't done a very good job of reinventing the GOP. Based on the positions that he has "embraced" nearly every one of Bush's positions (i.e. torture, tax cuts) and, in some cases even outdone him (i.e. 100 years in Iraq)

[xxqqqzme]

32. talk bout wishful thinking or

grasping at straws - sorry publicans mclame ain't inventing nothin', he cam barely keep up w/ the talking point for the week.

[HughBeaumont]

33. He's redestroying it.

I mean, COME on. What's to "re-invent" here? The GOP, since Eisenhower left office, has been taken over by hyper-aggressive corpro-capitalists who will stop at nothing to create and keep intact a feudal state, always uneven in favor of the wealthy and continually dividing the serfs in sections so they'll remain obedient to this way of life because of fear. Any of their candidates from now on will have no choice but to try and sell this vision, however unwilling most of the public is to latch on to it.

Anyone who thinks that a senile old bastard like McClown is going to be the guy that takes this utterly stupid product to great results in 2008 is meth-smokin' insane at best. The Repuke party has a lot of that kind floating around their bowl, apparently . ..

[Wetzelbill]

34. To what? Are they going to start drinking Ensure and holding a weekly bingo get together? nt

[Bake]

37. Like putting the curl on a pig's tail

It's pretty, sure, but it doesn't make any more bacon!

Bake

[ellie]

38. I read that to my

husband he said, "Sooner, rather than later." I'm still laughing.

[LeftHander]

39. Put a shine on that turd Mr. McCain...nt

[ryanmuegge]

40. Reinvent the public image while keeping the substance the same. Sounds like American politics.

What's there to reinvent? With the exception of privatizing Social Security, Bush has done everything that the true Republican base wants. Don't let any of the talking head pundits representing the far right (the "liberal" talking heads merely represent the traditional right) fool you, Bush has been an unequivocal success and nothing but. They are not at all displeased by any of his policies.

[TexasObserver]

41. that must be why they completely reprogrammed him as a GOP Borg Bot

McCain looks like Picard after he was captured by the Borg. They removed all the parts that made him John the Maverick McCain, and created a Bush like creature. Now they think they're going to reinvent their rancid party with HIM?!

That's ripe!

[samsingh]

42. repugs are and will always be pieces of shit that have destroyed

so much of America.

[OmahaBlueDog]

44. The GOP old-timers are terrified Ron Paul is going to reinvent the party

It's great to see youngsters in red state territory get fired up about bringing back the finest in 19th century political thinking -- a non-existent federal government and an isolationist foreign policy.