Tomorrow is Super Tuesday. Conventional wisdom says the Dem nomination will not be settled tomorrow. In fact, Chris Bowers says it could be that the nomination will be determined not by voters, but by super delegates.
Meanwhile, it’s possible John McCain will sew up the GOP nomination tomorrow. Rush Limbaugh’s head will explode.
According to the McClatchy campaign blog —
It’s an understatement to say that conservatives are not happy that John McCain has emerged as the front-runner for the Republican nomination.
Radio talker Laura Ingraham today urged a platform fight to make sure McCain wouldn’t get his say on such issues as immigration or campaign finance regulation. Rush Limbaugh has said McCain’s nomination would turnoff so many conservatives it would destroy the Republican Party
Now, Human Events Online compares the early primary states that have launched McCain to the Axis of Evil in Iraq, Iran and Korea.
“The Republican Party has been hijacked,” says the article.
“Over the past month a new Axis of Evil has emerged – not one based in Damascus, Tehran or Pyongyang – but instead in Cedar Rapids, Charleston, South Carolina, Derry, New Hampshire and Boca Raton, Florida. It is the liberal and “independent†voters in these 4 states that have nearly completed a deed that makes Kim Jong Il envious -the near crippling of the American Electoral System.
“These four states have combined their native liberal populism with an imported liberal electorate and have forced the GOP to accept a nominee so distasteful that in more than one poll — the numbers of voters choosing not to vote and those choosing to vote third party actually exceed those who will hold their nose and vote for Maverick, War Hero, Amnesty Supporter, John McCain.”
Damn those voters.
Speaking of unhinged, Jim Nintzel writes at Salon —
Right-wing talking heads, including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Michelle Malkin, have been seething about McCain for months. Limbaugh warned in January that if McCain gets the GOP nomination, “it’s going to destroy the Republican Party, it’s going to change it forever, be the end of it. A lot of people aren’t going to vote.” …
… That kind of emotional reaction to McCain, if overheated, extends to plenty of other issues: [conservative activist Rob] Haney complains that the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance legislation “takes away freedom of speech as guaranteed in the Constitution.” He’s angry that McCain would support tackling global warming with “all those treaties that turn over our sovereignty to other countries.” And he argues that McCain “has been the darling of the press for years,” masking what he refers to as the senator’s secret liberal record. “It’s an unending litany of items that we find unacceptable in a Republican candidate who would represent Republican values,” Haney says.
In reality, McCain’s voting record in the Senate is by most measures conservative. The American Conservative Union has given him a lifetime ranking of 82 percent, although his 2006 ranking was 65 percent. Conversely, the liberal Americans for Democratic Action reports that McCain voted its way just 14 percent of the time between 2000 and 2006.
However,
… what McCain may need most to overcome the spat with GOP hard-liners is the rallying cry that would accompany a Democratic primary win by Hillary Clinton.
Tomorrow’s vote may or may not clarify the will of the electorate. Ain’t nothin’ gonna clarify the minds of wingnuts.
Regarding the Democrats: IF – and it’s a big IF – even journalists are hedging on all poll predictions- Obama matches Hilary in the popular vote and they split the delagate count, the party will have to decide if they owe the superdelagate momentum to the established (connected) Clinton – OR do they recognize the opportunity implicit in the popular support Obama brings?
Regarding the Republicans: I respect McCain. He’s genuine; and he won’t adopt the mold that Rush & the talking heads DEMANDED was the only acceptable platform for ANY Republican. We will beat him on ISSUES, but if we want post-election, bipartisan progressive-style progress in Congress, we should NOT swift-boat a respectable statesman.
Republicans will provide us with loathsome candidates (Mitt, for example) and we should reserve our loathing for them. Speaking of loathsome, Ann Coulter said she would support Hillary over McCain. (I think my bladder would let go if Hillary invited AC to speak at a Clinton rally after Super Tuesday.) This election is so bizarre I have to keep checking to be sure I am not succumbing to acid flashbacks.
A few things to note about the Republian voters so far. They realized how insubstantial Rudys platform was. They realized how phony Mitt is. They refused to buy Huckabees fundamentalist policies. IMO, they are going to select the BEST Republican who ran, and that Republican happens to be a decent guy. I think Romney would be MUCH easier to beat than McCain in a general election but I gag at the thought Mitt might be a contender for the highest office in the land. So if it goes as predicted, let’s give the Republicans credit for a good choice and let’s beat the Republicans with such style that only the talking heads like Rush can complain.
Reading the Chris Bowers article, I saw something that I’m seeing more and more … a lot of people are saying FL and MI delegates should be seated, or else we’re disenfranchising those voters, which is wrooooong.
Florida I could almost see. Everybody’s name was on the ballot, and nobody campaigned there, but the vote turned out pretty much as everyone expected. The population is composed of mostly natural Clinton supporters. The problem, of course, is if the party caves on this, what’s to stop states moving their primaries next election? On the other hand, for next time, I think the party needs to find a way to “punish” states other than taking away all their delegates.
Michigan, on the other hand, would be a farce to seat. Clearly.
Somebody on the Bowers post suggested something that actually makes a lot of sense to me: sometime in late spring, FL and MI should be allowed to just hold new primaries.
-me
The McCain nomination is exactly the problem that the Republicans have been having. How do you appease the wingnut and Religious Righters to vote for a ‘liberal’. I checked McCains voting record yesterday before teaching my govt. class to see if he truly had voted liberally on anything, and, not, nada. McCain is a reliable conservative vote. I actually think McCain has a chance to win the election and I was hoping for Romney or Huckabee. No trouble beating those guys. Much tougher to defeat McCain who does appeal to the independent vote.
“Rush Limbaugh’s head will explode.” And, that would be quite a sight to behold.