Quote Originally Posted by Dave Byrd
This is wonderfully funny to watch right now for me, too. My wife pointed the phenomenon out to me last night at the hospital in some of her various papers she'd managed to obtain and then explained what it meant for both sides. The McCain taint by association with Bush is marvelous. Hey, and here on these boards, it tickles me even more to watch how the former Bushies have distanced themselves as well. When the lame duck gets lamer and lamer, well, time to revise those loyalties...

Here's my thinking on the association with Bush, and this is really something Bird pointed out to me. Need to give credit to the sharper political eye here. The lady sees strategy and communications tactics behind the scenes. The association with Bush will harm the McCain v. Obama contest. That's clear.

As Bird explained to me, though, the Bush-McCain connection is going to raise the esteem of McCain. Meaning in the eyes of the stronghold arch-Republican donors and those Rs who're not fully convinced that McCain's conservative enough. That's going to help pull the diehard righties in and help reassure them. They'll persuade others. Those others'll hear reassurance in future Bush validation of McCain and bring subsequent R-side skeptics aboard. More money and support will pour in. So it's going to influence McCain-hating Republicans in a positive way. Birdie says this has all been plotted and calculated by McCain's and Bush's communications and fundraising staffs and is part of their grand plan. I don't know if that's the case or not but assume she's probably right.
That's an interesting take. McCain has had trouble bringing aboard the hard-core conservatives, and has had trouble raising money. So maybe getting closer to Bush would help with that. He needs the orgainzation and the money to run his campaign. But they say the key to a national election is the middle and the independents who might be turned off by a close association to Bush. The balancing act is always to bring aboard the "true believers" who do the hard work of a campaign and raise the money, without going so far as to alienate the middle-of-the-road swing voters. Getting cozy with Bush will maybe help the one and hurt the other.
dragonrider Reviewed by dragonrider on . McCain calls to lift U.S. oil drilling ban WASHINGTON â?? John McCain called Monday for lifting a federal moratorium on offshore drilling for oil and gas â?? a politically sensitive issue in such key states as Florida. States should decide for themselves whether to permit drilling, McCain said, but they should be given the option to combat what he called an "energy crisis" that saw gas prices reach an average of $4.08 a gallon on Monday. McCain's plan represents a shift for the presumptive Republican nominee, who supported the Rating: 5