What I wrote at Lib Dem Voice

January 02, 2007

McCain's chips

I’ve steered clear of risking any New Year predictions… until now. I’ve a hunch Senator John McCain (R-AZ), the long-term favourite, will fail to secure the Republican presidential nomination. (And not just because it enables me to use that headline.)

This premonition has been semi-confirmed by his decision to out-hawk President Bush by urging a ‘surge’ of 30,000 more troops into Iraq - a position cannily tainted the ‘McCain doctrine’ by Democratic presidential contender, former Senator John Edwards.

As Taegan Goddard notes:
Expect the phrase to be picked up by other 2008 presidential candidates soon.

2 comments:

Paul Walter said...

Happy New Year, Stephen!

Isn't this more likely to increase his chances with the Republican primary voters ("strong and wrong beats weak and right"-Bill Clinton)? Yes, it would reduce his chances with the wider electorate who have favoured him in polls due to the fact that he has distanced himself from Bush, but the Republican faithful are a different kettle of fish (or so perhaps he has calculated).

Stephen Tall said...

And to you, Paul!

You may be right, though most polling seems to suggest Republican voters are almost as disenchanted with Bush's foreign policy as the nation as a whole. (Whether this applies to registered voters too I'm not sure.)