Political Prognostication

And McCain's so-called "moderateness" may be yet another of these "perceptions". From a not too recent article from The Nation:

quote:

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In fact, McCain has always been far more conservative than either his supporters or detractors acknowledge. In 2004 he earned a perfect 100 percent rating from Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum and a 0 percent from NARAL. Citizens Against Government Waste dubs him a "taxpayer hero." He has opposed extension of the assault-weapons ban, federal hate crimes legislation and the International Criminal Court. He has supported school vouchers, a missile defense shield and private accounts for Social Security. Well before 9/11 McCain advocated a new Reagan Doctrine of "rogue-state rollback."

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As far as I know, McCain is still all for continuing the war in Iraq and even escalating it in Iran, but I may have missed recent news on this.But your point is valid: a perceived moderate Republican stands a pretty good chance of beating a black candidate or a Clinton.- To be fair to the American public, extensive knowledge of public policy issues is really kind of useless in a country that isn't a functioning democracy.

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...Onward to Victory is the last great illusion the Republican Party has left to sell in this country, even to its own followers. They can't sell fiscal responsibility, they can't sell "values," they can't sell competence, they can't sell small government, they can't even sell the economy. -- Matt Taibbi

Hi, Modulous. Like the citizens of the former Soviet Union reading Pravda, in the US we Americans need to try to decode the code phrases that are fed to us in order to figure out the intentions of our leaders.- Always welcome, Mod.But I don't want to run the topic off the tracks.Whether he's truly a moderate or not, McCain is perceived as one. As such, he is the worst (from a Democrat perspective) candidate that could have been nominated. From the perspective of a US citizen, McCain is the worst possible candidate -- another bat-shit insane conservative to whom the "liberal" media will annoint as the "moderate" candidate.Frankly, I think it is going to be very, very tough for Obama to beat him. Not impossible, but a black man running against a "moderate" Republican? Already, "middle name Hussein" is already being brought out at the code word for, "he's black, folks."Clinton wouldn't have it so hard, I think. I think the American people would be more likely to vote for a white woman than a black man. And being a Clinton might actually help her. One thing that has always pissed the conservatives off is how popular Bill was among the American public. Plus, she's also less conservative than McCain, so she might also get labeled as "moderate," if the "liberal" media can keep from falling into the "Democrat = liberal = socialist" hole.Added by edit:I forgot to mention that the link in my signature is Taibbi's take on McCain.Edited by Chiroptera, : No reason given.

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...Onward to Victory is the last great illusion the Republican Party has left to sell in this country, even to its own followers. They can't sell fiscal responsibility, they can't sell "values," they can't sell competence, they can't sell small government, they can't even sell the economy. -- Matt Taibbi

Only among the right wing. Bill was always pretty popular among the mainstream, and Hillary was never hated; in fact, she was pretty popular among women.The "I hate Clinton just because" crowd were just noisy, not numerous.

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...Onward to Victory is the last great illusion the Republican Party has left to sell in this country, even to its own followers. They can't sell fiscal responsibility, they can't sell "values," they can't sell competence, they can't sell small government, they can't even sell the economy. -- Matt Taibbi

That may be true; it's hard to say since we haven't had an election between a moderate and a liberal in the US Presidential elections in the last 30 years.Our previous Republican presidents have all proudly claimed to be conservatives, while sticking the mainly moderate Democrat candidates with the label "liberal". So it may be that a conservative will always win against someone perceived as a liberal.It's kind of hard to say, since the stated policy goals of the Democrat "liberal" candidates have always been closer to the American mainstream than that of the Republican conservatives. My guess is that the winner will be the one whose swagger causes the bigger boners in the pants of the good ol' boys.Edited by Chiroptera, : i before e except after c.

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...Onward to Victory is the last great illusion the Republican Party has left to sell in this country, even to its own followers. They can't sell fiscal responsibility, they can't sell "values," they can't sell competence, they can't sell small government, they can't even sell the economy. -- Matt Taibbi

Heh. People don't realize how important the election of 1800 was, when the government changed hands from the Federalists to the Democratic-Republicans. The two factions despised each other, and the Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition Acts which allowed them to jail Democratic-Republican newspaper editors for disparaging the Federalist President.Yet, the Democratic-Republicans were able to take the government without resorting to a coup, and the Federalists relinquised power, again without attempting a coup.

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...Onward to Victory is the last great illusion the Republican Party has left to sell in this country, even to its own followers. They can't sell fiscal responsibility, they can't sell "values," they can't sell competence, they can't sell small government, they can't even sell the economy. -- Matt Taibbi

So, then your claim that a Moderate will always beat a Liberal seems a bit empty, unless you're talking about the perceptions that AZPaul brought up in his OP. Which is my point as well, although I believe that there is a little more substance underneath the labels "conservative" and "liberal" than you apparently do.

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...Onward to Victory is the last great illusion the Republican Party has left to sell in this country, even to its own followers. They can't sell fiscal responsibility, they can't sell "values," they can't sell competence, they can't sell small government, they can't even sell the economy. -- Matt Taibbi

Here is a current piece on the election by Matt Taibbi. I don't know whether it's informative, but it's deliciously cynical.{The "Printer Friendly" version, which may also be more on-screen reader friendly. Everything's on one page. - Adminnemooseus}Edited by Adminnemooseus, : See above.

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There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president. -- Kurt Vonnegut