John LeBoutillier
Thursday, June 16, 2005

Story Continues Below

  This theory comes from last week's announcement that GW Bush's media maestro, Mark McKinnon, was joining McCain's 2008 campaign. Many took this to mean that Team Bush - a powerful political and fund-raising machine that presently 'owns' the GOP and the conservative movement - was now going to endorse and support its archenemy, John McCain.

The problem with this theory is that McCain can't - and should not - win the GOP nomination - whether the Bushes support him or not.

He is anathema to the Republican base.

These clueless pundits love McCain - for one simple reason: He is a Republican who loves to blast Republicans, thus doing the dirty work for the so-called 'mainstream media.'

He has no constituency - other than these media types, who, like the Democrats, are becoming increasingly marginalized.

McCain is an arrogant, condescending prima donna who can't work with people. He is a false image who, upon further reflection, is a total nothing. He stands for nothing; he says nothing; his record is filled with nothing.

He specializes in tweaking anyone in authority. He is not a leader; he behaves like a punk.

Ask those who knew him growing up; they will all tell you the same thing: McCain was a spoiled brat with a gigantic chip on his shoulder who got away with his misbehaviors because his father and grandfather were Navy Big Shots who protected their wayward boy.

Only his connections kept him in the Naval Academy, where he was repeatedly on the verge of flunking out.

As a pilot he was a poor flier who quickly got shot down over Hanoi and, again, because he was the 'Crown Prince' (as the Vietnamese came to refer to this son of CINCPAC Admiral McCain), he was treated better than the other U.S. POWs.

Contrary to what the ignorant media believed, once McCain was identified a few days after his capture, he was never beaten or physically tortured. Colonel Ted Guy, USAF, was McCain's SRO (Senior Ranking Officer) in several prison camps. Colonel Guy was quite adamant: "They never laid a hand on John."

To his credit, McCain has never claimed to have been tortured or beaten. But whenever he is interviewed and the interviewer says, "Now with us today is Senator John McCain, who was tortured and beaten as a POW in Vietnam ...," McCain never corrects this misstatement. Instead he allows this false impression to continue until it is a given that he was treated like all the other POWs. He was not.

McCain has gone out of his way to insult and alienate the GOP base - those conservative primary voters who actually nominate the Republican nominee.

This huge group of voters despises McCain. And one of their unofficial leaders, Rush Limbaugh, is going to fight John McCain if it is the last thing he ever does.

I do not believe Team Bush is really supporting McCain. My guess is that the Bush Machine is searching for a candidate to support and so far has not found one. But there is still a long time before Iowa in January 2008.

Mark McKinnon does not count one bit. If Karl Rove joined McCain, then that would be significant. But Rove is no McCain fan. And neither is G.W. Bush - or, more importantly, G.H.W. Bush.

Team Bush has trotted out rumored candidacies of Dick Cheney and Condi Rice (people they can control) and Bill Frist (a total failure in the Senate leadership). They are still searching. They also may have run out of steam - and 2008 could be the beginning of a New Era in the GOP: no Bush or Dole on the ticket for the first time since 1972.

When the D.C. press and punditry class start telling us who the Republicans are going to nominate in 2008, count on one thing: They do not have a clue what they are talking about.

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