First as tragedy, then as farce*

Huh.  The longer it goes on, the more McCain's campaign looks like Hillary Clinton's, except without the charisma, funding, or competence.

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain’s campaigns have long been defined by internal squabbling and power plays, zigzagging lines of command and a penchant by the candidate for consulting with former advisers without alerting current ones, always a recipe for disquiet.

After a period of relative calm on that score, it is becoming clear that his campaign is once again a swirl of competing spheres of influence, clusters of friends, consultants and media advisers who represent a matrix of clashing ambitions and festering feuds. The cast includes the surviving members of Mr. McCain’s 2000 campaign, led by Rick Davis and Mark Salter; a new camp out of the world of Karl Rove, led by the recently ascendant Steve Schmidt; and on the periphery, the ever-present Mike Murphy, Mr. McCain’s strategist in the 2000 presidential race who has been dispensing advice to the candidate to the annoyance of the other camps, and is the subject of intensifying rumors in Republican circles that he is about to re-enter the campaign.

Look at the campaign he's run so far: messaging about how you can't trust Obama's message of hope, how voters should choose experience over change, and how he's braved physical danger in Bosnia Vietnam which gives him executive experience, and don't even think of saying otherwise or the press will Clark your ass, motherfucker.

By my count, we'll hear McCain talk about his appeal with "hard working, white voters" sometime in October. By the eve of the election, we'll be told that "anything can happen, we all remember how William Henry Harrison died after his inauguration..."

Fun fact:  John McCain actually remembers William Henry Harrison's inauguration.**

*Yes, it's an overused phrase.

**Okay, he probably doesn't.  Don't be a spoilsport.

Comments

[John]

I don't think McCain of the man who died a month into his presidency at a time when he was three years younger than McCain is now. (That's right - Harrison was only 68 when he died). Other people younger than McCain will be if he takes office in 2009 include Ronald Reagan when he took office in 1981 and Dwight D. Eisenhower when he left office in 1961. If he is elected, McCain will be the oldest person ever to take office as president, I think.

[John]

Oops, that's "I don't think McCain wants to remind people of the man..."

[Greg]

"John McCain actually remembers William Henry Harrison's inauguration.****Okay, he probably doesn't. Don't be a spoilsport."

That right, he couldn't possibly remember Harrison's inauguration. Do the math, he was only like six back then.

[Greg]

Benjamin Harrison, on the other hand....

[nimh]

Hmm... of course, there's no way of knowing that the strategies of the Hillary campaign would *not* work in a general elections campaign. Just cause that tack failed in the Democratic primaries doesn't mean it won't stand a chance in the generals either. The whole "hard working, white voters" thing for example. Very different electorate.

[Crissa]

I remember Reagan's election, and I was only six. Other things I remember that year are Mt St Helens, my parents' lawn marriage, and failing to learn how to swim for the second time.

So... Six? He should remember it, I think.

[Sir Charles]

Crissa

That's very funny.

I was here for Reagan's second inaugural (I didn't go of course). It was beyond bitterly cold -- I think it was below zero, which never happens in DC. Served the bastard right.

And your parents married a lawn? That's odd.

[Corvus9]

Lawns are always up for deviancy, the miscreants. Always growing, just begging to be cut. There is something sadomasochistic about the whole process, I tell you. I personally think it is highly irresponsible to humor them in such a way. Crissa, your parents should be ashamed of themselves!