Post a Comment On: Internal Monologue

Once the GOP front runner, McCain now seems to be tanking rapidly. MyDD reports that his campaign manager and his top strategist have both resigned, as well as his chief of staff. The Politico (via Sullivan) has the story as well, but says that campaign manager Terry Nelson was fired. (Note: many in the lefty blogosphere consider The Politico to be a cesspool of beltway insider-ism and a front for Matt Drudge's right-wing smears.)

McCain's standing with the Republican base has been hurt by his stances on campaign finance reform, immigration, and the feeling that he's not really one of them, just a maverick-turned panderer. His standing with the voting public has been damaged by his pandering to the right-wing and his incessant cheerleading of Bush's catastrophic occupation. Sullivan says he has less money on hand than Ron Paul. (Paul is widely regarded as a fringe candidate, but he's doing surprisingly well in internet fundraising. He takes some admirable libertarian stances, but from what I've heard has a history of associating with some scary-kooky right-wing groups.)

In a way, I'm sad to see McCain's campaign in such trouble. He's one of the few Republicans who thinks torturing people isn't a good idea (that really shows you what the Republican party stands for). But he's also a formidable candidate in the general election, so I'm happy to see Democrats probably won't be facing him.

And the primaries are a long way off. A lot can happen. Maybe McCain's fall from right-wing grace will free him up to be his "straight talkin'" self again. Though I think it's too late for that.