ZAPPING MAC
HOW DEMOCRATS MEAN TO BATTER MCCAIN
June 11, 2008
THE Democratic assault on John McCain will go far beyond the "McBush" attacks tying him to President Bush - effective as that line is.
Democrats will relentlessly batter McCain from every angle - chipping away at the vaunted "McCain brand" of being a moderate, independent, straight-talking, maverick expert on foreign policy.
The first line of attack will go right for his supposed strength - by arguing that McCain can't be trusted on foreign policy.
For all his vaunted experience on foreign policy, McCain has repeatedly confused Shiites and Sunnis. In late January, a comment where he referred to the "President Putin of Germany" became a new YouTube hit.
He said on May 30 of Iraq, "We have drawn down to pre-surge levels." Simply not true: More US troops are there now than before the surge.
If the average newspaper reader knows something, then a presidential contender basing his candidacy on foreign-policy expertise should be able to get it right, too.
Another target: McCain's rep as a "maverick" and independent thinker. How exactly did his "independent" principles coincidentally lead him to the exact same conclusion as George Bush and his Republican cohorts 95 percent of the time when it came to his Senate votes?
Democrats will also say McCain has been quick, in this current White House run, to abandon positions that put him at odds with his party. Once reasonable on immigration, for example, he now says he "got the message" from the right wing; he's certainly adjusted his position to try to placate the "close the border" crew.
McCain once said that he couldn't vote for President Bush's tax breaks for the wealthy in good conscience because they were too skewed to the wealthiest Americans. Later, he said it was irresponsible to cut taxes during a time of war because we simply couldn't afford them.
But he again "got the message" from the GOP's base: Preserving and extending the Bush tax cuts is now his central economic policy.
