prog: (coffee)
prog ([personal profile] prog) wrote2004-05-28 12:43 pm

McCain!!

CBS poll shows that Sen. John McCain would give Kerry's campaign a strong edge over Bush-Cheney Holy crap. It didn't even occur to be that such a bi-partisan ticket is possible. Is there any kind of precedent for this? (Seriously, I'm asking.)

The notion of a bland Democratic candidate (whose strongest suit, the incumbent's increasing unpopularity, is out of his own control) choosing a centrist, straight-spoken Republican as a running mate falls squarely into so-crazy-it-just-might-work territory, and would shatter the caked-on cynicism covering this whole election so far. To my eyes, anyway.

I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up, since everything in this process tends towards the dull and tiring, but it's exciting to ponder.

(props to [livejournal.com profile] pseudomanitou for the link)

[identity profile] xymotik.livejournal.com 2004-05-28 02:33 pm (UTC)(link)
McCain is only considered a centrist because the Republican Party as a whole has swung so far to the right. He doesn't fit in because he's not a hard-core free-market ideologue nor is he a fundamentalist. The best line from the article? "Republican voters, meanwhile, are more likely than Democrats to view the Senator in a negative light: 16% of them do, compared to just 4% of Democrats and 8% of Independents."

Having said that, it seems like the best we can hope for at the moment is damage-limitation. Sigh. Go Kerry-Whoever.