McCain has made one of the biggest political blunders in the history of politics.

[trumad]

This guy had a pretty damn good chance of becoming the President of the United States but instead hitched his wagon to Bush Jr. It's simply stunning to see such a collapse.

As Mitt, Hillary, Barack and a dozen others jump into the presidential stampede, something interesting is happening in New Hampshire.
For seven years, conventional wisdom has said that the state’s pivotal independent voters would line up behind maverick Sen. John McCain, as they did so famously in the 2000 GOP primary. But new polling data, to be released later this week, will suggest that might no longer be the case.
Manchester, N.H.-based American Research Group finds that McCain’s popularity among New Hampshire’s independent voters has collapsed.

“John McCain is tanking,” says ARG president Dick Bennett. “That’s the big thing . In New Hampshire a year ago he got 49 percent among independent voters. That number’s way down, to 29 percent now.”
American Research Group, which is New Hampshire’s leading polling company and has been operating in the state since 1976, polled 1,200 likely Granite State voters in the survey.
Bennett says ARG is finding a similar trend in other states polled, including early primary battlegrounds like Iowa and Nevada. “We’re finding this everywhere,” he says.
http://news.bostonherald.com/editorial/view.bg?articleid=177706

[gratuitous]

1. Bush kind of screwed McCain over -- again

All through 2006, McCain was talking about adding troops in Iraq at the same time that Bush was actually drawing the number down. Then the Iraq Study Group report came out, and Bush being Bush, looked for salvation in the one recommendation the report did not make -- an escalation of troops.

McCain had looked relatively safe throughout 2006 by recommending more troops, because it wasn't very likely to happen. If Iraq continued to go south, McCain could sigh wistfully and make the statesmanlike pronouncement that if only he had been listened to on Iraq, everything would be just peachy keen there. But now that his recommendation has been enacted, McCain's desperately trying to say that (1) he never called for an escalation; or (2) that when he said another 20,000 troops should do it, he really meant 80,000 or 120,000.

McCain should have known he was going out on a limb, but I'm sure he little thought Bush would join him out there. And he surely never imagined that Bush would bring a saw.

[TZ]

5. kissing ass..

with the Religious Right (who he used to say were intolerant) probably isn't helping his case any.

[kentuck]

2. Definitely a large blunder, I would agree...

He thought he needed the "right-wingers" to get the nomination and the way to do that was to tie his star to George W's wagon and it has blown up in his face. How long before he flip-flops???

[Norquist Nemesis]

3. He sold his soul and got advice from Rove in return

Rove's loyalties do not lie with McCain.

[NewJeffCT]

4. I'm all broken up about this...

NOT

It seems like their top candidates have a lot of baggage... McCain has flip-flopped so often in the last few years, one would think he owns stock in Chinese flip-flop factories. Giuliani has the high profile divorce and is more liberal than Bill Clinton on many social issues... Gingrich is the Larry King of politics in regards to wives.

[Bluebear]

6. I don't think kissing Jerry Falwell's ass helped either

McCain is a "maverick" now alright, meaning one of the few who still adore Bush and trying to chase the fundie vote.

[TahitiNut]

7. I couldn't happen to a more deserving Bush-hugger.

The reich thinks "tree-hugger" is an insult yet they are far, far more perverted.

[MzNov]

8. I think McCain was counting on Jr.'s appointing him to let's say

VICE PRESIDENT if Cheyney decides to leave for "health reasons" or to "spend more time with the family" :sarcasm: so McCain has been showing the wing nut base just how loyal he is without worrying about actually earning the 08 nomination.

But If Bush is screwing him over for a potential WH position, it's probably for HoJo, that illustrious traitor who is so far up Bush's butt George is starting to look like him. And McCain is just another throw-away with a knife in his back....


bwahahhhhhh

[Ganja Ninja]

9. 2008 is going to be real interesting.

The beat-down the GOP suffered in 2006 has them befuddled. The more they act like they have for the last 25 years the worse their poll numbers get. They are so use to swinging to the right and seeing their poll numbers improve that they don't know what to do.

McCain is one of the worst examples. He's toast because of his support for Bush and because he's sucking up to the extreme religious right. It'll only get worse between now and November 2008. Every day this war goes on is like another shovel of dirt on the coffin of the GOP.