Mav gets taste of own meds: fallacy of going centrist exposed...yet again....

Mav McCain Gets Taste of Own Medicine

By C. Edmund Wright -

In much the same way John McCain seemed to pop up and blunt any momentum the Bush Administration seemed to build on key issues for the past eight years, three more "maverick" Republicans are now doing their best to suck the wind out of the McCain Campaign's best week. What a scream.

If it didn't increase the chances that an incredibly naïve and light weight socialist will inhabit the White House in 2009, it would be deliciously funny. It does, however, demonstrate the flaw in the "Maverick" theory. It's a self defeating paradigm. I mean, are Lincoln Chaffee, Rita Hauser and Jim Leach being "good mavericks" by going against the Republican nominee? Or are they being "bad mavericks" by going against the self proclaimed (capital M) Maverick himself?

You see, being such a "maverick" in Washington is not all it's cracked up to be. In the Disctrict of Columbia, there are roughly nine Democrats (mostly liberal) for every one Republican (many of whom are not conservative). These ratios hold up, if not even more so, among the pundit class that cover the political set for various media outlets.

In other words, being a Republican who hates other Republicans (especially the conservatives) is really the safest, most gutless stance one can take in Washington. You become an instant hit with the likes of The New York Times, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Brian Williams,  Charlie Gibson...ad nauseum. If you play your cards right, you might ride this wave to become the Republican Presidential nominee...or get your own morning talk show on MSNBC. This is not exactly charging the cliffs of Point Du Hoc.

And that's why the irony of this turn of events is, on a certain level, risible. It is also instructive. This should be defacto exhibit A that "going to the center" or being more moderate is NOT the way to improve a Republican brand in trouble. Afterall, the one who embodies that strategy to the hilt has just seen it backfire...by a bunch of Republicans trying to embody that strategy...by further trashing the Republican brand.

We haven't seen this kind of logical briliance since the last "we shouldn't drill because we won't get that gas for ten years" lecture.

Consider: if we all keep becoming mavericks and trashing the party, when do we ever get around to, uh, getting elected and pushing our core principals? For that matter, besides a burning desire to get interviewed first by an NBC network, what ARE our core principals?

By definition, the only core principal of a maverick Republican is the desire to be loved and admired among the Washington D.C. set. And the best way to do that is to trash any Republican or conservative who is standing up for, say, core principals. And most of the core principals of the Republican base rest in vesting power OUTSIDE the beltway of Washington. In other words, being a maverick Republican cannot work in the long run.

Certainly, Leach, Chaffee and Hauser never understood those principals. And they are not exactly party giants. Their place in history will be right in there with Scott McClellan. They are, however, the next generation of McCains. Supposedly. I mean, if McCain is looking for his base...he just found it...and they are throwing their support to Obama!

And all of this is really so utterly predictable. (Why, I haven't been this surprised since I heard that John Edwards was cheating on Elizabeth.)  This is exactly the frustration that the base has been feeling since McCain started his rise up the heap in the primary process. This is exactly what Rush and Ann Coulter have been talking about for many months. This is why conservatives have been tossing the GOP fund raising letters into file 13 for months. This is why the conservative base has just about had it with the power structure inside the Beltway. We all saw this kind of thing coming....knew it (McCain nomination) was a proposition frought with danger...all the while the Dick Morris' and Fred Barnes' and Frank Luntz' of the world were saying he was the only Republican on the planet who stood a chance.

They were wrong...and the actions of Leach, Hauser and Chaffee demonstrate why. It is pointless to have a movement led by someone who hates the movement. Such a plan cannot prevail....and if it does win an election because the opponent is incredibly weak....what does such a plan accomplish?

Just about the time the conservative base had figured that making fun of Obama was more fulfilling than griping about McCain...along come a few more Mavericks to screw things up.  The only saving grace is that now McCain and his sycophantic campaign chair Steve Schmidt now know what it's like to have every little breath of wind at your back ruined by "principled" members of your own party.

So, how does that taste?