2008: Passed up Pawlenty as VP for not enough sizzle

Stole McCain's label as "Reformer with Results"

By grabbing "his" label, we hoped to get a rise out of McCain. We did. He took the bait almost immediately, complaining that we were trying to steal his message. This in turn helped focus the argument in which candidate actually had gotten things done, which only helped us.

OpEd: Independent & passionate, but also willing to have fun

Obama has eloquent but empty call for change

OpEd: Ads decrying Obama as "celebrity" misread "popularity"

People should know about Obama connection to ACORN & Ayers

OBAMA: Let me tell you who I associate with. On economic policy, I associate with Warren Buffett and former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker. If I’m interested in figuring out my foreign policy, I associate myself with my running mate, Joe Biden or wit Dick Lugar, the Republican ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, or General Jim Jones, the former supreme allied commander of NATO. Those are the people, Democrats and Republicans, who have shaped my ideas and who will be surrounding me in the White House. And the fact that this has become such an important part of your campaign, Sen. McCain, says more about your campaign than it says about me.

Governors Clinton & Reagan were underestimated too

A: This is not the first time that I’ve seen a governor being questioned by some “expert.” I remember that Ronald Reagan was a cowboy. I remember that Bill Clinton was a governor of a very small state and had no experience either. But the point is, I’ve seen underestimation before. And that’s fine. We understand what this is all about. So, I’m very proud of the excitement that Gov. Palin has ignited with our party and around this country.

Palin has governed our largest state & 20% of US’s energy

A: She’s been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20% of America’s energy supply. She’s been a mayor. I’m very excited. I mean, this person is going to come to Washington and the “old boy” network, they better look out, because change is coming.

A: Every single presidential nominee has said that the first quality they look for in a vice presidential pick is the capability and the readiness to take over as president. Can you look the country straight in the eye and say Sarah Palin has the qualities and has enough experience to be commander in chief?

A: Oh, absolutely. Having been the governor of our largest state, the commander of their National Guard, she was once in charge of their natural resources assets, actually, until she found out there was corruption and she quit and said it had to be fixed.

Obama lacks judgment, not experience; Palin has judgment

A: I said that he didn’t have the judgment. He didn’t have the judgment on Iraq. He still refuses to acknowledge that the surge has succeeded. Gov. Palin knows the surge has succeeded. She’s the commander of the Alaskan National Guard. He said that Iran was a tiny problem He’s never visited south of our border. He has no experience on these issues. She has been in charge and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities. Sen. Obama has never had a position of responsibility to do with many of those responsibilities. I’m proud of her vision. I’m proud of her strength. And everybody knows energy is a key element in American strength and future. She knows how to address that issue.

McCain has actively & successfully courted the press

The press's affection for McCain is built on 3 foundations: his Vietnam experience, his advocacy for campaign finance reforms, and his style in dealing with reporters.

1. They view politicians as craven; McCain's undeniable courage in Vietnam casts him as the bravest of politicians.
2. They view politicians as shameless supplicants to their contributors; McCain's advocacy of campaign finance reform makes him in their eyes America's premier "reformer".
3. They view politicians as cynically manipulative when it come to dealing with journalists; McCain's attentive courting makes him "genuine" and "authentic" in a way no other politician can seem to achieve.

OpEd: McCain's racial slurs are called "candor" by press

"I get in trouble all the time and I will continue to get in trouble," McCain told an AP reporter. McCain realizes that while he may say something rude and offensive, the payoff--in the form of fawning coverage from a press corps that loves to reward "candor"--far outstrips the risks.

During his many famous bull session on the Straight Talk Express, McCain would blithely refer to his Vietnamese captors as "gooks." Imagine another politician in the same context--say, John Kerry letting slip the word "gook" and justifying it with his Vietnam duty. The press, not to mention the right-wing media machine, would have a field day.

OpEd: McCain hustles donations like others; no more; no less

One could look at the list of McCain's lobbyists connections, or his corporate fund-raising, or his campaign filled with many of the people who put and kept George W. Bush I office, and say it's just how the system works. The same might be said of anyone immersed in the Washington establishment for a quarter of a century. But McCain's message has always been that he may be in the system, but he is not of it. Speaking in 2000, a veteran Washington lobbyist was blunt about McCain: "He's hustling the same guys the rest of 'em are. No more, no less."

Holds record for press mentions & appearances

The same holds true for he dispensers of conventional wisdom that are the Sunday morning talk shows. Between 1997 and 2006, John McCain was by far the most frequent guest on Meet the Press, Face the Nation, and This Week. Over that period, McCain appeared as a guest 35 times.

Moreover, McCain has had the benefit of usually appearing solo on those shows, instead of sharing the time with someone from across the partisan or ideological aisle. When a guest is interviewed alone by the host of a Sunday show, the networks send a message that what the person says is so important that it needs to be presented with no contradiction or interruption from a fellow guest.

Romney is a fine man who managed companies

I’m sure he’s a fine man. He managed companies, and he bought & sold, and sometimes people lost their jobs. That’s the nature of that business. We’re at a time in our history where you can’t afford any on-the-job training. My experience and background qualifies me to lead. That’s why I’ve gotten the support of over 100 retired Army generals and admirals. Every national security expert from the Reagan & other administrations are supporting my candidacy.

Romney is conning people about conservatism of his record

ROMNEY: When I ran against Ted Kennedy in 1994, that was a big uphill climb. But let me tell you, I was fighting for issues like making sure that we would have the death penalty in our state, fighting to keep our taxes down. I was fighting against the Liberal Lion in perhaps the toughest state in America. And I’m pretty proud of what I was able to accomplish in that race, but nothing compares to the pride I have with the work that I was able to do as a governor.

McCAIN: Gov. Romney, you’ve been spending the last year trying to fool people about your record. I don’t want you to start fooling them about mine. I stand on my record as a conservative, and I don’t think you can fool the American people. They may not agree with me on a couple of issues, but they’ll know I’m telling the truth, and my steadfast positions on these issues for more than 20 years.

Needs independents to win ‘08 primary; but GOP dislikes them

McCain will have to compete for the Independent vote not only with his fellow GOP candidates, but with those running in the Democratic primaries as well. Most states that permit Independents to vote in any primary let them participate in whichever they choose. So, the candidates whose positions are moderate and independent enough to win the general election--Giuliani and McCain--probably cannot get nominated by the stalwarts of the GOP.

McCain embraced core Reagan values

Identifies with Teddy Roosevelt, but only some reforms apply

Roosevelt represented the forward-thinking, activist wing of his party against a stand-pat, pro-business wing. Roosevelt was, by virtue of his war experience and his early years into the Dakota Badlands, inoculated against being an effete reformer, a "good-government" know-it-all. How could McCain NOT want to compare himself with this canonized political figure?

Roosevelt was able to advocate reformist change by playing off two extremes of wild-eyed radicals and the worst do-nothing conservatives. In the current language of political campaigns, Roosevelt was able to "triangulate." That was a middle ground that, for all his efforts, McCain could not find, if only because the conditions were different. In short, the reality of present conditions did not match McCain's larger rhetoric.

Poll: Hillary vs. McCain in 2008 would be “nailbiter”

In the latest national voter poll, McCain bests Clinton by a slim 4-percentage point margin - 46 percent to 42 percent - in a hypothetical matchup. Given the poll’s 3-point margin of error, that means this race could go either way.

Women are slightly more likely to favor Clinton over McCain (by 4 percentage points). Self-identified independents are somewhat more likely to say they would vote for McCain (by 8 points) than for Clinton. “The nation has witnessed two very close elections in a row, and right now it looks like a third may be shaping up,” the pollster said.

At Naval Academy, misbehaved but followed tradition

President’s first duty is keeping our country safe

Give kids an example to emulate against cynicism

5 principles for a great nation’s diplomacy

Cozying up to big donors makes big problems

BUSH: The people staying with me, these are my friends, John. These are my relatives, [yet you] somehow question my integrity. You talk a lot about the “iron triangle” and you’re ringing it like a dinner bell with all those fund-raisers.

McCAIN: George, if I’m ringing it like the dinner bell, you’ve got both feet in the trough because you’ve raised five times the amount of money in Washington [that I have].

KEYES: This whole campaign finance reform thing is just another example of the hypocrisy of these politicians. They’ve shoveled the money in their mouth, then profess to be shocked at the discovery that it’s there. Then they say we should give up our right to give money to support the causes we believe in because they don’t have the integrity to do their job. We shouldn’t give up our rights. They should give up their offices.

Calls himself a “Reagan Republican”

Fight clean, fight fair, but keep on fighting

A mandate from voters is key, not Congressional friends

Priorities:Simplify taxes;restore schools;reform campaigns

Religion & politics are both OK in a President

Vietnam was formative experience, but not his leitmotif

Neither have I been content to accept that my time in Vietnam would stand as the ultimate experience of my life. Surely it was a formative experience, but I knew that life promised other adventures, and I hurried toward them.

Vietnam transformed him to self-confident and serious

Such an experience is transforming. And we can be much the better for it. Surviving my imprisonment strengthened my self-confidence, and my refusal of early release taught me to trust my own judgment. I gained a seriousness of purpose that observers of my early life had found difficult to detect. I would no longer err out of self-doubt or to alter a fate I felt had been imposed upon me.