Jim Geraghty figured out why John McCain is trying to silence anybody and everybody that hits the Democrats hard; he’s running very hard to the mushy middle as Mr. Clean. 16 years ago, that might have worked, because that is precisely how his BFF Russ Feingold overcame a massive money and name recognition disadvantage to first win a 3-way primary battle and then win his Senate seat. However, this isn’t 1992, and frankly, most of the country isn’t Wisconsin. That mushy middle doesn’t really exist; at best it represents 10% of the electorate, and it’s been shrinking every election.
Sean Hackbarth pointed out a potentially-significant flaw in McCain’s plan; he’s not been consistent on the lack of use of the Wright-Obama connection. Actually, let’s drop the “potentially”; it’s certain tha McCain’s former friends in the LeftStreamMedia will use that inconsistency against him to further shrink the mushy middle.
Moreover, every open step toward the mushy middle, especially in the form of a repudiation of the GOP base (or at least what, up until recently, was the base), further weakens him in the eyes of said base. This specific case reinforced my opinion that the current “leadership” of the GOP really wants to be a permanent minority center-left party. I’m all-but-ready to abandon the See-Dub plan and follow doubleplusundead in saying, “Screw McCain.”
