LAT, Chait: He's "with the empire now": John McCain goes over to the dark side

Jonathan Chait
McCain goes over to the dark side
John McCain goes over to the dark side
March 10, 2007

'THIS IS NOT Luke Skywalker here," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), discussing his friend and Senate colleague John McCain's second run for the presidency. "This is a totally different campaign."

Graham was looking for a way to reassure his fellow conservatives that they no longer had anything to fear from McCain. His choice of metaphor is one of those windows into the fundamental cultural gap that separates hard-core conservatives from the rest of humanity. To most people, who think of Luke Skywalker as a hero battling an evil and immensely powerful empire, Graham's implication would be seen as an unmitigated insult. In the world of the GOP elite, though, it's a form of praise: No, no, don't worry, McCain's with the empire now.

Seven years ago, of course, McCain was likening himself in public to Luke Skywalker, waving light sabers on stage at rallies and comparing his party's establishment to the Death Star. He would say such things as, "My party has become captive to special interests." He would cite a bumper sticker that read "The Christian Right Is Neither."

And now? Well, let's just say that if John McCain circa 2007 was campaigning against John McCain circa 2000, he would call him a communist....What makes McCain's conversion all the more tragic is that it's plainly not working. He has spent the last three years plotting to make himself the candidate of the GOP establishment that he once attacked. But, as the Wall Street Journal reported, "2008 is shaping up as the worst presidential year in three decades to be the candidate of the Republican establishment."

His career since then has indeed resembled a certain famous Jedi. He began as a crusader for justice. Soon he realized that he needed to acquire more power in order to accomplish his noble goals. But over time, his pursuit of power became the goal itself, and by the end he lost his capacity to differentiate between right and wrong....

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-chait10mar10,0,6772386.column?coll=la-home-commentary

his nomination and even if he manages to win the GOP nod, he loses in Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, and North Carolina to our ticket.

He won't win Democratic New York. He won't carry Democratic California.

He steals New Hampshire back from the Kerry win there, but that's it, and he'll have to fight for Florida.

Agree that McCain sold his soul. It's a shame. But there it is.

He's a goner.

catching up to their darling McCain.

Best line:
But, as the Wall Street Journal reported, "2008 is shaping up as the worst presidential year in three decades to be the candidate of the Republican establishment."


They just don't have any viable candidate. It's ours to lose in '08.