He's a sacrifice.

They don't INTEND to win this election.

John McCain is being sacrificed to the electorate by the Republican Party.

I learned this concept a couple of years ago from the Republican husband of a friend of mine. He was chortling how the Democrats had sacrificed a candidate to the last election for Governor. All the Democratic power players in California didn't want to blow their chance at the Governor's seat by running against Arnold Schwartzenegger, so they deliberately picked a weak candidate to sacrifice.

The same thing is happening now. The Republicans know this election is a lost cause. In John McCain they have deliberately picked a candidate who is plausible enough to run, but flawed enough to blame when he loses. They are not even going to try to rig the machines. "Nothing to see here, folks, all the elections were as fair as this one."

From President Obama's inaugural speech forward, the Right Wing Noise Machine will be in full roar. The rump Republicans in Congress will use every procedural road block they can muster to prevent meaningful progress.

There will be a perfect wave shitstorm of chickens coming home to roost from the last eight years of Bush's epic failure - and they'll blame it all on the Democrats.

They are setting themselves up to "prove" that Democratic ideals are what got us into this mess. I can just hear it now: "The Democrats are in power and look how bad things are!".

It is a setup to return "triumphant" in 2012. We can't let them get away with it.

It is inevitable that things are going to get worse before they get better. We have to get out in front of the propaganda on this - drive home the concept that "your misery is the result of the failure of the Republicans".

If they say "Tax and Spend Democrat", we say "Credit Card Republican."

If they say "Nanny State" We say "So you like lead in your kid's toys, salmonella in your tomatoes, and bridges that collapse from neglect."

If they say that "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'", we show them a photos of a fireman with a rescued child, a policeman at an accident site, a trauma team at a public hospital and show them Yes we ARE from the government and we are here to help!

We must continue to hold the high ground. Senator Obama showed tremendous mettle in keeping his campaign on an elevated plane. Let's hope he can keep his presidency there, too.

Let's make John McCain's sacrifice be in vain!

that I've had running around in my head...

You are absolutely right!

I'm sure Obama is aware of this too...

Let's make John McCain's sacrifice be in vain!

K&R

Let's get the word out!




:yourock:

electorate. they will lose butt loads of seats in the senate and congress, legislatures and governors. They might be willing to sacrifice their top job but I doubt they have truly considered the cost of losing all their infrastructure. I agree, OP, but I also think they are not so clear about the tsumani coming. good.

I use the term "throw away" candidate, but it means the same. He is another Bob Dole.

Yeah, I'm sure there were plenty of residents of New Orleans who would have found that statement terrifying </sarcasm>...

Not surprised if they did it again.

Missed that one, but - yeah...

I fear you may be right. Let's hope Obama forces the Dems to finally grow some spine and go on the offensive rather than cowering and quivering in silence.

More like...better to blame this mess on a Democratic black man or a woman than to place the blame where it lies. That is why the other candidates never stood a chance.

Agree with everything you said.

I think I would show the floods and hurricanes we have had throughout the MidWest and ask if people don't want government to help. Show Katrina and Bush playing the guitar.

BHO is going to be more popular than WJC. bank it.

will be a brown stain on the underpants of history.
If Jeb runs , he'll have to change his name.

of that for awhile. It would explain a lot...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3407338&mesg_id=3407404

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3413887&mesg_id=3413966

I believe it is going to be neccessary to be very aggresive in manning the helm when BO takes over. We need to show support and be engaged from your community council to the halls of Washington. If we don't, it will be very easy to do the blame dems for the problems come 2012.

They will rig the machines, downticket. Watch your house & senate elections carefully.

Once the Democrats are fully in power, they would have subpoena power to really look into machine voted election results.

They might have decided it would be worth the losses to have a squeaky clean election this time around, so they can have even more Democrats to blame for how bad things are. If the Blame the Democrats meme takes hold, it will have coattails, too.

I'm going with the tried and true, GOP, "idiotic and out of touch" explanation.

would be: "Imagine how many people in Katrina would have given anything to hear those words."

:kick:

real change. Any Dem who is going to be spineless from here on out can get the fuck out of the way.

They know they are going to take a beating. They have sent out Mc Cain to take that beating for them.

living on borrowed time.

waiting in the wings. Unfortunately for them, the top tier guys—Allen, Giuliani and Romney—all screwed up or failed to win over significant numbers of primary voters. And frankly, who gives a fuck what they say? The demographics going forward in this country are headed for profound, generational sea-change toward progressivism and away from right-wing tactics and ideology—by the time 2012 rolls around, nobody's going to care about all those wingnut slogans from the '80s (nobody really takes them seriously now). And another thing: real leaders lead in hard times as well as good; great presidents are great because they overcome adversity and make the country better for it. Obama has the potential for greatness, IMO: things are bad and going to get worse, but like FDR I believe Obama will rise to the occasion. The fact that we're building bigger congressional majorities won't hurt: 60 (real) Dems in the senate is the key.

The party wanted GWB in there in 2000 and probably made a deal with McCain that his turn would be next. They had a very weak field of candidates this time, so his nomination was a sure thing.

McCain is a rube. I am not sure if he know he is or not.

and electing a Congress that will work with him for meaningful change. I could care less what the Republicans want right now. Let's get busy.

The GOP can't continue to lie and propagandize and expect to control the message. The truth will prevail.

We had the internet in 2004, and 2000 too, for all the good it did.

It proved invaluable in '06. Just ask George Allen.

:thumbsup:

Shortly after the Stolen Election™

And the GOP was still basking in the glow of it's Republican Revolution of 1994™

But I believe people now are more savvy and less likely to accept Corporate News for accurate reporting.

Since 2001, I've used the Internet for all my news.

As if we haven't had the internet for the past eight years. Oh Looky! A new device called the internet momma...wonder how it works...

the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. if we get on the road back to democracy, absolutely we must be vigilant and loud as well. great post, thanks

Well, I disagree with the "sacrifice" aspect. They'll certainly try to blame everything on the democrats, but I think they've fucked things up so colossally this time there's no way they can make that stick.

But the sacrifice aspect, I have some problems with. First, it assumes more influence from the RNC than from rank & file republican voters. Republicans voted for McCain, and I don't think they did it with the intention of setting him up to lose. They ran their best and brightest candidates this year. Who should they have run? Jeb? Do you think voters in this country will ever elect another Bush? Granted, overestimating the populace is often a losing bet, but he would have been crushed, probably in the primaries. Who else is there? George "Macaca" Allen was mentioned, but we shut his lame ass down in '06. Seriously, Romney, Huckabeee, McCain, Giulliani...these were the only options available. They were the best they had. Everyone else in the party is stained with Abramoff, sex scandals, Bush, and sometimes all three. The republican brand is about as popular as the proverbial turd in the punch bowl right now.

I'm surprised sacrifice candidates are not widely known to Democrats. Republicans use them all the time. I remember once having a long conversation with my District Committeewoman (R) about her son, who was a sacrifice candidate, and whether I'd be interested in being one in the next election cycle. Republicans at the lowest level routinely run newcomers in hopeless races, to improve their name recognition for later races. At higher levels, Republicans run party veterans, generally deserving of the "honor", when they can't win, though sometimes they end up with some guaranteed embarrassment and loser in that role, someone too dense to get the message and who runs to win the primary.

At higher levels you get a sacrifice candidate by not having the strong candidates enter the primary in the first place. There's only a few such candidates, so its easy to have a conversation with them about how this is not their year to win. That usually leaves the honoree (who may or may not realize he or she is running for the title of "former Republican mayoral/gubernatorial/presidential candidate". Occasionally an embarrassment finds a way to win, at which point the party does everything possible to distance themselves from the candidate and waits for the next election cycle.

McCain definitely has the odor of a sacrifice.

I'm having trouble finding any. I really think this crop was the best they had.

(Crist, etc). None of them can win this election, any more than McCain will (barring Democratic disintegration). But they can destroy their image and wreck their future chances, so it's better they sit out (at least from the perspective of the Republicans).

Hence the Honored Old Man (McCain), opposed by what the Republicans perceived as a couple of "liberals" unworthy of the nomination (Romney, Giuliani), a few people too fringe even for the Republican Party (Tancredo, Hunter, and Paul -- the party leadership would have pooped their pants had any of those three found a way to have won the nomination) and one candidate who was unacceptable to the corporatist leadership but who was representative of a wing of the party (Huckabee).

The asshole governor of Georgia can be considered to be waiting in the wings,IMO.

For some reason,even the wingnuts in this state who don't like bush think he would be a great president.

Do not think for one second that the right does not have a junior senetor "waiting in the wings" for 2012

as the repuke candidate. However, I think that the next President is not going to be able to please anybody, no matter what they do. There are just too many problems to fix. It very well could be a 1-term presidency with the other party winning the next election a la Jimmy Carter.

...the old coot apparently doesn't see the utter irony and hypocrisy in that after these last 8 years. Pfft!

Because it seems to me that a tax and spend philosophy actually works incredibly well to build a strong middle class. From the end of the depression through the 1950's, arguably the most prosperous era in our history, the top brackets were taxed at 93%. Of course you can't really say things like this any more, because we allowed the right to control the argument unopposed for what, 40 years?

Yep, the sacrifice in a year the GOP knows it has no hope and doesn't want to be in power when all the cheney shit hits the fan.

McCain is Dole, and the GOP planners are gonna try and make Obama into a Carter-esq fall guy, the really honest populist inheriting a shitstorm.

they can only win in 08 by some weird ass fluke, but most likely won't even come close. They decided to give the old guy a shot at his dream, even though he'll be devastated with the loss!

But I have a sneaky suspicion that something might "happen" to Mccain healthwise, and they'll slip us a "sub" at the last minute..

They have nothing to lose, and it would certainly mix things up..might excite their "base" too , if they found the right one..

them substituting someone at the last minute as well. It's the only way they have a shot at this election.

in 2000 he was a party elder set to retire with an overall positive legacy... and after 8 years of creeping senility and constant whispering in his ear, he's become a dottering puppet of the far right being used by men (and maybe a few token women) to advance their endgame.