Seems the dirt on the Beltway leads us to believe that John McCain is interested in having President Bush far more involved in his campaign than acting solely as Fund Raiser and Chief. Laurel and George W. Bush using the Lincoln Bedroom as a check generating machine is an unsavory enough image. McCain bringing over to his campaign Bush’s team of Hooligans though is a rabid dog of a different color.
Ken Mehlman is now acting as an UNPAID outside advisor to the McCain campaign, at least until the war chest gets a few more pieces of Gold. Mehlman probably feels right at home with former Bush Pit Bull, Steve Schmidt, George’s personal attack dog, and media propagandist (Bush preferred the term media strategist) Mark McKinnon. Rounding out McCain’s top four on this political Team of Terror if everything unfolds right is the evil master mind himself, Karl Rove.
Seems that Bush’s right hand man, his brain for most of his Presidency recently made a donation to the John McCain cause, throwing his chips onto the Republican table, signaling he wants in the game. Very soon after the donation check cleared the bank, Rove had a lengthy conversation with Senator McCain. Shortly after McCain’s meeting with the Dark Lord, one of McCain’s top advisors put the word out on the street that both Melhman and Rove were officially, but informally advising the McCain Campaign on important strategic issues…in his usual secretive fashion, Rove has refused to provide any details about his meeting with Senator McCain. Suppose that is the norm for Blood Oaths?
Couple these fast breaking developments with McCain’s mimicking of George W Bush’s party line on the Iraq War, his identical ignorance yet love of nuclear energy, and one quickly understands why people in the know are referring to the Republican Nominations campaign as the McSame Express. Perhaps these Bush politicos coming in from the cold explains McCain’s refusal to rebuke the President’s Veto of a bill that would have outlawed torture?
Even many Republicans now view Bush as the worst President to ever hold office. His political team moving into McCain’s Campaign Headquarters seems to add more credence to Democratic claims that electing John McCain as our next President would amount to an extension by proxy of the George W. Bush Presidency and with it his failed policies. Former Bush insider and 2004 chief strategist Matt Dowd is even sounding the alarm to any Republican that will listen, warning that McCain’s almost identical position on Iraq, his hiring of some of the most despised members of the Bush team is not going to sit well with the public…but then, when has Bush or his staff ever given any real credence to public sentiments? Perhaps because he has distanced himself from the Bush team, Dowd’s concerns have been quickly dismissed by McCain advisors.
Another key McCain advisor on the condition of anonymity stated John McCain’s biggest task right now is to solidify the base, bring into McCain’s camp all those Republicans who still loyally support and approve of President Bush. Perhaps this explains McCain’s desire to bring in Bush’s SS and Gestapo Field Officers? The Time to get out the big stick and knock a few heads to get the Religious Right and Conservative Ranks in proper step has arrived? Continuing on failed war, economic and foreign policies is a small price to pay if the Bush Doctrine is preserved and carried forward for another eight years?
The McSame strategy is simple…put enough key Bushites in position to appease George W. Bush’s army of rabid right wing conservatives and evangelicals, then as the McSame Express moves into the fall election, prop McCain up as his own man and hope it fools the American Public, even if that means playing cat and mouse by having some of these Bush Puppet Masters operating outside the public view, away from the press. George W. Bush fooled the nation twice, surely we are not so foolish as to be fooled a third time? Are we?