Frank Rich, The New York Times, December 23, 2007
We can only imagine what is going on inside John McCain’s head when he contemplates Mike Huckabee. It can’t be pretty. No presidential candidate in either party has more experience in matters of war than the Arizona senator, and yet in a wartime election he is being outpaced by a guy who has zero experience and is proud of it.
“I may not be the expert that some people are on foreign policy,” Mr. Huckabee joked to Don Imus, “but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.” So much for the gravitas points earned during a five-and-a-half year stay at the Hanoi Hilton.
But if Mr. McCain has so far resisted slapping down the upstart in his party, Bill Clinton has shown no such self-restraint about Barack Obama. Early this month the former president criticized the press for not sufficiently covering the candidates’ “record in public life” and thereby making “people think experience is irrelevant.” His pique boiled over on Charlie Rose’s show on Dec. 14, when he made his now-famous claim that the 2008 election will be a referendum on whether “no experience matters.” He insinuated that Mr. Obama was tantamount to “a gifted television commentator” and likened a potential Obama presidency to a roll of the dice.
Attention Bill Clinton: If that’s what this election is about, it’s already over. No matter how much Hillary Clinton, Mr. McCain or Rudy Giuliani brag about being tested and vetted, it’s not experience that will be decisive in determining the next president.
lets get a few things straight about john mccain. He is an annapolis graduate who went on to become a fighter plane pilot. Was shot down over north vietnam and spent the remainder of his military career as a prisoner of war. None of this has anything to do with running a country.
He then went on to fill his fathers seat as a senator for his state.still nothing there either. Senators are notorious for being non thinkers. They follow the party line because thats what got them there.
Huckabee is not a party favorite. So we see the type of “help” he is getting from them.
I dont see mccain winning but I do see him as a favorite for the vice-presidency. There are many out there who think a hero (pow)will also have brains. And that ain’t necessarily so.
Comment by marvin alvarez — December 24, 2007 @ 6:15 pm
McCain was good in 2000 when he seemed the sane conservative alternative to the crazed Bush Boy. He renounced religious involvement in politics, and had a few other positions that reflected an active mind at work, rather than the hunk of focus-group index cards and Born-Again Christian code words Junior had memorized.
If McCain was sincere in 2000, then I can only think he was driven mad by the fact that a wealthy elitist bubblehead like Bush went on to get the GOP nomination and steal the election posing as some sort of downhome Texas rancher. In his insanity, he decided to go over to the Bush side, be all things to all people, and spout empty Christopublican crap — anything to get the nomination.
What he didn’t count on was Bush screwing things up so much that it wouldn’t work a second time. I just saw part of a speech McCain gave in NH recently — he looked like an old boxer who knows he has lost on points but is going through the motions until the bell ending the last round rings.
Comment by RS Janes — December 25, 2007 @ 5:26 pm