John McCain Rejects CPAC Invite; Attempts To Court Attendees In Stealth Appearance

What a shock:

Sen. John McCain is the only major Republican presidential candidate who will not address the nation's premier gathering of conservatives this year.

Sponsors of the Conservative Political Action Conference, which begins today in Washington and brings together thousands of conservative leaders and grass-roots activists, say the Arizona Republican has "dissed" organizers by attempting to schedule a private reception for attendees after rejecting invitations to speak at the event.

"It was a classical McCain move, dissing us by going behind our backs," said William J. Lauderback, executive vice president of the American Conservative Union.

Convening through Saturday at a sold-out Omni Shoreham Hotel, the 34th annual CPAC will feature personal appearances and nationally televised speeches by every Republican presidential hopeful except Mr. McCain, said David A. Keene, chairman of the ACU, which, along with Young America's Foundation and Human Events, is a principal sponsor of CPAC.

Conservative activists have speculated that Mr. McCain did not want to be seen on television "pandering" to Republican "right-wingers" but wanted to court those same activists at a reception in the same hotel.

I'll be heading down later today, thanks to your generous contributions. I had planned on going tomorrow, but Rudy's speaking tomorrow at 12, and I figure I have to get down there tonight if I want to catch him.

"Wasted" Lives In Iraq: He also said US lives had been "wasted" in Iraq, which isn't really all that objectionable, if you concede that the war hasn't been managed as well as possible -- ergo, it must be the case that lives were lost than didn't need to be.

That may make logical sense, but once again he's deliberately using the language of the left, even when using it differently than Barack Obama, who meant all lives had been wasted there as the entire effort is for naught.

So John McCain actually disagrees with Barack Obama's statement, and yet, for reasons unfathomable, deliberately offers him political cover by using the word "wasted" in a different fashion.

Why?

He seems to just get off on making things difficult for Republicans.

The DNC, in an odd but perhaps predictable twist, now calls on John McCain to apologize for his use of the term "wasted" lives, arguing that it makes no sense to concede lives have been wasted and yet support the surge.

So, a cock-up all the way around.

You know, while George W. Bush had his strengths, he wasn't exactly the strongest candidate in history. There's a reason McCain lost, despite his impressive biography. The man's political instincts are almost willfully self-destructive.

posted by Ace at 02:21 PM

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