Hugh sums it up well here:

Rarely has a major American political figure contemplating a run for the presidency made such an unnecessary blunder on a policy matter as McCain has made here. He spent five years rehabilitating his image with the GOP base, and had made great strides, especially when he worked hard from the convention forward to re-elect Bush/Cheney. But he almost casually threw it away in a conversation with Chris Matthews. He could, of course, announce that he had to change his mind and vote with the GOP because of the intransigence of the Dems, which would be a very shrewd cutting of his losses, but the McCain stubborn streak may prohibit such a move.

Plus, when he ran for president in 2000, his followers were real assholes. I went to New Hampshire the weekend before the primary to help out the Bush campaign and never before have I received the level of verbal abuse that I got from the McCainiacs. And I've worked the customer service desk at Wal-Mart, so that's saying something.

I think their candidate's self-righteousness wore off on them or something.

I don't want a compromise. I like to gloat, and you can't gloat without winning; you can't win without a fight, and you can't have a fight if you have a compromise. Screw compromise. We should be picking fights and winning them - it's time for those pussies in the Senate to find at least one goddamn spine among the lot of them...

I think the best way to give some of those moderates a message is to beat one in an election, to be honest. My senator, Olympia Snowe, is one of the most spineless politicians in Washington. She's up for re-election next year. I don't think she's going to win.

Most of the Republicans I know are just plain sick of her and her BS. What Snowe is too stupid to realize is that the Democrats who she's trying to impress with her 'moderation' on this issue won't vote for her next year, either. I work in a place stuffed to the gills with liberals, and although most of them have voted for her in the past, 99 percent of them are planning to vote for her opponent (probably Tom Allen or Steven Rowe) next year. I guess during the election, she made some phone calls on behalf of candidates that were perceived as being "anti-womyn's rights" by the Maine moonbat brigade and that was enough for them.

So Snowe is trying, basically, to be nice to people who won't vote for her and pissing off people who would if she weren't such a whimpering puppy in search of positive attention.

McCain needs to be keel hulled.

The lust for power has ruined him.

I keep reading the defensive excuse about some of Clinton’s judicial appointments not getting an up or down vote, either, so blah, blah, turnaround’s fair play, blabety-blabcakes. But. Clinton’s own party didn’t have control of the Senate, did they? So, the Republicans controlled the Senate because they were the majority party? Interesting concept - majority rule.

Ace, not only do I think McCain will run for President, but if he can get the nomination he would win.

All the things that we might dislike about him the country likes. People like that he is a compromiser. They like that he doesn't come off as a rightwinger. They like that he was for campaign finance reform even if they didn't understand the logistics of it.

The elections now are rarely about the details, but about the man. This is man who spent 5 yrs being tortured in a POW camp when he could have chose to leave earlier. His hero status will far outweigh any negatives.

He is more than electable.

The elections now are rarely about the details, but about the man.

McCain flies into vein-popping rage over minutiae. Voters notice.

Maybe so RWS, but the base will slaughter McCain in the primary. I volunteered for McCain back in 2000, he will not get anywhere near as far as he did back then. The base is tired of spineless Republicans, no matter how much the media loves its "mavericks."

brak, which is why I put in there "if he could get the nomination." But, if it looks like he would be the one to beat Hillary, you can bet your sweet ass we will ALL climb on board.

Here's something I don't understand: why don't the Republicans say "OK, you want to filibuster? fine. Then go ahead..." and then make them actually filibuster? Make drunken Teddy miss a night at the bar. Make the Dems blather on 24/7 for a while and then let's see if they still want to hold up nominees. Why aren't they considering this as an option, even?

I know what you meant RWS. But it just won't happen. McCain will get sandbagged before he even gets to SC, no mater who he faces.

As to the "why not make them filibuster" questions, this is the best answer I've seen:

http://polipundit.com/index.php?p=7723

Brak, thanks for that. Now I understand why. OK, let's just go nuclear and get it over with.

Megan

Screw compromise. We should be picking fights and winning them - it's time for those pussies in the Senate to find at least one goddamn spine among the lot of them...

Yah! Und and the more ve squash dem like der bugs they really are, the stronger ve grow und de veaker they grow, i.e., once Republicans stop running from the MSM like the First Felon was still in charge and ignoring it they will be liberated and maybe will start ruling like the majority they are! Heil Bush!

McCain flies into vein-popping rage over minutiae.

And I thought I was the only one who noticed tends toward rage and is unbalanced.

DUF -

Damn straight.

:)

Brak -

It's not an answer. It says what we already know - the GOP would lose some goddamn sleep. Frankly, big f'in deal. I'd rather see our Senators lose their forty winks than our President and our party lose our judges.

Yeah but we can't keep a quorum in there 24/7, eventually it would fall apart. The answer is the nuclear option.

I'm not arguing against the constitutional option. I'm arguing that it's a mug's game to avoid sending a nomination to the floor based on the THREAT of a filibuster.

Yes, keeping a quorum together would be a pain in the ass. It would also be a pain in the ass for the Dems to keep checking and to keep talking. What the hell would we lose exactly by forcing them to talk and putting it on TV? Eventually the quorum would "fall apart" but at least we'd have the satisfaction of making Teddy K (or someone else, I'm not particular) look like an obstructionist jerk in front of the nation. That's not without its tactical and strategic advantages.

I dislike McCain and I do not trust him. He is a bad man. I do not trust him, I think that during his time as a POW he was flipped.

Moonbattery? Perhaps, but I trust my instinct. He is a bad, self-serving man.

It's not a matter of making the Democrats look bad, either; that will never happen. It's a matter of taking the initiative.

Republicans are weak because they act as if they are in the minority. They're reactive instead of proactive. Heck, in most cases, they're just plain inactive.

If the situation were reversed, the Dems would be plowing their judges through in any way they want and they would laugh at any arguments to the contrary. The Dems know how to play the game and it's high time Republicans started playing the same game.

I don't see McCain as bad. I think he is very complex because of his life experience. But my mind has never been completely made up about him. I like him one day and the next day he says something to tick me off. My instincts are usually pretty good. He could easily sway me to his side with a lot more conservative talk.

I'm very frustrated with the Stupid Party.

Why do they think they won so many decisive victories last year (not to mention the jaw-dropping 2002 midterms) ? If we wanted them to bend over for Democrats, we would have voted for Democrats in the first place.

We gave you the car keys, now DRIVE, you ninnies.