John McCain has lost his way in 2008 Presidential Campaign

I like John McCain.   I do.

Why do I like John McCain?  For the reason that he states in his stump speech.  Because he has taken on his party.  Because in the past, he has tried to shake up Washington.

Remember the Gang of 14?  You know, the seven Republican and seven Democratic Senators who came together to break Democratic filibustering of George W. Bush judicial nominees.  McCain wasn’t very popular for “reaching across the aisle” in this case, but he did it and it got something accomplished.

John McCain won the Republican nomination for reasons such as that.  True dyed-in-the-wool Republicans split their votes between Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.  It was McCain’s centrist tendencies in areas like immigration and campaign finance reform that helped him pull the upset in the Republican Primary.

Now, McCain spends his days pandering to the very base of the Republican Party that is at a 15 year low in popularity.  A base that comes out to his rally’s saying they want to “kill” his opponent.

I can forgive McCain for (repeatedly) voting against the MLK Holiday, but I let him slide for catering to the racist wing of the Republican Party and waiting until Friday to even say one word about the tone of his audience.

At the end of the day you have to be true to yourself, and in his heart of hearts, John McCain knows that this isn’t who he is.  He knows better than to debate a man and never look him in the eye.  He knows in his heart that that shows weakness, yet he allowed others to tell him it showed strength.

John McCain knows that if you have a problem with who a man hangs around, you say it to his face when you’re in the room with him.  You don’t wait until the next day when you’re miles away from one another.  John McCain knows better.

This Presidential race is far from over, and the economy has been no friend to the McCain campaign.  And it’s my belief that Obama has a superior strategy in place, as Bill Clinton did in 1992.  But the predicament that John McCain finds himself in today is because he has so solidly pandered to the very people that he claims to have fought against in his Washington career.  They didn’t win him the nomination and they won’t win him the election.