Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
Senator John McCain was the guest on the Daily Show last night. If you didn't see it, he's still telling the same old jokes, but is no less charming in doing so. The thing that struck me, though, is that it seems to take every ounce of his strength to keep himself from calling Bush a jackass. He can barely keep a straight face when he says he'll be campaigning for the president - a hardly surprising trait, given their history from the 2000 race. In fact, he didn't keep a straight face when he said it. And he did nothing but ridicule the SOTU.
I can't help but suspect that had the Republicans nominated McCain rather than Bush in 2000, there would have been no overtime period in that election and McCain would likely be coasting to re-election now. I wouldn't have voted for him then or now - wrong party, you know - but I have far more faith and trust in the socially libertarian and fiscally conservative wing of the Republican Party that he represents (and seemed to be eulogizing) rather than the evangelical, rigidly ideological, "deficits-don't-matter" wing embodied by the Bush administration.
By that same token, every time I see Sen. Chuck Hagel (NE) on television, I think, "You know, he doesn't sound remotely insane." The GOP really should be using him as their spokesman far more often than they are. Again, wouldn't vote for him, but I wouldn't be abjectly horrified were he in charge either. They actually do have some grown-ups left on their side of the aisle. Why do they keep them hidden in the back of the closet?
TrackBack> Why do they keep them hidden in the back of the closet?
Um, that's probably because there's a very good chance that Senator Hagel may have "cheated" just a touch to get his seat. He's the former head of ES&S, the largest voting machine company in the country. After failing to disclose this in his FEC filings, his company's machines were the only ones used to count votes in both of his elections so far - elections in which there were reportedly some funky turnouts (Republicans winning by large, unexpected margins in local elections, often by the same precise number of votes in different counties or towns, at random) and somehow Hagel managed to win a huge majority of the ethnic minority votes despite polls showing they were overwhelmingly disinterested in him.
There's a very good reason to keep Hagel on the back burner, and it's because the Republicans don't want anyone asking him which states might be using ES&S voting machines this year, if you ask me.
Posted by: Michael at January 23, 2004 10:15 AM