John Podhoretz wrote an interesting article for The Corner. He explains why, in his opinion, it was a wise decision of McCain not to speak at CPAC:
If I were a McCain adviser, there’s no way I would recommend he attend CPAC. The stakes are simply too high. It’s a total sandbagging opportunity for people who want to derail him. The last thing he needs is a headline like “Conservatives boo McCain,� and you know people attending CPAC know it and would love nothing more than to provide that headline. Anything less than a performance that wowed his enemies on the Right would only do him injury.
“Captain� Ed Morrissey doesn’t agree with Podhoretz. Ed’s main point: McCain says he’s conservative, he tries to appeal to the conservative base by “stressing his conservative credentials, especially on hot-button topics such as abortion and the war�… Ed rightfully wonders: “if that’s true, then what does he have to fear from a conference of conservatives predisposed to his positions? In fact, if he claims to represent conservatives, why should he fear speaking in front of a group of them?�
PAST CONTRIBUTOR.