“The McCain Mutiny”

That’s what Howard Kurtz at WaPo calls it.

First we got Coulter promising with a straight face to campaign for Hillary if McCain wins.  Now Rush Limbaugh is saying that he’d rather see Clinton or Obama win the presidency than John McCain, despite Bob Dole’s plea for sanity on the party’s far right.  Too bad, Bob Dole.  That ship sailed a long time ago.

When it comes to the McCain mutiny, Limbaugh has plenty of company on the right side of the dial. Laura Ingraham endorsed Mitt Romney last week, saying, "There is no way in hell I could pull the lever for John McCain." Sean Hannity, who also endorsed the former Massachusetts governor, regularly rips McCain. Hugh Hewitt is urging the audience for his syndicated radio show to fight for Romney against what he calls a media-generated "McCain resurrection." But with a program heard on 600 stations, including Washington’s WMAL, Limbaugh is the loudest and brashest voice inveighing against the man he derides as "Saint John of Arizona." (New York Times)

Could it be that even some of the dittoheads have noticed that the far right has turned out to be wrong about every single thing it’s said every single time? Doubtful. Clearly, though, a certain number of sane Republicans have noticed.

Limbaugh has told his listeners that McCain wants to destroy the GOP to punish them for his defeat in 2000 in South Carolina That’s hilarious and so is this:

"He’s going to reach out to Democrats in Congress," Limbaugh said, citing "McCain -Kennedy" and "McCain -Feingold" as examples of McCain-sponsored bipartisan legislation.

"This is how he’s going to get even with Republicans for defeating him in South Carolina in 2000," Limbaugh said. "The Republican Congress will effectively be neutered." (abc)

I don’t even know what that means. "The Republican Congress"? I thought the conventional wisdom was—-despite the barest of bare Democratic majorities in the Senate— that we have "”a Democratic Congress” that is to blame for all our ills we can’t blame on Bill Clinton?"? And how would Republicans of any sort be "neutered" by working together with Democrats? Of course for Limbaugh and his ilk there are no common goals: there are only defeat and triumphal capering on your enemies’ trampled remains with hobnailed boots. No wonder they are so agitated.

Is it possible that Limbaugh doesn’t understand that this is really the goal:  people representing different views constituencies actually working together to benefit the entire country, not just certain narrow interests and ideologies? Does he think that people pick their elected officials based solely on the wish to see "the other side" blocked, hampered, hindered, and defeated?  Apparently.

It’s refreshing and, frankly, a bit startling to see that many Republicans are shrugging off the ire of the party’s hard right and voting for McCain anyway.  Possibly more of them understand the Democratic process than Rush and others were perhaps bargaining for.  Will enough say "Let ‘em eat bile" to give McCain a clear victory?

Limbaugh’s opinions appeared to rub off on one caller Monday named Bruce.

"I’m not a mind-numb robot and I’m not going to vote for John McCain!" the caller said.(abc)

Oh, Bruce.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney’s campaign is having one of their little spats with McCain’s crew.  Romney evidently said on Fox News that he didn’t want the support of Bob Dole.

Well, it’s probably the last person I would have wanted write a letter for me. I think there are a lot of folks who tend to think that maybe John McCain’s race is a bit like Bob Dole’s race. That it’s the guy who’s next in line, the inevitable choice. (Corner)

I gave Mitt big points at first for not mentioning the once controversial ads or Dole’s age ("a towering figure," Dole’s website enthuses, and "the most enduring Republican leader of the twentieth century." ). Romney also didn’t mention McCain’s age. Does this show a certain level of restraint and decency on the part of comparative whippersnapper Mitt? And what about the hardliners from the far right? Even they seem to be steering clear of what I’d have thought—based on past performance—would be the shortest path to dissing Dole. At first, I was sort of impressed, but then I realized: “the party of Ronald Reagan” can’t play what I’ll call "the age card."

I’m glad. I find I don’t like hearing Dole dissed by the likes of Michelle Malkin. I have never cared for Bob Dole, being a Democrat and all, but he was a hero to my all-Republican-all-the-time father.

Anyway, McCain’s people riposted with Reagan’s Ghost:

Governor Romney’s attack on Bob Dole is disgraceful, and Governor Romney should apologize. Bob Dole is a war hero who has spent his life in service to this nation and nobody has worked harder to build the Republican Party. Bob Dole deserves the respect of every American and certainly every Republican.

Governor Romney denounced Ronald Reagan in the mid ’90s while Bob Dole was working tirelessly to elect Republicans across the country. Governor Romney was missing from those fights when I was standing with President Reagan and Senator Dole to build the Republican Party.(Corner)

Governor Romney is trying to divide the Republican Party and his disparagement of one of our Party’s greatest leaders is a sad commentary on Governor Romney’s increasingly bitter campaign. (Corner)

Meanwhile the ever-reliable polls project McCain as the winner. We’ll see. At present, the Mittster’s leading in California. I like McCain a million times better, but I am kind of hoping now that Mitt wins.

After conducting my own unofficial poll among DINOs and RINOs I know, I think McCain would peel off too many independents and moderates who might otherwise lean to the Democrats…. Romney will have to pretend to be a hardliner (he isn’t) and hardliners are apparently out of favor with a big chunk of the “base.” Furthermore, if Obama wins for the Dems, at least the experience issue won’t be quite so much skewed in the Republican’s favor.