Friday, May 18, 2007
McCain's End
I have a million things going on right now, so I'm sorry that I can't give the immigration deal the full attention that it deserves. However, one thing that definitely jumps out: Fairly or unfairly, this agreement likely drives the final stake through the heart of John McCain's presidential campaign.
It's another semi-tragic irony for McCain. The guy who ran as the maverick in 2000 against the GOP establishment candidate George W. Bush now finds two separate anvils around his neck that are the self-described "priorities" of President Bush. They are the dreaded "I" words -- Iraq and immigration. McCain's support for the former has caused his popularity among Democrats and independents to crater. Now his support for the latter (along with his earlier apostasies on campaign finance reform and taxes) is likely fatal for his quest for the Republican nomination. National Review calls the agreement, "Bush-Kennedy."
It must have driven the McCain campaign into conniption fits to see their candidate photographed with the one-time heir to Camelot as the deal was announced. Jim Antle is right: "Conservative voters will remember the immigration partnership between John McCain and Ted Kennedy. In a Republican primary, that is dangerous company to keep."
McCain may have done the right thing, but it is a suicide pact for his already fading White House hopes.
As a quick aside, I disagree with my former boss that the deal is "a sellout of every conservative principle". Immigration policy hardly lines up on a perfect liberal-conservative spectrum. The business and libertarian parts of the conservative movement believes in a more open-ended immigration policy. They don't necessarily see this compromise as a "sellout." But more on that anon.
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It's another semi-tragic irony for McCain. The guy who ran as the maverick in 2000 against the GOP establishment candidate George W. Bush now finds two separate anvils around his neck that are the self-described "priorities" of President Bush. They are the dreaded "I" words -- Iraq and immigration. McCain's support for the former has caused his popularity among Democrats and independents to crater. Now his support for the latter (along with his earlier apostasies on campaign finance reform and taxes) is likely fatal for his quest for the Republican nomination. National Review calls the agreement, "Bush-Kennedy."
It must have driven the McCain campaign into conniption fits to see their candidate photographed with the one-time heir to Camelot as the deal was announced. Jim Antle is right: "Conservative voters will remember the immigration partnership between John McCain and Ted Kennedy. In a Republican primary, that is dangerous company to keep."
McCain may have done the right thing, but it is a suicide pact for his already fading White House hopes.
As a quick aside, I disagree with my former boss that the deal is "a sellout of every conservative principle". Immigration policy hardly lines up on a perfect liberal-conservative spectrum. The business and libertarian parts of the conservative movement believes in a more open-ended immigration policy. They don't necessarily see this compromise as a "sellout." But more on that anon.
Labels: GOP 2008 President, immigration, Senator John McCain
