Mara Liasson on McCain and the bailout negotiations
This was a comment made by Mara Liasson from NPR (who I'm a big fan of-- I watch "Special Report" mainly for her and the snarky comments made by conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, who I don't always agree with, but who has gravitas aplenty) on tonight's Fox News Special Report with Brit Hume, speaking about McCain's decision to involve himself in the bailout mess:
McCain raised the stakes for Obama, but he raised the stakes for himself. Now he needs to stay here and *really* lead. In other words, he can't just make it into a political stunt, where he shows up knowing the deal was cooked and just comes in to grab credit. No, he has to come and *do* something. Either lead the House Republicans into some kind of compromise with everybody else, or lead them out and lead a populist rebellion against this bill. We don't even know which path he's going to take. I think he has to do...
Brit Hume: He has to want it. If something doesn't get done, he's hurt. Or not?
Mara: Well, we don't know yet. Either he...
Hume: Well, he said that he's committed to getting something done.
Mara: Then he has to *get it done*.
Interesting analysis, the rest of the panel agrees with her, and so do I. The Obama LJ comm is pretty sold on this being the end of the road for McCain, and being a fatal wound with an American public who will surely see it as a stunt. Me, being a bit more aware of how to read the other side of the aisle, am not so convinced of that. I think it's exactly as Mara Liasson says, a double-edged sword that can either help McCain or grievously hurt him, depending on whether he's portrayed as being part of a solution or part of the problem.
I've got some stuff to post at some point about Palin and her support of a literal witch-hunter that's, to put it plainly, the scariest, most damning shit I've seen on her yet. I read it to my husband, and it pretty much single-handedly turned his vote away from McCain (though he's not yet committed to voting for Obama-- of all the things that dissuades him, interestingly it was Obama's reaction to Georgia that turned him off the most. He says "it was like watching someone fall up a flight of stairs, him groping for words about that". He's open to considering it if it means defeating Palin, though. So that's TWO solid McCain votes that he lost with the Palin pick).
McCain raised the stakes for Obama, but he raised the stakes for himself. Now he needs to stay here and *really* lead. In other words, he can't just make it into a political stunt, where he shows up knowing the deal was cooked and just comes in to grab credit. No, he has to come and *do* something. Either lead the House Republicans into some kind of compromise with everybody else, or lead them out and lead a populist rebellion against this bill. We don't even know which path he's going to take. I think he has to do...
Brit Hume: He has to want it. If something doesn't get done, he's hurt. Or not?
Mara: Well, we don't know yet. Either he...
Hume: Well, he said that he's committed to getting something done.
Mara: Then he has to *get it done*.
Interesting analysis, the rest of the panel agrees with her, and so do I. The Obama LJ comm is pretty sold on this being the end of the road for McCain, and being a fatal wound with an American public who will surely see it as a stunt. Me, being a bit more aware of how to read the other side of the aisle, am not so convinced of that. I think it's exactly as Mara Liasson says, a double-edged sword that can either help McCain or grievously hurt him, depending on whether he's portrayed as being part of a solution or part of the problem.
I've got some stuff to post at some point about Palin and her support of a literal witch-hunter that's, to put it plainly, the scariest, most damning shit I've seen on her yet. I read it to my husband, and it pretty much single-handedly turned his vote away from McCain (though he's not yet committed to voting for Obama-- of all the things that dissuades him, interestingly it was Obama's reaction to Georgia that turned him off the most. He says "it was like watching someone fall up a flight of stairs, him groping for words about that". He's open to considering it if it means defeating Palin, though. So that's TWO solid McCain votes that he lost with the Palin pick).