McCain's Campaign to Appease The Left

@gewcew23 (8007)
United States
May 20, 2008 3:14pm CST
It's almost as if John McCain's campaign simply decided they will not allow anyone to cause McCain one minute's trouble. Say something about Obama's middle name sayonara. Twitter a YouTube clip about Rev. Wright you're gone. Be a lobbyist at a time when that's a liability adios! By quickly dispensing of any unwanted baggage, McCain's campaign hopes to frustrate Obama's ability to attack him. Of course, this strategy isn't all that different from Bill Clinton's triangulation. In both cases, the principal frustrates his opponents by making unorthodox moves. While triangulation seeks to co-opt opponents' ideas, McCainulation seeks to root-out like a cancer any potential internal weakness before they can be exploited by your opponent. This strategy is not without its downside, however. Winston Churchill famously said appeasement was, "like feeding a crocodile and hoping it would eat you last." In a sense, though, that's ironically what McCain is doing when his campaign throws supporters off the boat to the crocodiles. The problem with appeasement, of course, is that it doesn't appease it actually emboldens your opponents and rewards them for their aggression.
3 responses
@kenzie45230 (3560)
• United States
20 May 08
If I understand what you're saying, it's that John McCain is not allowing his own campaign people to pick on Obama's name or his association with Wright. Is that right? If so, how is that appeasement? Isn't appeasement conceding to agression? Perhaps John McCain is just taking the high road and not wanting his supporters to go after Obama for things he cannot change. Perhaps instead, they can go after things like his strange voting record. Just a thought.
2 people like this
• United States
20 May 08
I have a hunch we will never convince McCain you are right as he probably got to where he is using this strategy. Unfortunately, merely being right and telling the truth does not get anyone elected in the USA. We voters do not elect the best, only the most clever.
1 person likes this
@gewcew23 (8007)
• United States
20 May 08
The most cleverest well there is alot of truth to that on. The problem with McCain strategy is he might throw overbroad everyone he need to win. Name the last Liberal Republican that won the Presidency?
1 person likes this
• United States
20 May 08
Maybe Eisenhower by the standards of his time. Definitely conservative by the standards of today. He is one of the few people ever who could have been President as the standard bearer for either party. Both asked him to run for them. I don't really know why he became a Republican instead of a Democrat, but I'm glad he did.
• United States
21 May 08
McCain is trying to appear to distance himself from cheap shots, and keeping it classy. Appeasement is the 'mot du jour' since Bush's use of it to try to besmirch Obama's campaign. I don't think it should be applied to every attempt to forge a positive path. But as suggested by Annie, McCain can get it both ways by disclaiming negative and cheap tactics, while at the same time benefiting from them.