Could McCain supporters have staged this McCain attack?
“The purification of politics is an iridescent dream. Politics is a battle for supremacy. The Decalogue and the Golden Rule have no place in a political campaign. The object is success.”
-Senator John Ingalls, 1890
This is too crazy to say out loud, but not too crazy to blog about!
John McCain was “ratfucked” in South Carolina in 2000 by Duyba’s boys with a whisper campaign about McCain having a black child. I wont go into this shameful attack, his failure to adequately respond, or any substantive discussion of this tactic, but it’s safe to say it damaged him in SC and it left McCain and several of his wealthy backers burnt.
Now pundits are reminding everyone about how foolish South Carolina was to fall for that tactic, and how guilty South Carolinians should feel about it. This narrative is followed closely by mailings attacking McCain’s military service.
The one bit of McCain’s bio most voters remember is that he was a prisoner of war and he was tortured. This attack is so over the top, I can’t imagine it gaining any traction. If anything, it should back fire and ensure that lots of veterans show up to vote for McCain. I consider the attack a strong net positive for McCain in South Carolina. I think all of the other campaigns are too smart to attack him this way; it’s terrible politics.
This leaves me to conclude it is either: 1) another campaign being even more stupid than evil; 2) a group of nut jobs who just hate McCain; or 3) an incredibly savvy, unscrupulous McCain supporter or part of the McCain campaign.
Keep in mind, even if McCain has unwavering integrity, it isn’t necessarily shared by all of his supporters.
Odds are it’s #1 or #2, but wouldn’t it be fascinating if it was #3. Historically, candidates that have been burnt by sketchy politics often have an easier time justifying it in their future campaigns. In the world of high stakes professional politics, the obvious answer isn’t always the right answer answer. When you consider the confluence of 1) pundit’s reminders of South Carolina’s 2000 mistake; 2) high number of veterans potentially voting in the primary; 3) McCain’s stature; 4) SC’s collective memory that he was tortured; 5) stakes this high; and 6) the implausibility of the attack itself and it’s built in high-back fire potential — I don’t think we can completely rule out the possibility of this being a self-inflicted dirty trick. This is just too smart of a play.
Comment by tet on 17 January 2008 at 4:53 pm:
I’d be willing to bet five bucks that it’s from the Huckabee campaign.
You hear that the Nevada GOP sent the Ron Paul supporters directions to the wrong caucus sites? In spite of this, I think Dr. P is going to do well in Nevada.
Tom Trumpinski
Comment by Chris on 17 January 2008 at 10:38 pm:
Interesting. I know that Karl Rove (in his younger days) use to play those kind of tactics (send out the most ridiculous attacks against his own campaign in order to garner sympathy), but I don’t think even McCain’s own supporters would do it.
I do think McCain though IS trying to spread the story far more than what it was in order to gain some sympathy votes from fellow military people.
Can’t wait to see if any polls show Huckabee with a lead tmrw of whether McCain has offically “Sealed the deal.”
Comment by kofi the oh come on chris, as if karl rove is more manipulative than bill and hill and carville on 17 January 2008 at 10:46 pm:
If Johnny Mac is behind it, he’s simply borrowing a page from the Clinton book. And they seem to get away with it, so why not - right?