Carly For McCain

Carly Fiorina, whose term as CEO of HP was an absolute disaster, is now speaking up for John McCain. GOPers must be hoping that she doesn't apply any of her management magic to her stump for McCain routine. But hope fails, and Carly starts by emphasizing that McCain is not Bush, by emphasizing that McCain is not a conservative!

Kyle Kutuchief's comments from the Point:

As this campaign plays out, it is going to be difficult for John McCain to energize a Republican base while trying to be the maverick moderate. ABC's This Week had McCain surrogate Carly Fiorina as the guest this morning. She began the interview by saying, "I've heard a lot that John McCain is a third Bush term. Nothing could be further from the truth. It was John McCain after all who spoke loudly for four long years saying that Don Rumsfeld was the worst Secretary of Defense in history, that the prosecution of the War in Iraq was going badly, and we are now executing a new strategy because of John McCain. John McCain has differed with George Bush on global warming, climate change, on how we should deal with high fuel prices right now saying that we should stop the fill of the strategic oil reserve for example."

It is remarkable to see the Republican nominee for president already sending surrogates out to trash the Bush Administration record on the Sunday morning shows. Carly Fiorina was armed with talking points to distance Senator McCain from our unpopular president. President Bush's approval ratings have been around 30% for a long time. That 30% wants President Bush to have a third term. How is that 30% going to respond to Senator John McCain constantly bad mouthing President Bush's record? At some point, McCain is going to have do something for that 30% because he needs that support. Changing his position on abortion appears to be his first overture to the base.

What Kyle and McCain are both missing is that McCain could easily recapture that 30% of the die hard Bush vote plus the other 10-15% usual Republican vote by running to the right of Bush. Scrap the No Child Left Behind and burn it on the altar of big government. Continue with the railing on earmarks (which I approve). Renounce his opposition to drilling in American waters (and especially in ANWR!), renounce finally and permanently his plan for amnesty for illegal aliens. etc.

The problem of the conservatives is that Bush wasn't conservative, but he had a deal with conservatives and their interests were aligned enough of the time that conservatives were mostly mollified. McCain just spent the last eight years undermining Bush's modest conservative efforts and now wants them to ignore history.

They might be willing to do this, but McCain will need to tell Carly to stop pouring salt in the wounds. Reagan once captured moderates and independents by explaining to them how conservative values could and did change things for the better. McCain apparently plans to win moderates by giving in to media narratives and running away from conservative values. A recipe for disaster.