by Thomas Fleming
I am happy when my political predictions turn out to be wrong. My gravest errors usually result from the failure to heed Mencken’s dictum that nobody every went broke http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2890, if they maintain their momentum, will be the least credible charlatans who have ever sought the White House or aspired to rule the world.
Some months back, I was naive enough to believe that Hillary’s negatives–about half the population finds her unacceptable–and McCain’s eccentricities would inspire the leaders of their respective parties to find a way of eliminating them. The Howard Dean treatment would work as well for Ms Clinton. But, as I observed when Obama entered the race, it was as if the Clintons had gone out http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3234 cousins out of Kansas he likes, but he cannot erase the memory of the Barak and Oprah show.In the case of McCain, the revival of his campaign is slightly more complicated, but only more slightly. Looking backward, one can see that each of his serious rivals was doomed. Rudy Giuliani was smart enough to know that his New York shtick could not play in Iowa or New Hampshire, but not smart enough to know that his New-Yorkness would cost him the nomination, first and most obviously in giving momentum to his rivals, and second by alienating many of the mainstream moderate Republicans who are the core of the GOP. If they want a pro-abortion liberal tough on defense and strong for Israel, they have McCain, a war veteran who has specialized in defense issues.
Romney and Huckabee divided the pseudo-conservative vote, and neither has a sufficiently broad appeal to win an election. http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2971, and McCain’s campaign made good use of his zig zagging record on the issues. Too often Romney revealed himself for what he is: a spoiled rich kid who think the world owes him the White House. Bragging about his success in business should have been the last straw. If George Romney had been my father, I could have got richer simply investing in an across-the-board S&P portfolio. I am reminded of an old New Yorker cartoon from the early 1950’s. Two men are sitting at their club, and one of them remarks: “There’s young Smedley. He started with only $4 million, and now he’s a rich man.” In those days, a million was something.
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