McCain-Graham to Hillary: Us Too!

I recently speculated, winning all the wingnuts in the process, that John McCain might run as a sort of "Republican John F. Kerry" in 2008.

John F. Kerry had the advantage, having been in the military, of being able to pose as a patriot while actually serving as the Democratic Party's anti-war candidate in the last presidential election. Some recent news about John "F." McCain seems to indicate that this possible 2008 candidate may have an even better cover: He, too, is a veteran, but he is also a member of the supposedly -- based on recent Senate activity -- pro-war Republican Party.

McCain is certainly on the short list of people thought likely to run in 2008, and today, he dropped a hint that he'd like Lindsay Graham of South Carolina as a running mate.

McCain, looking at Graham, told the crowd of about 100 people that "some people have said this might be a very attractive vice presidential candidate."

But this was not before he warned that his own party might be in trouble.

With the war in Iraq, higher energy costs and breakneck government spending, the GOP faces a tough round of congressional elections in 2006 unless things change, two key Republican senators warned during a campaign appearance.

"I think if this were not an odd-numbered year, we would have great difficulties," said U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

McCain and fellow-Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina were interviewed by The Associated Press when they stopped here Sunday night to campaign for Republican state Attorney General Henry McMaster.

"But we can recover," McCain said. "Reagan recovered. Clinton recovered. We can recover."

The party must show "progress in Iraq, we need a comprehensive energy package and we need to stop this profligate spending," he warned.

"If the election were tomorrow, we'd be in trouble," agreed Graham, who said the party must work to cut spending.

"If we really want to do well in 2006, we need to have fiscal discipline like Republicans campaigned on," he said. "We have lost our way as a party. Our base is deflated and taxpayers don't see any difference between us and the Democrats."

Much of what he says is correct. However, neither crippling our nation's executive branch in a time of war by outlawing torture nor passing a bunch of environmentalist legislation as an "energy bill" strikes me as a way of distinguishing oneself from the Democrats.

When one considers that McCain and Graham were both members of a senatorial global warming junket to Alaska earlier this year -- with Hillary Clinton, by the way -- the inescapable conclusion is that McCain's idea of "distinguishing himself" from Democrats is to act more like a Democrat than Hillary Clinton -- and on all the wrong issues at that.

This is not good news for those of us who would like a choice in the 2008 presidential election.

-- CAV