William Kristol is reporting that today at the Weekly Standard.
What does this mean? Normally, I don’t think endorsements add up to much, but Joe Lieberman – the Independent Democrat or whatever – is in an interesting position with Republican voters, particularly in New Hampshire where this endorsement is supposed to be occurring, weather permitting. This could actually have some influence on the NH primary and the resurgent McCain campaign. Given that no one is really catching fire on the Republican side – I take Huckabee as a temporary phenomenon, but I could, as always, be wrong – McCain (who was being dismissed) may now be a force to reckoned with. Also in the Arizona Senator’s favor is that he was written off by many some time ago – thus hasn’t been in the public eye as much of late. The boredom factor is extremely important in this endless campaign. Now the aging McCain gets to seem like a new thing….
… for a while.
please wake me when Thompson comes back around….
If the Senator had (juiced) legs he could stretch the endorsement into a triple.
But as fate would have it, the senator himself has to test negatively to his own (McCain/Feingold) test. Pretty much kissing goodbye the hollow halls of the White House.
McCain is lucky Senator Mitchell didn’t have him on his retired roster
Bob Kerry endorses “an unusually good liar. Unusually good. Do you realize that?”
This must be satire.
I’m still pro-Thompson. I suspect that HIS resurgence is still to come.
However, Lieberman’s endorsement of McCain is important to me. Both men have tremendous integrity in my book. I wouldn’t mind at all if McCain got the nomination. Listening to him on the Glenn and Helen Show today reminded me of all the times when he’s pissed off the party and been right.
My one beef, and it’s a big one, is McCain-Feingold. The first amendment is not a plaything.
Either way, things are obviously very fluid at the moment. On one hand, you see the early front-runners falling off, which is typical in an open primary. On the other hand, you have several strong candidates who are trying to jump in. I’ve honestly got no idea who will win this.
Wellspring,
I agree with you on your assessment of character for both McCain and Liberman. It is my first point of assessment.
I lose it with McCain over things like McCain-Feingold, immigration and other policy positions. He does not always seems to think through the implications of his positions. I do not see him as a finalist.
As a person of character, we could use more people like him.
Agreed. McCain is a hero and an honorable man, but it doesn’t make him right all the time. Sometimes, I’ve wondered if he understands things like Freedom of Speech and what campaign finance laws have done to it. Because of his high-minded meddling, we have more money going through groups like MoveOn.org and George Soros’ groups. The Democrats can’t get over the Swift Boat Veterans’ impact on John Kerry’s campaign, but they don’t seem to understand that they enabled this very form of campaigning. When money can’t go to the political parties or candidates, it finds other paths and often through groups who won’t be held accountable by anyone.