2008 Observations

by Steve Soto

A couple of points before I disappear again into the shadows . . .

The MSNBC crowd was glowing at John McCain's victory last night, initially painting it as the first step towards the GOP getting its nominee before the Democrats do. They even said that McCain's teleprompter-assisted catatonic speech was a great one, when in fact it was boring drivel aimed at the conservative base that will come back to haunt him in a general election. Yet it was just an hour later when Chuck Todd and Pat Buchanan wisely provided an accurate counter-narrative, that the guy to watch in Florida was now Huckabee. With Hucakabee alone to pursue the far right evangelical vote in the state while McCain, Romney, and now Giuliani all compete with each other to split up the rest of the GOP vote, McCain's coronation is way premature. But since the MSNBC crowd and the rest of the media are still in the bag for McOld, we get the inevitability drivel about him.

Second, given that Clinton voters will certainly support Obama in a general election if he is our nominee, because we are focused on the real goal (which is to get control of the White House, and not to get a particular individual in the White House), why do I see so many signs in even our own comment threads that Obama voters will sit on their hands and not support Clinton, even as they claim to be liberals? And if Obama "liberals" are so willing to sit on their hands and not vote for the Democratic nominee in the general election if it is Hillary Clinton, then how is that different than being a Ralph Nader supporter in 2000, and allowing your vote to deliver the election to the GOP?