OxBlog

# Posted 8:06 PM by Ariel David Adesnik

McCAIN AS HEIR APPARENT? K.Lo argues with that with Cheney set on retirement, McCain has inherited the mantle of heir apparent that usually falls on a second-term Vice President.

Patrick Hynes says there's something to the analogy despite its imperfections because

The GOP has traditionally relied on familiarity and continuity when nominating their presidential candidates.

I certaintly hope GOP voters come to see McCain as the agent of familiarity and continuity. But would that mean abandoning the maverick status that gives McCain so much strength across the political spectrum?

On a related note, it may be worth considering the crucial instance in which the GOP chose to break with the forces of familiarity and continuity: The summer of 1980.

Ronald Reagan was an insurgent candidate who challenged a sitting president for the GOP nomination in 1976. In 1980, he represented himself as a force for renewal from the right in a Republican party enervated by moderation.

Albeit conservative, McCain will not lead a revolution from the right. Yet he has the integrity and long-standing commitment to principle that made Reagan attractive to so many conservatives in 1980.

(9) opinions -- Add your opinion

Comments:

Ah, but Reagan's insurgency in 1976 also made him the front-runner in 1980. His speech at the 1976 Convention in support of Ford after losing the nomination is legendary-- and made not a few delegates feel that they had nominated the wrong man.

Republicans nominate the heir apparent or next man in line pretty much all the time. The Democrats generally do as well, when there is one.

Comparing McCain to Reagan in that sense I believe works.

# posted by

John Thacker : 11:45 PM

I agree I thought his performance with rummy today was wise in contrast to clintons( where is the vote for me, maybe I can get it by scold and deflect attention from my husbands ignoring the threat for 8 years)

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:57 AM

Since there is no drama in GOP primaries (the only contested primaries in recent memory were in 1996), once McCain feels he is anointed he should do the right thing if he is to win the election -- and that is to reach out to people who are not in the Rove demographic straitjacket, even at the cost of alienating some who are. Many people outside the USA will feel endless relief if a GOP candidate does not sound like a totalitarian/obscurantist menace the way Bush comes across now to many.

# posted by

Pinchócrates : 7:18 AM

Have you read this yet?

http://smithmag.us/shootingwar/index.php

Comic is on the right....addicting read!

--Wadhamite

# posted by

Anonymous : 10:09 AM

Sure. That's just what the Republicans need - a Rino who campaigns against free speech and makes alliances with the likes of Feingold. A perfect candidate for all the libertarians out there. McCain reminds me of Nixon without the winning personality.

# posted by

Robert : 10:58 AM

He'd be a perfect candidate for all those libertarians out there... If we libertarians didn't happen to care about freedom of speech.

# posted by

Brett : 6:44 PM

McCain will never be a Republican in most conservative eyes after McCain Feingold, we'd rather lose with Brownback or win with Giuliani, one is a conservative and the other is a winner. But to lose with McCain, as would invevitably happen, that is just not on... The first vote I ever cast was for Ronald Reagan, but I will vote for Mark Warner before I vote for McCain.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:41 AM

Integrity and long standing commitment to principle.

What principles are they.

You should not look past the stifling effect McCain Feingold is having on free speech in the USA.

# posted by

Anonymous : 4:43 AM

John McCain doesn't have a prayer of getting the Republican presidential nomination.

# posted by

John J. Coupal : 3:09 AM