TW: Have always liked James Carville, bombast aside, because he has been one of the Dems willing to throw the bile right back at the Republicans without hesitation. In this piece he basically pre-empts what he believes will be the effort of some within the Republican party to blame the McCain campaign staff for a McCain loss. I agree with many of his arguments, although while certainly McCain had a tough hand he could have taken a higher road to defeat.
From Carville via the Financial Times:
"The most predictable and fascinating ritual of American electoral politics has begun. And, no, I am not talking about early voting or pundit predictions. It is not last-minute robo-calls or get-out-the-vote operations either...I am talking about finger-pointing...In the coming weeks, watching the Republican party implode will be the main event.
The opening salvo was fired in the op-ed pages of the US newspaper of record, The New York Times. On October 13, William Kristol drew his guns in what he believed to be the start of the Republican civil war by beginning his weekly column: “It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign.” He continued: “Its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic.”
Such an esteemed conservative intellectual would, of course, place blame on the “McCain campaign”. What a convenient target. This is the same Mr Kristol who advised the party in two of its greatest disasters – the Iraq war and the selection of Governor Sarah Palin as the Republican vice-presidential nominee. His idea is to point the finger at political professionals.
Allow me to rise in defence of my fellow political operatives.
The truth is that there was little Mr McCain, or his campaign, could do with a party falling apart at the seams...Remember, it was not Mr McCain’s campaign that started the idiotic Iraq war or masterminded the poorly thought out strategies there and on the economic front at home.
It was not his campaign staffers that reignited ridiculously divisive and unnecessary culture wars in 2004 just to win an election, in the process alienating a generation of young Americans.
It was not a campaign staffer that simply flew over a major American city as it was being inundated with water after the failure of federal levees created one of the worst disasters in our nation’s history.
It was not a McCain staffer who made the brilliant choice to appoint Alberto “Fredo” Gonzales as attorney-general, a man who will surely go down as one of the most buffoonish and incompetent individuals to serve in the US government.
It was not just a few McCain staffers who sold their soul and their political party to corporate America and Wall Street while the national debt soared.
It was not McCain campaign staffers who sat idly by as America plunged into its greatest crisis since the Great Depression.
Ultimately, the truth is that Mr McCain’s campaign was dealt an awful hand, albeit one he had a role in creating. You can second guess how they played it (and you should) but campaigns take chances (like they did in doubling-down on Ms Palin) when they are behind..."
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/858029dc-a69b-11dd-95be-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1
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