How the conservative elites’ rush to support Giuliani led to the looming McCain disaster

Carol Iannone writes:

I continue to marvel that with all the possible candidates, Giuliani was the one seized upon. This was the big mistake, the mistake in the premise of conservatives, and maybe of a lot of Republicans too. The MSNBC analyst today mentioned how Fox News has been so obviously pushing Giuliani and he wondered if now they would start rallying around Romney. This was the big thing. So many conservatives were pushing Rudy and didn’t give Romney the build-up he deserved and needed, since his name recognition was not that great. Those pushing Giuliani sometimes stressed electibility because of his standing in a lot of national polls. They wouldn’t listen to those who said this man is inappropriate for a number of reasons, not least his personal baggage. They wouldn’t listen even as the idea of electibility was totally undercut by his unwillingness to run in the early states because he didn’t think he could win there! But they formed a kind of blind spot about him, because of his leading in the polls and their desperate desire to hold onto the WH, and also their convincing themselves that the war on terror was the absolute only thing of importance (other than hanging on to the WH).

And let me add that the “conservative” darling, Giuliani, has now stabbed his conservative supporters in the back by endorsing McCain!!

Now, because McCain began leading in the polls, and had higher name recognition, he got more of the Florida voters interested in “electibility.” How foolish. Didn’t Republican voters learn anything from Giuliani’s disappearing leads? Already many Republicans are talking about staying home, third party candidate, or even voting Democrat. Yes, even if Hillary is the nominee!

I wonder if McCain really feels he has to “mend fences” with conservatives, as many are saying. He won last night even though the conservative plurality went to Romney.

Rush Limbaugh also made a mistake in going hard against McCain without pushing Romney. It made Rush sound negative and gives the impression you’re beating up on somebody just because you don’t like him. You shouldn’t oppose something unless you have something better to offer. But Rush wanted to hold back on that for his own reasons. He has remarked how all the candidates hate Romney, why, he doesn’t know, and how all the candidates are doing what they can to hurt him (Giuliani endorsing McCain, Huckabee staying in to take as many conservatives and evangelicals as he could, etc.) That is the mystery that we’ve rehearsed here at VFR—perhaps Romney is so outstanding in so many areas, he arouses resentment and envy. But at any rate, Rush was mistaken in holding back. Romney needed some boosting because he was not as well known.

And overall, conservatives should have stuck to principles and realized that even the White House and the “war on terror” do not warrant compromise with principles. They might have won with Romney, and maybe there’s still a chance, but even if they lost or will lose, they would have fought an honorable fight to uphold the cause. As it is, they gave up their principles, and lost everything.

Miss Iannone continues:

Also, Rush won’t admit his error. He knows that the liberal media are for McCain, he acknowledges that all the Republican candidates hate Romney and that some have stayed in just to hurt him, and yet instead of providing “equal time” for Romney as the best conservative choice, he maintained his policy of not endorsing anyone in the primaries. So now the person who he said will destroy the Republican Party is the likely winner.

What circle of hell is it where Dante puts the people who won’t take a side and therefore invite a worse outcome?

Some conservatives are saying McCain must court them. But he already knows that many conservatives will support a non-conservative, the very non-conservative, Giuliani, who threw his support to him! And indeed, many conservatives are already looking to see how they can line up behind McCain.

Joseph C. writes:

Carol Iannone asks: “What circle of hell is it where Dante puts the people who won’t take a side and therefore invite a worse outcome?”

If ever there was a definition of a moderate, this is it. Principle means nothing, because nothing is worth fighting for, so whatever you believe in, fight “moderately” hard for it.

What made people think Giuliani was so electable? Even had he been the nominee, the Democrats would have cleaned up in the Northeast, his home turf. Many lazy and ignorant voters paid attention to generic polls taken years ahead of the presidential race, when most respondents answer after giving minimal thought, if they bother to think at all. Picking a presumptive nominee for the White House in 2008 based on a poll in 2006 is like a football writer trying to pick the Super Bowl teams based on watching training camp workouts.

Count me among those who will vote third party in November if McCain is the nominee. (I might—repeat, might—have been persuaded to vote for Romney, but never John “Gang of 14” McCain). And yes, that holds true even if Hillary Clinton is the nominee. And now my vote means even more. When I lived in New Jersey, my vote was irrelevant, since so many people get government checks the Democrats are a mortal lock anyway. But now that I live in Florida—a true swing state—my vote (or non vote) can have even more impact.

By the way, I cannot wait until John McCain gets dragged through the mud this fall. Just wait until he is the nominee, and the press suddenly starts reminding the casual voters of his involvement with Charles Keating, his pro-life record, his support for the war, his vote to convict Bill Clinton, his divorce, etc. He will rue the day he ever courted The New York Times. John McCain may be their favorite Republican, but he is still a Republican, and once he has garnered the nomination, he will have outlived his usefulness as far as the press corps is concerned.

Carol Iannone replies:

Joseph C. brings up many good points. The Giuliani strategy was wrong on its own terms. Aside from the conservatives and so-called conservatives who were pushing him, he was the favorite of many Republican liberals who were hoping to see him put down the conservative influence in the Republican Party, and of many Democrats who were hoping the same. (And conservatives were supporting that?!) But then voters who felt that way might well choose the real liberal, the Democrat, when it came to the national election! We already saw that Giuliani’s leads had dried up in New York and New Jersey, which is one of the reasons he dropped out.

Joseph C. also reminds us that although McCain is the MSM’s darling now, wait and see what they do to him if he’s the Republican nominee.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 30, 2008 07:24 PM | Send