Friday, August 06, 2004
Let's hear it for John McCain. His timely criticism of vile anti-Kerry ads has nicely put the White House on the defensive, and highlighted their refusal to condemn the ads.
Whether the White House wanted to or not, it is now linked to ads questioning Kerry's Vietnam service. This is a poor position to be in - it provides an excellent set-up for Kerry to slam Bush during the debates.
John McCain has taken an informal refereeing position in this campaign. In part, this is because he was deeply wounded in 2000 by ads questioning his own Vietnam service - for which he called Bush to task during a debate. As James Fallows recounts in the June edition of The Atlantic, this was Bush's most damaging moment during campaign debates, worse than anything Gore said.
McCain is a Republican and if you ask him directly, he'd say he's supporting Bush. But he's carved out a peculiar niche in the center of this race, and so far he's done as much to help the Kerry campaign as hurt it. Under extreme circumstances, one can imagine the White House's failure to condemn the ads precipitating McCain breaking ties with them. John McCain will bear the scars of the 2000 primary to his grave; the White House is especially unwise to remind him of them anew.
Whether the White House wanted to or not, it is now linked to ads questioning Kerry's Vietnam service. This is a poor position to be in - it provides an excellent set-up for Kerry to slam Bush during the debates.
John McCain has taken an informal refereeing position in this campaign. In part, this is because he was deeply wounded in 2000 by ads questioning his own Vietnam service - for which he called Bush to task during a debate. As James Fallows recounts in the June edition of The Atlantic, this was Bush's most damaging moment during campaign debates, worse than anything Gore said.
McCain is a Republican and if you ask him directly, he'd say he's supporting Bush. But he's carved out a peculiar niche in the center of this race, and so far he's done as much to help the Kerry campaign as hurt it. Under extreme circumstances, one can imagine the White House's failure to condemn the ads precipitating McCain breaking ties with them. John McCain will bear the scars of the 2000 primary to his grave; the White House is especially unwise to remind him of them anew.
