The Downward Spiral By John McCain

There was a time when John McCain was the man to beat. He may have lost to George W. Bush in 2000, but he came out of that election a very popular tough guy politician. At the beginning of this election many considered him the front runner, but since then Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and now Fred Thompson have all moved past him. Ron Paul has more money in his campaign war chest than McCain. The McCain campaign started this whole thing thinking they would raise 100 million dollars, and they have spent money like they did raise that much, but they have had pretty disappointing fundraising numbers. They have gone through 23 million dollars in the last six months, and haven’t even aired one T.V. commercial. He has promoted the war in Iraq, and supported President Bush’s policies there. He just returned from another trip there, and I bet he bought another rug at the market. He went straight to the Senate floor and argued for support of the surge. McCain was also on the unpopular side of the immigration thing. Conservatives will never forgive him for joining up with Russ Fiengold and Ted Kennedy. Now this week his top two aides quit because of money woes in the campaign, and McCain has asked a third aide to step up without any pay. Campaign manager Terry Nelson and chief strategist John Weaver both announced they were leaving, and some rumors have them both going to Fred Thompson’s campaign where they are still paying. Weaver has been with McCain since the 2000 Presidential run, and was responsible for promoting McCain as a straight talker. These two resignations, along with others, comes just a week after he had to lay off dozens of other staffers because of poor fundraising numbers. McCain got the news of the resignations as he was on the Senate floor promoting Bush’s war in Iraq. Yet McCain is still undeterred. “We will continue to campaign the way I do best, which is not with money, but with town-hall meetings and face-to-face encounters with the voters. And I’m confident we will do very well,” McCain said. “I am confident, as I was in the past, that I can out-campaign any of my competitors.” Just like he out-campaigned George W. Bush in 2000. McCain needs to look in the mirror and do a little straight talking to himself. He doesn’t have a chance right now, but the 70 year old Senator can still look towards 2012.
Alan Cosgrove