A View From The Handbasket

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Like punk never happened
Posted by neros_fiddle at 10:30 AM
Here's noted right-wing windbag Brent Bozell filling column-inches in the Washington Post:

It is time for McCain to be Reagan.

This is what conservatives call on him to do:

McCain must present a strategy to defeat the threat of radical Islam. He needs to call on the United States to rebuild its military infrastructure, so devastated by the Clinton administration.


Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. It's still Clinton's fault, despite eight years of GOP rule. (One can only wonder how much "infrastructure rebuilding" could have been done with the military if we hadn't poured $500 billion down the Iraq war black hole.)

And while it's tempting to compare Reagan and McCain strictly on the basis of age (McCain would be two years older than Reagan upon taking office), the comparison falls apart pretty quickly after that. A better comparison would be to Bob Dole -- a grumpy war hero whose main claim to the Oval Office is, "It's my turn, dammit."

Like 1996, one gets the feeling that the GOP is more or less sitting this one out. Unlike 1996, when things were good and Clinton looked unbeatable, in 2008 things are rapidly devolving and I sort of suspect the Republicans would be glad to let Clinton or Obama take the fall for the next four years.

Also in the file of dubious advice from high-profile right-wing babblers, we have this from Bill Kristol in the New York Times:

Perhaps the most obvious way McCain could upend the normal dynamics of this year’s election would be a bold vice presidential choice. He could pick a hawkish and principled Democrat like Joe Lieberman. He could reach beyond the usual bevy of elected officials by tapping either David Petraeus or Raymond Odierno — the two generals who together, in an amazing demonstration of leadership and competence, turned the war in Iraq around last year. He could persuade the most impressive conservative in American public life, Clarence Thomas, to join the ticket. There are other unorthodox possibilities.


Hee hee. Really? Joe Lieberman (who, last I checked, isn't a Democrat, principled or otherwise)? Clarence Thomas?

Amazing.

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