Leveraging McCain

That's the title of Salena Zito's latest column, another in a growing list of must-read columns from Ms. Zito.
McCain, the Republicans' frontman for the midterm elections, says the GOP has benchmarks it should build upon, the economy being "the biggest success story...and we are not doing an effective job communicating it."
I heartily concur with that appraisal. And it isn't all President Bush's fault, either. The Agenda Media's been painting a doom and gloom picture of the economy even as it continues growing. They've taken their level best shots at the President, ignoring the resilience of the economy in Katrina's aftermath. (We didn't forget the predictions of an economic slowdown by the so-called experts.)

Democrats, rather than being happy that the economy is strong, are painting things as almost as awful as the depression. Remember Kerry's daily linking of President Bush's first term with Herbert Hoover's. Their rooting for failure is best exemplified by their State of the Union stunt of cheering the failure of Social Security Reform. Here's what McCain said about that:
He's equally candid about the failures, namely Social Security, and agitated by the behavior of Democrat colleagues. "Did you see when the Democrats stood up and cheered at the president's remarks about (failing to reform) Social Security?" McCain asks, shaking his head. "Stood up and cheered? How can you do that? What is that all about?"
That's what political parties do when they're heavily invested in America's failure. Here's the section McCain's talking about:
Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security -- (applause) -- yet the rising cost of entitlements is a problem that is not going away. (Applause.) And every year we fail to act, the situation gets worse.
Thankfully, President Bush made idiots of them by reminding America that the situation is deteriorating with each passing year of Democrats' obstruction.
For now, McCain's hiring of Terry Nelson sends a clear signal that the GOP has one thing on its mind: midterm wins. Nelson, newly minted senior adviser for McCain's PAC, Straight Talk America, brings with him a vaunted pedigree that goes back to 2000 when he was chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee
Most predictions are for the GOP to lose seats in the House, though most clear-thinking adults aren't predicting a Democratic takeover. I suspect that Sen. McCain's campaigning, along with Rudy Giuliani's campaigning, will help fire up the GOP faithful as we see what's at stake with this election. (We won't need a pep talk in 2008 if Hillary's the nominee.)

Cross-posted at California Conservative

Posted Tuesday, March 28, 2006 8:11 AM

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