McCain Report

A morbid title to an otherwise amicable column. I try to keep the McCain postings as upbeat and fresh as possible, but that has taken some doing of late. A quick bit of research on the latest goings-on in the french-fry camp shows why.

Google John McCain and click the "news" tab. What do you see? Ten stories about McCain, compiled from various internet sources and newspapers. Seven overwhelmingly negative in their descriptions of McCain's dwindling hopes. One posting from the New York Sun describes a story about receiving a plea for a two dollar donation for every year John McCain has been alive--to celebrate his upcoming (the 26th) birthday. The post is entitled the "McCain Death Watch".

Upon reading the article (here) I realized the title referred to his age. Forgive me though, in light of the other stories on Google's News page, for thinking that the "Death Watch" referred to McCain's presidential campaign.

What else do we see on Google? Well, go here to read about how McCain has "angered" conservatives with his positions on immigration. (Ten bucks says no more than two people click that link--it's getting tired, no?)

Click here to read about how McCain trails Clinton in a latest poll.

Click here to read about how McCain may be losing the independent voter in NH.

There's more, but you get the picture.

And, thankfully, there is a point to this tirade. The overwhelmingly negative press John McCain is getting right about now is not good for his campaign, nor for any hopes he has of making a comeback. The difficulty I am having with digging up any positive news means that it is even less likely that the casual news consumer is "getting any".

And that means that Team McCain is not responding, not defending (or offending, for that matter) to the blitz of negativity as is necessary to counteract the message that is being conveyed. We saw it happen with John Kerry three years ago. Let the other side define you, and you will not come out smelling like a rose.

John McCain is not dead yet. His campaign, that is.