The Candidates
According to the Washington Post:
President Bush plans to give an implicit endorsement of onetime rival John McCain’s conservative bona fides tomorrow as the Arizona senator seeks to consolidate the party behind his candidacy.
In a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in the morning, Bush plans to say that the nominee of the party will be a strong conservative, according to excerpts released by the White House tonight.
“We have had good debates and soon we will have a nominee who will carry the conservative banner into this election and beyond,” Bush says in the excerpts. “The stakes in November are high. Prosperity and peace are in the balance. So with confidence in our vision and faith in our values, let us go forward, fight for victory and keep the White House in 2008.”
Bush does not mention McCain by name, but the clear signal of his words to this particular audience is that the senator is a faithful conservative despite their doubts and it is time to put aside internal disagreements and rally behind the apparent nominee to be. Bush has stayed out of the nomination fight, but with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s departure from the race today, he is preparing to help bring the party together to the extent that McCain wants his assistance.
February 7th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Good. Bye bye Huck.
February 7th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Good for President Bush to be doing this. This is exactly what needs to happen, its time for our party to come together as a party and unite b/c we have plenty of time to get ready to face whoever the Dem Nominee will be. Kudos to President Bush.
February 7th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
All this says is the Bush will support the nominee. You guys are silly.
February 7th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
LJ,
Any word on the Hawaii Caucuses that were held today?
February 7th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Huckawho?
February 7th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Why is Huck running anti - Romney robocalls in Louisiana and Washington State?
The calls mention that Romney has dropped out, then goes on to attack Romney.
I believe this signal’s Huckabee’s ‘little brother’ and ‘never a true contender’ status.
February 7th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Now when does Huckabee drop? The leader of the Republican Party has passed the baton to the next leader of our party
February 7th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
You Mccain people are ridiculous.. Of course Bush will support Mccain if he is the nominee. This is all this says. He will also support Huckabee.
Some of you are desperate..
February 7th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
I guess the good news is that we don’t have too many more months of Bush’s big spending left
February 8th, 2008 at 12:02 am
But Huck is mathematically eliminated though already, and after McCain wins the Potomac Primary on tues. McCain will have nearly 1000 Delegates, which will pretty much make him unstoppable, which is where he is at now. I like Huckabee, but i think he knows that he doesnt really have a chance now.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:03 am
Actually Bryan on FOX Karl Rove said that all Huckabee has to do is win 83.8% of the remaining delegates to win the nomination. Simple right?
February 8th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Huckabee is a media whore - no two ways about it. Sticking around keeps him in the press and should McCain keel over dead of a heart attack, Huckabee will be there to assume the front-runner status - I suspect were that to occur, Mitt Romney would be all over the convention and kick Huckabee’s allegedly gastric-bypassed bootie back to Hope Arkansas.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Oh yea i saw that to Jonathan, very unlikely though. But at least we can still kind of pay attention to the 3 primaries and caucuses this weekend and the Potomac Primary on Tuesday with Maryland,Virginia,and DC.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:17 am
If Dubya wants to help JMac, he’d better keep his mouth shut. Or perhaps endorse Huck.
To get in good with fiscal and economic cons, JMac needs more room to talk about how and why he opposed Medicare Part D and how he rejected the many earmarks sold as part of Bush’s ability to “compromise” with the GOP or any other Congress.
Bush as the fund-raiser-in-chief, on the other hand, should be more than welcome.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Doom for Huckabee. The only thing that makes me sad is that he’s going to say that he’s the last man standing and that Romney dropped out before him, even though Romney could still continue because he’s got money, but wants whats best for the country. Huckabee doesn’t have money or the country’s best interests in mind.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:21 am
#6
Huck has always been running for VP, and he has no class.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:29 am
#15 Please see post #8
#16 If that were the case then Dobson would not have endorsed Huckabee. Trust me on this..
February 8th, 2008 at 12:32 am
I agree Shawn. If Huckabee wanted the Veep offer, he would have dropped out as well.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:32 am
From a political standpoint, this is actually an important step in the GOP nominating process, and a significant signal for those of us wo still strongly support Bush as our party’s leader. I realize that group of supporters is dwindling each day, but it is a significant thing when the president and head of the party comes out this early in the primary season to ask for party unity, and especially when the message comes from THIS president in regards to THIS candidate, considering their past history, I see that as a message worth listening to.
I also agree that for Huck to continue much longer to defy both the party’s leader and simple mathematics does nothing to help his cause or his future. He should put out a statement in response to Bush’s own statement of support, announcing he will follow the president’s lead and unite behind one candidate. Good will goes a long way in the GOP.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:37 am
Heeding the president’s call for unity and dropping out of the race also gives Huck a way out of this without looking like he’s just falling in line. It’s Huck’s way of announcing he cares deeply for the GOP and will step aside as his president has asked of him, which would therefore not be seen as a sign of defeat. It’s a political gift to Huck which should not be overlooked.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:38 am
how many ethics violations again, I mean give me a break, the guy tried to steal the furniture out of the governers mansion right. It’s so stupid, I don’t know if I want to laugh or cry when I consider people are actually voting for this creepy scum. Seriously my stomach turns when I see the guy on TV. I wish I didn’t know what I do about him, I don’t like feeling this way about anyone, but anybody who has done any research comes to the same conclusion, he is slimy. sorry for the rant.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:41 am
“Bush to Support McCain”
Ugh, and what choice dose Bush have?
February 8th, 2008 at 12:45 am
cwpete. . . His choice would be to not give the call for unity at CPAC before the race is officially wrapped up. He could have just waited until the nomination was official and then given his endorsement as a formality. But instead he is speaking at the premier Conservative event asking fellow conservatives to support the guy even HE had qualms about in past years. Bush is still well-liked among the most conservative GOP members, which is why this is a significant speech.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:47 am
I think that Huckabee will wait for it to be mathmatically impossible for him to be the nominee then he’ll drop out. Damn shame, that will make it look very egotistical
February 8th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Jonathan. . .I agree that it’s a shame. While I’m not a Huck fan, a large number of Republicans agree with him. The longer he stays in a race he can’t win, the less effective he becomes as the leader of that significant group of GOP voters within the party. (Romney, by contrast, earned a ton of good will and potential future influence by doing the “right thing” and stepping aside for the good of the party. The GOP doesn’t forget things like that.)
February 8th, 2008 at 1:07 am
Notice the timing of Bush’s pronouncements. He easily could have made his statements right after super Tuesday when McCain became the presumptive nominee, but instead he waited for Romney to bow out.
I’m quite certain Bush privately wanted to get behind Romney all along- but wisely stayed out of the nomination process until now. Now that Mitt’s out and McCain is the only remaining realistic choice for the President to endorse, he could do so without appearing to disfavor Romney.
February 8th, 2008 at 1:08 am
Ok OK OK - Some of you are not reading this article correctly. Bush is not endorsing in any way MCCAIN!!!!!! Please wake up to this. This simply says that Bush will support Mccain IF IF IF he is the nominee….
Are some of you actually surprised by this? Bush has always said that he will support the nominee?? The title of this article is so misleading it is sad.
February 8th, 2008 at 1:19 am
#27: Shawn, the signifigance is that the President is endorsing before McCain has officially wrapped up the nomination. This is almost a direct slap from the President against Huckabee and he is pretty much saying “Mike, we all like you but get out of the race!”
February 8th, 2008 at 1:21 am
#28 Jonathan its late I know, but please show me a quote in the article that says anything about an endorsement. It even clearly says that Bush is not even going to mention Mccain by name!!!
I truly believe you are joking and just trying to make me pull my hair out. What say you?
February 8th, 2008 at 1:30 am
And what of Ron Paul…hmm?
Not that he’s a serious contender, but I suppose you can’t have an official nominee until the math adds up or all of the other contenders have dropped out, including Paul. A few more weeks, at least, at any rate, unless that happens.
February 8th, 2008 at 1:31 am
Ok I guess I have to realize that the only people left on this board are probably Mccain supporters and a few Huckabee supporters. I guess that explains this spin on this article.
February 8th, 2008 at 1:58 am
Bush doesn’t have to mention any names. He says “we have HAD good debates. . .” meaning the debates are finished, time to coalese around a unified candidate. His theme is unity, coming together for the common cause of winning in November. He adds “and SOON we will have a nominee. . .” Sooner rather than later. By sheer mathematics McCain is nearly there. With Huck (and even moreso with Paul), there would need to be a more drawn out delegate fight over the course of the next few weeks or months for him to eventually win enough delegates to sieze the nomination. It goes without saying that the president and the party do not want a brokered convention. Seen in that light, Bush doesn’t need to name McCain for the obvious idea to be conveyed: The sooner we as a party unite around the strongest conservative candidate - John McCain - the better our chances of winning in November.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:21 am
On future contests… I’d advise paying attention to the WA caucus… might be some surprises…
February 8th, 2008 at 2:59 am
Huckabee is not going to be the VP. McCain knows that he has to pick a conservative and Huckabee isn’t one. Huckabee is an embarassment .
February 8th, 2008 at 3:23 am
Huckabee staying in might help McCain like Rush says - “Huckabee makes McCain look good”.
February 8th, 2008 at 3:30 am
Not that I agree with Rush, but he’s right as far as it goes in the mind of the conservatives base.
February 8th, 2008 at 6:21 am
This mindless uniting before we have a nominee is turning me off.
I’m willing to vote for McCain but I won’t respond to a cracked whip and a demand to fall in line to a guy that is still 400 delegates away from the nomination.
If Republican leaders had class they’d wait until McCain wrapped this up.
I certainly have a much lower opinion of the lemmings that make up my Party now.
This fascist demand for unity before we have a nominee is making me less likely to vote Republican this year.
February 8th, 2008 at 7:22 am
Well said EGS - not only that but the immediate, constant, and arrogant criticism of supporters of other candidates who haven’t yet professed absolute loyalty to John McCain is off putting to say the least and is doing more to alienate voters than to draw them in.
My advice again for McCain supporters and ‘party uniters’ is to give this a few weeks to settle down and then start reaching out in a respectful manner. That might be asking too much from John McCain, but we’ll see.
February 8th, 2008 at 7:46 am
The thing I find funny about this is we have a non-conservative giving an implicit endorsement to a non-conservative and claims he’s the new standardbearer of conservatism that he claims to have, but never really did, carried for 7 years. Funny, that is, if it wasn’t so sad. What’s worse is that the best I can say is at least Sen McCain is better than either Dem on THE most important issue, and that’s confronting global terrorism. What’s even worse is that issue is of such importance that I don’t feel the ever-increasing expansion of gov’t is sufficient to either vote against it or just not vote.
February 8th, 2008 at 8:38 am
It could be worse. We could be getting a nominee who:
1)Openly announced that he supports amnesty and actually used the word, and then actually signed an amnesty.
2)Raised taxes
3)Ran up huge deficits
4)Appointed pro-choice and pro-Roe Justices to the Supreme Court
5)Cut and ran in the face of Islamic terrorists
6)And then a few years later sold arms to the fanatical Mullahs in Tehran
7)Met with the dictatorial leaders of brutal Communist regimes in the Soviet Union and China
8)Talked tough about reducing govt and elimnating the Dept of Education and other beauracracies and when he got in office, did nothing about it.
Oh, wait, that guy is the biggest hero of the Conservative movement and won in a 49 state landslide after we nominated him in 1984. Today, no one will say one bad thing about him and he is God-like to every conservative.
But you wouldn’t know that from listening to some of the conservative bloviators out there.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Again for those who are still delusional, Bush already gave the speech today and did not singal out Mccain over Huckabee in anyway.
I fact he said that we will have a nominee soon which means we do not have a nominee yet.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:02 am
And I supported this bill, I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and who have lived here, even though some time back they may have entered illegally
Ronald Reagan, 1984
I’m surprised he wasn’t in one of Willard’s “contrast” ads.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Jim, fair points, mostly, except 1) the makeup of Congress was a little bit heavier against him then, 2) the worldwide threat was Communism, and 3) he wasn’t a Washington insider. In the end, though, the big difference is that one believed in the American people, and the other believes in the American gov’t.
I could nitpick a detail here or there, but I understand your points. Sen McCain is NOT the devil (despite claims by the bloviators), and as I said, he’s MUCH preferable than the other options (he just doesn’t seem like a GOOD decision at the moment). Hopefully time will show me the error of my ways.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Shawn, it’s why we’re saying the endorsement was implicit, not explicit. For all practical purposes, the race is over on the Rep side. I think it is more delusional to think Sen McCain isn’t going to be the nominee than to think Pres Bush wasn’t endorsing Sen McCain.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:16 am
It was also reported on Fox this morning that both Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman gave $2300 to McCain yesterday, right after Romney dropped out.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:21 am
#44
Yeah Richard… Thats exactly what we Huckabee supporters were told back may, june, july, and so on. That we didn’t have a chance at all.
Now are chances are better than ever even though they are still a bit small.
Even with Mccain people said that he had no chances and was dead back in the summer to. I sure am glad that we don’t listen to people like you.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Shawn, the big difference is that votes have been cast now, and with the delegate lead Sen McCain has, with him needing less than half the remaining delegates, with the short amount of time left in the primary/caucus season, AND with the fact that several of the remaining states grant proportional delegates, it’s more a question of when than if.
However, if you want to think Gov Huckabee (who gets many of the same voters as Sen McCain, just not nearly as many of them) has a real chance of forcing a brokered convention (since it’s very unlikely he wins it outright, given performance to date), go right ahead. Gov Huckabee’s run has been pretty incredible, given what he’s been up against.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Yeah Richard… Thats exactly what we Huckabee supporters were told back may, june, july, and so on. That we didn’t have a chance at all.
IT IS MATHEMATICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR MIKE HUCKABEE TO WIN THE NOMINATION.
MCCAIN IS THE NOMINEE.
MOVE.
ON.
dot org.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:55 am
#47 We will know lots more tomorrow and Tuesday
February 8th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Huckabee is just staying in so he can force them to serve squirrel at the convention….
February 8th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Yes, the GOP establishment is solidly behind McCain. But there’s still nothing wrong with Huckabee staying in the race as long as he wants. Although he’s friendly to JMac, many of Huck’s supporters are less sure about JMac. And Huck has some potential to pick up anti-McCain voters who don’t go for Paul.
Huck is not much of a threat to the traditional falling in line of the GOP than was Romney, who finally acknowledged his low chances of turning trends around, but who could have potentially done considerable damage within the party.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Huckabee’s negative robo calls should now be about McCain since he is no longer running against Romney. If he can update them to say Romney is out, then he can update them to attact the candidate who is in the race. He is running for VP but knows that McCain is not going to give it to him unless it is forced.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Huckabee is nothing more than I glorified Televangelist trying to shake down as many people for as much money as possible. This is his 2008 version of the registry he set up back in Arkansas so he could receive gifts when he left office.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Grover, you’re just mad Big Bird (AKA Ron Paul) isn’t winning.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:44 am
not really…I just call em like I see em….if he is actually staying in the race because he thinks he can win then he is delusional and is not qualified to be president…are you allowed to eat fried squirrel after a GI Bypass?
February 8th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Grover, I’ve not eaten fried squirrel lately so I wouldn’t know.
I’ve had a hassenpfeffer at a family reunion and I imagine squirrel is about the same.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Is red or white wine the best match for rodent?
February 8th, 2008 at 11:31 am
I had a thought this AM and wanted to get some feedback from fellow conservatives. Let’s assume that Hillary wins the nomination with the use of these Super-delegates. The Dem party basically splits 50-50 and the only way to majority of delegates is by the super-delegates. Assuming she doesn’t put Obama on the ticket also - would it make sense for McCain to put Michael Steele on the GOP ticket? Just thinking out loud. Any thoughts?
February 8th, 2008 at 11:56 am
I think Michale Steele has some baggage although I could be wrong. Why not JC Watts?
February 8th, 2008 at 11:59 am
jhardy,
Its a mistake for either party to play identity politics, even though both do. But its worse to put up a candidate solely for their identity, in other words a candidate who if he or she were a white male would not be considered. Steele falls into that category.
Regarding the dems, if Hillary gets it she will be almost certainly compelled to at least offer the Veep to Obama. It would be a smart move politically and even her supporters will want him. But frankly, the rumor is he would prefer to run for governor of Illinois.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
My impression of Steele is that he is a solid conservative from a bluer state. But, I honestly do not know that for sure. I just have not followed him that close. I am guessing that being from MD that he may have some more moderate positions on things??? However, I remember him being rather impressive in his senate run. Wasn’t he within a few points in a blue state in a BAD year for Republicans? I was just figuring that if the Democratic establishment super delegates is going to pick Hillary over Obama - then a good way to make them pay for that choice is to pick a Veep that will pour some salt in the wound left by that choice. Let’s give an important segment of the Democrat party a reason to vote for the Republican ticket, especially if that reason is also a solid impressive conservative. I can’t imagine a scenario where Hillary wins if GOP garners even 40% of that voting block. So yeah, I guess it is somewhat ‘identity politics’ but so what if Steele is solid conservative choice also.
I hadn’t thought of JC Watts. What has he been up to since leaving the congress? I see him on TV once in awhile but honestly do not know what he has been doing for the past 5-6 years. He was pretty supportive of McCain when I saw him on CNN a few weeks back and I think they are friends but I not positive about that.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
What makes Bush think he has any credibility left with most conservatives?