How DID McCain become the nominee, anyway?

[gateley]

Remember when he had one foot out the door and had pretty much been written off?

What happened to turn things around?

I know they had an abysmal cast of characters from which to choose, but he was in the back with the other losers.

I don't get it.

[BlooInBloo]

1. The rest of them sucked worse than he did.

[gateley]

7. Hard to believe that's possible, isn't it?

[Gman]

27. Exactly, McCain won by default

he was the least unacceptable to the GOP.

[Hissyspit]

2. He was written off because of money, but he kept winning primaries.

I thought it would be Romney, but I didn't count on the strength of the anti-Mormon bigotry.

[gateley]

10. Oh - so it was the money.

That's right - I remember lots of talk about his lack of funds.

I guess he was winning the primaries because of who he was up against. And, because he's a Maverick War Hero. :eyes:

[Hissyspit]

12. He broke election law to recover. Firedoglake did a lot of research on this.

It was all ignored by the feds.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

17. Can you give us a general idea of how he violated same? Thanks.

[Hissyspit]

29. Campaign finance violations, I should have said. Here:

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/26/holding-mccain-accountable-for-campaign-finance-violations

Holding McCain Accountable For Campaign Finance Violations
By: Christy Hardin Smith Wednesday March 26, 2008 8:45 am
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Yesterday, on behalf of a large number of progressive bloggers and activists, Jane went to the FEC and filed an official complaint against John McCain's alleged campaign finance violations. We've been asking a lot of questions about this, and the answers have been less than forthcoming. So, instead of just sitting here and stewing about yet another GOP ethical problem, we decided to put our action where our concerns were.

As you'll see from the video, Jane handed over the official complaint to the FEC yesterday to get the process going:

“John McCain is a campaign finance criminal who is flouting the very regulations he championed,” Jane Hamsher commented while delivering the complaint. “He believes the law is for someone else, not him. It's the height of hypocrisy.”

As Markos of DailyKos pointed out in joining the complaint, “John McCain has officially blown past campaign spending limits mandated by his original acceptance of public campaign funding. While he has signaled his intent to withdraw from such financing, that has been hindered by the fact that he used the promise of public funding to secure a campaign loan.” Guess the campaign finance laws only apply when they aren't inconvenient for McCain's ambitions.

As you likely know, the FEC is stymied at the moment due to the Bush Administration trying to shove Hans Von Spakovsky and all of his "caging" and other alleged nefarious campaign activities onto the election commission as a GOP dirty tricks ringer. Because the Democratic-led Congress said "no way" to Hans being voted through in a bloc vote, the Administration and their pal, Mitch McConnell, have balked at any FEC commissioner vote in the Senate. Which means that in this very important 2008 election cycle, the FEC is unable to act promptly to enforce the campaign finance laws.

Even so, FEC Chairman David Mason sent McCain's campaign a strongly worded letter (PDF), letting them know that even though McCain didn't consider his word on accepting public financing binding, that the FEC was not about to let him off the legal hook. What did McCain do? He ignored the letter, secured a loan based on representations of obtaining public financing and then blew past the public financing law spending limits...and he's still raising campaign cash, too.

We decided that McCain shouldn't be allowed to get away with this without questions -- lots and lots of questions -- being asked. The hypocrisy of the so-called "maverick" violating a law which he championed because it suits his purposes this time around is horrifying. Even worse is the relative silence of the press on this, given the rank hypocrisy of violations of McCain's "signature" issue and all. Does it get to be your signature issue if you are blatantly violating it in an in-your-face maneuver after being warned not to by the head of the FEC? I think not.

If the press isn't going to ask the necessary questions, then we have to do it ourselves. You can join in, too -- sign your name to the complaint here. At that link, you'll find a copy of the FEC filing and a list of signatories thus far. And help us get the word out on the need for McCain to be held accountable for any violations of the law that has his own name on it....and any other laws of which he may be in violation.

For shame...


Also:

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/23/mccain-is-now-a-campaign-finance-criminal

[LonelyLRLiberal]

30. Thanks. Not a surprise - I have not heard a peep about this before.

(but then, I can't claim to really keep abreast of the multiple GOP crimes - that's a full-time job.)

[Franks Wild Years]

3. I'm still not convinced he wasn't handed the berth by the GOP overseers because...

...they saw him as a surefire electoral fall-guy, one who'd lose it for the Republicans so that they could blame the Democrats for the economic woes of their own making and take the White House back in four years for a 20 year stretch of Republican rule.

[Raine]

18. I agree and the joke may be on them

if he wins they've screwed themselves and everyone else when the economy falls in.

[whistle]

4. BIG OIL Money and influence over the GOP

[DesertFlower]

5. don't know. he won new hampshire

and they were cheering "Mac is back". next thing he's the nominee. go figure.

[Motown_Johnny]

6. By Default... Rudi stayed out till Florida and it was to late for him by then. Romney is a Mormon

Huckabee is a Bible thumping lunatic. Thompson couldn't be bothered with campaigning. etc etc etc

[ben_meyers]

8. Nobody else wanted it, McCain=Dole

and it's the Democrats "turn" to have the White House.

[AllentownJake]

16. Plus W has destroyed the GOP bench

Not as many GOP govenors anymore. The only GOP govenors left that come from big states are Crist who just took office and Arnold who can't be President. All the Senators are tied to Bush in some way and the Govenors who left during the Bush Administration took jobs in the administration and tied themselves to Bush further.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

9. Ghouliani ran the dumbest campaign in the history

of American politics and Huckabee didn't have the money and infrastructure to pull off the upset. The rest of the field were so obviously a collection of idiots, bottom feeders and lunatics that he won by default.

[AllentownJake]

11. Well when the C team comes onto the field and your a B player in the party

you look good.

He's like Chad Pennington going to the Dolphins.

[NorthCarolina]

13. The Repugs knew that the Dem turnout may be so huge this year

compliments of Bush, that their efforts like voter caging, insufficient and/or inoperative voting equipment, and EVM manipulation may not be sufficient to overcome it. Better to let the old guy at the end of his career run and get his 15 minutes of Presidential fame as opposed to running someone like Romney with an actual political future that they can use later on. The best they can do is beat up on the Dem nominee mercilessly through their MSM connections and then come back in 2012 as a Revamped party with a Romney as their nominee.

[dbonds]

14. I think this shot was promised to him back in 2000

[AnnieBW]

15. Ghouliani imploded

Romney was too plastic, and Fred barely registered a pulse.

[pennylane100]

19. He was the pick of the litter.

[liberal renegade]

24. the runt of the litter

[Poiuyt]

20. The conservatives split between Huckabee and Romney

McCain was left standing

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

21. Transvestitism and Mormonism still not popular in the GOP

[snowbear]

22. It's simple.

For eight years, he was a Bush suck-up while he patiently waited his turn.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

23. That is the worst thing I have ever seen!

[liberal renegade]

26. ROTFLMAO!

[LonelyLRLiberal]

31. That is just the funniest thing I have seen lately!

[Pushed To The Left]

34. That picture accurately describes the difference between McCain in 2000 and McCain now

Pretty disturbing, but funny as hell!

[WillyT]

44. ROFLMAO !!!

:rofl::evilgrin::rofl:

[sniffa]

25. Huckabee

He derailed Romney.

I'm actually shocked he didn't end up the nominee - he was my pick long ago. Then again, my sleeper for the Dems was Chris Dodd.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

32. You didn't really want Huckabee to possibly be President, did you?

Tell me you just wanted a terrible joke as a GOP opponent (even though the GOPers apparently love the guy).

[sniffa]

36. Obviously, I did

:eyes:

I think they fucked up. Despite what some loud DUer's said, I still think he was their best shot at getting the White House. I still think he's the best choice for McCain. He won't be picked, and that's a good thing.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

41. The Republicans DO so love a con-man.

They don't call him "the Huckster" for nothing. I had to endure that ass and his redneck family here in Arkansas for way too long.

[McCamy Taylor]

28. On the night of the Iowa Caucuses, when Huckabee won, MSNBC declared McCain the winner

of the GOP nomination. When he really did win the New Hampshire primary that confirmed their prediction. A few primaries later, Tom Brokaw had a heart to heart discussion with the American people about how they had to get together behind John McCain or else risk having chaos at their convention like the Democrats. It is in my journals. The press (McCain's base) decided it and made it so and no one worked harder to get the nomination for McCain that MSNBC.

[invictus]

39. True. n/t

[moondust]

33. M$M did their part.

Before the New Hampshire primary McCain didn't have much money. He couldn't buy much TV time. Knowing that if he didn't win NH he could very well be out of it, BOTH Meet the Press and Face the Nation had McCain on the Sunday morning right before the NH primary. Some of the other 18 or so candidates had gotten little TV exposure but no matter. On comes John McCain yet again at that critical time for about his hundredth appearance (a celebrity for decades). The timing and partiality made it look like an M$M endorsement and a free airtime handout. The rest of the biased corporate media story is pretty obvious.

[invictus]

38. That is why McCain calls the M$M his "base." n/t

[Top Cat]

35. Shear luck.....

[invictus]

37. How? To put it simply, Republicans are idiots. Also, look at his competition: Hucklebee, Ghouliani

What a horrible selection!

[TrogL]

40. They're running the worst possible candidate

They want to lose

[HughBeaumont]

42. He sucked the least.

This is another reason why I'm finding it extremely difficult to grasp why these polls are as close as they are.

Why do I have a feeling there's going to be nationwide rioting if Obama gets Diebolded?

[RB TexLa]

43. republicans usually much vote for who's turn it is, remember Bob Dole?

[Zynx]

45. #1: Rudy Imploded, #2 Fred Never Woke Up, #3 Romney was loathed by huge segments of the party

and continued to make enemies among party members and the candidates with his attacks. #4 Huckabee could not catch on thanks to his silliness.