Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Promises Made - Promises Kept

I don't really buy into conspiracy theories, I believe secrets are too hard to keep. But I do believe in complicated political strategy, especially after reading the book "Boy Genius: Karl Rove, The Architect Of George W. Bush's Remarkable Political Triumphs ." This book tells of the political trickery that Karl Rove (and others) have used to become successful.

Over the last few weeks I have come to believe that a complicated political strategy has been in place to help Senator John McCain win the GOP nomination for President. Remember 2004, when rumors ran wild that the GOP made promises to McCain to keep him on the side of President Bush. Do you remember? Right after turning down the Kerry campaign, McCain began touring with Bush; advocating President Bush's war policy. The promise being that McCain would be heir apparent for the nomination in 2008. But, how can the GOP elite in Washington keep such a promise when the voters really decide the nominee through the state primaries and caucuses?

Understand something, us NASCAR fans watch race strategy every weekend. The same way, Rich Hendrick puts more cars in the race to help Jeff Gordon or Jimmy Johnson win the Championship I have come to wonder if someone didn't convince Thompson and Giuliani run to take votes from the other candidates. At the end of the day, Thompson (and his attack campaign) took enough votes away from Huckabee in SC to help McCain. At the end of the day, Giuliani took enough votes away from Romney to help McCain in Florida. Look at the campaigns of these two men. The were strongest before the voters got to know their record. After campaigning modestly in Iowa, Thompson came straight to South Carolina and ran his entire campaign on attacks on Governor Huckabee. After campaigining modestly in Iowa, Giuliani headed straight to Florida. Not being in Florida, I don't know if he attacked Romney the same way Thompson attacked Huckabee; but the results were the same.

This seems far fetched, doesn't it? But if you read the book, "Boy Genius" you will learn about the state wide races in TX where Karl Rove used this very tactic. Have a third candidate run as the attack dog for the "approved" candidate. Then the "right" guy comes across unharmed while the other two candidates battle it out. The "decoy" candidates are usually rewarded with a position in the winner's administration.

Take a look at this trickery and then add to that the establishment endorsements that McCain has gained in the past few weeks. McCain has been endorsed by many many in the elite, even Republicans that wouldn't have been seen with McCain this past summer.

What really amazes me about McCain's momentum is how conservatives are supporting him after all the disappointments McCain has fostered over the past 6-8 years. How quickly we forget. Our representatives in Washington count on this short term memory every time they let us down and vote against our wishes. (big spending, amnesty, etc.) Maybe we should change the Republican mascot - we sure don't have memories like elephants.

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