The Moderate Republican

acrobat - acura - ad-aware - adobe - alfaromeo - antipasto - antivirus - ariete - astonmartin - astrologia - automobile - automobili - avatar - avg - barzelletta - barzellette - bevanda - bit-defender - bmw - canzoni - cartolina - cartoline - chrysler - citroen - clonecd - cocktail - comici - cucina - curiosita - cursori - desktop - dessert -

I am an independent.

Is there any possibility that the Republican party will wake up and take their party BACK from the radical neo cons and draft McCain themselves? Can there be a draft McCain movement in the Republican party?

The key is to draft McCain as Veep. Cheney is the real problem -- his fingerprints are all over the worst things the White House has done since it abandoned the party that won it for them. Not only could he feasibly take the fall for the disaster they've created for the GOP, he deserves to.

As this multi-front scandal worsens, I'm afraid the only way to regain the trust of the American people by November is to "santize" the ticket at the GOP convention in September.

If we can get the drumbeat going now (please post this idea to other blogs and forums for GOP moderates) then Cheney may do the right thing before the convention and leave the ticket in time to cleanly nominate McCain for Veep on the Bush ticket. Failing that, a mobilized grass-roots could still force his resignation before the election and allow Bush to save the ticket by appointing McCain as vice president.

McCain has said he would never be Veep under anybody, but if it's clear that it would be the only way for the GOP to keep the White House, he'll do it for the party. Also, it should not be forgotten (though not harped on either) is that if this 9/11-Iraq scandal gets truly out of control and the Dems take back Congress, Bush himself may actually have to step aside -- all the more reason to have McCain on the ticket instead of Cheney.

there's an inactive one, with no comments or e-mail reference:
http://draftmccain.blogspot.com/

I for one would love to see McCain join the Kerry ticket.

But there are some problems:
1. He's endorsed Bush and is his campaign head in Arizona. It would take some explaining to say why he joined Kerry, and give Team Bush a chance to engage in its favorite pastime: character assassination.
2. McCain, though not an idealogue, is very conservative, except on campaign finance. Some Democrats might find him an extremely uncomfortable fit, feel that the party is selling out to the right, and go to Nader instead.
3. McCain is also extremely loyal to the Republican Party. The Democrats have made at least two pitches to bring him over, and he has refused (despite the fact that he's basically ostracized in the GOP now). I'm not sure he'd change his position just so he could be VP instead of a Senator.

The only way to get McCain on board would to perhaps convince him that this was necessary to end the brutal partisanship that currently prevails in our nation's capital, and also allow him to name some issues that Kerry must address or else he gets to start making noise.