Is it just me or were there some conspicuous absences from the Republican convention? I got it; not only was there no one from the current administration, there was also no Cheney sighting, or no one by the name of Bush to be found. I can understand that George W. would not make an appearance due to the hurricane and all (Remember how hands on he was during Katrina and the aftermath). No one has done more to soil the Republican brand than he has, but I don’t understand why dad or Jeb wasn’t invited. The Party is trying to get as far away from the Bush’s as quickly as possible. It’s as though they never existed. The family that played such a giant role in Party politics and the elections the last eight years has been delegated to the sidelines.
Except for a one line acknowledgment during the acceptance speech of McCain, Bush was a non-entity at his own Party’s convention. I can’t remember when a sitting President was excluded from his Party’s nominating convention. My thinking is that if he was ostracized at supposedly the one event that contained his “people”, where will he be utilized during the campaign? Not only was the younger Bush sidelined from the campaign of John McCain, but it appears that the entire Bush clan has been asked not to participate. This says to me that the McSame branding of McCain is getting a lot of traction and should be continued to be hammered home in the coming weeks. The closer McCain can be tied to Bush the lower his numbers will be.
So what happened to the Bush legacy? While Democrats offered former President Clinton a main stage to make the case for their nominee, the Republicans completely dissed the Bush’s. It was just a few months ago that McCain was in dire straits and was in need of the blessings of George W. to placate the Party wingnuts. Since bringing Governor Palin on aboard it appears that McCain has once again sacrificed principal for political gain. The “Country First” mantra being put forth by the McCain campaign has no place in reality. If this were true then McCain would have followed his instincts and selected former Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman. Instead the “maverick” chose political expediency and selected in what is appearing to be a quick decision to appease the Party base and selected someone who was not even vetted prior to the announcement of her joining the ticket.
So where are the Bush’s? Will we see the Bush’s on the campaign trail or will they be “too busy” to play a role in this historic election? President Bush and his policies which Senator McCain supported 90% of the time are an albatross around the Republican ticket. I don’t think we will see any joint appearances with McCain and Bush anytime soon. Bush is kryptonite to McCain’s Superman. The problem with the McCain campaign scenario is that they can’t have it both ways, they want to project this tough maverick image, but at the same time they ignore the fact that 90% of the time this “maverick” has supported the Bush policies. I am no political operative or expert, but how can you claim to be an agent of change and support the policies of the most unpopular and arguably worst President in the modern era?
I can’t even remember seeing any of the Bush clan publically campaigning for the McCain campaign, will that change? I seriously doubt it. The Bush’s will stay on the sidelines this election, but who will not be on the sideline will be Karl Rove. Make no mistake the McCain campaign is beginning to resemble the Bush campaign with each passing day. It’s lack of discussion of the issues and focus on personality.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. – Daniel Patrick Moynihan