A National “Kansas City Shuffle”

Kansas City Shuffle: distraction and misdirection to get everyone to look one way, while whatever you’re doing involves going the other way.

Being considered “the Democrats favorite Republican” is something about John McCain that’s never impressed me. If said derisively, maybe I could respect it – and him – but since there is a sincerity about the Senator as being someone Democrats like, I am suspicious. No, not suspicious, nor cautious, not even curious, I don’t trust him.

As a conservative, there’s good reason for my skepticism. The Democrats have never really cared about the Presidency. That’s what’s made them smarter than Republicans for three generations. While the GOP likes taking up residence in the White House, the Dems are content with owning Capitol Hill. And why not? That’s where the money is and where true power lives.

Look at who the Dems have given us as Presidential candidates since FDR.

Harry Truman, the Accidental President and Haberdasher against the popular and dynamic Thomas Dewey. Dewey almost won. Truman got lucky.

Adlai Stevenson. ADLAI STEVENSON? Against the greatest American war hero since George Washington? A joke.

JFK against Nixon. Nixon was Ike’s heir apparent and Kennedy a young, Catholic (not an insignificant issue in the day), Senator from the notorious northeast. Like Truman, but in an even closer race, he got lucky.

LBJ was a strong candidate, but it was the great Southern Rebellion of 1964 that began that region’s turn to the GOP.

Then the litany of really ridiculous. Hubert Humphrey couldn’t beat Nixon even with George Wallace siphoning off 46 electoral votes (and nearly 10 million popular votes).

McGovern? Pishaw.

Jimmy Carter: He won, but look at this bio… a peanut farmer, Governor of a Southern state with no national identification. It was Nixon that defeated Ford, not Jimmy Carter.

Ronald Regan proved that in the next election – and the one after that against Walter Mondale. Mondale? A prelude to John Kerry in a complete lack of, well, EVERYthing.

Michael Dukakis. Groan!

Now we come to Bill Clinton. Much like Jimmy Carter (no national ID, Southern Governor) against a sitting President. Thanks Ross Perot and Dan Quayle. But could Clinton have really been considered a serious contender? Yeah, he won, much to the Democrats regret.

Two years later, due mainly to the presence of Bill Clinton in the White House, Congress became Republican for the first time in 40 years. The GOP caught on. They pick up on the lesson and post Bob Dole against Clinton. Dole actually got more votes than George H.W. and Clinton – a sitting President – got only 9 more electoral votes.

Dullard Al Gore follows the always exciting (for better or worse) Bill Clinton. We know how that turned out. Then the Dems put up John Kerry. W actually got 12 million more votes than he did against Gore and 15 more electoral chits. John Kerry made George Bush look good!

And then, the Republicans lost Congress. The Democrats are happy with that while Bush talks about uniting. The Dems don’t UNITE with Republicans. They never have because they’ve never had to.

So, here we are in 2008. Who do we get from the Democrats. After we scrape off the political flotsam of Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, etc., we’re left with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Barack Obama is a young, charasmatic Senator that promises change from an older, established Republican regime. JFK all over again.

Hillary Clinton. Can anyone honestly believe that the Democratic core wants another Clinton in the White House? She is so polarizing, with so many negatives that it’s pretty much a guarantee that she will – as did her husband – gift wrap Congress for the GOP. Therein the reason the Kennedy Clan has come out full force for Obama. It’s not just the superficial similarities with John, but Obama is not nearly as likely to damage the party as Hillary is. And, it must be said, Obama will be more controllable. His obligation to the party core will be so strong, everything about his presidency will be approved, if not mandated, by the old guard.

Which brings me back to John McCain. John McCain will say and do anything to be President. His pairing with Russ Feingold, Ted Kennedy, Joe Lieberman and other liberal Democrats reveals him as a political whore. Of course he’s the Democrat’s favorite Republican because he isn’t a Republican. And he, too, will be obliged to the Democrat Party core should he be elected. In fact, it would pretty much be to the Dems advantage if McCain is elected rather than either of their party’s current candidates. If John McCain is elected, the Republican Party will continue to get blamed for everything from Global Warming to instability in the Middle East to unpopular winners on American Idol. And with that blame, their totals in Congress grow and their hold on American society – and taxpayer dollars – gets stronger.

It’s a classic Kansas City Shuffle