Enthusiasm still curbed for McCain

Quin Hillyer:

John McCain still has a big political problem. Even after giving a nearly pitch-perfect speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee could generate only mild enthusiasm among the most active foot soldiers of the conservative movement.

Sure, most conservatives know that they will need to vote for the Arizona Republican senator to keep Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., or Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., out of the White House.

But many in attendance at CPAC seemed to welcome that necessity no more than they would relish the need to drink about a quart of castor oil. It’s not that they don’t recognize McCain’s bona fides on key conservative issues such as spending restraint and support for the military – bona fides McCain went to great length to emphasize in his speech.

It's just that that on the many issues where McCain has strayed from conservative orthodoxy, he has often done so with all the grace of the neighborhood bully throwing rocks at his own teammates when they won't pass him the ball on every play.

A few louts at CPAC even booed at several points during McCain's address. Most attendees, though (except ones obviously brought in as part of the official campaign team), applauded perfunctorily, but no more than that, when he finished speaking.

Before the speech, veteran American Conservative Union stalwart Don Devine, President Ronald Reagan’s Director at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and long-time political consultant, explained why.

“The Republican Party has not offered any consistent message for a long time,” he said. “It has been clear there wasn’t anybody who could pull the conservative coalition back together, and particularly clear that McCain isn’t going to do that. … In fact, McCain has been very clear: He doesn’t like conservatives and doesn’t understand them, and he doesn’t even understand what conservatives themselves think that conservatism is.”

Nevertheless, McCain made a valiant effort to demonstrate otherwise. Citing example after example, he said: “My record in public office, taken as a whole, is the record of a mainstream conservative.”

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I think Romney's gracious speech probably did him more good than his own. As Hillyer points out, McCain gave the minimum needed and received the kind of reception that the speech deserved. McCain will probably get the President's endorsement today which despite what the media may say will help with the audience that distrust McCain the most.

Hillyer quotes one southern conservative as saying McCain is the weakest candidate since Gerald Ford. I think he is stronger than Ford in some respect and weaker than others. Ford took what were perceived as moderate positions, but he never threw rocks at his own party the way McCain does. On national defense and spending McCain has his strengths and he better learn to play to them with this type of audience.