ESSAY / By WILLIAM SAFIRE

The McCain Comeback

The bipartisan Comeback Adviser is again reporting for duty. In light of the rallying round George W. Bush by South Carolina's religious right, John McCain must arouse the Republican center in California and New York. Here's how:

1. Identify the adversary. You were clobbered in a barrage of ads and in low-blow phone banks as a liberal, unstable, baby-killing hypocrite. You should now tie the victorious radical right firmly around Bush's neck, portraying him as its captive. Therefore --

2. Do battle for the soul of the party. Your opponent, after New Hampshire, made a Faustian bargain with the far right. Drop all ambivalence about negative campaigning; let your assailants beware the fury of Mr. Nice Guy maligned. Specifically --

3. Make Bob Jones U. the scene of "the Bush surrender." While there, he failed to dissociate himself from its anti-black and anti-Catholic reputation. Let Bush keep the hard right; remind Republicans on both coasts that Bush wanted Buchanan in the G.O.P. when you invited him out. In the same way, Pat Robertson threatened a mass exodus of his followers if McCain won; what party needs disloyalists like that?

4. Seize on the triumph of the abortion extremists. Bush made a deal with them to keep the rigid party plank prohibiting all abortion; you would modify that in cases of rape, incest and danger to the life of the mother. Many Republican women are 100 percent with you on this. Show how Bush's sellout to the cottage industry of anti-abortion extremists would enable Al Gore to enlarge the gender gap and bury the G.O.P.

5. Concede no groups other than the hard right, which Bush will now pretend he doesn't know. Hispanics count heavily in California; get your strongest Latino and Latina supporters to cut spots for you there on Spanish-language radio.

6. Put your opponent on the defensive on his record. Challenge him to one-on-one foreign policy debates. Hammer his tax cut as selfishly forcing our children to pay back the money this generation borrowed.

7. Use his most effective ad against him. "He likened me to Clinton," wails Bush, a message that did you in, according to much of the shocked punditariat. But your "he twists the truth like Clinton" -- especially now that he's spending heavily to make the line famous -- is your best shot at his most vulnerable spot. Press it, concentrating on Bush's big mistake: at every stop, ridicule his excessive claim of bringing a patient's bill of rights to Texas -- when in fact he did all he could to stop it. That's Clintonian truth-twisting. And in that regard --

8. Blast as ludicrous the Establishment candidate's attempt to snatch your message of political reform. Because Bush saw your reform appeal reaching voters, he suddenly adopted its rhetoric. What will he grab next, your war record? Stealing the slogan of reform for saturation advertising -- financed by anti-reform money -- does not magically transform the Old Guard's favorite into a reformer. Bush's campaign has been slamming you as a phony and a hypocrite; return fire by slamming his "pretense" and fakery.

9. Remain the Happy Warrior, but focus on the warrior. You may have the most likable grin since Ike, but the time has come to set aside the goo-goo, high-road, ain't-this-fun attitude. Saving the party for individualists and saving the country from a third term of Clinton-Gore requires a vigorous counterattack.

Present yourself plainly as the only Republican who can win now that Bush has abandoned the vital center to Gore.

10. Make your mantras "captive candidate," "pandering to extremists," "surrender at Bob Jones U.," "reformer-come-lately," "the real McCain," "pretense," "grown-up" and "the only Republican who can win in November."

Adlai Stevenson said, "He who slings mud loses ground." But he who lets mud be slung on him without exposing the mudslingers loses elections.

The downside to this comeback strategy is not that it would split the party (Bush's Carolina surrender already did that) but that it might be portrayed as intemperate. A great dare, perhaps, but McCain's place should not be among those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

-- Vern (bacon17@ibm.net), February 21, 2000

Answers

Republicans Again Courting Democrats and Independents

By JAMES BENNET with KEITH BRADSHER

ROSEVILLE, Mich., Feb. 20 -- With time, money, momentum and the Republican machine in Michigan working against him, Senator John McCain is trying to corral an unlikely coalition of moderate suburban Republicans, urban Democrats and feisty blue-collar independents.

Showing the confidence of a front-runner who thinks his core support is secure, Gov. George W. Bush signaled today that he would compete for some of the same voters.

That unpredictable electorate is concentrated here in southeastern Michigan, where three counties supply 40 percent of the primary voters, and where Mr. Bush of Texas is campaigning today and tomorrow.

Here in Macomb County, Mr. McCain is bidding for people like Robert Kraft, who voted twice for Ronald Reagan before voting twice for Bill Clinton. Mr. Kraft, a retired machinist, plans to support Mr. McCain.

"McCain seems to be honest," Mr. Kraft said at the Super Kmart here. "Bush -- he seems to be honest, but he's got all that money behind him. He's going to have to pay that back somehow, and he's going to forget about us people."

Mr. Bush does not need Mr. Kraft nearly as much as Mr. McCain does. While polls have shown Mr. McCain of Arizona running strong among Democrats and independents in Michigan, who can vote in the open Republican primary on Tuesday, his support appeared to be slipping among Republicans even before his loss in South Carolina on Saturday.

Before today, the candidates had spent one day here since the New Hampshire primary. Voters seem far less familiar with them, which probably will be a bigger problem for Mr. McCain, because he lacks a strong organization in the state to turn voters out. At both the western and eastern ends of Michigan, voters referred to the senator as "McLaine."

A couple of aisles away from Mr. Kraft, Ann D'Amato, a clerical worker, was shopping. Ms. D'Amato also voted twice for Ronald Reagan and twice for Bill Clinton. She was most concerned about drugs and violence in the streets and in the media, and has not even considered voting for anyone other thanVice President Al Gore. She just has not seen much of Mr. McCain, she said.

"The only times I've seen him talk -- just a few times on the news -- he doesn't come across as forceful enough," Ms. D'Amato said, making an unusual criticism of the blunt-spoken Mr. McCain.

Mr. Bush's allies here have complained about Democrats making mischief by voting in the Republican primary.

Nevertheless, Mr. Bush appeared today to be reaching out to some of these same voters, or at least discouraging them from seeking to punish him at the polls. He appeared in heavily Democratic Wayne County and released a commercial that portrayed him as a gentle man concerned with children's well-being.

For his part, Mr. McCain made a play for the core of Mr. Bush's support, campaigning in conservative western Michigan, and he is advertising himself on radio as "proud, pro-life Reagan conservative."

On Monday, he planned to campaign in Saginaw to the north and Ypsilanti to the west, in a swing planned before his loss in South Carolina.

Michael Hudome, Mr. McCain's top adviser in Michigan, said that the senator wanted the support of Democrats and independents. "We're reaching out to all voters like President Reagan did," Mr. Hudome said.

Mr. McCain has been reaching out to Democrats here through the mail.

Leo and Joyce Lalonde, Democrats who live in Macomb County, received a mailing from Mr. McCain on Friday at their home in Eastpointe, adjacent to Roseville. The Democrats are not holding a primary, the brochure noted (they are holding closed caucuses next month).

"Make your voice heard by voting for the one candidate committed to reform," it continued.

For those Democrats concerned about the consequences of a crossover vote, it continued, "Even if you vote in Tuesday's Republican primary, you can still participate in future Democratic Party political activity."

The McCain campaign has not bought any mailing lists of Democrats, Mr. Hudome said. But the campaign has been appealing to some Democrats by sending fliers and placing prerecorded telephone calls to Democrats and Republicans alike.

Ms. Lalonde, who is the chairman of Democratic committee for the Tenth Congressional District, said she was amused by the letter but had no intention of complying.

"You've got to understand," she said. "Their primary is Tuesday and ours is March 11.

If we mess around in theirs, they're going to mess around in ours. That would be politically not a smart move on our part." She said she doubted many Democrats would crossover for Mr. McCain.

Though Ms. Lalonde disavowed any Democratic effort on Mr. McCain's behalf, other Democrats have been criticizing his opponent for their own purposes.

On Saturday, Geoffrey Fieger, a former Democratic candidate for governor and the lawyer who represented Dr. Jack Kevorkian, began running a radio advertisement excoriating Mr. Bush and Gov. John Engler, who has thrown his party organization behind Mr. Bush, as "dumb and dumber."

"When John Engler and George W. Bush talk about lawsuit abuse, they really mean they helped their friends in the insurance industry and denied all of us access to the courts," Mr. Fieger said in the commercial.

In an interview, Mr. Fieger said he was not trying to help Mr. McCain and had no contact with his campaign.

Mr. McCain has his own radio advertisements, warning that unnamed forces were "coming after him here in Michigan," and stating that he would never run a negative commercial: "They insult your intelligence and hurt our chances against Gore in November."

In another boost to Mr. McCain, the Michigan Democratic Party and College Democrats of Michigan plan to hold a protest against Mr. Bush on Monday at Michigan State University in Lansing, where the Texas governor is scheduled to appear. Dennis Denno, the state party's spokesman, insisted that the protest did not signal that Democrats were siding with Mr. McCain, although he said that no protests were planned against him.

LaMar Lemmons 3d, a state representative from Detroit and a Democrat, visited churches today to urge predominantly black congregations to support Mr. McCain, in what he called an effort to embarrass Mr. Engler, Mr. Bush's leading supporter here. Mr. Lemmons said that he was upset that Governor Engler had pushed through state legislation eliminating Detroit's elected school board and its separate criminal courts.

"We're out to send the Republican establishment a message: they have meddled in our affairs," Mr. Lemmons said.

Mr. Lemmons said that other Democrats were helping Mr. McCain throughout Michigan but were doing so quietly to avoid offending the party's leaders. Mark Brewer, the chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, said that he did not know of any other Democratic politicians who were supporting Mr. McCain.

"I'm disappointed in what LaMar is doing, but he's one state representative out of 52" Democrats in the Michigan House, Mr. Brewer said. "Any thought this will have a significant impact next Tuesday is silly."

Mr. Lemmons said that he wanted to persuade 100,000 Democrats to vote on Tuesday through a phone bank and pamphlets and faxes sent to 200 churches.

But Ed Sarpolus, a pollster at EPIC/MRA, a polling firm in Lansing, Mich., said that based on previous primaries, about 100,000 Democrats could be expected to vote in the Republican primary, which could draw anywhere from 600,000 to 1 million voters.

Many voters interviewed today insisted that the campaign in South Carolina would not influence them. Mr. McCain today attacked Mr. Bush for appearing at Bob Jones University, a conservative Christian college in South Carolina whose president has made critical comments about Catholics.

But Ned McGrath, the spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, said that he had not even heard about any controversy involving Mr. Bush's appearance at the college. The local media has made no mention of the issue, nor has the archdiocese's weekly newspaper, The Michigan Catholic, he said.

In Sterling Heights, a middle class industrial suburb north of Detroit, several voters interviewed as they headed for services at St. Malachy Catholic Church said they would support Mr. Bush because they believe he is a staunch abortion opponent.

But Mike Kovacs, 31, who considers himself an independent and who voted for Mr. Clinton in 1996, planned to support Mr. McCain.

"I think his stand on the issues is a little more solid than George Bush's," Mr. Kovacs said. "I kind of like the idea of someone who has honest and integrity."

At the Most Holy Trinity Church in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood, Alanna Reyes-Ali, 49, said she would vote for Mr. McCain to send a message to the state's Republicans, particularly Mr. Engler whom many residents blame for legislative moves they say will hurt Detroit's tax base and schools.

"With all the problems we've had with Engler with their attack on Detroit, it gives the Democrats a chance to wreak havoc back on them," she said.

-- Vern (bacon17@ibm.net), February 21, 2000.

Vern,

An essay by William Safire?! I hardly think so. You know this forum, so show us the link.

-- TruthSeeker (truthseeker@ seektruth.always), February 21, 2000.

Well he did write THIS:

February 17, 2000

ESSAY / By WILLIAM SAFIRE Political 'God's World'

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------

WASHINGTON -- Picking up an armload of mail early this week, I noticed an unfamiliar magazine in my box.

"World" was its title; full color, slick paper, 38 pages. On the cover was a glowering, threatening, almost satanic John McCain. The headline was "The McCain Craze . . . a campaign platform that should give Republicans pause."

Inside was a hatchet job. On tax policy, the critic wrote, "He makes his case with liberal, even Marxist, terminology." On campaign finance reform, "McCain would essentially suspend the First Amendment for 60 days prior to any federal election." On Social Security, "he goes beyond even Franklin D. Roosevelt." Unnamed detractors call him "a calculating and conniving politician."

Then World gets nastily personal. The writer notes how, 20 years ago, "the 43-year-old former P.O.W. quickly fell in love with the 25- year-old cheerleader. She was rich, attractive and well connected." He won election "despite charges of carpetbagging and buying the election."

Cindy McCain's family stock, we are told, "pays her more than $1 million in dividends, and she owns more than $1 million worth of stock in Anheuser-Busch." McCain, charges the professedly "God- centered" magazine, "has not attacked alcohol companies as he has the tobacco industry" because he is "awash in beer money."

Even more scandalous: "Yet for all his dependence on his wife's money, Mr. McCain doesn't appear to be a particularly attentive husband." To get a barbiturate fix after an illness, Mrs. McCain stole pain relievers: "The offense was serious enough to merit jail time," but she got off, and her husband "claimed not to know about Cindy's addiction. . . ." With that sly "claimed," the writer implies that the senator did know, did not care, and is now lying about it.

The morally disapproving author of this repugnant anti-McCain campaign document is Bob Jones IV, son of the present head of Bob Jones University. That is the educational institution prohibiting interracial dating that offered its facilities to George W. Bush to launch his political campaign in South Carolina -- and pointedly did not invite his opponent.

The Bob Jones connection is not the only tie that binds the Bush campaign to this attack on a fellow Republican in contravention of Ronald Reagan's "Eleventh Commandment." The editor of World magazine is Marvin Olasky, a professor of journalism at the University of Texas in Austin. He is the revered intellectual guru of Governor Bush and an author of "compassionate conservatism."

This caused me to wonder: What caused this magazine, edited by a Bush adviser who says he recuses himself, and with a Bob Jones scion as its star reporter, and featuring the sinister portrayal of McCain on its cover, to appear in my mailbox a few days before the South Carolina primary?

In tiny type is the source: God's World Publications Inc., of Asheville, N.C. The marketing manager says that -- by sheer coincidence -- somebody decided that this was the one issue that would be sent gratis to all 535 members of Congress and 130 moving and shaking members of the media in Washington, all of whom apparently needed to get God's World's word at this moment about McCain, that "conniving politician" and not "particularly attentive husband."

God's World, a not-for-profit organization with a turnover of about $18 million a year, receives tax-deductible contributions under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. According to Joel Belz, the publisher: "We cannot endorse candidates or legislation. In 58 years, we have never backed any candidate."

As a card-carrying right-wing seditionist, I defend God's World's right to excoriate any candidate, fairly or not.

But when its editor is Bush's trusted Austin adviser; when its reporter bears the name of the school being abused as a Bush tool in the campaign; when its not-for-profit's funds are used to print, illustrate and distribute a hatchet job on a political opponent to a list of officials and media biggies on a primary election eve -- then such backdoor backing of candidate Bush strikes me as religio- political sleaze in action.

-- Disgusted (bushis@sleaze.sheesh), February 21, 2000.

The McCain Comeback, appearing in today's New York Times, can be read at this link (http://www.nytimes.com/library/opinion/safire/022100safi.html).

-- Ron Rodgers (RonRodgers@yahoo.com), February 21, 2000.

The more that jackoff casts himself as The Democrats' Republican of Choice, the worse he'll fare with the REAL Republicans.

Having that foulmouthed lunatic Feiger come out swinging is a classic touch. From all I've heard, he's DESPISED in Michigan.

Doesn't "McCain" mean "Son of Cain"?

-- Charles Underwood Farley (c@u.f), February 21, 2000.

...I think that when William Safire (in a round about way) prefers McCain to Bush, conservatives should take notice. As I said in a previous thread, I'd die in war for McCain. I would flee the country if Bush ever asked me to to make that commitment for him!!! The GOP firewall in S.C. will not get rid of the honorable Senator John McCain and what he stands for. I am a Catholic, but Christian first. Bob Jones University and those elite that promote it's beliefs are sadly mistaken as to who is going to assume power this century. When you vote for McCain, you get Alan Keyes character in an unrefined way. When you vote for Bush, you get Clinton's reincarnation. John is one of us. Just being himself with unselfish interests. George W. is proud to be handpicked. It's been decades since the son of a President has had that honor. It's just bad timing. With the disgrace that Clinton and the elite (don't assume for a moment that they didn't know "who" they were giving us) has brought upon the highest elected office in the world, the "dignity" of the American people and what we stand for must be reestablished.

-- Vern (bacon17@ibm.net), February 21, 2000.

Vern, weren't you told to stop trying to turn this place into a defacto McCain campaign site?

-- Charles Underwood Farley (c@u.f), February 21, 2000.

...I musta missed that...lol...McCain is the right man for the job at this time in our history!!!

-- Vern (bacon17@ibm.net), February 21, 2000.

You forgot to include "IMO".

Here's how it works: "IMO, McCain is a 'Manchurian Candidate.'"

-- Charles Underwood Farley (c@u.f), February 21, 2000.

Having that foulmouthed lunatic Feiger come out swinging is a classic touch. From all I've heard, he's DESPISED in Michigan.

-- Charles Underwood Farley (c@u.f), February 21, 2000.

Uh, hey dumbass...he's tied with Bush 44%-44% in the latest Michigan Zogby poll. You got any other stupid comments?

-- (@ .), February 21, 2000.

Vern,

Who are you trying to fool? McCain has Keyes character, albeit unrefined? Give me a break.

Please issue an apology to Mr. Keyes.

I am fairly sure that at no point in Mr. Keyes life, no matter how unrefined his character, would he have left his disabled wife, AFTER she had waited for him to return from being a POW.

If you really want to use this board as McCain campaign central, please don't insult our collective intelligence by comparing his sullied character to that of Mr. Keyes.

-- J (Y2J@home.comm), February 21, 2000.

...hmmmmmmm...Keyes wife IS NOT diasabled...KEYES was NEVER a POW...over 50% of ALL marriages end in divorce...hmmmmmmm...the most loving thing you can do for a partner if you no longer want to be with them is leave them...hmmmmmm...from what I recollect, other than John's infidelity (which he admits to), neither he nor his ex-wife have ever discussed the reasons for "THEIR" divorce. Most of us have "our own". Reagan was divorced. These things happen unfortunately. Mine devastated me. Leaving ones spouse does not make anyone an evil person. que sera sera

-- Vern (bacon17@ibm.net), February 21, 2000.

Vern,

You seem to be a bit confused. You see, I know that Keyes wife is not disabled, and that he was never a POW. The point that I was making is that Mr. Keyes has CHARACTER (noun-moral strength; self-discipline, fortitude, etc).

You stated that McCain has Keyes' CHARACTER, albeit unrefined. In my book, a man with good CHARACTER does not divorce his wife after she becomes disabled (it is an action inconsistent with moral strength).

Stump all you want for McCain, but when you distort the truth by trying to compare his CHARACTER to that of a man like Mr. Keyes, then you must be called to task for insulting Mr. Keyes.

You still owe Mr. Keyes an apology.

-- J (Y2J@home.comm), February 21, 2000.

...you assume to know "why" they divorced! You assume that John "left" his ex-wife. Maybe she wanted out of the "vows" also. After all, John did cheat on her. Sometimes after these "vows" are broken, there is NO saving the marriage, even if both WANT to. Other than John's admission to having been unfaithful to his disabled wife, we the people, do not have the "rest of the story"...to coin a famous radio personality's line. It would be interesting to hear her opinion of him, now that it's been years since their painful break up. One thing I like about Senator McCain is that he is man enough to admit to his mistakes, intelligent enough to "ponder" them, and emotionally strong enough to "get on with his life". Keyes deserves no apology, for I have not slandered or slighted him in any way, comparing him to McCain. Keyes could well end up being John's running mate, should McCain win the GOP nomination.

-- Vern (bacon17@ibm.net), February 21, 2000.

Dear no-name,

Judging by your bristling comments and language, I'm wondering if your really John McCain in disguise.

FYI, the only reason for Zogby's 44-44 stats is the fact that Michigan is an open primary state, and the dems are stumping for McCain. That's right, your hotheaded candidate is the "republican of choice" for DEMOCRATS.

Remove the dems from the equation, and McSoreLoser is toast.

And you know what? After tomorrow, the dems ARE removed from the equation, because guess what -- no more open primary opportunities for him -- and his New Friends in the democrap party -- to cash in on.

Too bad, so sad!

-- Charles Underwood Farley (c@u.f), February 21, 2000.