1 A couple things:
Malkin is out of her fucking mind.  He's had conservative bloggers, including people that couldn't stand him, at those blogger calls ALL ALONG.  She'd have certainly been welcomed, but I'm pretty sure she asked to be taken off Patrick Hynes' email list when he first sent out feelers when he got the job.  She thinks she was excluded, but that's what she f'ing WANTS to believe.

That blog network thing?  That's got absolutely nothing to do with the campaign.  A friend of mine started it like a month ago.  Please don't take that as any indication of support, because there are a whole lot of other bloggers who just aren't on there.

Anyway, I left a comment for Malkin about why she wasn't at the blogger call(s).  Let's see if she actually updates her post - my guess is she won't, because she doesn't want to hear that she's welcomed.  In fact, she (and Ace, and others who aren't supporters) are on his site's official blogroll.

I'm getting really sick of Malkin talking trash about McCain when she clearly has no clue.  Worst thing is, her stuff gets read and linked all over the blogosphere, and nobody ever questions it or finds out the real story.  She's got McCain Derangement Syndrome in the worst way.

2 Amen Beth,

Michelle Malkin used to make some good points but she jumped the shark long ago.

3 ...but I'm pretty sure she asked to be taken off Patrick Hynes' email list when he first sent out feelers when he got the job

That I wasn't aware of.  I watch the dextrosphere pretty closely, but if she did that, that is pretty weak and sloppy on her part.  Unless she did that back when it was looking like McCain's campaign was done for, seems like a dumb thing to do.

One thing...Sully?  Why is hell St. Andrew on the McCain blogroll?  That guy is a starry-eyed Obama cultist of the highest order, and downright embarrassing either way.

A friend of mine started it like a month ago.  Please don't take that as any indication of support, because there are a whole lot of other bloggers who just aren't on there.

Maybe, but you've gotta admit that when you go a McCainiac site, and you see that Friends of McCain with like less than 200 names, it does look bad, particularly given the long history of bad blood between McCain and conservatives.  The McCainiacs may want to give that thing a little PR to try and boost it a bit.

4 Yeah, I don't know why the hell Sully's on there.  Blech.

That .ning site and others like it - well, to be honest, I've complained vehemently that some of the "McCain bloggers" (completely independent of the campaign, but loosely organized in groups--again, independently) have created an echo chamber, and that they're not reaching out to other bloggers.  Most of them are new to the blogosphere, and that's part of the problem.  AFAIK, I'm doing more "outreach" than any of them just by commenting on other blogs and through email.  It's frankly pretty annoying.

I do share some of the blame for that .ning site and others like it (McCain Now, being a primary example) not taking off - I haven't shilled them at my own crappy blog and it's quite likely that my crappy moronblog has the widest reach of the McCain bloggers.  (Which isn't saying much.)  Nobody really reads the blogs that are purely McCain posts, except for other McCain bloggers.  What the hell is the point in having 150 McCain blogs (with inexperienced bloggers!) if nobody's reading them? 
McCain Now and that .ning site are better, but they're still in the echo chamber stage, still new. 

OTOH, it's kinda hard to get them off the ground when a lot of the big blogs are openly hostile to the campaign or get so much email already that emails to them asking for links/support/join the blogroll/whatever are ignored.  I've got the McCain Blogs site, and even I can't get traction on that thing.  I think there are just too damn many small McCain sites, rather than something like Blogs for Bush that was sort of a hub (which is what I had intended with McCain Blogs, but it was pretty much too late).  Matt Margolis HAS started Blogs for McCain's Victory and the Blogs for Fred Thompson guy has Blogs for John McCain, but like I said - there are too many, spread too thin.

I wish I had a solution to it, but you know how bloggers are--territorial as hell, and unwilling to take advice from other bloggers.  (Not that I haven't tried!)  If it were up to me, everyone would shitcan their little blogs, including McCain Blogs, and have ONE big site like Blogs for Bush.  But then you've got the territorial bullshit.  :sigh:

5 I think McCain would help himself immensely if he'd just chill a bit with fragging his own side.  I think that's where he gets in trouble most, particularly online, and I think some of the larger sites would be more willing to get on board the Straight Talk Express or at least be less hostile if they didn't think he'd throw rhetorical grenades at them.

It isn't so much the disagreement on issues that hurts him, its the fixation he has with gleefully engaging in friendly fire with conservatives, it goes beyond just philosophical or political, it becomes those and a personal insult on top of it.  If he acted like he hated getting into disagreements with conservatives, or was more willing to compromise with conservatives on policy, he'd help himself out immensely. 

I think that does extra damage to him too, because people are more likely to forgive someone who they feel they can be civil with.  I'd say a lot of conservatives like Lieberman better than McCain, despite the fact that Lieberman is far more liberal than McCain by the numbers. Lieberman doesn't seem to feel the need to be overtly hostile or abusive to conservatives, where McCain clearly does.

A lot of people online are lower activists, they and people like them are like the NCOs and lower officers of the GOP, and McCain and the GOP's problem is they've driven a lot of them away for all the reasons hashed out on every conservative blog in existence.  We can see this effect in their weak fundraising and volunteering, because its the activists that usually do a lot of that.  And that can be make or break for any campaign, from city council to president.

I know for me, his press conference where he fragged the NCGOP for their Wright ad pretty much pushed me away.  One, he hadn't even watched the ad before he condemned it and embarrassed the NCGOP, two, instead of quietly calling the NCGOP and politely asking them to not do the ad, he held a big press conference and put the NCGOP in a really embarrassing spot in a really crappy way.  And that isn't some isolated thing, he does this all the time, and it just drives us away in droves.

I think if McCain could see what he's doing to himself when he does this stuff, it would help him immensely.  I think he'd get some help, or at least face much less hostility in the Dextrosphere.  Unless McCain makes real efforts to mend some fences, he'll continue to have problems getting support online, and I think that will be reflective of his support among conservative activists at large.

As for the current informal McCain support networks online, they're bad, I wouldn't know anything about these networks existence at all if I wasn't watching your site or RWS' site as part of the Moronosphere.  Either someone has to make a really good central site, and convince the other blogs for McCain sites or McCain bloggers to rally behind it, or the McCain campaign needs to make one or designate the best one to be the go-to and encourage others to join it.

You also need people to go out and act as McCain ambassadors in any kind of constructive way, you and to a lesser extent RWS are the only ones I see doing that at all.  It doesn't help matters that every time you guys make some traction, Hurricane McCain comes through and smashes whatever bridge you've built with his latest Mavericky badness.  If you could get him to knock it the hell off with that, you'd help yourselves immensely because you may finally get some bigger bloggers, or at least some bloggers who are experienced onboard.

Another thing is that McCain supporters in forums and comments need to be given some sort of strategery to deal with the disaffected, combined with McCain not acting in ways that destroy efforts to bring conservatives back into the fold.  When I get the ZOMG UR HANDING THE KEYZ TO OBAMA!!!1!1eleventy!1 UR A SOUR GRAPES BABY!!!1!11  I just become that much less likely to support the guy, and go from apathetic to overtly hostile with McCain supporters.  I can talk about it civilly with you, with others, not so much, and it makes me less likely to support him.  

You can argue the reciprocal about people opposed to McCain and being hostile, but you're asking that of people who are saying "Hey, let Rome fucking burn!"  It really isn't a reciprocal situation.  They aren't interested in convincing anyone of anything, and don't care if they do or not.

6 Yeah, that dynamic with "let Rome burn" conservatives (aka "kamikaze" conservatives or "suicide conservatives" as others say) vs. pro-McCain conservatives is a tough one. Honestly, it makes my head explode when I see it - I just don't get it at all. I've bitten my tongue so many times (not every time, though) it's painful. Some blogs I can't even go to (i.e. the Rott - and I used to live at that site, a few years ago - and Malkin) any more because it's just too frustrating reading that stuff, knowing there's not a soul there who isn't also on that wavelength. I just don't have the energy or patience to sit and take the abuse politely when there's little to no chance of "converting" anyone. Other places (here, Ace's) are different, though.

About McCain punching conservatives - I dunno, I guess I'm a bit more forgiving. It used to drive me absolutely insane, but that was before the surge. He got back all my good will because of his advocacy for it. I know that sounds like a small thing, but for me, it isn't. After that I gave him the second look and found what I was looking for. I also remembered things I don't want to see (opp. to ANWR, etc. etc.) but on balance, Iraq and the overall GWOT just plain matters more to me. I don't like his position on Gitmo AT ALL, but I suspect that issue's gonna die anyway, and that's where I do have to compare him with BO and HRC. Same with immigration (although I'm much closer to Bush and McCain on immigration than I am to Malkin) and "torture." I figure I can easily argue his side of most of the things he believes, even when I disagree with him. (Not ANWR or Gitmo, though.) On those things with which I vehemently disagree, I think that by staying engaged and supporting his candidacy despite my disagreements, I'll have a better position than the kamikaze cons will when it comes time to try to persuade him to change his position.

See, it's like this: if John McCain is elected in spite of the best efforts of kamikaze cons (or if he isn't because of kamikaze cons), why on earth would he feel beholden to conservatives? It's not like conservatives are supporting him heavily, after all. That's politics. I guess it really bothers me because as a conservative, I feel like thwarting his candidacy is killing any chances of a conservative agenda making headway in his administration. It's not like he doesn't support conservatism at all--he certainly does, but he has those few "mavericky" issues. I don't want him to feel indebted to moderates and "McCain Democrats" and make lib-friendly federal judge nominations, or say "eh, fuckit" to border security first before a guest worker probram. I want him to say, "okay, Conservative Activists, you've done right by me so fine, Gitmo stays as is." Or we drill in ANWR. Whatever.

See what I mean? He really isn't as hostile to conservatives as the reputation says, either. We just hear about those aberrations; we don't hear as much about how he's with us the vast majority of the time. It's not a story the media wants to tell. We don't hear about his close alliance with Tom Coburn (ACU rating 100); we hear about his flare-up with John Cornyn.

7
BTW, I agree with what he did w/r/t the NCGOP. Wrong place, wrong time. And he had to make it public, because he's trying to maintain a certain unassailability in public opinion. Remember Willie Horton? People don't remember it wasn't the Bush '41 campaign's ad; it was Floyd Brown, totally freelancing. People don't remember it wasn't Bush pushing that shit about McCain's "illegitimate black child" - I don't even remember who did that filthy shit. (I was supporting Bush anyway, so it made no difference to me.) Stuff like that, even when the ad isn't so bad, sticks to the candidate. If the media has managed to get it in the public that it's a "racist" (or whatever) ad, even when it isn't, the candidate is the one who suffers. Bush was attacked for the Swift Boat Veterans, even though everyone knew who they were and even though they were right. That "fake but accurate" document bullshit would never have happened if there were no Swift Boat campaign--not that I disagree/d with the SBVT in the least. (I was pretty active with them, actually.) So see, that ad from the NCGOP had to be put down and put down loudly, if McCain didn't want to be tarred with the "ZOMGWillieHorton" brush. He did what he had to do. He's the Presidential candidate - he can't do what we would do, and he has to stay above the grassroots' mudslinging, even when we think the attacks are warranted and fair game.

8 Remember Willie Horton?

Mighta been three or four, so not directly.  I get the worry, but he should have tried to do it more discreetly first, then let the NCGOP come out with him and do a "Okay, we went too far" or somesuch bullshit...even though they didn't.  That was very embarrassing for the NCGOP, and he'll be banking on their machinery down the road.  I think it was a bad move.

As for Let Rome Burn conservatives, I'm in that group, but I'm open to being talked off that ledge, which maybe is the difference.

On those things with which I vehemently disagree, I think that by staying engaged and supporting his candidacy despite my disagreements, I'll have a better position than the kamikaze cons will when it comes time to try to persuade him to change his position.

See, and this is where he loses us, because I just don't believe we'll ever have his ear, no matter what we did.

9 And here's the other thing WRT his approach with the NCGOP, had Obama not given McCain a mulligan on that one, it woulda nagged him for ages and been the worst possible outcome possible out of that situation. 

McCain put the NCGOP on the spot in a hugely embarrassing way, they had to choose to be humiliated and drop the ad or refuse, turn around and take a swipe at the presidential candidate.  You just know what their activists were telling them, and you know what they had to do from their position.  Had Obama not resolved the situation, it would have nagged McCain for a good while, and probably made things even more hostile between he and the NCGOP.

That should have never happened, and had McCain tried to resolve it quietly, things would have gone much better, and probably could have avoided the hostility altogether.  To me its the difference between calling someone into your office to reprimand them and having everyone gather around in order to berate said person in front of everyone.

"McCain can't even control the NCGOP" became the narrative for a few days, and had Obama not given him a pass, it woulda nagged McCain for a much, much longer time.  In a system where you are elected by the masses, taking a swipe downward is risky business because you're biting the hand that feeds you, and McCain is rather bitey.  This is one of the biggest things that sends conservatives over the edge with him, he can't be content to just disagree, he has to go on Russert or Stephanopoulos and take swipes from there too.

10 Face it, guys. McCain has decided that he doesn't need you to win this election.  He's decided the votes are to the left of you, and that's were he feels he needs to go.  So no matter what you do, he won't pay attention to you.  In fact, the more you fuss, the better he looks.  "You see, those nutty wingnuts on the right think I'm a lefty! So I must be doing something right!"  And in the end, he feels that you will hold your noses and vote for him because you can't bear the idea of Obama becoming president.

The only way to prove him wrong is to not vote, or vote Libertarian/Constitution/Keyes.  (Which is what I'll be doing.  But I would be doing that no matter who the GOP candidate would have been.)

I said this the other day at Stashiu's:  The GOP feels that this is a Democratic year, and therefore they have picked a pseudo Democrat as their candidate.

11 Mighta been three or four, so not directly.

BAH.  Jerk!  :-P
Um...me too; I just have a reeeeeeeally good memory.  Yeah, that's it.

To be honest, I don't have a lot of sympathy for the NCGOP, but it has nothing to do with this incident.  They're pretty incompetent, based on what I've been told by North Carolinians (including people associated with Romney - not just Mac supporters).  Watch the convention - you'll see a strong contingent of Paultard troofers thanks to that bunch  (don't even get me started on that).  It's no surprise they let this situation blow up in their faces - and for all we know, the McCain campaign may very well have privately asked them to dial it back a bit at first.  But then, I'm willing to give the campaign and JM himself the benefit of the doubt, where others aren't.  That's just how I roll. 

That in itself is  probably why some conservatives support him, and others don't.  Sorta like how Malkin automatically assumed he snubbed conservatives with the blogger call, in spite of the presence of people at least as conservative as she is.  She expects the worst, even when everything points to her assumptions being incorrect.  Saying things like "he's for open borders" (as she does)doesn't lend much credibility one's opinion--there's a huge difference btw "open borders" and his position on immigration, regardless of anyone's  opinion of his position.

12 Most GOP organizations are incompetent in strategery, so I dunno if they're just incompetent or if they're incompetent even by GOP standards.  As for whether or not McCain asked them in private, I would think that a reporter or someone would have asked or McCain would have just said it, or it would have leaked at some point, which is why I assume he hadn't, so this isn't just me assuming the worst of McCain.

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