Wednesday, May 31, 2006

The Perils of McCainism   [Jonah Goldberg]

Ross Douthat has a good post on why immigration might cost McCain the nomination. I've been thinking the same thing for a while. Unlike campaign finance "reform" — which conservatives rightly despised — immigration is not an abstraction. CF"R" mattered to conservative interest groups, but was generally meaningless to the average person beyond the principle of the thing. On immigration, McCain has taken the same sort of sanctimonius position on an issue the conservative base both understands and feels viscerally rather grasps absractly.  In 2000, he could go around bragging about his campaign finance schemes as a matter of "personal honor"  because of his Keating Five schtick. And, a Democratic president up to his eyeballs in campaign finance corruption gave the issue some partisan lift. But on immigration, that won't fly. McCain's interest in the legislation is rooted in his love of "reform for reform's sake" as Ross puts it as well as a political vanity entirely detached from his personal honor.  Supporting Bush's position in the primaries will hurt. And McCain will get booed if his version ends up becoming law and he tries to brag about it. 

Also, see related post by  Noah Millman on immigration and 2008.

05/31 11:06 AMShare