No Comments! Be The First!
“Country Club” Republicans lining up behind McCain?
Posted By katie allison granju
That’s what David Oatney thinks:
I have a tremendous amount of personal respect for Howard Baker-it is hard not to admire the man who did more than anyone else in the modern era to bring the GOP to Statewide electability here. He also served as President Reagan’s Chief of Staff, and there are very few of us who, if Howard Baker called us up and asked us to do something, would not do it just because Howard Baker asked. Baker is an establishment man through and through, however. He opposed Ronald Reagan in 1980 (dropping out of the race after losing to Reagan in New Hampshire), and was appointed Chief of Staff partly as an olive branch to moderates within the party. One Tennessee State legislator (not Stacey Campfield) told me privately that Baker’s influence over Fred Thompson was “the worst thing that could ever happen to the Thompson campaign.” I can’t say whether that is true or not, but Fred’s performance didn’t exactly help the argument that Baker’s role in the campaign was a good thing. Baker’s endorsement is not a signal that McCain is the most trustworthy of conservative candidates, but merely that the politically shrewd Baker believes McCain is the most electable one.
If the Country Club circuit has really lined up behind John McCain, then conservatives may need to unite behind one candidate for the sole purpose of stopping McCain-a step that some in Tennessee have decided to take.
Jan 29th, 2008
