The Right gears up to kick some Straight Talk ass

[Crossposted from Sugar Land is Dreaming]

All the GOP frontrunners (or onetime frontrunners, in some cases) have weaknesses in the type of voters they can attract, which could spell disaster in the general election. Social conservatives turn their nose at Romney's religion; Huckabee wouldn't be able to attract any non-religious conservatives; Giuliani seemingly can't attract anybody -- even xenophobes! And McCain? He might be the best at courting independents, but the right just plain hates this guy.

It was just over a year ago where McCain was too afraid to show his face at CPAC. The rest of the candidates spoke, but McCain wouldn't dare step foot inside the conference because he knew the backlash against him would generate too much bad press. Here was a Republican who couldn't even communicate with members of his own party at their largest gathering -- how the hell did he think he could win the GOP nomination for president?

Over the past 12 months, McCain has gone from frontrunner to shitheel back to frontrunner again, riding some momentum from his victories in New Hampshire and South Carolina. But a key fact to remember is that both of those states, independents play a huge role in the primaries. And since McCain is great at courting independents, he was able to score a couple victories.

And they have noticed. GOPUSA (the folks who brought you Jeff Gannon) has a daily email newsletter that reaches around 500,000, called "GOPUSA Eagle." Today's Eagle had this for it's subject line: "John McCain: The Geraldo Rivera Republican." This is a reference to the screaming match that Geraldo had with Bill O'Reilly when they discussed immigration. For the right at large, Geraldo's views on immigration are just too... too... spic-y.

Opening the email, I find it's main story is a Michelle Malkin column deriding McCain's stance on immigration:

Not all of us have forgotten how the short-fused Arizona senator cursed good-faith opponents in his own party ("F**k you!" and "Chickensh*t" were the choice words he had for Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn during a spat over enforcement provisions). Not all of us have forgotten that he voted against barring felons from receiving amnesty benefits under his plan. Not all of us have forgotten the underhanded, debate-sabotaging manner in which McCain/Kennedy/Lindsey Graham/Harry Reid conspired to ram their package down voters' throats.

His admission of the shamnesty failure is grudging and bitter. While he now tells conservative voters what they want to hear about the need to build the southern border fence, he takes a contemptuous tone toward physical barriers when talking to businessmen. "By the way, I think the fence is least effective," he told executives in Milwaukee, according to a recent Vanity Fair profile. "But I'll build the goddamned fence if they want it." Straight talk? Try hate talk.

And if anyone knows hate talk, it's a woman who writes a book defending Japanese internment camps. And while we're on the topic of "hate talk," let's bring Ann Coulter into the picture. She sent me an email today too. It links to her latest column in Human Events, a weekly newspaper that's hugely popular among conservatives. From her anti-McCain diatribe titled "'Straight Talk' Express Takes Scenic Route to Truth":

John McCain is Bob Dole minus the charm, conservatism and youth. Like McCain, pollsters assured us that Dole was the most "electable" Republican. Unlike McCain, Dole didn't lie all the time while claiming to engage in Straight Talk.

Of course, I might lie constantly too, if I were seeking the Republican presidential nomination after enthusiastically promoting amnesty for illegal aliens, Social Security credit for illegal aliens, criminal trials for terrorists, stem-cell research on human embryos, crackpot global warming legislation and free speech-crushing campaign-finance laws.

I might lie too, if I had opposed the Bush tax cuts, a marriage amendment to the Constitution, waterboarding terrorists and drilling in Alaska.

Hell, with that description, Ann's making me kinda like the guy.

Now that McCain is the popular pick for expected GOP nominee, expect the right to step up their attacks against him in the days to come. Also, you may want to wish for McCain victories in the primaries because if there's any candidate you want the Democrats to run against, it's one who would keep his own party home come November.