Romney/McCain Strategies Revealed in Post-Florida Speeches

Needless to say, I was disappointed by John McCain's victory last night in Florida. But what disappoints me even more is John McCain's character and integrity, or at least the lack thereof. Back in 2000 when McCain lost to Bush in South Carolina, despite his heralded victory in New Hampshire, many attributed his loss to last minute lies and gossip about him. He was so angry about how unfairly his opposition was fighting that he made a speech that offended many social conservatives, implying that his loss was partly because of them and their bias against him. A few years later was a key player in passing the bill McCain-Feingold, which put major restrictions on how candidates could raise money and limited their ads to the issues, among other things. Many social conservatives felt and still strongly feel that it encroaches upon their free speech. So you think after all this, McCain, being the victim of last minute slandering, would have the integrity and honour to abstain from the very practice that he hates so much. Of course not, he too started slandering (lying actually) against Romney at the last minute, but because of McCain-Feingold, Mitt can't call him out on his lies through ads. I'm not going to delve further into the issue, but after all the stuff McCain said about running a "positive" campaign, yadda, yadda, yadda, I have lost all respect for this man. Unfortunately the truth gets buried by the media and only people who follow the story closely ever know.

That rant was longer than I wanted it to be, but here is what I originally intended to write about.

After Florida was over, both Romney and McCain gave speeches and, to me, revealed their strategy going into Super Tuesday.

Romney's speech reiterated his message about how Washington is broken and how by putting the same people in different chairs wouldn't solve anything. The parts that stuck out to me were the following:

"And to build strong families, we'll teach our kids that, before they have babies, they should get married."

"And let's point out, to all those who criticized President Bush, that it's thanks to him that we've been safe these last six years."

Talking about who will be the ones to change America he said that big government wouldn't, but "hard-working, innovative, risk-taking, family-oriented, God- fearing, freedom-loving American people have always been the source of America's greatness, and they always will be."

To me it seems that Romney is trying to reach social conservative voters. Huckabee is as good as done as far as the nomination is concerned (although he may not drop out just to steal votes away from Mitt in hopes of becoming a running mate to McCain), so many social conservative voters are looking at who to vote for. With this group on his side, Romney would be unstoppable. Obviously though, many will not vote for him because he is a Mormon, and as unfair and stupid as it is, it's true nonetheless. But if he can get enough of this group to support him, he will have the numbers to beat McCain.

McCain's speech was also interesting. I was shocked when he didn't gloat about his victory, saying how much he won even though Romney outspent him (even though the media outspent Romney 1000 to 1 in supporting McCain). He was actually humble and "nice" in his speech. At first I thought "oh, isn't that sweet", but upon closer examination, seeing that it was obvious that he was reading off a teleprompter I knew that his speech was manufactured to cover up the fact that he had broken his own moral code the few days leading up to Florida. He had lied, been extremely negative, and claimed he was an expert on things he isn't - all things he said he wouldn't do. His speech tried to leave a good taste in the mouth of voters and attempt to make them forget about his fresh, unprecedented hypocrisy and crooked talk. He also tried extremely hard to appeal to conservatives in his speech. He mentioned Ronald Reagan several times in his speech.

"I intend to do that by making it clear what I stand for. I stand for the principles and policies that first attracted me to the Republican Party when I heard, in whispered conversations and tap codes, about the then Governor of California, who stood by me and my comrades, and who was making quite a reputation for standing by his convictions no matter the changing winds of political thought and popular culture. When I left the Navy and entered public life, I enlisted as a foot soldier in the political revolution he began. And I am as proud to be a Reagan conservative today, as I was then. I trust in the courage, good sense, resourcefulness and decency of the American people, who deserve a government that trusts in their qualities as well, and doesn't abrogate to its elf the responsibilities to do for the people what the people can and want to do for themselves."

He also kept saying "we Republicans" as if he has been a hardcore Republican his whole life. This is the same guy that almost ran as a Democrat! Funny that he calls Romney a flip-flopper! Nevertheless, he knows that without the conservative base of the GOP he can't do anything, even if he gets the nomination, and that is who he is trying to reach.

The question remains, who will be able to reach their target base better. If Mitt Romney can successfully reach out to social conservatives, he will win. If McCain can reach out to conservatives in general he will win. Only time will tell which strategy will prevail.