I am troubled by the way Busby and the DCCC handled McCain's decision to cancel his fundraiser for Bilbray.

I followed the link you embedded above. I found an official statement from the DCCC saying, among other things, that Francine Busby backs McCain's "plan for increased border security and a tougher, reformed legalization process [...] Brian Bilbray may play politics with border security, but for California families, immigration reform is a top priority that requires the kind of sensible, tough solutions put forward by Francine Busby and John McCain."

At the same link I found this comment from Busby's communications director:

"Perhaps Senator McCain cancelled his appearance after learning that Lobbyist Brian Bilbray has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking the McCain immigration reform plan that Francine supports," said Busby Communications Director Brennan Bilberry.

Then I read that Busby is running a tv commercial emphasizing that she supports the McCain plan, and the article includes this quote from Busby herself:

"It is disappointing that Brian Bilbray does not want to have a serious conversation about Senator McCain's tough immigration reform that I support."

I've given money to the Busby campaign, but excuse me, isn't this just the same old crap whereby a Democrat promotes herself by emphasizing how much she's like Republicans?

In so doing, isn't she advancing her own career at the expense of the Democratic brand?

I know, CA-50 has a massively Republican partisan index. Probably she needs to win over a lot of Republican voters who admire McCain. But still, did Busby have to go so far to emphasize how great McCain's plan is and how she's right there with him?

McCain is running for president. Democrats have to stop praising him in order to make themselves look better. In so doing they are only increasing the chance that the very conservative, phony "maverick" McCain will be president one day, keeping us in Iraq indefinitely, appointing more bad judges and pushing more bad laws through Congress.

McCain is an apostate to Busheviks (granted their numbers are down, but they control the party machinery). Whoever gets the GOP nomination will do so only with the Bush Mafia stamp of approval.

And what the B-M wants is a loser who will set the table for Jeb in '12 or '16 (however long it takes to rehabilitate the name Bush) -- just as Kerry was Hillary's setup chump for 08.

McCain won't be allowed the GOP nomination for the simple reason that polls show him winning the presidency (does anyone think the GOP is run democratically anyway?).

Who's a surefire loser to set the table for the next Bush? Sen. Dole Dr. Frist, I presume?

if McCain gets the 08 nom, there'll be a third party candidacy from the extreme immigration front which hands us the election.  I'd rather win on better terms, but I'll take it.

McCain ain't no conservative and the Good Lord Himself couldn't get McCain the nomination of the Republican Party.

McCain can pander, obfuscate, deny but he is a liberal even if he is plumb against 90% of what most of us agree on.

McCain, given his druthers, would rid politics of the corruption of corporate cash.

And that would make such profound change that only a liberal could propose such a thing.

Liberals should be honest above all and not wedded to hackery.  

Way to go, Francine.

It's amazing that Charles Keating's onetime sock puppet is now known as "Honest" John.

And that a GOP senator with a record like this is called a liberal.

But what's REALLY amazing?

That these things come from the mouths of some Democrats.

I watched with nausea throughout the 90's as not just a few Democrats burned incense at the altar of Colin the Magnificent in the hope that he would descend from his celestial throne and save the Democrat party from its own misguided values -- only to see him stand on the stage beside Bush at every campaign stop in late 2000.

Then from 2000-2004 it was Honest John who was going to jump ship and resurrect the Democratic Party from it's popular vote victory of 2000 -- except he helped Bush in 2004 instead.

Can anyone imagine Republicans casting about for a Democrat to lead their party? It's just downright embarassing the way some Democrats look for a Republican to lead them out of the wilderness when Republicans are (by definition) the ones who want them to stay there.

Incorrect: Matt stated:

"A political campaign is basically a massive content suck desperately looking for any way to get into the media"

The correct version of it all is

"A political campaign is the correct use of internet and media resources  desperately looking for a way to get off the internet and into the real world."

I recommend: go to the moveon.org house party this thursday near you. Many good ideas will leap off the internet and become real that day.

by the way, moveon.org is the same group that joined forces with the christian coalition to battle for net freedom...

There may be another side to this, Matt. McCain could be pulling out of the fundraiser because he sees that Bilbray is about to lose. If you're trying to bolster your stock for a presidential run, backing a losing congressional candidate is not the way to do it. The more I see of McCain, the less it seems like he acts on principle. It seems to me that he's backing out of this fundraiser as a way to protect himself and just using immigration as an excuse.

How anyone can still praise John McCain, praise he may have formerly deserved in 2000, is way beyond me. He is every bit fanatic, radical right as Bush, and praising a major sell-out in this manner is incomprehensible.

McCain had his shot in '04 when Kerry offered the VP slot, from which he could have helped Kerry repair some of the damage done to American politics by the intemperate, bigoted, homophobic, xenophobic, shrill, and vicious radical right within the GOP.

He sold out country for party and now continues to pander to those he labeled "agents of intolerance." If elected he would continue with King George's agenda for destroying our democratic society. He would, in fact, be Dubya's "Mini-me" and every bit as banal and corrupt.

Sorry, I don't have any respect for crass sell-outs like this.

I suspect he pulled out because the amount he was going to raise would have been embarrassingly small.