McCain, the day after

Senator McCain had a conference call with several bloggers. I was able to get the details from Power Line. This is my favorite part:

"McCain believes the winning Republican message consists of restoring public confidence, mainly by stopping wasteful spending, and being strong on national security.

He believes that by November things well be going well enough in Iraq to prove beyond doubt that he was right and Senators Clinton and Obama were wrong.

He finds the Democratic "change" message lacking in specifics and thus ultimately not compelling."

This is good. I would add border security and distinguishing between legal and illegal immigration. Millions of naturalized citizens will vote in November. We must make sure that they understand that our problem is with illegal immigration not them!

I agree that the Democrats' message of change is unspecific. The Dems' entire campaign is based on saying nothing and hoping that the public wants change without thinking about it.

It won't work, specially if McCain, or our nominee, spells out a very specific platform and forces Dems to explain their positions.

On Iraq, events are working in McCain's favor. How much longer can Obama and Clinton deny the progress? I think that Hillary Clinton is keeping her options open on Iraq:

"Listen to Hillary’s speech last night. She is already drawing a distinction between getting out of Iraq immediately (Obama’s position) and getting out “the right way.”

She understands that, despite what everyone else says, Iraq will be an issue in the fall and the Democrats cannot look McGovernite, especially if McCain is the nominee." (Daniel Casse)

Getting out the "right way" is a way of saying that she won't be withdrawing troops from Iraq. Will the base buy it? I don't know. Look at the anger over the Pelosi-Reid Congress's cowardice over Iraq! It will be fun at the Dems' convention when Hillary Clinton does another flip on Iraq!

Captain Ed was also in the audience and reported this! (John McCain's Non-Triumphant Conference Call)