John McCain’s Problem(s)
To be sure, the issue of pandering to the right (while not assuredly winning the right) and losing independents is not his only problem. The fact that he is an old crazy bastard that couldn’t inspire a dog to lick his balls may prove just as problematic.
To the degree he panders to the far right, he loses political independents, whose views are in large numbers diametrically opposite to those of the far right. To the degree he competes for real support among independents, he must take positions that are anathema to the far right, which depresses the Republican base.
In law school they call this the ipsi dipsi. The fault lines between independents and the far right are unbridgeable, clashing with hostility, irreconcilable, diametrically opposite.
If John McCain tries to straddle these lines, his voice would climb five octaves higher! –The Hill
