06/05/2011
Mark Steyn on The Hugh Hewitt Show, June 2, 2011, discusses the McCain disaster:
Hugh Hewitt: And it’s as though the candidates never actually get heard. Do you think the public has begun to recognize this is a constructed dialogue that’s being managed by the Manhattan-Beltway elite?Mark Steyn:Well, I think after what happened last time, that Republican voters, Republican primary voters, don’t want to have their candidate chosen for them by CNN and the New York Times and the rest of the gang. I mean basically, last time round, Republican, the Republican Party followed the media’s advice, and they got the bipartisan maverick, and it was a disaster.
The problems is that the bipartisan maverick didn’t really want to win — McCain basically threw the election. And Steyn, who is now a New Hampshireman, although he talks like he’s from Old Hampshire, has a tribute to an earlier candidate, not a media favorite:
Hugh Hewitt: Hey, the candidates are headed your way. Romney’s in New Hampshire, Palin is headed there. It’s like the swallows going to Capistrano. Do they ever trudge up your driveway?Mark Steyn:Well, if they want to win, they get this far north, because if you look at successful campaigns, Pat Buchanan, for example, when he beat Bob Dole in ’96, won with all the small northern town that the slick-moneyed candidates don’t feel they have to get to. And the reality is, if you take New Hampshire’s three northern counties, the candidates, because they like to be able to fly into Manchester Airport, do something in Concord, do something in Nashua, do something at Portsmouth on the sea coast, and they get very complacent about getting anywhere north of Dartmouth College. And Pat Buchanan showed that in fact you can win the New Hampshire primary with small towns. And I hope the smart guys in the field remember that.
Link via Kathy Shai