Thread: McCain & Bush =A New Partnership Binds Old Republican Ri

A New Partnership Binds Old Republican Rivals

After years of competitive and often contentious dealings, President Bush and Senator John McCain of Arizona are building a deepening if impersonal relationship that is serving the political needs of both men.

Given their history of intense rivalry and sometimes personally bitter combat, their newfound partnership is seen by some Republicans as born more of political calculation than personal evolution. Either way, it could prove valuable to Mr. McCain in his efforts to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 by sending a signal to Mr. Bush's conservative base and fund-raising network that, at a minimum, the White House will not stand in the Arizonan's way.

The president had Mr. McCain to the White House three times in one week recently to talk about how Mr. Bush should make the case for the war in Iraq and how to break the wall of conservative opposition to the immigration measures proposed by both men. Mr. McCain was back in the Oval Office again on Tuesday to talk about ways to win approval of the line-item veto.

Behind the scenes, during a month in which he repeatedly came to Mr. Bush's public defense, Mr. McCain called the president to offer words of support, he recounted in an interview.

"I said, 'Look, hang on, things are bad,' " Mr. McCain said. "I said, 'I'm proud of the job you are doing, and I wanted you to know that I will continue to do what I can to help.'

"I've tried, when his numbers went down, to be more supportive and outspoken, because I'd love to pick him up," Mr. McCain said.

The senator showed that again on Sunday in an interview on the ABC program "This Week," saying he was "proud" of the president's leadership on immigration and emphasizing cooperation with the administration on a former issue of serious contention, the treatment of American-held prisoners of war.

Aides said a thaw that began when Mr. McCain campaigned alongside Mr. Bush in the 2004 election has continued through the tougher days of Mr. Bush's second term. The appearances began after top aides for the two men met to hash out some of their differences. During private moments in joint appearances — at the White House, at campaignlike events pressing for immigration reform and on Air Force One — the two even chat about baseball and golf.

"He calls me Johnny Mac," Mr. McCain said.

Still, for all the talk of reconciliation, both sides describe the relationship between arguably the two highest-profile leaders of the Republican Party as almost entirely professional, a little stiff and the product of the pragmatic calculation by two politicians who see potential gain in striking a peace with a powerful rival.

"This is a very odd partnership that is almost founded at the moment on mutual need," said Tom Rath, a Republican leader in New Hampshire and a longtime ally of the Bush family, who hastened to add that Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain share more convictions than people realize and would not be working so closely if that were not the case.

But Mr. Bush has not had Mr. McCain to Camp David or the White House for dinner or a movie, and Mr. Bush has not visited Mr. McCain's cabin in Sedona, Ariz., since 2001. Mr. McCain, who served 22 years in the Navy, rises to his feet whenever he takes a call from Mr. Bush, even in the privacy of his office. But Mr. McCain's friends say he is fonder of Mr. Bush's father.

Even as he called Mr. Bush a friend, Mr. McCain described their relationship as a function of their positions and their shared views on such big issues as Iraq and immigration. "I believe if I were not in the Senate and not working on these issues, we might communicate once in a while, but not the way we do," he said. "We have a very good personal relationship, but it's primarily based on the agenda."

Mr. Bush is in need of a loyal Republican at a time when there is so much wariness within the party of a president whose popularity has declined. Mr. McCain would like the support of Mr. Bush's supporters and contributors in 2008 and could not afford to have a hostile White House that could trip up his own presidential bid.

Whatever the motivation, the relationship has potentially big political implications for the 2008 race, although Mr. Bush's aides have said that he would almost certainly stay out of the Republican primary contest. And some aides declined to comment publicly for this article out of concern, they said, that they would appear to be giving the White House stamp of approval for a McCain campaign. But the president appears to have stronger ties to Mr. McCain than to the other likely presidential candidates.

There has been a steady stream of Bush advisers who have ended up in Mr. McCain's orbit. Most recently, Republicans close to both candidates said that Nicolle Wallace — who just stepped down as Mr. Bush's communications director and has long been close to the president — was likely to serve in some formal or informal role in a McCain campaign. Her husband, Mark D. Wallace, Mr. Bush's deputy campaign manager in 2004 and now an ambassador-level representative to the United Nations, is already lending advice. In another high-profile move, Wayne L. Berman, a longtime supporter and fund-raiser for Mr. Bush, has signed on to help Mr. McCain.

On the other side of the divide, some of Mr. McCain's supporters made it clear in interviews that the McCain camp viewed Mr. Bush's brother Jeb, the governor of Florida, as an ideal running mate for Mr. McCain. This news would presumably be pleasing to President Bush, who has made it clear in recent weeks that he would like his brother to move onto the national stage; Governor Bush has made it just as clear that he has no interest in running for national office in 2008.

And Mr. Bush's senior political adviser, Karl Rove, was said by associates to have put aside his suspicion and dislike of Mr. McCain. The two spent time together during the 2004 campaign when, Mr. Rove told associates, they drew close. Mr. Rove gave Mr. McCain a pair of antique Theodore Roosevelt presidential cufflinks at the end of that race.

John Weaver, a senior adviser to Mr. McCain, said that accounts of animosity between Mr. McCain and Mr. Bush had been at least slightly exaggerated.

"There's heat in a campaign, and it can get pretty raw," said Mr. Weaver, who had a particularly famous feud with Mr. Rove. "I can speak for ourselves: after we lost the nominating process in 2000, it was time to move on. It took longer for some of us on the staff level to get to that point, but we did."

Still, it was just last year when Mr. McCain, a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, led something of a revolt in the Senate to push a ban on cruel or inhumane treatment of prisoners in American custody, over Mr. Bush's threat of a veto. And for much of Mr. Bush's first term, the senator had a reputation as one of the few Republicans who would publicly criticize the administration, on issues like Mr. Bush's tax cut proposals, the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal and the administration's postwar planning in Iraq.

But Mr. McCain has become one of the biggest defenders of Mr. Bush, even on some of the president's most unpopular moves, including the administration's decision this year to approve a deal giving control of several American ports to a company owned by the Dubai government.

"On a series of very tough issues, McCain's been there," said Tony Snow, the White House press secretary.

The jelling of the McCain-Bush relationship has included a series of gestures, some odd, on both sides. When Mr. McCain visited Mr. Bush at his ranch in Texas during the 2004 presidential campaign, he suggested to the president that he try cooking turkey with a turkey fryer, promising to rustle one up for him. Mr. McCain apparently forgot the promise until White House aides started calling Mr. McCain's office, saying the president was still waiting for his turkey fryer.

And aides said there were long memories in both camps stemming from the bitterly fought presidential primary season of 2000, in which Mr. McCain embarrassed Mr. Bush with a defeat in New Hampshire, and Mr. Bush responded with a searing campaign — which provoked charges of dirty tricks — that knocked Mr. McCain out in South Carolina.

A Republican with ties to the administration said there was lingering resentment among some Bush aides at Mr. McCain for so regularly going on television, especially during Mr. Bush's first term, to criticize the president. And Mr. McCain, a politician who is given to speaking his mind, could certainly still say something critical of the White House that would set back this rapprochement, his aides said.

But Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain have both instructed their aides to cease their hostilities. "We both made it very clear to all of our supporters that that's over," Mr. McCain said. "What people find difficulty understanding," he said, "is that we're capable of putting that behind us."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/03/us/03 ... ref=slogin

There new relationship is so obviously political. They are using each other and I'd bet their relationship is strained.

The president had Mr. McCain to the White House three times in one week recently to talk about how Mr. Bush should make the case for the war in Iraq and how to break the wall of conservative opposition to the immigration measures proposed by both men. Mr. McCain was back in the Oval Office again on Tuesday to talk about ways to win approval of the line-item veto.

It never ends. Not even on Independence Day.

Jean's

There new relationship is so obviously political. They are using each other and I'd bet their relationship is strained.

I hope it backfires on them. They think the America people are so stupid that we don't see what EXACTLY is going on. Even more disturbing it's beginning to seem more and more as though they DO realize that we know........and they STILL don't care.

That's the kind of stuff that gets a little scarey in my opinion.

I'm not the brightest person when it comes to politics and the ins-and-outs of DC but I am learning. And that is largely because of this website for which I thank you all. I've been trying to learn more about the national party conventions, etc. to understand it more. Maybe sometime this could be discussed in a different thread.
I do not think it is because people don't care so much as it is more that the media doesn't inform people as they should.

Originally Posted by LegalUSCitizen

Jean's

There new relationship is so obviously political. They are using each other and I'd bet their relationship is strained.

I hope it backfires on them. They think the America people are so stupid that we don't see what EXACTLY is going on. Even more disturbing it's beginning to seem more and more as though they DO realize that we know........and they STILL don't care.

That's the kind of stuff that gets a little scarey in my opinion.

Of course THEY KNOW and you're right, LEGAL, they don't give a damn what "we" think or want.

Representative Government? It's time we took back the Congress and forced them to do the "people's business" properly As REPRESENTATIVES of LEGAL AMERICANS