Ron Paul Out Fundraises McCain: The Game’s Over, John.

I still regard Ron Paul as a bad joke.  And yet, we see that he’s managed to out fundraise John McCain.

I’m not quite sure what this is indicative of, except perhaps the bump that Paul got from the left just recently being reflected in his donation take, versus the major hit the John McCain justifiably took on the immigration bill.

Frankly, I won’t get excited about this one, either way.  Bottom line: In my judgment, in neither case, do either of these two have any credibility amongst the Republican party.  I recognize that that is a somewhat controversial statement.  (Shrug) Name of the game, though my guess is that it’s less controversial recently than it was a few months ago.

It’s been my sense that support for McCain is remarkably soft, as it was during the last presidential cycle.  Cross party support was his claim to fame, and McCain lost on it both times.  The difference is it didn’t take him quite so long this time.

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When one of the people generally considered to be the laughingstock of the party out- fundraises you, it’s well past time to start looking for the exits. Look, let’s face it, the only reason that the left ever latched on to John McCain, is precisely the same reason that they’re latching onto Ron Paul, just now.  They figured McCain was a Republican that had creds in the Republican party, and therefore felt more comfortable voting for him, then somebody who was a more overt leftist, such as John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and so on. And, time was, he actually did have some, despite coming down to the left of Bush on many points. McCain’s being a Republican at least in name was fairly attractive to most democrats, in that they could run is named in the noses of most republicans, with the question attached to it, how can you not support one of your own?

Democrats, you see have never gotten used to the idea of not being in lockstep with their party leadership .  Therefore dealing with such matters on the republican side, tends to elude them.

But when McCain’s idiocy over the immigration bill started to cost him those perceived Republican creds, the Democrats deserted the now sinking ship. Many of them, I suspect, ended up going for Ron Paul.

I hold no illusions about the possibility of either sweeping both parties to get to the White House.  Frankly I’d be uncomfortable if I thought either one of them stood a snowball’s chance.  Further, I’ll more than grant that the support Ron Paul, John McCain, or any other Republican gets from rank and file Democrats is going to be fairly thin, as a rule.  That’s simply the nature of the game. This decidedly is not another case of the jailbreak that Ronald Reagan caused in two elections… mostly because neither could hold a candle to RR.  So I take nothing from the idea of any movement among Democrats to support fringe Republican candidates. Then again, Reagan wasn’t a fringe candidate, either.
(Boy, there is an unlikely scenario; my putting John McCain and Ron Paul in the same paragraph with Ronald Reagan.  Sheesh.)
But there’s a message here, in this bit of news, apparently addressed to John McCain and his staff; When one of the people generally considered to be the laughingstock of the party out- fundraises you, it’s well past time to start looking for the exits.  The game’s over.
Some others noting the story:Hot Air, PoliPundit.com, Patrick Ruffini, National Review The Moderate Voice, The Raw Story, The Daily Background, Donklephant, Washington Monthly, Roger L. Simon, IMAO, Liberal Values, The Atlantic Online, Captain’s Quarters.