"Bush - McCain"

On the February 17th episode of NBC's Meet the Press during a discussion of the problems the Democrats face as they get closer to the convention without a definite nominee, Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) used the phrase "Bush-McCain" to refer to the candidacy of the presumed Republican nominee, John McCain. Simply brilliant.

The more the Democrats can connect John McCain to George W. Bush, the better off they will be. Forcing McCain to distinguish himself from President Bush will reveal the essentially identical policy positions of the pair. I doubt very much that John McCain wants to focus on the fact that he would want more troops in Iraq and is more inclined to take military action against Iran. Similarly, it is doubtful that the senator from Arizona wants to focus too much on his willingness to blur the lines between church and state or trumpet his commitment to an overturn of Roe v Wade. No matter how one slices it, linkage to Bush will hurt McCain where he lives -- with the independents and the cross-over voters -- all of whom have had enough of the Bush family.

It will be interesting to see if the phrase catches on.