Tucker Eskew: The 'Darker Side' of John McCain

Ask Tucker Eskew. He's part of the political architectural team that effectively destroyed Senator John McCain's chances for the presidency in 2000 as part of George W. Bush's smear campaign in the South Carolina Primary. He and Warren Tompkins and Neal Rhodes masterminded a push-polling campaign that asked voters if they knew about Senator McCain's involvement in the S&L Scandal and the Keating Five. McCain lost the South Carolina Primary. Bush went on to become president through a recount in Florida, helped by Eskew, Tompkins, and Rhodes, called by one McCain adviser, "the darker side of our party."

That darker side now shadows vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Tucker Eskew has been hired by McCain camp to help Palin with media matters and prepare her acceptance speech to be delivered at the Republican National Convention.

ABC's Jake Tapper was the reporter that quoted the McCain adviser in 2000. When he asked the 2008 McCain campaign if they had a comment on how the despised Tucker Eskew could be employed by Senator McCain when he was held responsible for the smear campaign in South Carolina, the answer was "No."

Of all the political consultants in the nation, Tucker Eskew probably was not the first choice most people, including Republicans, would have even considered, never mind hired, to be anything connected to the McCain campaign. Yet, there he is.

Remember, though, Tucker Eskew was on the winning side.

The question then must be asked: Just exactly how different from president George W. Bush is John McCain?

His political consultants and advisers read like a who's who of former Bush consultants and advisers. There's Karl Rove, Bush's former Chief of Staff and the acknowledged political mastermind of Bush's presidency. There's Ken Mehlman, the guy who ran Bush's reelection campaign. And Kevin Hassett, McCain's chief economic adviser also worked for the Bush administration. There are dozens more.

And, of course, there is Tucker Eskew, smear consultant extraordinaire.

But if you dismiss all the guys surrounding Senator McCain who make you think you're looking at a picture of Bush's political advisers, there still remains McCain's political positioning. He backs president Bush's tax cuts, which effectively have undermined the subsidization (or at least part of it) of the ridiculously costly war in Iraq. McCain's foreign policy of aggressive hegemonization and occupation reads just like a Paul Wolfowicz and Richard Perle (ideologues who endorsed the war in Iraq) petition. McCain agreed with president Bush's most egregious act as president, the unwarranted wiretapping of American citizens (even though he could have legally had it done through FISA warrants). From illegal immigration to the Webb-Hagel GI Bill, which was designed to modernize the college funding allocations given to our military veterans and threatened with a veto by president Bush, John McCain has sided again and again on important issues with a president whose administration has crippled the economic, diplomatic, and military colossus that was his charge.

And as the Democrats have consistently pointed out, Senator McCain has voted in agreement with president Bush over 90% of the time (Factcheck.org has the number at 95%).

But there is one difference: Vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. It's not a substantive difference, just one of gender. Palin may be a bit more conservative than McCain.

Recent polls by Gallup and other organizations (RealClearPolitics.com) show Senator McCain trailing Senator Obama by as many as eight points, a serious concern considering that Senator Obama did not receive the "bounce" in the polls usually accorded a candidate after their convention. No, Senator Obama has received the "bounce" since Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and the controversies that have swirled in around her entered the political picture.

That is why Tucker Eskew was hired. Eskew knows how to play hardball, hit from the shadows, get dirty, and win.

Senator McCain wants to win.

Politics is about winning. Period.

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