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The Bush ProblemJohn Dickerson takes readers' questions about how McCain should handle his ties to the president.

Posted Thursday, July 31, 2008, at 3:02 PM ET

Slate political correspondent John Dickerson was online on Washingtonpost.com to chat with readers about John McCain's campaign and how the candidate should handle President Bush at the Republican convention. An unedited transcript of the chat follows.

John Dickerson: Hello everyone. Lots happening in politics today. I look forward to your questions.

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Alexandria, VA: Thanks very much for attending this chat.

With the initial disclosure that I am an avid Dem, may I ask whether you think there would be value for the Dem spokespeople to entirely stop referring to McCain, and instead adopt the style of "Bush-McCain," as in "the Bush-McCain position," the "Bush-McCain platform," etc? And would it be harmful to Obama to start doing that himself as well?

John Dickerson: Very good question. It's already happening. The Obama campaign has been doing this for some time and they'll keep at it until December. Clinton did this in 96 tying Dole to Newt Gingrich.

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San Diego, CA: How long until we see a 527 ad with the creepy McCain-Bush hug photo?

John Dickerson: You don't have to wait for a 527. The hug (and the kiss) were in Obama's first ad hitting McCain.

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New York: John, hope you can take an early question. I agree Bush is unpopular, but don't the GOP stalwarts at the convention comprise that 20 percent who still like him? Thanks.

John Dickerson: Yes the convention folk still like Bush (although at 65% his approval among Republicans is low). So McCain has to be careful. He can't look like he's casting Bush aside. There will be lots of talk of his effective response to 9/11 and then they'll try to talk about popular Republicans like Arnold.

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Washington, D.C.: Will Slate be doing an Obama/Carter thing like this? When Carter was president...unemployment was double what it is now and we were literally being take hostage all over the world. Seems like a more astute comparison, considering their policy similarities.

John Dickerson: Nice try! There may be similarities but we're talking about a nearly 30 year gap. As a political matter the link to Bush is rather obvious and therefore of greater peril to the nominee whose party leader is at very low approval ratings. That isn't to say McCain didn't try to link Obama to Carter, but he ultimately dropped the idea because it didn't work.

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Kingston, Ontario: Mr. Dickerson: No matter what McCain's original intentions were, it seems he is being forced back into the standard GOP playbook. The opponent cannot be trusted because 1. he is un-American, too concerned about foreigners, etc. 2. he is a defeatist, doesn't support the troops, etc. 3. he will raise taxes, believes that the government should be involved in the economy, etc. These charges have been highly successful in the past. Is there any reason to think they won't be again? Regardless of the actual facts of the case, they cater to an entrenched mindset.

John Dickerson: You've got a very good point. They might work again (though Obama's offbase charge about racism dilutes his more reasonable claims that McCain has been making a series of baseless claims recently). But I wrote last week why this is a problem for McCain: 1. His brand was supposed to be more high-minded. Let's see if independents bolt because of this new harsher attack. 2. People are sick of this kind of campaigning. McCain will be seen as the slasher and people will forget Obama took the first swings (which he did).

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Northvillle, N.Y. : Okay, an obvious question, but I'm sure others want to know: what does he do with the real president, Cheney? Prime time? Middle of the night? Other?

John Dickerson: I don't know what they do with Cheney. McCain's not a big fan of Cheney's so maybe they send him hunting.

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Champaign, Ill.: Hello Mr. Dickerson. Thank you for your great pieces at Slate. The recent polls baffle me. What effect can we expect the conventions to have on the candidates' (as of late, seemingly stagnant) popularity? Will they both receive bumps and cancel each other out, remaining strangely close in the national polls? Or will the visual difference between McCain's convention troubles that you describe here and Obama's stadium-sized victory speech lead to starker differences in popularity?

John Dickerson: The polls baffle me too. They should. It's too early. People are paying attention but not making up their minds much, I don't think. In a lot of ways the polls haven't moved or if they have the movement has been somewhat meaningless—statistical blips or the result of low information voters picking up on the latest ad they've seen. A lot of people out there are undecided. Having said that, and adding normal pound of salt: Some things I'd like to know the answer to. The swing of independents to McCain in FL? Is that about drilling? Also, 17% of D's say they'd vote for McCain only 9% of R'say they'd pick Obama. I thought McCain had the base problem.

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New York: Bush is accused of damaging the Republican Party and diminishing its chances at gaining either the presidency or a majority in congress, but I have the feeling that he really doesn't care—and that he never really did care. If this is true, what does he care about? Only his legacy? Or did 9/11 completely obscure any other issues/beliefs for him? Thanks.

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John Dickerson: I think he does care about his party and his legacy. He thinks his legacy will be peace in the Middle East through a free Iraq. He thinks he'll be proven right after he's dead. On politics though, he used to talk about an entire generation of people who would go into the Republican Party saying " I am a Bush Republican," the way they did with Reagan.

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St. Paul, Minn.: Hi John—Thank you for taking questions today. It's always good to hear your insights on Washington Week as well. My question is a little broader than the convention, but somewhat related. It's clear that Sen. McCain, despite promises to do things differently than Bush, is adopting Bush's playbook in terms of the campaign so far (going after Sen. Obama on character issues—witness the "skipped visit with the troops" ad, the "Obama is too famous to be president" ad). Is it your sense that, this time around, these tactics are not being well-received? And even if that's the case, might they still work well enough to hurt Obama?

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John Dickerson is Slate's chief political correspondent and author of On Her Trail.
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