John McCain Reshaping GOP in His Image? Jane Norton in His Shadow

As if Monday morning weren’t bad enough, this Politico report (H/T Rocky Mountain Right) is a terrific way to make conservatives nauseous:

Fresh from a humbling loss in last year’s presidential election, Sen. John McCain is working behind-the-scenes to reshape the Republican Party in his own center-right image….

Yeah, since this support includes ACORN friend Charlie Crist over conservative Marco Rubio in the Florida primary, “center-right” is a generous term. But beyond that, it’s just plain disturbing. Whether he intends to or not, it seems to me that Senator McCain is preparing to take the GOP down the same path of irrelevance as his own failed presidential bid. But he seems determined:

Erick Erickson, founder of the influential conservative blog, RedState, was even sharper in his criticism of McCain’s initiative.

“I’m sure John McCain has a lot of political favors he wants to return in 2010, but I don’t trust his views of who a winning candidate is anymore than I trust his ability to pick a winning campaign staff,” he said. “McCain has never really been a conservative, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s picking non-conservative candidates.”

McCain told POLITICO in a brief interview that he was determined to play a major role in the GOP’s rebuilding effort—beginning with the party’s 2010 campaign.

“I think it’s important, at this stage in my career, to try to support candidates that I think represent the next generation of leadership in the Republican Party,” the 73-year-old McCain said on his way to the Senate floor for a vote last week. [emphasis added]

Sadly, as we learned a few weeks ago, those candidates include Colorado’s Jane Norton. If she wants to win the U.S. Senate Republican nomination, much less the general election, Norton is going to have to find her way out of McCain’s shadow.