John McCain vs. the Right: No easy peace; Update:McCain at CPAC
Update 11:11pm Eastern. The Club for Growth joins what McCain’s defenders derisively and speciously label the “McCain Derangement Syndrome” crowd. Here’s the CFG’s statement tonight. You can dismiss it as “hate” and accuse them of “acting like a liberal,” or you can deal with the facts:
When Janet Hook asked John McCain in tonight’s CNN Republican debate “What makes you more qualified than Mitt Romney, a successful CEO and businessman, to manage our economy?” Senator McCain offered a simple answer: “Because I know how to lead.”
Well, John McCain is certainly right about one thing. He knows how to lead, but he is often leading in the wrong direction, and often found with his liberal Democratic friends at his side. The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are a case in point. John McCain was certainly a leader on the tax cuts: He led by being 1 of 2 Republicans in 2001 and 1 of 3 Republicans in 2003 to oppose the most pro-growth legislation in a generation.
John McCain joined with his Democratic friends in leading the opposition against the tax cuts. Like Ted Kennedy—who said “Now, they are proposing more of the same, more tax breaks benefiting only the wealthiest among us”—John McCain stood on the Senate floor and declared: “I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of middle-class Americans who need tax relief.” John McCain also proved his leadership skills by teaming up with Senator Tom Daschle in sponsoring an amendment designed to reduce the tax cuts and undermine their efficacy.
John McCain has also been a leader on several other key Democratic issues:
·He led by crusading, along with Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, against the First Amendment, pushing for legislation designed to wipe out free speech from the political realm
·He led by teaming up with Ted Kennedy and John Edwards in sponsoring the Patients’ Bill of Rights, a bill that imposed onerous mandates on insurance coverage and encouraged an increase in the number of frivolous lawsuits filed against healthcare providers
“Having leadership is an important quality, but it is important to consider the political philosophy underlying John McCain’s leadership,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “Hillary Clinton is also a leader, but Republicans don’t want Hillary Clinton to be their nominee. While John McCain has demonstrated his leadership skills, too often, on economic issues, he is leading the country in the wrong direction.”
Update 10:53pm Eastern. What Karl at Protein Wisdom said: “On one level, I cannot help but respect McCain for not wanting to change his positions to align himself with the conservative base. It is undoubtedly the same defiant streak that got him through the hell of the Hanoi Hilton. On the other hand, many people wish that he would at least reserve his most harsh, sneering, morally arrogant and childish rhetoric for liberals, Democrats and their subset in the media, rather than for those with whom he purports to agree with most of the time. Unlike Romney, McCain has built his political fortune on kicking people right of center in the teeth.”
Update 10:48pm Eastern. From commenter RationalThought: “OK, I was softening toward McCain. I really, really do not want a Shrillery presidency. I think her Supreme Court appointments will be a disaster for decades. But the class warfare BS he’s throwing around — and the anti-business crap — man I HATE that stuff. It’s red meat for ignorant, spiteful, envious voters (the Jerry Springer/Oprah crowd), which means the candidate who uses it doesn’t actually believe he has a damn thing to offer except, “Hey, I really want to be President of the United States.” I don’t know if I can pull the lever for him. And I agree with others here tonight: that nasty little smirk. It was positively…Hillaryesque. I’m back to thinking McCain or Hillary — What’s the difference? I don’t really see it, and for the first time in my nearly 50-year life, I may not vote at all. Why bother?”
Update 8:02pm Eastern. Wisdom from The Other McCain – “If you offer to be a doormat, don’t be surprised when people wipe mud all over you.”
I’m liveblogging the GOP debate here.
Update 6:30pm Eastern. Go here for my chat with Glenn Beck about McCain, Juan Hernandez, Jerrold Perenchio, and the conservative base.
Update: 4:50pm Eastern. Something to make you smile: Makaniak.
Update 2:20pm Eastern. Mark Hemingway reports that John McCain himself is coming to CPAC, in addition to reserving the campaign staff booth reported previously. So he can dismiss conservatives’ “foolishness” to their faces? Should be quite a show. Not to be missed.
Update 2:14pm Eastern. Must-read from Jeff Goldstein, who gets the heart of the Constitutional disaster that a McCain presidency portends: “The McCain Mutiny.” (hat tip – HAheadlines) But I guess we’re all just suffering from “McCain Derangement Syndrome.”
Update 11:25am Eastern. McCain to conservatives: You’re fools!
***
Despite his longtime alienation of the Right on countless issues, John McCain secured a solid win in a closed Florida Republican primary and is assuming the air of inevitability. Many pundits have been urging John McCain to reach out to conservatives (how novel that would be). In response, he made a small point tonight in his victory speech of emphasizing judges–an olive branch, apparently, in the aftermath of the Alito/Fund kerfuffle.
Well. We hear what he says now. But we know what he has done for years:
Insult the base, trash the base, and pay lip service to the base only when it suits his needs.
The declaration that he is the “conservative leader who can unite the party” is yet another smack in the face to those who have watched him reach out and slap conservatives time and again–and then run to the warm, gooey embrace of the liberal media. Is it too much to ask to nominate a Republican candidate who is not as openly and historically hostile to the Republican base as CNN and (McCain’s endorsers at) the New York Times are?
McCain’s open-borders supporters will declare that immigration is no longer a factor in this campaign. They so wish it to be so. (Right on cue, here’s Kennedy-fawning NYT columnist David Brooks dismissing immigration sniffily as “not a good issue for Republicans.”)
But the fact is that McCain was driven to play up his border security promises (however hollow they may be) and to start talking up attrition through enforcement.
That’s a small victory. But questions like this remain: How can McCain honestly reach out to conservatives when he defends his extremist campaign Hispanic outreach director who doesn’t believe in borders and when he boasts a national campaign finance chair and soft-money mogul who poured millions of dollars into the fight against English-language instruction in California, Planned Parenthood, and radical environmental fear-mongering groups?
We know that Juan Hernandez is McCain’s Hispanic outreach director.
Who is McCain’s conservative outreach director?
Hillary Clinton likes to say that whatever differences she and her Democrat opponents may have, “they pale in comparison” with the differences she and her Dem rivals have with the Republicans.
Can the Republican front-runner say that the differences between him and his GOP opponents pale in comparison with the differences between him and the Democrats?
The McCain=Hillary ad from the grass-roots conservative group Citizens United provides the disturbing answer.
Conservatives have core concerns about McCain’s trustworthiness, adherence to conservative ideology, and commitment to sovereignty that can’t easily be brushed off with glib answers about being the “straight talk” candidate. The problem is that the media chuckleheads who get to question the GOP candidates are as hostile and out of touch with the conservative base as McCain is. This monumental deficiency has been exposed repeatedly during the election-year “debates.”
Wouldn’t it be helpful to have at least one bona fide conservative questioner on the CNN debate panel tomorrow night when the GOP candidates meet at the Reagan Library? They made room for minority journalists when they broadcast minority interest group-sponsored debates. They made room for local journalists when they broadcast the Iowa caucus and NH primary debates. Why not someone at the GOP debate who actually knows and cares about what conservatives care about?
Too much to ask, apparently.
***
Last month, I asked readers: “Would you, could you, vote McCain?” How about now? At the moment, I’m with Rush: “I can see possibly not supporting a Republican nominee.”
Yes, the possibility is real. But we also have a long, long way to go.
With that in mind, I’m running a closed poll for registered MichelleMalkin.com commenters. (For those who can’t access the poll, I’m asking: Where do you stand with nine months to go until Election Day? If it’s McCain vs. Hillary in November, will you 1) Vote McCain; 2) Vote Hillary; 3) Stay home; or 4) Don’t Know.) I’ll post the results at the end of the day.
This portion of the content is restricted to registered users of this site. Please log in to view the content:
***
Meantime, let me share some of the reader e-mail that’s pouring in. At the moment, the depression and disgust are palpable. John McCain may have declared that he is the conservative uniter. But judging from my mailbox, his fight with the Right is far from over. On to Super Tuesday:
Carol…
I cannot in good conscience vote for John McCain.. If the country is going to hell, I’d rather Hillary, Barack, or the Dems can take credit for the destruction of the country than the Republicans.
Eric…
As a lifelong, politically active Conservative I’ve decided to vote Dem if McCain is the nominee. Why? Because I think that McCain will perform almost exactly like a Democrat and it is better to have the real thing in office rather than a Dem in GOP clothing. If McCain is elected and then performs poorly, because he acts like a Dem, he virtually guarantees a Dem win in 2012. However, if a Dem wins and runs things as they are dying to do then the GOP has a strong shot at 2012 and beyond.
I’d like to see someone start a very public campaign to keep Conservatives home on election day to make sure the Dems win, but win with a large segment voters sitting out so they can’t falsely claim a mandate.If McCain wins it will be harder for GOP House and Senate members to oppose him on Liberal initiatives, initiatives they would oppose if a Dem were to propose them.
Rick…
I’m a member of the conservative base and I just can’t see myself voting for John McCain EVEN if Hillary is the opposition. I am voting for Mitt Romney knowing that he panders. But at least he will promote conservative principles through the course of the election. Bottomline, I would be willing to lose with Romney over winning with McCain. McCain would ruin our movement by redefining what it means to be conservative, furthermore there is absolutely no way of knowing how that guy will govern.
I will never vote Democrat, but I will stay home!!
About me:
49 years old
Married and father of 3 (married once)
Business owner/operator for 21 years
College Educated
Christian faith
Extremely anti-abortion
Extremely pro-gun ownership
Support: strong national defense; small government; lower taxes; free trade; strong borders; personal responsibility
Harvey…
I think the Republican establishment needs to know just how many of us voters will never vote for McCain. I certainly won’t. I’ll just pass if he’s the nominee. I like the country’s chances with 4 years of Hillary better than 8 years of McCain (as much as it pains me to say that about a Republican)…
The electorate needs to know that McCain cannot win in November… and if I’m wrong about that and he does win in November, I think American voters will get the wrong impression of what it means to be a conservative. I have issues with all the Republican candidates and feel that no true conservative is still in the race… but if McCain becomes the nominee, I won’t vote for him.
Gerry…
If McCain becomes the republican nominee, Rush will be proven right. The “republican” persuasion will cease to exist. It might as well merge with the democrats to become its true self. Good riddance.
Staunch conservatives for life, my wife and I will vote for the democrat nominee (Billary or Obama) since they are scarcely different from McCain except on Iraq. Better to have a democrat pres kill the country than a faux-conservative republican like McCain kill it.
Then maybe another Jimmy Carter in 2008 will bring forth another Reagan for 2012.
Dave….
I’ve not voted for a Democrat in 25 years. I wont’ this year either. But if “my” party’s choice is McCain, I’m sitting on my hands. We’ll walk in the wilderness for the next 8 years together.
William…
Read my lips: I will NEVER vote for McCain.
Rod…
It seems to me that John McCain’s straight talk express is running on four flat tires. As a veteran I have always respected the man if not his policies. As the nation watched the Republican race in Florida it soon became apparent that the race to the finish line was a two man race, it also showed how sleazy and nasty McCain’s will stoop to gain a few votes. As he attacked Mitt Romney with underhanded tactics and outright lies he not only lost my vote he also lost my respect.
David…
Dear RNC:
I am very concerned about the direction toward which it appears that the Republican Party is going. In the words of Presidential hopeful John McCain, “they voted us in to change government, and the government changed us.”
John McCain’s own admission of how he failed in his duty as Senator, along with the rest of our fellow Republicans who were voted out of office in 2006, to make the changes that he promised is very telling. First, it raises suspicion as to his promises that he is now currently making. Additionally, it provides us with real insight into exactly who John McCain is, and why he should not be the Republican nominee.
John McCain, the “Maverick” has proven that he is indeed more of a liberal than a conservative or a Republican. What makes McCain a moderate is his staunch support for the war in Iraq. However, all of the Republican candidates, save Mike Huckabee would provide the same strong backing for the war. Which brings me to my next point demonstrating why John McCain would be more appropriate running for the Democratic nomination than a Republican one, McCain’s biggest successes in the Senate are renowned as the liberal’s biggest legislative accomplishments in the last quarter of a century. McCain-Feingold, a big blow to free speech and capitalism, McCain-Kennedy, was not only a smack-in-the-face to conservative Republicans, but also to more than 80% of the American people, who believe that there should be no amnesty, whether technical or not, and finally his global warming initiative McCain-Lieberman is a monstrosity that demonstrates his self-acknowledged lack of understanding of how economies work, particularly the economy of the nation for which he is running to lead.
Most remarkably telling of McCain’s liberal nature is his Clintonesque political maneuvers whereby he lied about and twisted Mitt Romney’s record by saying that Romney stood for something that even the most generous assumptions would not support, then attacked Romney for being dishonest, and repeated it consistently with the hopes that the public would believe it. This effective Clinton tactic is deceitful and it is not the sort of tactics that Republicans should use in a race against each other, simply for the reason that if for some reason a Republican were to lose, despite these terrible tactics, the Democrats would have plenty of ammunition to use fellow Republican’s own words against other Republicans.
I cannot support a candidate who claims that the American people have lost their faith in government and claims that he can restore faith in government, yet at the same time cannot even refrain from being dishonest in a campaign. John McCain is one of the biggest reasons people have lost faith in government, especially over the McCain-Kennedy bill where secret meetings were conducted with the hopes of ramming amnesty down the nation’s throat, despite overwhelming opposition direct from the American people.
If John McCain is selected as the nominee, I will not sit out of the election, but I will vote for whoever the Democratic candidate is. Rush Limbaugh and others have pointed out that if the choice comes down to between a Democrat on one side and a liberal Republican on the other, it’s much better to have the Democrat because at least all the problems that will arise from such an administration can be blamed on their party not ours. It is absurd to suggest that we should vote for a liberal because he is the only one who can beat a fellow liberal. I give much more respect to the liberal who announces his or her intentions and sticks to them rather than the liberal who pretends to be the most conservative Republican only to change positions in office and hide behind the shield that it was important to “reach across the isle” to get something done. Furthermore, we have all seen the damage that George Bush’s compassionate conservatism has done and how he has refused to serve the will of both the party that elected him and the American people as a whole, who believe that the borders should be closed and all the illegal aliens here asked to leave, go home, and wait at the end of the line like the rest of the millions who are trying to come here legally.
I pray that better judgment befalls you, as a party, and you do the right thing and select anybody but John McCain. It will truly tear the party apart in a way that I don’t think that you would like. I am prepared to donate the maximum contribution to the Republican party if the nominee is anybody but McCain, however if the nominee is McCain, I will keep my hard earned cash and vote for whomever the Democratic candidate is.
The sentiment expressed here is not isolated to my own personal beliefs, but it is felt among many of the conservatives in our party. We have been betrayed by John McCain enough. For us, a victory this Fall is not nearly as important as adhering to the principles that once made the republican party great.
Newt Gingrich has set forth a plan to win the majority back by following some simple conservative principles. To the Republican moderates some of these ideas may sound radical, but they are all winning solutions backed by a majority of Americans and transcend party lines. His ideas represent what real Americans believe and a majority of the nation support, like make English the official language, close the border and put an end to illegal immigration, and there are many others, all of which John McCain does not embody.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. I hope you do indeed consider the ramifications of seeking power over principle. In the end, if you only go for the power and forget the principles for which we represent, you will have no power.
One more from Vietnam veteran Russ Vaughn:
Up front, as a Vietnam veteran, I will readily concede that I respect John McCain for his service to his country, first as a naval aviator and POW in Vietnam, then for his long years in our national Congress. I even will admit to the fact that I somewhat admire McCain’s desire to effect some sort of political reconciliation with the Democrat party. That being said, I must also make it very clear that I do not support certain decisions McCain has chosen on his pathways to political advancement.
Now that the Senator has won primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina and the network pundits are proclaiming he may well be the Republican “Comeback Kid,” I am reminded of an old Army joke about a platoon sergeant faced with the prospect of breaking the terrible news to one of his young charges, Private Jones, that the soldier’s mother has just passed away. The sergeant calls his platoon into formation and barks out the order, “All of you with living mothers take one step forward.” Then after a momentary pause, he mutters, “Not so fast there, Jones.” That’s my take as a veteran and a conservative Republican on this new political development: “Not so fast there, McCain.”
My first and biggest beef with John McCain is that when a very brave group of Vietnam veterans who had served with John Kerry stood up to say that Kerry’s self-serving portrayal of his war record was patently false, that his blanket charges of war crimes against them were absurd, and that his testimony in Congress was used by the North Vietnamese to further torture McCain’s fellow POW’s, Senator McCain airily dismissed these courageous men and sided with his Senate pal. Playing conciliator in the national media, McCain despicably denounced the Swift boat veterans’ ad as dishonest and dishonorable, hinting that they were pawns of George Bush and the Republican right.
Like all the leftists in the MSM, John McCain never gave these true American heroes even the least opportunity to defend their claims. As a veteran who had suffered more than most to defend our constitutional right of free speech, McCain inexplicably used his powerful office and national presence to ally himself with the repressive forces of mainstream media to suppress that right to men who had risked their lives in combat to preserve it. It was one of the bitterest betrayals the Swift boat vets and the millions of us Vietnam veterans supporting them would have to endure. We expected treachery from the MSM and Kerry’s campaign, but not from John McCain.
What I can never reconcile in my mind, my heart or my soul, is how this naval aviator, POW and true war hero, could so easily turn his back on his fellow sailors, combat veterans all. In the name of political expediency, and a sorely misguided attempt to lay to rest all the troubled ghosts of Vietnam that his treasonous Senate colleague was primarily responsible for creating, John McCain turned his back on the true heroes and sided with a phony vet with phony medals and a suspect discharge.
Never mind that I disagree with McCain on immigration, taxes and his unconstitutional McCain-Feingold bill; that’s all merely politics and has nothing to do with honor and loyalty to those who served bravely alongside you in combat. Nope, that’s not the issue. But I’m putting the Senator on notice right now; if you should somehow get the Republican nomination, you are gambling with the votes of millions of veterans like me unless you repudiate your reprehensible siding with the traitorous, treasonous John Kerry. I have never stayed home on Election Day in protest of a distasteful candidate, but this could be the first time for me and many Vietnam vets, again turning our backs on a fellow vet who turned his first.
The Senator should read the excellent recounting of how a determined few veterans, whom he disgracefully defamed, defeated his old buddy, John Kerry, in the 2004 campaign. In ‘To Set the Record Straight,” authors Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler, lay it out, page by page, what the concerted efforts of a few honorable patriots with an unrelenting resolve can accomplish in the arena of national politics.
Like the old platoon sergeant, I would caution, “Not so fast there, McCain!”
Russ Vaughn
Vietnam 65-66
Bryan Preston has some good suggestions for both McCain and the Right:
The GOP could do worse than nominate a bona fide war hero for the presidency, even while he presents serious problems on many issues. Our party at least takes national security very seriously and votes on it as a priority, something that can’t be honestly said of the Democrats. And for all his maverickness, McCain does vote conservative about 80% of the time. That fact gets lost in his high-profile betrayals of conservatives and conservative principles, and the existence of legislation called “McCain-Feingold” and “McCain-Kennedy.” He needs to work on something called “McCain-DeMint” or “McCain-Hunter.” Some sort of earmark-slashing tax cut package would be nice…
…Hope and courage are two things in short supply these days. If you have either one, and especially if you have any amount of both, use them.
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Categories: John McCain
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On January 30th, 2008 at 3:20 pm, Archon said:
#294, Mister P
I would rather see that military on the border.
I’m going to have to disagree with you here. American troops do not belong on the border. This is not East Germany. That is what we have a Border patrol for.
The military would not be keeping the citizens from leaving as in East Germany. It would be stopping an invasion by a foriegn country.
I had 2 brothers who served there, MrP.
What age were you when Uncle Sam “invited” you to serve?
Wait for Super Tuesday first, Befor we all fight about Mc cain.
It is too bad that we have not taken Thomas Jefferson’s advice when he wrote to Madison. Boy, does it apply to the degeneracy of our Republic today:
“I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.”
We have reached the point where our leaders no longer care what the electorate wants and is past time Americans wake up and take our nation back from the thieves that now occupy the highest offices in our land.
Kam,
Your last paragraph makes sense.
This is a post 9/11 world.
McCain is no Hillary…not even close.
Repsectfully,
eric aka the Tygrrrr Express
Kam – you make a reasoned argument but i’m not persuaded. National Security begins at home on our border and at our ports. I don’t believe McCain will deal with that properly or differently than any dimocrat.
McCain rejects us – he insists we are going to do it his way. I’m not going to be a part of giving him the pleasure.
We may lose a little ground over the next 4 years but the dimocrats disasters will catapult us to a greater victory.
Anyway, if we’re lucky we’ll see a real slap-down tonight and Mitt will ride the wave. Let’s see.
I was 21 and just graduated from college. My lottery number was 80
You mean like stopping the North Koreans from invading the US, by being on the border of South Korea?
This is why it is Republican presidents who can get away with doing the dirty work. This gives us Shamnesty, No Child Left Behind, Large Deficits, War in the MidEast and the huge increase in Medicare (drug program). The Republicans would be screaming if a democratic tried the same thing.
We do have a little ways to go yet. Let’s see what the Convention brings, before we all desert. Surprises have come out of conventions, so let’s have some patience. Oh, and in a late reply, the Republicans weren’t really a 3rd party. The Whig party was effectively dead, and only the Democrats had any control. Lincoln won simply because the Democrats split in their candidates.
mlnicosia,
First, I fear we will lose much more than “a little ground” over the next four years if a democrat becomes president with a democrat majority in Congress. And there is NO assurance that a democrat president will result in a “greater victory” for conservatives four years down the line.
I realize McCain ridicules and disrespects conservatives and vice-versa. That can and probably will continue should McCain become president. There’s nothing keeping us conservatives from making it clear that our vote for McCain is nothing more than a choice among evils–a choice made for a single reason, national security.
I agree that open borders does not enhance security and cannot understand why McCain and Bush favor amnesty. However, as we have seen with Bush, it is possible to advocate amnesty and still vigorously prosecute the fight in Iraq and in other places.
McCain is, as I have said, mean, nasty, crazy and disdainful of conservatives. He really hacks me off.
But when compared to any democrat, he is far superior on a single issue, a most important issue, and that is the war against the islamic terrorists.
And that’s the only reason I would vote for the nutjob.
Kam has spent alot of time here making an outstanding arguement to vote for Sheriff Open Boarders and some people seem so entrenched in an ideological conervative fantasy world I cannot believe it.
FIRST: ROMNEY IS EVERRYONE’S BEST BET. Let’s put that one to bed.
On the issue of McCain, not voting, etc, this is so simple a 5-year-old can get it, why can’t you?
MCCAIN IS BETTER THAN HILLARY.
Let’s cut to the chase: what is it about “duh” that you don’t understand?
All this hot windage about flushing the GOP and America, and not voting for a RINO may be good venting, but if you actually have decided to act on those words, you’re crazy.
Tell me, do you think think you’re socio-political analytical accumen is so outstanding that you can predict the kind of complexity you’re putting forth when you say that Hillary will somehow be better than McCain foir the GOP, or are you just “mind numbed robots” repeating Rush Limbaugh’s evermore insanely unrealistic self-aggrandizing pronouncements?
Sometimes the simple answer is the right one. Putting Hillary into office has negative results you can rely on. Don’t get too clever for your own good by over-analyzing out of your depths. The stakes are too high, the socio-political destruction too great, for that kind of know-it-all gamble.
I prefer McCain to Romney, and both of them to Huckabee, but once the nomination is settled we had better support the nominee.
Anyone thinking Hillary Clinton winning will help us in the long run is like saying we should cut off our arms and legs so we can learn to operate without them and become mentally stronger.
There are no moral victories.
There is governing, and being in the wilderness.
I would rather we govern.
Respectfully,
eric aka the Tygrrrr Express
For me, it comes down to just this; I would rather LOSE this election than be sold out by my own “side”. It hurts less, and allows us to move on with the fight, rather than remain stuck in the mud with “our guy”.
I’m glad George Bush was President during the 9-11 attacks. The Conservative movement is going to have to deal with the wreckage of his domestic “compassionate conservatism” for decades. Donut holes, huge expansion of the federal education machine, the Katrina cash giveaways, and the amnesty movement are going to ripple through this country for a long time, and none of it is beneficial.
A Hillary presidency might raise up the next Gingrich to fight her. A McCain presidency will only fracture and weaken the Republican party to the point that, in the end, there will be no one to counter the creep of liberalism/socialism in America.
Michelle, I haven’t read all the comments to this post, so I don’t know if anyone has suggested that another option for your poll is to write in a candidate of our choice. I will write in a conservative candidate. If a regional or national “movement” to write in a candidate arises, I will likely vote for that candidate. Otherwise, I will write in Fred.
I will never vote for McCain. I think he is a liar, and he is deal-maker with the leadership on both sides of the aisle…most of whom are interested ONLY in their own power.
Finally, he is a loser. Republicans who think nominating him because he is the only Republican that can beat Hillary (or Obama) don’t realize how much conservatives in the party disagree with him on the issues. His nomination will assure a landslide for the Dims.
I think you’re engaging in some shadowboxing there, MrCC.
Some folks just pass on a Hobson’s choice-like demand that they must eat either only the dog-crap sandwich or the cat-crap sandwich. But if other diners are otherwise inclined they have the right to chow down.
davidleerothmann,
I too feel betrayed by the Republican party. That’s because conservatives have been betrayed by that party. But it’s the only party capable of governing that conservatives have a chance to change and influence. We can’t change it before November obviously. So, for now, we’re apparently stuck with a RINO at the top of the ticket. And a mean, crazy one at that. But, let’s not provide the democrats with an opportunity to tear down all that has been built up since 1980. Believe me, if we stay home and thereby hand the election to a democrat president and Congress, the liberal wrecking ball will be swinging Day One! Higher taxes, amnesty, liberal judges, Fairness Doctrine, emaciated military, etc.
Hold McCain at arm’s length. You don’t have to make him “your guy.” Just make it clear he’s getting your vote for one reason, and one reason only: To kill as many islamic terrorists as possible and keep our military strong. This I think he will do. The democrats will not.
It seems based upon Michelle’s poll thus far, that Republicans have a real problem in nominating Senator McCain. Unless Senator McCain can convince Republican conservatives to vote for him, the GOP is at a significant disadvantage against either Democrat.
There is likely to be a proportion of Republican voters which will never vote for Senator McCain. They will watch the country deteriorate rather than compromise their convictions.
If this is true, America is in for a harsh reality check, with the citizens lives perhaps at greater risk, given the Democratic candidates general timidity in defending the country.
Ms. Malkin’s poll is not a representative sample of the GOP at large.
The GOP at large has a healthy plurality that are fine with McCain. The candidate that seems to best represent the illegal immigration issue that many on this site are passionate about was Tom Tancredo, and he was an asterisk.
Respectfully,
eric aka the Tygrrrr Express
By voting for McCain, you are not compromising your convictions.
My vote for him, if he is the nominee, does not mean I favor amnesty, McCain-Feingold, or nasty verbal assaults on critical conservatives. It simply means I think he will do a better job defending our nation than any democrat.
I’m not about to lay out this election and signal to the terrorists that this nation is soft. That is a recipe for disaster.
Just hold your nose, and vote for the nutjob.
#316:
On January 30th, 2008 at 5:32 pm, kam said:
“Just make it clear he’s getting your vote for one reason, and one reason only: To kill as many islamic terrorists as possible and keep our military strong. This I think he will do. The democrats will not.”
I have gradually made up mind, after going back and forth, back and forth,….
I hope Romney is the nominee.
But, if McCain is the nominee, I’ve finally decided that I will have to vote for him, ONLY to keep the even worse leftists/socialists out of the Presidency.
There are several hypothetical situations/speculations about which we have little sure information on which to base our educated guesses.
However:
There is no doubt in my mind that any leftist/socialist (what Dems actually are, after all) would be a disaster for our country.
Period.
McCain might be horrid, but the socialists would be worse.
Period.
Yes, the socialists, if in power, could have the blame for a horrible situation laid more clearly laid at their feet.
So what?
It is somewhat of a leap of faith to speculate:
that a disastrous socialist Presidency would lead to a Republican/conservative strengthening and ascendancy in 2012; and
that whatever mess the socialists made could be fixed,; or
that the mess would not have long-lasting, horrible, destructive effects on our country and the world; and
that McCain would be just as bad as the socialists; he might be a little better than the socialists…hell, he might even be a bit more than a little better…we just don’t know for sure right now.
I really don’t think a new political party is going to organize before the election, with a platform and a nominee that polls show knocks the hell out of the socialist and Republican nominees combined.
Which is the only situation, I’ve come to realize, in which it would make sense to vote for a third-party candidate.
Principles aren’t very helpful if you get blown up, your family is enslaved, and your neighbor’s throat gets slit.
To paraphrase an expression I somewhat overuse:
We cannot – cannot – afford to let the perfect be the enemy of the good (or, in this case, of the not quite so bad).
The stakes are too high – in fact, they are existential.
The world situation, and our situation, will certainly be worse, and far less safe, if a socialist wins the Presidency this November.
Considering these multiple variables logically and coldly leads me to the conclusion that, if McCain is the Republican nominee (again, absent a third-party conservative that polls show winning walking away from the other two), the best choice would be to vote, albeit reluctantly, for McCain.
McCain is a Grade “A” lying sleazeball. I can not bring myself to even look at him on T.V. He speaks with a forked tongue while he is pulling the knife out of our backs. I’ll vote for some third party wacko, even if Obama might win because of it. He can not be trusted to be America’s President. Obama or Hillary in’08; I am going to be ill.
As I expected, Michael Medved has become absolutely unhinged with his McCain man-crush. He makes Hugh Hewitt’s Romney man-crush look positively tame. He is attacking Romney for being mean, negative, dishonorable, ungracious in defeat, and murdering kittens. (OK, I made that last one up.) Um, Mike, you’re describing your beloved McCain. Projection: It’s not just for liberals anymore.
He snarled on his radio show daring caller to ring him up and name one idea Romney has that is better than what McCain is offering. Um, perhaps immigration, Mike?
I’m not surprised the clueless Medved is with McCain. Go ahead nominate McCain don’t be surprised when he loses though, the media are not your friends. After they get through hammering his negatives people will say what the heck why not Hillary. Osama will never be pres and not because of racism either. Because of his relationship with blacks who don’t like whites, islamists, African dictators, he sealed his fate through the company he has kept. He is the beatlemania candidate but most of us although we might like the beatles are not beatlemaniacs and certainly would not elect one of them as pres. If and when we elect a black for pres we owe it to ourselves to select one for all our people. I find it all sickeningly amusing, the rules don’t apply, as usual, independents voting I’m shocked. I wonder if my vote will be canceled out by a rule breaking independent on Tuesday? Just wonderin.
Opps Obama. Dang it, channeling uncle ted again.
I wonder if the Vonage ad showing how cheap it is to call Mexico is a joke. I mean it’s right next to the story on Senator Amnesty, I mean McCain.
McCain needs to STOP filibustering! STOP STOP STOP
What a hog…
I have yet to hear anyone mention the fact that there was a nearly successful recall effort in Arizona against John McCain. Even the citizens of Arizona recognize what he is and did not want him
I am watching this. John McCain is an absolute ass, and this in NO DEBATE. It is CRAP run by liberal idiots interested in debasing our Republican Candidates….McCain is going on and on about how he is an evolved human being….
Ron Paul is the only one that speaks of Constitutional issue and relevancies…
That’s pathetic.
Romney is forced to sing back the same song McCain is singing which is garbage and bragging…
How odious!!!
I am DISGUSTED. I see that Libs and Dems having hi-jacked this entire process from the get-go including Independents deciding who will be the Republican Candidate!!!
That’s it!
I’m done here.
Wait a minute. I wanna say it. I hate McCain’s neck. It creeps me out.
there.
Wonderful.
Ahhnold just endorsed McCan’t and the CNN goons are hyperventilating about how McCan’t is picking up momentum.
If McCain wins the nomination, I will not vote for him in the general election. And I encourage other conservatives not to vote for him as well.
When one considers all the “conservative legislation” that has succeeded over the past 8 years (very little), what reason is there to believe that liberals would be any more successful with a Democrat in the White House?
Republicans simply need to learn how to obstruct legislation as well as the Democrats have.
Then they need to nominate a conservative in 2012.
Here’s the deal. 27 years ago, the GOP country club establishment got behind Ronald Reagan, a man they once tried to run out of the party for his “radical” Goldwater views, because they had no other choice if they wanted to get rid of Jimmy Carter. Ever since then the Checker Pants crowd pretended to be conservatives because they had to in order to win most elections. When left to their devices, many of them were Democrat-Lites, getting by at election time by repeating what we wanted to hear and pointing out they were nevertheless better than their Dem opponents. And for the most part, they were right.
Now, the GOP establishment thinks it’s going to sail into the White House without conservative help and because of that, they’re just going to give us the finger. What do they need us for when they think they’re going to get Independents and Democrats to take our place?
Normally, I’d say, “Oh well, McCain is still > Hillary or Obama.” But the recent revelation that he’s got Juan Hernandez working for him and that George Soros is involved is a deal breaker for me. Do you realize that if McCain is the GOP nominee, George Soros will control the White House no matter who wins? That’s scary.
Will someone please tell “Maverick” that his ego is writing checks that this country can’t cash?
What is that thing in McCain’s cheek? Could it be an infected bile gland?
I have voted Republican in every Presidential election since 1952.
I would not vote for Hillary or Obama at gunpoint but McCain is the Republican nominee I will sit this one out
I”m really tired of hearing, “McCain is the only one who can beat the Dems”. The guy will have a senior moment, or moments, both during the campaign, and especially during the debates. Even if he wasn’t hopelessly liberal, he could still be easily beaten by Hill or Obama, and the MSM knows this and is pushing McCain with everything they got. IMO Romney would tear Hillary or Obama apart in a debate, and ultimately would have a far better chance of winning the election than McKennedy.
I guess I will be a “McCain Deranged” Non voter… he still won’t get my vote (no matter how many names the neo-cons and fake conservatives whip up). No thank you. I like my enemies in front of me, not stabbing me in the back (a la McCain)
If I wanted to vote for a pro-Victory democrat, I might consider McCain; however I am not voting for a democrat. I am here to vote for a Republican.
Can’t Republicans see that McCain is not the candidate to save them from Hillary, but rather to insure at least four years of Billary?
Sorry kids…as most of you who have read my comments now for the last few months since Michelle and the site guys were so gracious to allow me to post my stuff and nonsense here know, I am about as Conservative as they come. I believe incredibly strongly…about as strongly as anyone can in the family, in anti-crime, in the destruction of criminals, in the destruction of abusers to the Welfare System, the Worker”s Compensation System…
I believe that there is no excuse at all that can justify allowing ILLEGAL immigration, that we can function just fine as a country and economy would every last one of them be rounded up and shipped back to their country of origin and the fact that Liberals claim our economy would collapse and the ILLEGAL immigrants are here only to do the jobs real Americans won’t is nothing more than more Liberal lies to justify the erosion of our soveriegnty in order for Liberalism to spread and get them a wider voting base. I believe we should not only build the fence, but make it 20′ high, 20′ deep, mined and with armed machine-gunned towers every 50 yards.
I believe that the single biggest problem facing this country is the spread of Islamism, the very nature of which means that all who oppose them lends themselves to death, slavery or destruction of verious sorts. I believe that Islam will stop at nothing until it meets it’s 1400+ year stated goal of Global Domination and, thanks to the Internet, the Global Economy and other recent factors and advaces of the last 40 or so years, Islam can finally move on what they have tried to accomplish for centuries and what the Muslim Brotherhood vowed to accomplish in our lifetime only a few short decades ago…and the only ones who have taken them seriously at all have been Conservative Republicans and NOT and Democrat or Liberal of any nature what-so-ever.
I believe that the Democrats have seriously, and dangerously lost their way and sold their souls out to their fringe groups. For the want of a few votes and the want of some needed cash during an election cycle where they had a candidate that had the personality of a wet dish rag, they sold their souls in order to pump some life into their candidate and party, allowing that faction to take over a truly formidible party and once proud and honorable political force. What happened in such a short time can only be described as a bloodless coup, where the DNC has become entwined with truly evil and insane people that they are trying to get away from, and cannot. The danger there is, that the DNC is now about to break out, utilyzing two very historic candidates to do so…where either one of them will put their party over and above the top for quite some time to come.
People in this country have a bad habit of NOT voting conscience. They want to latch on to a winner. What they will see, is that “This is the ‘First Black President in the History of the United States just 142 years after the end of the Civil War, and 40 years after the death of Martin Luther King” People are going to want to jump on that bandwagon to say they were a part of it. They were a part of that history, whether they like him, they believe in him, they know what he is about or not. The vast unwashed masses don’t care about his politics or know who he is…they just watch and hear snippits on TV
The same is with Hill-Dawg. “This is the ‘first Woman President in the united States History in less than 100 years since the 19th Ammendment allowed women to vote”. Once they start that noise, people will want to jump on that band wagon.
I, for one, find my beliefs, my core beliefs, far too imprtant to compromise. Once the Media begins their racist and sexist trumpeting as above…”First Black” or “First Woman” as if any of that should have anything to do with anything, we are going to really have a fight. I refuse to put the security of my family, the woman I love, my children that matter to me more than life itself, to either of those two people.
The Democrats may have once been a great party. Why, they may have been what we are now…but that was a long time ago. they are wrong on crime, wrong on the war. They do not believe there is a problem in the wrold, they view Islam as peaceful and us as the problem. They allow criminals out of prison and claim child molesters can be cured. They want to take away your hard earned money and give it to lazy, shiftless, thankless people who feel they deserve it…”For the greater good”. They will blatantly lie, cheat and steal everything you own, and tell you it is for the good of everyone else, and make you ask them for more.
Well I am sorry to disappoint my fellow Conservatives.
If it is a choice between McCain and ANYONE on the Democrat side, I refuse to sit at home and allow them to take away my rights, my freedoms and hand the keys of this country, the safety of my family, my loved ones over to the enemies of this country.
I will go to the polls in November, and I will vote for WHOEVER the Republican candidate is. There is far more at stake here than Ideological pride. If you think for one minute that what is going on in the world and this country can wait and last until 2012 for the POSSIBILITY that we MIGHT win then, well then I would hate to see what you are like in Reno or Vegas, because you have a serious gambling problem.
There is far too much at stake…far too much to lose to EVER have any Democrat…a Socialist with a (D) after their name, sitting in the Oval Office….especially while we are at war, while they are promising to have as their first order of business, the surrender of our troops and country to our enemies.
They say “Pride goes before the fall” and those of you saying you will stay home, not vote and allow them to win, definately are proving that to be true.
And I dare ANYONE here, to call me a RINO or CINO.
Latest results …
If it’s McCain vs. Hillary in November:
Selection Votes
I will vote for McCain. 28% 244
I will vote for Hillary. 6% 56
I will stay home. 36% 321
I don’t know. 30% 260
881 votes total
I guess McCain and Hilary have yet another thing in common. High unfavorability ratings.
Watch the original “Manchurian Candidate” with Frank Sinatra. Substitute North Vietnam for Manchuria and McCain IS Sinatra. McCain is delusional to the point of believing himself to be some great historical figure. In fact, he is a very ordinary guy who got his mind scrambled by an unscrupulous enemy. Should he get the nomination there will be nowhere for many of us to go. Maybe Ann Coulter is right. Vote for Hillary and buckle up for a wild ride to calamity.