McCain’s Straight Talk Not Nearly So Straight
I think died in the wool conservatives are not just upset with McCain for his liberal positions. It bothers them that a fawning media gives him such a pass. Hell, he’s the biggest flip-flopper in the race right now. And not a single journalist he schmoozes on his campaign bus takes him to task.
He may well succeed in fooling many voters who only tune in late and accept the headlines as true. But serious conservatives know that isn’t the case when it comes to McCain.
You’ll never hear any genuine straight talk on items such as this from John McCain. And I do believe the damage a McCain candidacy will do to any conservative coalition cannot be over-stated. Many conservatives are already fed up with the Republicans as it is. If he were to run against Hillary, that may or may not inspire enough to come out just to vote against her. I wouldn’t even bank on that. But even if it does, by the end of any term I doubt he can win under any circumstances, conservatives will have turned away from the Republicans, barring a complete overhaul, from which it will take the party years to recover. By then, America might all but be a European-looking, socialist state. The moderate, but mostly liberal wing of the Republican Party will have taken over and conservatives will need to find a place to go, or build one. You can watch McCain lie here just this morning on Fox News.
I want to hear from Senator McCain as a Republican primary voter his manmade global warming thoughts, his record, and what he intends to do to fix manmade global warming. I want to hear from Senator McCain on his opposition to tax cuts. I want to hear the domestic side, and I would hope that he would speak loudly and openly and honestly about his domestic record, not spin it, certainly not deny it, but give Republican voters in Florida some straight talk on the record. He can surround himself with the Schwarzkopf and the generals and so forth and the POW stuff, which we all admire and respect. But, you know, you owe it to the electorate to start talking honestly and openly about your complete public record rather than cherry-picking what you want to say to different audiences in different places. Talk about how proud you are of your service in the Senate, leading the Gang of 14, campaign finance reform, voting against two major tax cuts. Those tax cuts would help millions of businesses and employees, spurt economic growth. I would like to hear of your proud alliance with Ted Kennedy, John Edwards, Senator Lieberman on global warming, and others. I’m a Republican primary voter. I would like to hear some straight talk on those issues. Will I? "Don’t count on it, Limbaugh." As a voter, I can only ask. Well, I can only mention what it is that I would like to hear.
If only conservatives had gone after Delay and company like they go after Mccain…
“If only conservatives had gone after Delay and company like they go after Mccain…”
and what would happen then?
“Hell, he’s the biggest flip-flopper in the race right now.”
Coming from a Mittens supporter, that statement leaves me with big belly laughs. Thank you, Dan.
“— Many conservatives are already fed up with the Republicans as it is. If he were to run against Hillary, that may or may not inspire enough to come out just to vote against her. —”
If McCain is the GOP nominee come October… not only will I vote for the Democratic nominee, I will encourage others to do the same: only a rebirth by the fires of self-immolation does the conservative-minded Americans rise from the ashes of the GOP to reclaim America from the socialist hell that weak-minded “moderates”, RINOs, and the Democrats will put the Republic through.
The advice I have to adherents of either/both parties is the same I gave to kids when I was teaching them how to paddle a canoe: you waste time, effort, energy and every other resource you have available when you attempt to get from Point A to Point B through steering-by-carom.
Continually bouncing back and forth between the marginal ideologies of opposing entrenched -isms is no different than canoing down river by bouncing first off one riverbank and then the other. Yes, you’ll eventually get there … but you’ll be battered, bruised, worn out and **late**. You’ll have paddled twice as far as those who stuck to the middle and only dodged the few obstacles in the center. There are far more obstacles on the edges, and it takes longer to get there and back.
Moderation may be “weak-minded”, but it’s where progress is made. And, this being a constitutional democratic republic, it’s fairly settled that moderation is the appropriate calling of our politics.
Like it or don’t, the va-a-a-a-ast majority of Americans can, for example, put up with having a little bit of BOTH legal abortion as well as restrictions to same. The plank of both parties doesn’t even meet the belief structures of thier party’s majority, let alone the majority of the nation’s voters.
And that’s simply one issue.
The democrats are simply not credible on defense issues in general, current polling notwithstanding. The planless war plans based on “I’m not Dubya” are an infantile knee-jerk response to a hyperbolized “crisis” — which is supportible by almost every scrap of military doctrine known by the human race.
The republicans are grossly irrelevant on many of the social issues they claim are “moral capstones” to our society.
Both republicans and democrats will pick up more votes by moving center than they will lose by leaving their fringe-freaks behind. [And besides: where are they gonna go? Detroit?] I’m just curious which will move center first.
I’m betting on neither.
Any conservative who votes for McCain is a victim of battered wife syndrome- simple as that.
I really hope that Mr. 9.11 can win in Fla. 1 loser per state is just about perfect.
rofl this stuff is great. He’s going to be the nominee Dan, time to face facts.
“He’s going to be the nominee Dan, time to face facts.”
And it looks, at this point, that if he is, he’d beat either HClinton or “Barama”.
That’s just as much ‘fact’ as yours.
I support Romney until now. But i think Mcavain has to be stopped. Think about it: Rudy has macvain strengths without his weaknesses. Rudy is electable and a hero too. Rudy can deliver far more than what mcvain can. Support Rudy in florida!
Freaking politicians. I do care who is our next President, but if there is a higher power, please, please, please NO HILLARY!!!!! THE THOUGHT OF ANOTHER 4 YEARS OF THE CLINTONS IS ABSOLUTELY NAUSEATING!
Yes McCain is the wise choice from an electoral standpoint. However polls this far out from an election (10 months) are rarely good at accurate predictions. So no, it’s not the same kind of fact.
However in just a few weeks McCain will win California and NY, collecting tons of delegates. He probably won’t win FL, but it will be so close that the delegate difference will be minimal. You guys can probably thank Thompson and Giuliani for taking away enough votes from Romney to help McCain win.
Conservatives shouldn’t be unhappy. Picking Thompson or Romney would have been a huge electoral mistake. They both would lose in landslides in the general. Now maybe some of you wingers don’t mind the loss this year, what will all your unpalatable candidates. It is important to remember though, that a bad presidential candidate will have a damaging effect on down-ticket races. McCain, even if he loses will keep it close. And that means Republicans will hold on to a few more seats in Congress than they would have with a Romney or Thompson candidate.
“maybe some of you wingers don’t mind the loss this year, what will all your unpalatable candidates”
Who are you talking to? Republicans or democrats? It’s hard to tell from this.
WooHoo!! HOR wants to give us po’ folk $300.00 (whether we pay taxes or not) to stimulate the economy. Damn I wish I had stock in some breweries.
I would hope that more of us conservatives are dyed in the wool, rather than have died in it.
I keep hearing that we ought to vote for someone we (I) don’t like – McCain – rather than someone we (I) do – Romney – only because “he’s more likely to beat Clinton”. McCain has to many faults – not the least of which is the ill-thought-out McCain/Feingold campaign finance “reform” bill – the one that let Soros &c funnel millions into groups like MoveOn.org, EMILY’s List, &c. He obviously doesn’t think things through.
As for congressional seats, that’s where we need to concentrate. We’ll be the ones who elect them – or not, if we sit this one out. If we can get the House and/or Senate back, that will largely dampen the effect of a Democrat in the White House.
Oh is it really?
287322 Voted for Dems in NH primary
238548 Voted for Reps in NH primary
source: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2008/primaries/states/
It seems that America doesn’t feel that way. I think this is a fair comparison, battleground state, it mattered in both elections. We’ll see the turnout in SC too. Iowa we had a similar story with high Dem turnout vs mediocre Repub turnout. Harder to find the figures since they goofy way dems do it, but it seems it was ~240,000 for the dems and ~120,000 for the Republicans. Continue to track these numbers during the primaries and you will see a trend. It’s obvious that America is more excited about the Dem candidates than the Republicans, but that stands to reason.
Once again, another winger proven to be out of touch with America.
ROFL get the House and Senate back? Are you looney toons buddy?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2008
Look at this map of the senate. You guys are playing defense buddy. Instead of making ridiculous claims, why don’t you be more realistic. Your best hope is to break even in the Senate and House. If Dems control the same number of seat in 09 as right now, consider that a major electoral victory. What is going to happen though, is that Dems will gain seats in both houses. How many seats you lose is what your focus should be.
ZZ Mike; You make much sense. We all should vote for whomever we personally believe is the best choice for the country…not because he/she represents “our” party. It is inevitable that a Dem will be the next president and it is the repubs own fault. The whole party not just GW wasted the opportunity to groom a palatable candidate. The dems were sure that this would be a Clinton lock, but t’aint quite falling that way so automatically. You mention Soros (he isn’t rich cuz he’s a demonrat) I wonder how a 98% tax rate will affect him? Just curious, I know his money is off shore.
Don’t forget, LOL. We’re counting 24 Republican House drop-outs. That means 24 districts with no incumbent. This time in ’06, Republicans were looking at 13 empty seats to fill. And we all remember what happened in ’06.
George Allen won Virginia.
Republican Majority in ’08! Woo!
I seem to remember that Democratics controlled the Senate and the House when Clinton I was elected President. The First Witch in Waiting saw to it that the Democratics lost both the House and the Senate during the next two election cycles. I have little doubt that she, along with her helpers the nutroots(that’s you Islamboy, and LOL, and a few other goofs who post here like chris/HairyBob, etc.) will energize the Republican base, and fail to get the vast majority of her agenda approved. We’ll see.
As a diehard McCainiac(and conservative who supported W in’00) I would like to take the opportunity to defend Sen. McCain against some of the criticisms he’s received from conservatives:
-Bush tax cuts: True, he voted against both of them, but only because there were no spending cuts as well. Tax cuts do eventually increase revenues, but that is after people adjust their behavior to the lower rate. At first, they decrease revenue. McCain rightly pointed out that if something unforseen happened(like a terrorist attack), we’d be awash in red ink, which would cause deficits and force up interst rates, thus cutting off many positive effects of the cuts. Who thinks Jack Kemp would endorse someone who is opposed to tax cuts?
Gang of 14: McCain and others forged a compromise that avoided the ‘nuclear option’ favored by many cnservatives, which would end the Senate’s ability to filibuster judges. However, if(heaven forbid) a Dem is in the White House, and the Dems control the Senate(an all too real possibility!) McCain’s work here will look like the statesmanlike act it was when they try to put ACLU/trial lawyer types on the bench. Remember that McCain’s approach got many of Bush’s appointees onto the bench.
‘Climate Change’ and ANWAR: I don’t agree with these positions, but as far as ‘climate change’ goes, my main objection has always been that its proponents use it to rationalize gov’t regs and socialism. As long as any changes are market friendly, I can live with it. McCain opposes drilling in ANWAR because he is a conservationist, but he does recognize that our use of foreign oil is a National Security issue.
CFR: While I agree in principle that corrupting special-interst money should be regulated,I too oppose this because I feel the restrictions unfairly penalize the little guy while big donors can still circumvent the system. However, McCain’s willingness to stand up for this is commendable. Imagine if Tom Delay and others who criticize McCain now had done the same. They have done at least as much damage to our movement as this bill.
Immigration: This issue is extrememly divisive and complex. Conservatives are suspicious of comprehensive reform because it was tried in 1986 when Reagan signed a bill that gave amnesty to 3 million illegals and promised to secue the borders. The borders never got secured. The bill co-sponsored by McCain did say that the borders must be secured first, bt naturally people were skeptical. So McCain promised to secure the borders before even considering any other reforms, which is not inconsistent with his original approach. I support this.
John McCain has always been in favor of a strong military, the right to life, and a tireless crusader against government largesse and wasteful spending. Once upon a time, those used to be called ‘conservative’ positions. He championed the ‘surge’ in Iraq that is now winning the war there and saving the lives of our soldiers.
Ok, now who wants to defend the records of Huckabee, Guiliani, and(my favorite) Mitt(I saw the light on EVERY issue that polls tell me are important) Romney?
Yeah, that 80 year old ‘candidate’ of yours looks really ‘energized’. Incidentally, I’d rather have a witch than a drug-addled highway killer.
CC: The bill that Pres. Reagan signed in 1986 was supposed to give amnesty to an “estimated” 1.1 million illegals. The estimate, as always, was way too low. The number of persons applying for, and receiving, amnesty under the 1986 law was nearly 3 million, or twice the official estimate.
McCain and Kennedy’s amnesty bill last year would have given “Z” visas(granting the holder the legal right to remain in the U.S. indefinitely) to an “estimated” 12 to 20 million illegals (so the real number would be closer to 40 million, and those 40 million would have the right to bring their children and spouses here if they weren’t here already, so the final number would be closer to 60-70 million, or @ 20% of the current U.S. population). Under McCain’s bill, the “Z” visas were required to be granted to an applicant within 24-hours of receipt of the visa application. (It takes a minimum of 6 MONTHS to get an FBI fingerprint check completed on a U.S. citizen. You can imagine how much could be done to investigate the criminal background of an illegal alien in 24 HOURS). Gang members were eligible for the “Z” visas, so long as they signed an affidavit promising to commit no more crimes. “I promise I won’t be an evil, murdering thug gang member ever again, Senor McCain. You can trust me. Really.” Under McCain’s bill, illegal aliens who wanted to apply for U.S. citizenship after receiving their “Z” visas were entitled to cherry-pick 3 years, from however many years they had been living and working here illegally, and pay income taxes (with no accrued interest or penalties applied for the years of non-payment) for those 3 years only — a privilege that has never been available to any legal citizen of the U.S. The test for demonstrating English “proficiency” under McCain’s bill was this: write down 5 sentences in English. “I saw Jane run. Bill hit Sue. I like candy. Mike is funny. I voted for Juan McCain for President.” I could go on, and on and on, about the many other absolutely ludicrous provisions of the McCain amnesty bill, but you get the point. McCain’s amnesty bill was a joke — and the joke was on the American public. McCain literally spat in the face of those of us who believe that rewarding lawbreakers is bad public policy; and that citizenship in this great country is a privilege, and not a “right” that foreigners can break into our country and demand from us. You can try and rationalize McCain’s record all you want, but the fact that he co-authored this despicable amnesty bill with Ted Kennedy, tried to stifle debate about it, and then made his typical hostile and disparaging remarks to all the people (including most of his own AZ constituents) who disagreed with him, demonstrates that he is unfit to hold the office of U.S. President.
Even More Straight Talk
This is a old lefty hit on McCain, but it underscores the basic dishonesty of the guy. “Straight Talk” is merely code for “I will screw over the Republicans with relish and give them the ‘Straight Talk’ that they’re wrong…
“…than a drug-addled highway killer.”
I suggest you leave Ted Kennedy out of it.
As regards the Gang of 14 – McCain’s position assumes the Dems won’t act if needed to push Leftist judges onto the courts, especially the Supreme Court. Yeah, it’ll be great knowing McCain acted leaving so many lower courts empty when the Dems remove the filibuster and run rough shod all over the Republicans. McCain’s mistake, one of many, is that he thinks these people deal straight-forwardly. We have learned that isn’t true. In the end, McCain’s compromise will result in even more liberal judges on the lower courts and the Repubs in Congress will whine, but not be able to do anything about it. Thanks, St. John. He lost it after losing to Bush in 2000 and has never been the same since. He’s driven by petty emotion, more than by principle since then.
That’s why McCain endorsed Bush in 2004 right? Petty emotion?
Hmmmm… ok… if you are calling MITT a flip flopper… at least he didn’t say he was a straight talker like McCain and they lie about it. Notice Mitt does not lie… he just dodges and diverts like any good politician should. McCain lies.
Dems would love to see old fart McCain run against young gun Obama. We will certainly loose. OLD WASHINGTON INSIDER versus the agent of Change.
DONT VOTE FOR MCCAIN. He is NOT electable!
Vote for mitt and make the battle over economics. It is our only chance. We will lose if we use the WAR as our main issue.
Go MITT.