McCain’s Delicate Diplomatic Mission
It didn’t hurt John McCain during the Republican primary when he told Iowa voters to forget ethanol subsidies, or when he broke the news to Michigan voters that their auto industry jobs were not coming back. Just as it only boosted his reputation as the straightest talker in the Republican field when he turned down Florida Governor Charlie Crist on his catastrophic insurance fund, and told conservatives he still supported stem cell research, and admitted that he didn’t listen to Rush Limbaugh.
In spite of all of that, or perhaps because of it, he has wrapped up the nomination.
But he now finds himself in a new and foreign role: party leader and peacemaker. For the former navy cadet who finished nearly last in his class and first in demerits, and the senator who delighted in declaring that he would never win a “Miss Congeniality” award from his colleagues, this is new turf indeed.
The old John McCain might have told Mike Huckabee to get lost, and in no uncertain terms. The new John McCain professes “respect” for his foe and disclaims any intention to chase him out of the race.
It’s also easy to imagine Mr. McCain, in times gone by, telling Senator Rick Santorum, who vilified him during the race and still insists that the “conservative jury is out,” that no one much cares about the opinions of a politician who lost his last race by almost 20 points. Instead, Mr. McCain has engaged his critics, visiting with Senate and House Republicans to seek their endorsements and pledging to work with them toward common goals.
Though he may only be doing so out of long-term necessity, Mr. McCain has listened to the demands of aggrieved conservatives for certain vice presidential picks and “pledges” on border security and tax cuts, and has indicated to them, at least, that they will have a seat at table when the time comes.
He has even resisted the urge to return fire from Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, who endorsed Mr. Huckabee and lambasted Mr. McCain for supporting stem cell research. Instead, Mr. McCain graciously accepted the endorsement of Christian conservative Gary Bauer, who he lauded as “a forceful, unapologetic advocate for the sanctity of life and traditional marriage.”
And even as Mr. McCain has shown restraint, he has so far managed to avoid the sorts of substantive compromises with his critics that would cost him his hard-earned reputation as an independent operator. He didn’t win the nomination by taking the political advice of his party’s most strident conservative voices, and he is not about to lose a general election before the race has begun by following them over a political cliff.
But there’s the tricky part. A one-sided truce won’t do him much good in a general election. Mr. McCain’s conservative critics are busy compiling wish lists as the condition to their full-throated support for the G.O.P. nominee. They certainly don’t want any more talk of “cap-and-trade” emission policy or support for stem cell research. They are still looking to extract an iron-clad promise on border security (in lieu of comprehensive immigration reform). And they have a selection of staunch social conservatives for the “shortlist” for vice president.
Mr. McCain has often taken personal delight in sticking his finger in the eye of the Republican establishment and its faithful followers. Now greater things are at stake than the satisfaction of skewering political rivals. In a presidential race he simply cannot afford a two-front war.
So he’s threading a political needle. To abandon his unorthodox (for a Republican) views on global warming, stem cell research and campaign finance reform would be to do perhaps irreparable damage to his greatest asset: his reputation as a man of integrity. But it’s hard to see how he can get through the next nine months simply ignoring his critics.
The few months ahead will be a test of whether he can retain both his newfound diplomatic skills and his political soul.
- Poll
- Obama (D)
- McCain(R)
- Spread
- RCP Average
- 46.9
- 43.3
- Obama +3.6
- Candidate
- Favorable
- Unfavorable
- Spread
- Obama
- 52.6
- 34.4
- +18.2
- McCain
- 51.2
- 34.2
- +17.0
Don't worry about bringing the base out to vote for McCain. All the machine has to do is warn Republican voters, and those with decent sensibilities, that you don't want Obama picking the next two Supreme Court justices; nothing will fire up the base like that warning.
Obamamania is like assimilation into the Star Trek Borg. The talk about "change," but the only change they seem to want is a return backward to appeasement, and bigger big government than we've heretofore ever seen. If the Conservative base doesn't get it, they deserve to be on the sidelines watching a government, so far out in left field (that it's in the left field bleachers) making Supreme Court nominations for the next twenty years. The obsession with McCain's occasional variations from right wing orthodoxy is an absurdity in the face of what's at risk here. The more the Right wing tries to box McCain in by forcing him to the right, they destroy his electability, and give us Obama.
If McCain doesn't take the "no citizenship for any illegals" pledge, I'm voting for Obama.
A good dose of artificial hope is just what these RINO's need.
Usually it's not worth debating irrational arguments, but just for a second think about what you implied in one sentence:
1) McCain has too moderate of an immigration stance,
2) I want him to have more conservative position,
3) He should promise to take that conservative position, and
4) If he does not, I will vote for a leftist candidate whose position on immigration is even further from my own.
Brilliant!
The behavior of some conservatives is totally mystifying. Is McCain a "perfect" conservative? No. Does he agree with most of a typical conservative agenda? Yes. Is he massively more conservative than Obama (whose Senate votes could have been mailed in by People for the American Way)? By a landslide. Failing to vote for McCain is equal to a vote for Obama. Do you really want to see what Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid can accomplish together in four years, with two or more Supreme Court vacancies to fill?
This is what is generally known as cutting off your nose to spite your face. You may not like McCain, and may not agree with him all the time, but think long and hard about the next four years if he doesn't win in November.
Huckabee would help McCain's (and the Republican Party)chances if he would bow out. It appears his reasons for staying in are self serving--perhaps to show he can come in second, which would be a hollow "victory," since he is no longer running against Romney. It is quite bizarre that he keeps making statements similar to, "It is significant to note that the only two candidates left standing are the two that have run a civil campaign." First of all, there is still a third man in the race (Paul) A more accurate statement would be, "There is one man still standing, and the other two are barely crawling." Another hypocritical aspect of Huckabee's statement is for him to say he has been running a civil campaign. After Romney endorsed McCain, Neil Cavutto asked his opinion on the matter, and Huckabee said, "At least if I was the one endorsing McCain, I wouldn't have to wear my acting shoes." I find it puzzling that he still feels he has to bash Romney who is no longer running--certainly not a civil statement to make, especially coming from a professed man of God.
My response to the GOP's fund raising letter...
I am a CONSERVATIVE who has lost any and all faith in the GOP to follow the Constitution and the principles of limited, fiscally responsible government. The last time the GOP had all three branches…YOU BLEW IT by spending worse than drunken sailors on shore leave and increasing the size and impact of the federal government.
I am tired of voting merely for the lesser of the two evils. Senator John McAmnesty certainly does NOT inspire me to support the GOP.
The “so called” GOP leadership wants conservative support during the election cycle…and then flips us the middle finger while governing like unprincipled moderate Democrats. Prime examples: the Medicare Drug fiasco and the “Comprehensive Immigration Bill.”
I will return to and financially support the GOP when the party:
* Establishes a new “contract” as to how the party will govern if it wins the majority. Give us 3-5 promises that “if returned to the majority we will accomplish these things.”
* Promises to balance the budget in the FIRST fiscal year they have control of the budget. Cut departments, programs, operations to make it happen.
* Promises to control the borders and actively enforce our immigration laws as they are written today. PERIOD. Send no-match letters from the Social Security Administration requiring employers to either fix the error or fire individuals without valid Social Security numbers. Impeach any liberal judge who holds up the process! Deprive illegals of EVERY tax payer funded service, by requiring proof of citizenship/legal status to attend schools, get welfare and food stamps, Medicaid, etc.
* Establishes a plan to reform entitlement spending to address the 53 Trillion dollar unfunded liability that will CRUSH our nation in the next 20 years if it is not forcefully and thoughtfully addressed now.
* Promises to reform our tax system with either a VERY SIMPLE flat tax (See Senator Shelby’s plan) or a “Fair Tax” system.
* Reforms our tax structure to make it hyper business friendly. Once the slogan of the U.S. was “The business of the United States is business.” Congress would do well to make that slogan a reality again by lowering the corporate tax to one of, if not THE lowest in the industrialized world, so jobs and capital flow back to the U.S.
We’ve been lied to and betrayed by the GOP. Conservatives are not going to be a cheap date again.
Give us a contract promising to govern like conservatives…and we may support you. If not… Good luck with President Obama and 60+ Democrat Senators.
The more I watch Senator McCain the happier I am that he's our nominee. He can beat Senator Obama (who appears likely to get the Dem nod at this stage). Unlike Obama, McCain has had meteoric rises - and falls - to teach him how to run a consistent campaign.
The Democratic exit polls also show that even white Democrats are slow to back him, as are older people which tells us that many people don't buy the big airy speeches which are a long-winded way of telling us nothing.
Wolfman, I don't understand your list of required promises if you claim to be a conservative.
First of all, McCain wants nothing more than to curtail the growth of government and the gross expansion of government spending. Do you not know that McCain voted AGAINST the medicare drug benefit program that the so-called "conservative" republicans enacted?
Why are you fixated on enforcing the current immigration laws as written, period? Do you not know that our current immigration laws are a bunch of populist/protectionist nonsense that were drafted by Teddy Kennedy back in the 60's at the urging of his Labor Union base?
Why is it so important to you to make the tax laws hyper business friendly, but not immigration laws. Right now immigration laws are hyper business UNfriendly, and all politicians, even McCain after all the pressure he is getting, are calling for punishing businesses with the immigration laws. It's not bad enough that American businesses must answer to the IRS, the EPA, OSHA, The Department of Labor, and a host of other federal and state agencies? You, "Mr. Conservative", want to add the Department of Homeland Security to the list of punitive regulators American businessmen have to endure? Thanks a lot.
While I understand your concern with the abuse of the welfare state, might I suggest you change your focus from immigrants (who are a small percentage of those who abuse it) to the real culprit: the welfare state itself. What we need to do is cut back the welfare state considerably. This fixation on immigrants is a distraction from that.
But I am right there with you on spending and taxes, pal. Your suggestions on those issues are exactly right.
It's about time for a Conservative Party.
The Republican mainstream has moved so far to the center that Rush, et. al., are getting isolated from them. John McCain embodies that movement. Those right wingers lost to the Conservative Party would be more than replaced by the millions of Independents that would gravitate into the new GOP.
No need to pander to the right, Senator, just be yourself. As a registered Independent, I'll vote for you.
I'm noticing an interesting dynamic in the Rasmussen polls. Obama is consistently beating McCain by 3-4 points; however, this lead is largely attributable to weak support from Republicans. McCain is only getting about 75% Republican support in these polls.
I think this is a positive sign because I don't think that conservatives will be able to keep their head in the sand about Barry for much longer. This guy's record is just to the left of Ted Kennedy and slightly to the right of Che Guevara.
If McCain can slowly but surely build his Republican support back to the high 80's / low 90's, he should be pretty formidable come November.
Barry is still the favorite (due to his biggest asset: the MSM), but I think McCain has a decent shot at this thing. I don't think any of the other Republican candidates would have had a snowball's chance of competing in any of the toss-up states.
For the most part, these are some of the best comments I've seen.
The fact is, Republican voters had a tremendous range of candidates to choose from and we chose McCain. We chose him, despite the whining of self-appointed leaders like Tom Delay,Rick Santorum and Rush Limbaugh.
Most of the complainers are more interested in losing their own personal influence, rather than what is best for the country.
You can be conservative and believe that special interests have too much influence over elections. You can be conservative and believe that the country needs a system that can both encourage hard-working immigrants to join this nation while protecting our borders. And certainly you can be conservative and believe that tax cuts without fiscal restraint will simply mortgage our children's future.
Right wingers will support Mccian in the end, even illegal- immigration zealots. Their blustery talk is dissipating and will continue to do so as they learn more and more about how proud team Obama is of their country.
Ultimately, this election may become an IQ test for the conservative movement. Their choice: a vote for a less-then-conservative John McCain, or a decision to stay-home-and-elect a very liberal Obama. McCain would appear to be the more centrist of the two. He's certainly more experienced, more aware of foreign affairs, more able to negotiate credibly with America's allies and enemies.
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But for McCain to win, he will need strong support from the traditional Christian / Conservative base -- a base with whom he strongly disagrees on not one, but many, issues. At the same time, Obama, by comparison, is outrageously liberal. So it would seem to be a slam-dunk for John. But it's not. Many conservatives make a point of telling the media that they will not vote for McCain, over some misguided form of "principle". When Obama is the other choice, that principle becomes no more than a clear expression of mindlessness.
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So, while John McCain will attempt to appease the conservative voter base, he can't ever be successful and keep the moderate and independent vote. Those moderates and independents who are essential for a McCain victory in November. In the end, it will be the collective IQ of the conservative movement, to either put aside their differences with McCain and select the candidate that is closest to their views, or protest the election by staying home, and as a result, find Barack Obama as President-elect the following day.
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Again, an IQ test for conservatives. For those who believe that most conservatives are second cousins to Neanderthals, this election may come as close as we can get to proof positive.
Jack Heismann
McCain can only appease the conservative base if he promises to not be John McCain. Promise to appoint judges who will over turn McCain Feingold--promise to make permanent the tax cuts he voted against--promise to confront global warming as the hoax it is---even though he and Lieberman sponsored legislation to deal with this hoax.
Not going to happen--and if it does, he will go back on his word. Conservatives, vote for Obama and reform the GOP for 2012.
I am a broken-glass Republican. But more important than that, I am a conservative. But first of all, I am an American patriot.
The patriot in me demands that I vote for who is best to lead the country, whether or not it is good for Republicans or conservatives. right now, there is much at stake and much to be lost in the battles we are waging if we put the wrong man in as CinC. To deny the vote to McCain out of pique that he's not conservative enough gets the priorities all wrong. Our national security is job #1. Obama will not do it - if we listened to Obama, we'd have lost the war in Iraq already.
The conservative in me also knows that the McCain is clearly more conservative than Obama. But on key issues McCain has crossed us and we dont want the double damnation of having bad policies and being the voting base that delivered the man who did it. We need a way forward. We conservatives will come home to McCain, but McCain needs to come home to us. Here is a tack that could help get McCain aligned with conservatives. McCain could say that he will make sure that he will not sign i.e. veto any bill that does not enjoy majority support among the Republicans in the Congress on immigration.
Whether McCain will do this or your good suggestion or not depends on if he'd like to lose to Obama or not.
Some conservatives make the mistake of thinking we will be better off just sitting it out until 2012. Let's have the audacity to hope for an actual conservative win here - McCain picks a conservative VP; he makes promises not to cross us and keeps them; and beats Obama and goes about fulfilling his promises to nominate Roberts/Alito judges, defeat terrorism, and keep govt taxation and spending down. MCCain's lifetime ACU rating is 80%, so its not like a night and day change, just a promise to return to his conservative roots.
"To abandon his unorthodox (for a Republican) views on global warming, stem cell research and campaign finance reform would be to do perhaps irreparable damage to his greatest asset: his reputation as a man of integrity."
He's already irreparably damaged his reputation as a man of integrity with the 70% nonservative part of the population by disavowing his principled and sensible opposition to Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts as fiscally irresponsible, economically counterproductive, improper in a time of war, and unfair. Also, by disavowing his opposition to torture, voting to approve CIA torture.
Poor McCain. No one likes him anymore. But that's what happens when overwhelming personal ambition and vainglory trump principle.
John McCain is who he is and that's that. I am a Conservative Republican who wanted another candidate, but when the best man wins, you congratulate him and get going. The whiney types pick up their marbles and sulk, endangering the country as a whole. It's time to buy the whole package, even if you don't like every little bit. S-T-F-U and say it now: "McCain for President, 2008."
Don't worry about bringing the base out to vote for McCain.
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If the Democrats were going to nominate Hillary, I wouldn't be at all concerned- barb wire and mines wouldn't keep the base away from polls with a Clinton on the ballot.
Unfortunately, the Democrats' prescription of stupid pills seems to have run out, and they appear to be nominating a young, charismatic, articulate candidate instead of building a bridge back to 1994.
It looks like McCain is going to have to work for it after all.
MC-CAIN TRANSFORMATION FROM PODHORETZ NEO-CON TO REAGAN CONSERVATIVE
McCain miraculously acquired expertise in macro-economics, to guide leading economist, Bernanke, in correct economic policy for avoiding recession and inflation; thanks to his puppeteer, Neo-Con trickster Charlie Black.
Watch closely for further miraculous signs of that McCain blooming intellect and born again morality in the months ahead on Christianity, Founding Fathers, and Constitution; as Black magically transforms him overnight from a Podhoretz Neo-Con into a true Reagan Conservative.
Black supposes that the vast trustful majority of American People are so easily tricked, that they will then flock to McCain, as their messiah president; but Black supposes erroneously, for while he is scheming and plotting, the Reagan Conservatives are moving to condemn McCain to the Republican firing squad, for his notorious record of insane treason against Christian morality and Constitutional Law.
MC-CAIN STRATEGY IN THE PRESIDENTIAL BATTLE OF THE AMERICAN CULTURAL WAR
McCain, with Neo-Lib Hillary now condemned to be burnt at the stake by the Kennedy Liberals, is the presidential candidate desperately supported by both the Podhoretz Neo-Cons and Leiberman Neo-Libs. His puppeteer, that shrewd political trickster Charlie Black, to compensate for insane McCain’s core values being notoriously subversive to traditional Reagan Conservatism and Kennedy Liberalism, shall presumably employ deceitful propaganda, in a suicidal attempt that will culminate with McCain being justly honored by a date with a Democrat and Republican firing squad.
This wonderful strategy will be to miraculously transform Neo-Con McCain into an acceptable Conservative, by hook and by crook. He has opposed the Republican attempt to lower taxes, supported child sacrifice abortion, rebuked and ridiculed Christian sects, suppressed freedom of speech on the internet, supported illegal immigration from Mexico, instigated the illegal sacrifice of the wealth and blood of the American People for the sole benefit of Israel, and has accomplished nothing noteworthy in his long, contentious, and divisive public career.
So the challenge will be to conceal his insane disloyalty to his Christian God, his Constitution, and his Republican Party by incessant propaganda portraying him as the most trustworthy and competent Conservative candidate. Endorsements by Judas ministers and turncoat Conservatives will be bought with campaign promises. Freedom of speech on the internet will be suppressed by continuous harassment. Slanderous attacks will be made against Obama’s religion, patriotism, and political philosophy. Anti-Semite baiting attacks will be made against selected religious and political groups within Obama’s broad spectrum of supporters. Political collusion among millions of Neo-Cons and Neo-Libs will be orchestrated by leading political commentators in the news and entertainment media.
But this strategy, based on the assumption that the majority of trustful Americans are sufficiently gullible, is rather foolish because leading Conservatives and Liberals have long recognized that their enemies in the American Cultural War are the Neo-Cons and Neo-Libs entrenched in the government, colleges, schools, and news and entertainment media. Their incessant subversion of traditional Christian culture and Constitutional government has been intensifying since the McCarthy Era, when politically defeated as Marxists they evolved into crypto-Marxists, Neo-Marxists known as the Neo- Conservatives and the Neo- Liberals, to resume their relentless ideological struggle to gain social and economic power over the America People.
Presently, it is in the noblest interests of the Reagan Conservatives and Kennedy Liberals to fight shoulder to shoulder in this great election presidential battle of the Cultural War for the defeat of Hillary and McCain, the expulsion of the Neo-Cons and Neo-Libs, and the patriotic reformation of their endangered traditional Christian culture and Constitutional government.
There are two strategies by which the Neo-Cons and Neo-Libs shall be defeated. The first is by a Holy Alliance, whereby both Reagan Conservatives and Kennedy Liberals vote for either Obama or Ron Paul. The second is by Kennedy Liberals voting for Obama; and Reagan Conservatives voting for Ron Paul, Huckabee, and Romney as their write-in candidates. The first strategy offers the additional benefit of quickly re-unifying Republicans and Democrats spiritually, under their shared love of Christian culture and Constitutional Law, against the insidious Neo-Cons and Neo-Libs who have so bitterly divided them.
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