Posted on 01/22/2009 2:13:10 PM PST by Bob J
There has been much talk of the 8 year BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) from the left but I think it's time we admitted there are DS's on the right and we have to look no further than our own backyard here at FR to find the most glaring example, McCain Derangement Syndrome.
McCain wasn't my preferred candidate. In fact, I'd have to go all the way back to Reagan to find my own preferred candidate victorious. But you never get everything you want in politics so many times you have to work with you got and make the best of it. Even if the candidate you supported doesn't get the nod at least you know you'll get some of what you want and on those issues that you disagree you'll at least have a seat at the table and an opportunity to change minds. If the opposing partys candidate wins you'll get almost nothing and a seat at the window looking in.
But the MDS people will have none of this. It's either political purity (THEIR political purity BTW) or nothing. Sometimes they remind me of petulant children threatening to hold their breath until they turn blue unless get what they want. Their virulent acrimony toward McCain is so intense that you couldn't post a thread or talk about McCains positions in an adult manner on FR without them descending on it like a plague of locusts, chanting their relevant but worn out jingoisms, attacking anyone with the temerity to desire a review of McCains +/- positions and poisoning any budding, rational discussion.
Their latest frenzy involves McCains support for closing Gitmo. Now to anyone with a shred of knowledge of McCains position on this it was not a surprise. He has always opposed some of the techniques employed at Gitmo and considering his war experiences at the Hanoi Hilton it was it really a surprise to any of us? Acting like child who just found a shiny new penny on the sidewalk they picked it up, stuffed it in their pockets and are parading around high fiving each other and telling everyone how "we told you so".
Really? Thanks for breaking news, Einstein.
But what I want to touch on here is the deeper ramifications of MDS and what it meant in this election. Bush lost by 7%, 53 to 46 (I believe). That means a 3.5% shift in the vote could have meant the GOP hanging on to the White House and the benefits associated with that, including but not limited to the nomination of Supreme Court Justices.
I saw the influence and impact the MDS group had here on FR and wonder how far that could be extended to the general voting public. The constant barage of anti McCain rhetoric, the calls for supporting a third party, staying home and not voting, not contributing to the GOP or ANY candidate that wasn't ideologically pure (again, by their own definition). How much effect did that have on the election? Was it enough to turn the balance in Obama's favor?
In my opinion it did. There is one thing we know for a certainty...it didn't help.
Generally to a man, the MDS people's hero is Ronald Reagan. But wasn't it RR's mantra to "speak no evil of a fellow republican"? These peoples main criticism of McCain is that he doesn't fall in line with central GOP/conservative orthodoxy and therefore should be opposed at all cost, going so far as calling for his defeat in the next election. But aren't these people engaging in the same actions for which they criticize McCain by not supporting the lawfully nominated and elected representative of the (entire) party for the Presidency?
Their, at best, inconsistent, and at worst sophist hypocrisy contributed to the/our GOP loss in this election and for that they should be called to the carpet at FR. Their jubilent mania associated with McCains announcement about Gitmo, the "I told you so's" and "There isn't a dimes difference between McCain and Obama" are not only intellectually vacuous but offensive considering their track record and hand in allowing the marxist community organizer into the most powerful office in the world.
I urge all FReepers to end your silence when it comes to the MDS people. Tell them what you think, how you feel and why you believe they were instrumental in allowing the greatest attack/defeat for the future of conservatism in the last 50 years.
If not on FR, where? If not you, whom?
Screw McQueeg and his little groin leeches.
McCain is history. Most here supported him against Obama, but McCain didn’t want to win this thing. He is now back to growel to the Democrats, which is the thing he does best.
Let’s forget him already, he’s done nationally and I doubt he’ll be Senator much longer.
And in order to 'speak no ill of a Republican', the person being spoken of would actually have to be a Republican.
McCain ain't.
L
Amen, can't top a perfect post!
I’m guilty. I have a right.
L
Most all of us got in line behind McCain during the election. He still lost. His conduct since then shows that he probably didn’t deserve the support he got then.
And I was one of those who managed to choke back my bile and vote for the SOB.
If you’re saying mccain is deranged, I fully agree. A deranged little turncoat pipsqueak.
Bush has 10 time the heart and class that McInsane has in his entire body. He WAS a great man and a hero, that time has long passed.
Please. Don’t!
I’m not a McCain basher and have tremendous respect for his record of public service. But...four issues that he continues to support and even champion really make it difficult to defend him, at least for me.
1) Campaign finance reform
2) Closing Gitmo and military tribunals
3) Opposition to so-called torture
4) Illegal immigration and “path to citizenship”
His record on these issues is disgusting.
I'm all for bashing ideology that makes us lose.
“And I was one of those who managed to choke back my bile and vote for the SOB.”
As one of the main characters in MDS for months and months, and AFTER you probably convinced hundreds or thousands to NOT vote for McCain and suspend any financial contributions, you’re attempt to whitewash your actions by claiming to have voted for McCain is not only infantile, but absurd.
People call this the stupid party and you are the poster child.
Her’s why we keep moving leftward toward bigger and more intrusive government no matter who wins: Democrats choose the least acceptable candidate that they can support while Republicans chose the least UNacceptable candidate.
And here we are being told that we should somehow be sweeter toward McCain. Count me out. Until Republicans go on the offense instead of only playing defense (at best) we are lost. Go radical or go home.
It needs to be done.
I held my nose and voted for his running mate, but everything his detractors said turned out to be true in spades. We need to ban his name here, so we can forget and move on.
Let’s start with zotting this thread
Huh? I don’t get it, attacking McCain when he acts like a liberal (which is a LOT) is somehow a defeat for Conservatism?
The general election is over, now is the time to start house-cleaning. Many (most?) of us bit our tongues and voted for McCain because either Palin or to vote against Bambi, but now, McCain isn’t running and the last election is proof we need to get back to our values. These are the times we do that.
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