as if there isn't plenty more to hate him for....
Posted on 06/23/2006 7:28:48 PM PDT by wagglebee
Republicans intent on safeguarding power in Washington have drifted from the values of the Reagan presidency and ushered in an era of reckless spending and government growth that threatens to drive them from office, U.S. Sen. John McCain said in prepared remarks Friday.
"Why has our party, the party of small government, lately adopted the practices of our opponents who believe the bigger the government the better? I'm afraid it's because at times we value our incumbency more than our principles," the Arizona Republican said in a speech to be delivered at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
"We came to office to reduce the size of government. Lately, we have increased the size of government in order to stay in office," McCain said. "Soon, if we don't remember what we were elected to do, we will lose both our principles and our office and we will leave as part of our legacy a mountain of debt and bankrupt entitlement programs that our children's grandchildren will be suffering from."
McCain, a likely contender for his party's 2008 presidential nomination, was scheduled to address a sold-out audience at the hilltop library where Reagan is buried.
With President Bush's popularity at a historic low, McCain's remarks come as another warning from within the Republican ranks that the party is in danger as the November elections approach.
Alluding to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, McCain said, "The best and only lasting answer to the problem of political corruption is a smaller government."
Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to federal crimes in Washington and Miami, was a leading lobbyists who cultivated top Republican leaders, including former Majority Leader Tom Delay, who left Congress and is facing campaign money laundering charges. Earlier this week, a jury found former White House aide David Safavian guilty of covering up his dealings with the disgraced lobbyist.
McCain went on to deride his party for the explosive growth in the practice of "earmarking," in which House and Senate members steer federal spending to pet programs without review.
The number of earmarks tripled during a 10-year stretch of Republican control in Congress, "not a record Ronald Reagan would have been proud of," McCain said.
"We need to stop this, now," he said.
McCain's visit to the library comes at a time when critics have suggested he is shifting to the political right in advance of the 2008 Republican presidential primaries, in which conservatives hold great sway. He supports the Iraq war, but has criticized Bush's handling of it. In February he voted to extend Bush's tax cuts on dividends and capital gains, which he once had opposed.
In his remarks, he called himself a Reagan disciple.
In a rare reference to his days as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, McCain said he learned from other imprisoned military personnel that Reagan, then governor of California, and his wife Nancy "were committed to our liberation and our cause.
"When walls were all I had for a world, I learned about a man whose courage and love gave me hope in a desolate place. His faith honored us," McCain said. At a time when America was divided by Vietnam and torn by social upheaval, Reagan "possessed an unshakable faith in America's spirit and greatness that proved more durable than the prevailing political sentiments of the time," he added.
"The best and only lasting answer to the problem of political corruption is a smaller government."
I agree 100% with that statement.
I only wish I could believe McCain did, too.
McCain has been in the Senate a long time. How come he waits till now to be conservative?
Pot. Kettle. Black.
Congress and the President have both overspent, true. But few are the elected politicians at the Federal level who would actually vote to keep the Federal government within the proper bounds of the Constitution--and McCain is certainly not one such.
McCain is a bore.
He was speaking at the Reagan Library -- it was an act.
I don't care WHAT he says now...his record speaks for itself. The man will NEVER be president, if we all ban together during the 2008 primary season!
Go home wacky rino.
He doesn't mean a word of it!
A great conflict was about to come off between the Birds and the Beasts. When the two armies were collected together the Bat hesitated which to join. The Birds that passed his perch said: "Come with us"; but he said: "I am a Beast."
Later on, some Beasts who were passing underneath him looked up and said: "Come with us"; but he said: "I am a Bird."
Luckily at the last moment peace was made, and no battle took place, so the Bat came to the Birds and wished to join in the rejoicings, but they all turned against him and he had to fly away. He then went to the Beasts, but soon had to beat a retreat, or else they would have torn him to pieces. "Ah," said the Bat, "I see now, "He that is neither one thing nor the other has no friends."
as if there isn't plenty more to hate him for....
Pot calls kettle black
Who is that with him, I can't tell?
I hope, for your sake, you mean McQueeg. ;^)
McCain and Spector need to hold hands and jump --- off the top of the Capitol Building. Which is almost 300 feet high. That ought to do the trick.
Sometimes he says the right things but there is too much water under the bridge as far as he is concerned. Yes, smaller government, too many earmarks. Shout it from the rooftops but don't expect my vote because you do it.
Kremlinologists will remember the speech given by Josef Stalin as he sought to push contenders out of the way and assume Lenin's mantle.
Wagglebee: a wonderful parable, and a propos.
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