Posted on 01/20/2008 10:28:50 AM PST by vietvet67
With all due respect, this is absurd on many levels. If John McCain is nominated and loses, it is because he doesn’t appeal to enough Americans, including the base that he has repeatedly betrayed (as Thomas Sowell puts it) over a long period of time. The suggestion that McCain and McCain alone is capable of fighting this war, given his experience, seems to be the core of the concern. Let me suggest that VDH and others who make this claim are wrong.
McCain never treated Bill Cohen, Clinton’s defense secretary, with the kind of personal animus he showed Donald Rumsfeld. McCain often confuses policy with personality affronts. He was social friends with Cohen so he didn’t admonish him about his hollowing out of the military. His attacks on Rumsfeld started before his disagreement over the surge. Their personalities clashed. And as before, McCain wanted to get even. The fact that he was right on the surge, which has now evolved into mythical proportions with the help of his campaign and supporters, goes high on the credit side of the ledger.
You ask, in essence, that we ignore McCain’s leadership in the amnesty debate and his course reversal of recent months as he seeks votes. What does this tell us about the man? The bill he co-authored with Ted Kennedy (and which was foolishly supported by the current president) would have caused enormous economic and cultural dislocations. (VDH doesn’t need lectures from me on the subject, since he’s written eloquently on it.) As the Heritage Foundation and many others pointed out at the time, the McCain-led effort would have resulted in tens of millions of new illegal aliens coming to the country with the likelihood of eventually receiving citizenship;
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
Proamnesty-antiBushtaxcuts-proCO2caps-CFR-RINO John McCain delenda est!
McCain does not deserve a single conservative Republican vote.
Wouldn't the conservative base be better represented with a Democrat president who's at the table to better sell out his liberal base?
....a Democrat president who’s at the table to better sell out his liberal base?....
Or her liberal base.
Is VDH a registered Republican?
bttt
The GOP will never fix itself if someone like McCain can be elected. I want the GOP to fix itself, so McCain doesn’t get my vote. Not even against Hillary.
Proabortion-progayrights-antifamily-antitraditionalmarriage-RINOliberalcrossdresser- Rudy Giuliani delenda est!
McCain does not deserve a single conservative Republican vote.
_____________________________________
The problem is he is receiving plenty of them.
I’m not voting for Huckabee under any circumstances. I can hold my nose and vote for McCain if he fully embraces conservatism but the man of 1000 pardons can not be President.
I’m 100% behind Fred Thompson. We need to bring down Huckabee.
I’m personally thinking about a third party. I’m so fn tired of Republican light. We need to lead by conservative principles not liberal principles. We need to stop letting them set the rules of engagement. Huckabee, Romney, and McCain do not seem to understand that. There are ways to talk about the plight of the common man without resorting to class warfare. It is called leadership not entertainment. (I know some of you don’t seem to grasp the difference.)
If goes down to the wire and it's just him vs. Hillary, he's got my vote....but that's the ONLY way it can happen.
Or “their” liberal base—hah—the two headed monster.
That doesn’t mean he deserves them.
Has his medical history been adequately disclosed? If so, I’ve not seen or heard about it.
I can’t vote for either one.
McCain is as Republican as Hillary is.
McLame should be running for the DhimmiCrats, IMO. And, personally, I’m sick to death of the press playing up his POW status. As a veteran, myself, I have great respect for EVERYONE who serves, and EVERYONE who has served. But, service should not be construed as a lifetime pass on principles, morals, or pretending to higher office in government.
America needs a true conservative as President. And, whoever that may be will need a whole bunch of us ‘regular folks’ to help him/her get there. We need to be talking loud and long about smaller government, return to basic principles, recapturing our lost morality, and putting an end to the threats that face this grand experiment...mostly Islamofascism and secular progressivism (moral relativity, etc.).
It ain’t rocket science. It’s more like digging a ditch. We know where we are, and we know where we need to end up. Time to start digging; and it won’t be easy.
Mccain doesn’t get my vote for anything for any reason. He is so much like hilary that the women will vote for her,as they may as well. I can’t see any difference in the two.
Maybe the state of his health is a reason the msm is pushing him. He is so beatable.
McCain and Lieberman will make the media happy.
Furthermore, we all have a perfect example of what happens when we nominate and then elect a RHINO like John McCain.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
He has been a total disaster and has ruined the GOP in California for decades.
You can always tell when an election is coming up...John McCain starts espousing conservative principles. As soon as the elections are over he will revert to the back room deals with Ted Kennedy and the rest of the rats.
I’m with you. I’ll write in Fred Thompson and watch the GOP go under. Maybe they’ll come back in 2012 with better candidates, maybe it won’t matter by then. I’m tired of fighting.
After the ordeal in 2000 with Bush and the disappointment that followed on so many levels, especially not being able to keep the lead in the House and Senate, I’m done.
That, all by itself, is enough to put him in the "Ain't No Way" category!
He has been in a "monkey-see monkey-do" mode ever since he first went to D.C. Hanging out with Ted Kennedy doesn't help him in my book either.....it was bad enough with "W" chumming up with that bloated liberal.
It always seemed to me that McCain was filling some kind of weird quota for the number of nasty insults and kicks in the teeth to conservatism that he did each month.
* and look out if he lets a month or so slide by without getting high-fives from the liberals, because that means he's working on something like "McCain-Feingold" or amnesty for illegal immigrants trespassers.
The problem with the GOP is that it no longer is the party of conservatism. Thus, we can no longer expect that a true conservative will have a chance at gatting the national nomination.
That was true in 2000 aqnd 2004, because GWB was not and is not a conservative. It was true in 1996 with Dole. And it will be true in 2008 because the only two conservatives running are Duncan Hunter (who just dropped out) and Fred Thompson, who is floundering, and will not come anywhere close to getting the nomination (the fact he did so poorly in SC, a state he should have carried handily, speaks volumes about the “conservative” nature of the GOP).
Thus, we are guaranteed a RINO gets the nomination; in which case, the only hope for this country is that enough people show up at the voting booth in November to vote AGAINST the Dim candidate (who will be either a stalinist — Hildabeast; or a marxist — Obambi), and with clothespins on their noses, pull the lever for the RINO.
I do not want a RINO as president, but I would reluctantly accept one if it meant keeping either of the two Dims out of the White House. Because — and let’s be candid about it — if Hildabeast wins the White House, there will be a civil war; if Obambi wins the White House, there will anarchy.
I agree with you 100%. The only “Republican” that scares me more than McPain is Huck.
I'm not so sure this is entirely accurate. As I understand it, McCain's position from the outset was that we needed a significantly greater number of troops than what was ultimately decided on, and as we saw, the number sent won the "war" brilliantly and in record time.
After that, I think there were some things done right and a number of things done wrong. My understanding of McCain's idea was to send back in massive numbers which I think would have "Americanized" the effort completely. I don't think what he was proposing was the brilliant strategy of Gens. Petraeus and Odierno and Fred Kegan, which is the strategy that has worked to tamp down the violence, kill the bad guys and allow Iraqi forces to get up to speed.
It's pure speculation on my part with no background in warfare (although I follwed the events as closely as a civilian could), but I am not sure the John McCain strategy, if I have rightly understood it, would have worked.
I will give McCain this though. He wanted to win, and he was right about the terrible consequences, on many fronts, of losing. But President Bush was aware of that as well. He brought in lots of people and he actually listened to them. His call in the end was the right one. McCain always knows he is right. He would have done it his way, and the rest be damned. That could have been a disaster.
I’ve voted in every Presidential election since ‘72 except one. This may be the second.
“He has been a total disaster and has ruined the GOP in California for decades.”
We had a governor like that in Illinois, and he’s now serving time for corruption. George Ryan single-handedly destroyed the GOP in Illinois. Illinois won’t see another GOP governor or state legislature for decades, if ever.
The difference between the Republicans and the Democrats is that Republicans get rid of their corrupt politicians, whereas Democrats elevate theirs to the secular equivalent of sainthood.
Not this life-time Republican.
You're willing to let Hillary walk away with it so you can feel all cool about being a lifetime Republican and do so by abandoning ship when the goin' gets rough? That's a big part of what got us 8 years of Clintons in the first place (and I guess it's human nature not to learn from the past). If that's how it goes down, she is certain to win.
McCain has got to be her favorite Republican....and, by far, the most useful. If you think she wouldn't be any worse than McCain, you have seriously underestimated Hillary and over-estimated McCain.
Only difference between our opinions is that my number one goal is keeping the Clintons out. Too bad it has to be that way, but it is!
I'm pretty sure that Hillary would thank you if she only knew.
McCain does not deserve a single conservative Republican vote.
***
You don’t have to tell that to a true conservative and the closet Democrats could careless!
Absolutely,better Dems gets it and be held for the chaos a liberal will cause. then hopefully get someone good to run and win the GOP nomination in 2012.
TGO ping
“McCain does not deserve a single conservative Republican vote”
I agree, and I don’t believe he got votes from REAL conservatives in South Carolina. He won SC with votes from liberals and independents since they want either McCain or Huckabee to be our nominee. There is no party registration in SC so how does anyone know McCain got so much “conservative” voters? Huckabee either for that matter. I belive Fred got real conservative voters to vote for him. I am standing with Fred!
IMO, the same holds for the new brand of Republican that only cares if someone is a christian regardless of anything else...all single issue Republicans are an impediment to consolidation.
I FReeped McCain at his Arizona vacation home when he invited Daschle for the weekend. My hand-made sign, noted by the NYT, said “McBorg Has Been Assimilated”. I still believe that.
But if he’s the nominee I’ll vote for him. Reason? The Supreme Court vacancies. The lesser of two evils ... Lawd, forgive me.
Post #41 ... doesn’t the Supreme Court matter? Presidents come and go.
“McCain does not deserve a single conservative Republican vote.
___________________________________
The problem is he is receiving plenty of them.”
Those who stand for nothing, fall for everything. If winning is the only thing that matters to you when you vote, you can vote for Hillary because you have the same core values as she has.
Well, depending on the outcome, this one will be.
There is a good chance that, depending on which Republican is nominated, this nation will cease to exist as we know it today.
Socialism is an election cycle away.
Thanks for the *PING* SE Mom. Once again, TGO hits it right on the head.
“Why is it that NO one brings up the fact that when McCain was released from the north Vietnamese—his fellow captives petitioned for his court martial on charges he gave information to his captives willingly?? Also he blocked an investigation of POWs being sent to russia for medical experiments.”
Rest assured that it will be brought up if McCain is the nominee! But he will NOT be the nominee. Remember the first closed primary state is my state, Florida. McCain and Huckabee will fade fast here and be out of the race soon. I also do not think Guiliani has Florida locked up. I will stand with Fred through Super Tuesday and expect another surge for Fred following this coming Thursday debate! It is not over yet! Hang in and don’t let the MSM get you down. Notice they don’t want to talk about Fred coming in third in South Carolina, and just talk about when he might get out of the race. What race has Guiliani come in 1st,2nd, or 3rd yet? But the MSM says Guiliani might win Florida. I do not believe it. GO FRED!
Honestly? I, for one, am not willing to go down that road. For a practical reason- it will backfire. We are divided ENOUGH right now- if people seriously go after him on the POW issue- all hell will break loose, and the ones attacking him will be on the losing side. We need to focus on what it means to be conservative.
However- I’m concerned about some other aspects of McCain- completely unrelated to his voting record and lack of conservative credentials. His temperament. I listened to his speech last night after the win and was struck by his tone. While not new- he speaks in a sing-song manner, sounding as though he’s speaking to elementary school students. He sounds condescending- even in victory. He seems jittery and...just not stable. It disturbs me. When I listen to McCain I have the sense he could lose it- at any second. I don’t hear that in any other candidate on either side.
“The only “Republican” that scares me more than McPain is Huck.”
I agree - Huckabee would be even worse than McCain. And Paul - who may not even be a true Republican - is the very worst of all.
Our early primary system is so screwed up that it brings us to Super Tuesday with front runners who are popular with independents and not a majority of the Republican base.
Only the primaries that allow only Republicans to vote for Republicans should be considered when we pick a candidate.
The President simply makes Supreme Court Justice nominations. It’s the Senate which confirms.
Can you just imagine a McCain, compromise nominee?
If Fred surrenders, I won’t waste my time voting.
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