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McCain and the Supreme Court
Wall Street Journal ^ | 02/04/08 | STEVEN G. CALABRESI and JOHN O. MCGINNIS

Posted on 02/03/2008 10:22:48 PM PST by Yomin Postelnik

We believe that the nomination of John McCain is the best option to preserve the ongoing restoration of constitutional government. He is by far the most electable Republican candidate remaining in the race, and based on his record is as likely to appoint judges committed to constitutionalism as Mitt Romney, a candidate for whom we also have great respect.

We make no apology for suggesting that electability must be a prime consideration. The expected value of any presidential candidate for the future of the American judiciary must be discounted by the probability that the candidate will not prevail in the election. For other kinds of issues, it may be argued that it is better to lose with the perfect candidate than to win with an imperfect one. The party lives to fight another day and can reverse the bad policies of an intervening presidency.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: invasion; mccain; primary; rino; romney; supertuesday
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1 posted on 02/03/2008 10:22:50 PM PST by Yomin Postelnik
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To: Yomin Postelnik

John McCain is the best man left. I don’t like it but it is true. I still hope for a brokered convention. None of those left deserve to win it outright.


2 posted on 02/03/2008 10:24:10 PM PST by Maelstorm ("Christ didn’t tell us to go to the government...He told us to do it." Fred Thompson)
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To: Yomin Postelnik
He is by far the most electable

Once McCain is nominated and is then presented as the alternative to either Hillary or Obama, the same MSM which has fawned over him and, for all intents and purposes, created his success, will turn on him and shred him to pieces.

3 posted on 02/03/2008 10:26:17 PM PST by SirJohnBarleycorn
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To: Yomin Postelnik

Enough with this ‘electability’ nonsense. Weren’t these the same people trying to sell Guiliani to us a few months ago with the same shtick?


4 posted on 02/03/2008 10:28:39 PM PST by eclecticEel (oh well, Hunter 2012 anyone?)
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To: Yomin Postelnik

John McCain is the best option to preserve the ongoing restoration of constitutional government.
***************************************************
Does the author really believe that any SC nominee that McCain may nominate doesn’t first have to be seen by McCain as acceptable to Kennedy and the WAPO/NYT’s?


5 posted on 02/03/2008 10:31:26 PM PST by Neidermeyer
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To: Maelstorm

. . “boy Oh boy yer brave!”

{{ I kinda expect another mini-Bug Zapper Thread .. baiting all the FReepers that have thoughtful comments based in reality ... oops! }}


6 posted on 02/03/2008 10:32:18 PM PST by Dad yer funny (FoxNews is morphing , and not for the better ,... internal struggle? Its hard to watch)
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To: Yomin Postelnik

Total BS.


7 posted on 02/03/2008 10:37:08 PM PST by claudiustg (Sic Semper Tyrannus)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: Yomin Postelnik

Look at all the apologists coming out with their liberal arguments for McCain. Yeah, everyone, let’s just drink the damn grape kool-aid and be like the liberals and vote for someone because of ‘electability’ - which McCain DOES NOT HAVE!!!!! Screw principles. Be like the DU a$$holes. Let’s not think about what we believe, let’s just go with who the media wants us to pick. They wouldn’t try to mess things up for us would they?

If you buy into any of these sh!tty arguments you are not a conservative. You’re a liberal who looks at polls and bases decisions on what’s popular at the moment and are just a moral compromiser. I’m not going to vote for a guy I have almost no respect for (I give him a smidge for his long-ago service) because he grudgingly still has a (R) next to his name. He ain’t conservative, he’s saying what he thinks he needs to say to appease conservatives, but he’s our version of Hillary. He’s whoring himself out trying to get people to buy the lie. He gets the nomination, he’s going back to the middle and left, and he will govern that way. We will not get conservative justices because he does not believe in appointing conservative justices.


9 posted on 02/03/2008 10:51:20 PM PST by Secret Agent Man
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To: Yomin Postelnik

I think theres a possibility that McCain could get no nominations in his first term. Ginsberg wont retire for a republican unless she’s taken out on a stretcher, and I think that may be the case for Stevens and Souter too (neither wants to be replaced by conservatives). And even if he does get openings, he would have an almost impossible time getting a conservative through a democrat senate.


10 posted on 02/03/2008 11:05:52 PM PST by OmegaMan
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To: Rome2000
Another Romney choice for the bench is Marianne C. Hinkle, a registered Democrat who worked as an aide to Governor Michael S. Dukakis in the late 1970s and prosecuted John C. Salvi III in the 1994 Brookline abortion clinic shootings. Hinkle, in her application for the bench, describes herself as a longtime active member of Dignity/USA, a group that advocates for expanded gay rights in the Catholic Church and society generally.

Maybe Romney won't do it again.

11 posted on 02/03/2008 11:07:46 PM PST by Mojave
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To: Rome2000
The Boston Globe is on the excerpt/link only list.

Updated FR Excerpt and Link Only or Deny Posting List due to Copyright Complaints

12 posted on 02/03/2008 11:23:39 PM PST by Admin Moderator
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To: Secret Agent Man

I agree that we need to be a party of principals and that we conservatives need to stand by our core beliefs. But that’s why I’d also urge you to seriojusly consider Sen. McCain over Mitt Romney. He has an 82.3% lifetime conservative rating in Congress. Overall, he’s far more conservative than Romney, a lifelong liberal who just last year forced government mandated health insurance in his state and just last week advocated extremely liberal government intervention to solve an economic crisis in Michigan that cannot be solved without the common sense solutions that McCain supported and Romney opposed.

There are many among the grassroots who believe as you do, that McCain is too liberal. It seems that this is because conservative media has only highlighted the few times that McCain supported anti-establishment legislation. In each of these cases Thompson (viewed as the “clear conservative” candidate although he’s to the left of McCain) was right there with him, as were many other conservative senators, yet Sen. McCain took most of the flack. His immigration policies are perfectly aligned with President Bush and are to the right of President Reagan as well as of Rudy Giuliani.

The way I see it we have a practical choice to make. We can support an electable conservative war hero with an 82.3% conservative rating, a candidate who is more conservative than Presidents Ford, Nixon or Eisenhower and who poll after poll places ahead of Hillary, Obama and Comrade Edwards, or we can nominate a candidate who’s a lifelong liberal (although he now supports some major conservative issues) and lose the general election to a Barack O’Hillary tag team that’s more liberal than McGovern.

I respect your views but would urge you to consider the above. It’s not just that Rudy (who you also don’t support but others might) would have been a disaster in the all important Midwest and that opposition to Romney is so intense, even among Republicans, that he can’t win. It’s also about the fact that both are far more liberal than Sen. McCain, yet somehow the opposition to them was/is less. As Ronald Reagan said, if someone agrees with you 80% of the time, chances are they’re your friend.


13 posted on 02/03/2008 11:41:28 PM PST by Yomin Postelnik (Realistically It's McCain or Hillary)
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To: OmegaMan

They’d have to agree to Sen. Cornyn or someone like that. There are only so many judges they can vote down before it backfires politically and we expose their anti-society/anti-morality agenda for what it is.


14 posted on 02/03/2008 11:43:40 PM PST by Yomin Postelnik (Realistically It's McCain or Hillary)
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To: Mojave

Very, very good point!


15 posted on 02/03/2008 11:44:01 PM PST by Yomin Postelnik (Realistically It's McCain or Hillary)
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To: Yomin Postelnik

If conservatives and republicians do not win the Presidency we are screwed. If we win we can keep on coarse with the USSC. That is the way to the future. Most likely we will have a Democratic Senate and House and we need the Presidency. If everyone sits at home they will regret it for the rest of their lives. Politics is won by keeping the faith and winning the long battle. We must have the Presidency. If not kiss you 2nd amendment rights and most of what you hold dear good bye.


16 posted on 02/04/2008 12:02:01 AM PST by therut
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To: Yomin Postelnik

Well, it worked on Reagan. Plus I think McCain would be willing to compromise (remember the gang of 14). I dont think he’d feel that he owes conservatives anything, thats not who’s nominating him, and thats not who will elect him either - independents and moderates will.


17 posted on 02/04/2008 12:03:42 AM PST by OmegaMan
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To: Secret Agent Man

You are a nut. I do not see where all your idiots get away with saying McCain is not a Conservative. Compared the Romney and Huckelbee he is. Good grief. Have you ever drunk the kool aid. There is No such thing as a perfect candidate. I am amazed at how people believe this crap.


18 posted on 02/04/2008 12:05:11 AM PST by therut
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Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

To: therut

I can see you are a guy who bought the lie. Too bad.


20 posted on 02/04/2008 12:13:08 AM PST by Secret Agent Man
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