McCain Appeal - A far superior choice to the Democratic alternatives.

National Review Online ^ | February 04, 2008 | Mackubin Thomas Owens

[neverdem]

February 04, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

McCain Appeal
A far superior choice to the Democratic alternatives.

By Mackubin Thomas Owens

Eight years ago, I was writing a regular monthly column for the Providence Journal. On the eve of the 2000 New Hampshire primary, I wrote a column entitled “John McCain, the Anti-Clinton.” Although I supported George Bush during the primaries, I thought it was important to lay out the reasons for McCain’s appeal. I concluded that the main thing McCain had going for him was character, and after eight years of Clinton, this was not unimportant.

Here’s how I concluded the column:

But in today's political environment, the real reason Americans stress his military service seems to be that it serves as a surrogate for character, a virtue notably absent during the Clinton years, and one for which Americans seem to long. That goes a long way toward explaining Sen. McCain’s appeal: more than any other candidate, he is the anti-Clinton.

The Clintons purport to represent the best of the Baby-Boomer generation. According to the dominant mythology of the 60s, the Baby-Boomers that mattered were the “best and the brightest,” those destined to make the world new by ending poverty, racism, and war. For the most part, the touchstone of Baby-Boomer existence itself was opposition to the Vietnam War.

But while such people endlessly employed the rhetoric of sacrifice, they actually sacrificed little or nothing. This has led skeptics to conclude that much of the "idealistic" opposition to the Vietnam War was a cynical ploy to cloak concern for their personal safety.

John McCain is the representative of the forgotten Baby-Boomers, who, unlike the Clintons, didn’t just talk about sacrifice, but actually placed themselves willingly on the altar of their country. While the Clintons were preparing the groundwork for their careers in the law and politics, John McCain was a naval aviator flying combat missions over North Vietnam. At a minimum, this meant that at least once a day, he sat in the cockpit of an airplane that was hurled violently from the flight deck of a pitching and rolling aircraft carrier. That was the easy part. Next, he had to dodge Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) as he carried out his mission. If he accomplished his mission, he then had to land on the same pitching and rolling carrier from which he had hurtled earlier. Again, if successful, his plane would be stopped violently when its “tailhook” engaged an arresting cable on the flight deck.

That was John McCain’s day-to-day existence. But he was also in his aircraft on the flight deck of the USS Forrestal when a freak accident triggered a catastrophic conflagration that cost the lives of hundreds of sailors and almost led to the loss of the ship. And of course, he was shot down on a mission over North Vietnam and spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war, during which time he was subjected to treatment that civilized people cannot even imagine.

Americans admire Sen. McCain because of the character he demonstrated in the crucible of war. They also admire him for a related quality, his sense of honor. Honor is an old-fashion virtue that is often the object of ridicule in a liberal society. But without honorable men, liberal society cannot survive. The American Founders understood this. The signers of the Declaration of Independence mutually pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their "sacred Honor."

The progression in this passage is important. Life is basic but needs other qualities to make it worth living. Fortune, an indication that Providence has smiled on one's endeavors, is one such quality. But for the Founders, Honor was the virtue that represented the pinnacle of human life. A dishonorable life was worse than poverty or death.

The quintessential nineteenth century liberal, John Stuart Mill, expressed this view well."War is an ugly thing," he wrote, "but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." Perhaps this passage explains why John McCain's military service looms so large in the diminished age of Clinton.

I believe that what I wrote then is still relevant today. Many conservatives — Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and the editorial board of National Review to name a few — have made clear their principled opposition to McCain. I am not enamored of his policies either. I would prefer Ronald Reagan, but last I heard, he isn’t running.

By all means, do your best to get Romney — with all his shortcomings — the nomination. But if McCain is the nominee, he will still be a better president than the Democratic hopefuls. If he were the Republican nominee, I would support him on the basis of his likely policy prescriptions alone; as problematic as they may be, they can’t be any worse than that which will be pushed by Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.

But McCain is far superior to the Democratic contenders on the basis of character and virtue. For instance, once the North Vietnamese found out that McCain was the son of the U.S. military commander in the Pacific theater, which included Vietnam, they offered him the chance to go home before his POW comrades. Had he accepted, it would have been a great propaganda coup for the Vietnamese communists. But he refused. That’s character and it ought to mean something even to those who are not convinced of his conservative bona fides.

— Mackubin Thomas Owens is an associate dean of academics and a professor of national-security affairs at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. He is writing a history of U.S. civil-military relations.

[DoughtyOne]

Seems like it...

[Sun]

McCain is better than the Dems (which isn’t saying much), but let’s not forget we haven’t had the primaries yet. It’s not too late.

McCain is also the senator that liberal Democrats come to when they want a senator from the Republican side of the aisle. For instance: McCain/Feingold (limits free speech); McCain/Kennedy (amnesty); McCain/Lieberman (50 cents per gallon gas tax increase).

Senator McCain would weaken us in fighting the WOT, as border security is national security. He doesn’t want to interrogate terrorists who would kill our soldiers, and thre rest of us. McCain calls waterboarding torture, even though our own soldiers have had it done to them.

McCain wants to close Gitmo, and bring the terrorists here, and then the aclu would protect them.

No thanks.

[Main Street]

When pressed to answer a question about illegal immigrants in his home state, Sen. McCain refuses to answer, while his supporters tell a woman who wants him to answer the question to shut up and she is thrown out of the town hall meeting. See the video here:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1073039/dont_ask_mccain/

McCain’s voting record:

Voted YES on establishing a Guest Worker program. (May 2006)

Voted YES on allowing illegal aliens to participate in Social Security. (May 2006)

Voted YES on giving Guest Workers a path to citizenship. (May 2006)

Voted YES on allowing more foreign workers into the US for farm work. (Jul 1998)

Supports federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. (May 2007)

Voted YES on expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines. (Apr 2007)

Voted NO on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)

Voted NO on ending special funding for minority & women-owned business. (Oct 1997)

1st Amendment - Freedom of Speech not a shield for hate groups. (Aug 1999)

NAFTA has had unambiguously positive impact on US. (Mar 1999)

Pro-NAFTA, pro-GATT, pro-MFN, pro-Fast Track. (Jul 1998)

Voted YES on implementing CAFTA for Central America free-trade. (Jul 2005)

Rated 100% by CATO, indicating a pro-free trade voting record. (Dec 2002)

Supports ban on certain assault weapons. (Aug 1999)

Guns are a problem, but so are violent web sites & videos. (Aug 1999)

Punish criminals who abuse 2nd Amendment rights. (May 1999)

Voted YES on more penalties for gun & drug violations. (May 1999)

Voted YES on reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act. (Mar 2006)

Voted YES on extending the PATRIOT Act’s wiretap provision. (Dec 2005)

[neverdem]

Foreign or domestic, what good is energy independence without financial independence?

When we had excise taxes on imported goods, American industry thrived. We got addicted to relatively cheap foreign oil and gas. With a barrel of oil now pushing $100, that's undermining the value of a dollar and financial independence.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

I am a conservative first and a Republican because they have tended to be conservative. But I will not vote for McCain if he is GOP nominee. John McCain does not fit the bill. So, if he or a Dem wins. So be it.My message to the party is DON’T NOMINATE ANOTHER MCCAIN!

[lookout88]

If this country is so stupid to go with McCain, I want a democrat. Our soldiers don’t need to fight over there, while we give away our borders, and everything else the liberals stand for. GET THEM OUT!!!! WE DON”T DESERVE THEIR PROTECTION. THEY DON”T NEED TO BE WOUNDED OR KILLED TO PROTECT SOCIALISM. GET THEM OUT NOW.

GO OBAMA. I will enjoy watching your socialist ideas get distroyed.

[Grunthor]

“McCain Appeal - A far superior choice to the Democratic alternatives.”

FAR superior? FAR?????

I’d have gone with “slightly” it’s a lot easier lie to pull off.

[neverdem]

Where were the conservatives in South Carolina, a state that Thompson was counting on to create momentum?

They voted for Huckabee.

[ChildOfThe60s]

But McCain is far superior to the Democratic contenders on the basis of character and virtue.

Only in comparison. Which in reality means very little to the end result.

Enough of his military service. The Presidency is not an award for something done 40 years ago. It is what he has done since being in congress that should be considered.

Damn few people don't appear more virtuous than Billary. Not much of a yardstick for judgment. On that basis I should be in the running myself.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

More boogey man tactics. sheesh

[ripcasc]

Not to mention maybe bringing back the fairness doctrine and I would be surprised if they try to shut down this site!

[CharlesWayneCT]

they offered him the chance to go home before his POW comrades. Had he accepted, it would have been a great propaganda coup for the Vietnamese communists

Wouldn't McCain have been court-marshalled if he had violated the rules by allowing himself to be released before his comrades in arms?

And doesn't this guy have anything more recent to prove McCain's character? I mean, if you are a man of character and principle, shouldn't there be some evidence of it a little more recent than the 1960s? How about how he stood up to the Savings and Loan people when they started offering money to cover up for their crimes? Oh wait, he took that money -- the only republican to do so. But he showed character by owning up to his mistake -- oh wait, his response was to claim that everybody did it, they were all corrupt, but that he was so much better because he was willing to admit it.

[EGPWS]

We got addicted to relatively cheap foreign oil and gas.

Still personal freedom comes from economic choice, not forced economic directive.

Some do well with this scenario and some do not so well, but it's still freedom.

[neverdem]

Still personal freedom comes from economic choice, not forced economic directive.

How are we doing well buying about 60% of our oil overseas at almost $100 a barrel supporting many unfriendly governments and weakening our currency?

[EGPWS]

How are we doing well buying about 60% of our oil overseas at almost $100 a barrel supporting many unfriendly governments and weakening our currency?

Oil is the cheapest form of energy we have less nuclear power.

Already, even Minnesota "land of 10,000 lakes" is reported as having possible conserns with water usage because of ethanol production for it takes at least 2 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of ethanol fuel.

We aren't doing well by oil usage, not because we are dependent but because we are strapped by bureaucrat's stifling personal freedom by "dictating" via directive to not allowing us to use our own resources available to obtain safe and secure energy.

Windmills "ain't" going to cut it, we have the technology even superior to French technology to use nuclear energy and the available oil domestically to shame those who we buy it from.

It's that d@mn directive word that gets in the way every time. ; )

[AmericanInTokyo]

There is always a Plan B for true conservatives to start thinking about, if this McCain actually gets the RINO nomination:

[neverdem]

Already, even Minnesota "land of 10,000 lakes" is reported as having possible conserns with water usage because of ethanol production for it takes at least 2 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of ethanol fuel.

Do you have a source for that statement? Subsidized corn derived ethanol is a waste.

Biofuels on a Big Scale

[EGPWS]

Do you have a source for that statement? Subsidized corn derived ethanol is a waste.

I heard it on the top of the hour news broadcast on KTLK in Minneapolis however I searched and couldn't get a "paper" reference.

It wasn't an editorial however it had a reference to a government study but I was in traffic and didn't catch the source.

[Saveedra]

I will never vote for a Liberal.

May as well sell my soul to the devil.

Not going to do it.