Conservatives: Sitting Out 2008 Is the Height of Idiocy by Ben Shapiro

Family Security Matters ^ | 14 February 2008 | Ben Shapiro

[K-oneTexas]

Published: February 14, 2008

Conservatives: Sitting Out 2008 Is the Height of Idiocy

Ben Shapiro

 

The conservative base isn't fond of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. They disagree with him on a wide variety of issues, and they feel insulted by McCain's ardent desire to please those across the political aisle.

           

But conservatives are fools if they stay home in November.

           

There's plenty to question about John McCain, but there's one thing conservatives can't question: McCain is better than Hillary Clinton. He's better than Barack Obama. And it's not close.

           

McCain is a hard-line proponent of victory in Iraq. He has pledged to lower taxes. He has always fought governmental corruption, even if that has led him to absurd extremes like campaign finance reform. He is a strong pro-life voter. He says he will veto any bill that has any earmarks. In 2006, McCain received a 65% rating from the American Conservative Union, which measures whether members of Congress are in line with conservatives on major issues. In 2005, his score was 80%.

           

Here are Hillary Clinton's scores in those same two years: 8% and 12%. Obama scored 8% both years.

           

It's simply unthinkable to equate McCain's record with either Clinton's or Obama's. McCain is a left-leaning Republican, which means he ranks in the upper half of the Senate in terms of political conservatism. National Journal, by contrast, ranked Clinton the 16th most liberal senator in the Senate in 2007. Obama was No. 1.

           

Despite the vast difference between McCain and his Democratic opponents, many conservatives are threatening to boycott the 2008 election. They argue that the Republican Party has abandoned conservatism, and that in order to reclaim the Party, the GOP may have to go through the purifying ritual of cataclysmic electoral defeat.

           

This is historically ignorant. Intraparty squabbles are constant with regard to choosing presidential candidates. Parties do not move toward a particular ideological group because of electoral defeat – they move toward a particular ideological group because that group is most motivated to back a single candidate. Ronald Reagan was a rising force in the Republican Party before Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter -- he almost wrested the nomination from Ford in 1976. The Democratic Party's recent move to the left has not been a reaction to their electoral defeats in 2000 and 2004 – after all, Al Gore and John Kerry were certainly quite liberal. The problem with the conservative movement in 2008 wasn't the movement -- it was the lack of a candidate. And sending the GOP to ringing defeat in 2008 won't push the Party back to the right unless there's a candidate to rally around.

           

If conservatives think they can rally around a challenger in 2012 and oust an incumbent Democrat, they should think again. Conceding the White House in 2008 could easily mean an eight-year term for either Hillary or Obama – and such an eight-year term would wreak havoc on a country already overburdened by taxes and under assault from Islamic terrorism.

           

The proposed conservative boycott of the GOP in 2008 also demonstrates a massive misunderstanding of the GOP's role. The GOP isn't constructed to nominate conservative candidates. It is constructed to win. It's the conservative base's responsibility to nominate conservative candidates. In 2008, the conservative base failed. That isn't the GOP's fault. Punishing the GOP fruitlessly punishes an organization that isn't to blame.

           

Conservatives must recognize that the choice in 2008 is between John McCain and Clinton or Obama. It isn't about McCain vs. Romney or McCain vs. Huckabee anymore. And if McCain wins, that doesn't preclude conservatives from rallying around a more conservative candidate next time. Dooming the country to at least four years of Democratic incompetence and appeasement won't solve conservatives' problem.

# #

FamilySecurityMatters.org contributing editor Ben Shapiro is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School. He is also the author of the recently published "Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future" as well as the national best seller "Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth." He practices law in Los Angeles.

[NavyCanDo]

I have allot of problems with McCain, but one area I give him well deserved praise is him protecting us from the Fairness doctrine which most certainly Hillary or Obama will try to reinstate if elected. This is an important item where you McCain haters can’t say he is no different than Hillary. As much as Rush, Hannity, and some of the rest have criticized McCain, they should also be thanking him for their ability to still be aloud to do so.

McCAIN INTRODUCES TALK RADIO LEGISLATION

Arizona Sen. John McCain has introduced federal legislation to protect talk radio shows from the reinstatement of past rules that required dissenting voices be given equal time on their shows.

McCain and fellow GOP Senators John Thune of South Dakot and Norm Coleman of Minnesota have put forward legislation preventing the reinstatement of the ‘Fairness Doctrine.’

The Fairness Doctrine was done away with in 1987 but previously required political radio shows to offer equal time to opposing viewpoints as part of their Federal Communications Commission licenses.

A number of Democrats and liberal advocates want the Fairness Doctrine put back in place. They do not like the fact talk radio is dominated by conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and Laura Ingraham.

McCain said imposing such rules would stifle free speech and there are plenty of political viewpoints in the marketplace.

[SoConPubbie]

This guy is the idiot.

If you reward bad behavior, all you get is more bad behavior.

I have no problem fighting hard for all conservative candidates on the ballot.

McAmnesty is NOT conservative by any stretch unless your political positions already put you in the Democrat Realm of political philosophy.

Too bad the GOP and RNC decided to manipulate the primary process this year to give the Non-Conservatives in the race the best chance at winning.

Those are my principles.

I am not a Party over Principle kind of guy.

[ARE SOLE]

Seaplaner, we disagree on McCain. I will vote conservative farther down the page to restrain the worst of his plans. I do however appreciate your reasoned post and the fact you make your points without insults.

Regards

[mysterio]

Not sitting out. I’m sure there’s a conservative candidate on the ballot somewhere.

[ARE SOLE]

Can he do things to change my mind?

Great post. I am with you. Make him deal with our concerns.

Regards

[beckysueb]

Great post! I just feel like begging the people who are not going to vote for McCain to reconsider for the countrys sake but most of them only dig in and throw insults at me.

[TheRobb7]

I concur.

We may not like the choice for POTUS, but there should be plenty of Conservatives down the ballot for us to balance what’s going on with the Presidential Farce, I mean, Race.

Why not focus on voting for Conservatives down-ballot? What if we could set conventional wisdom on its collective @$$ by swinging the control of the House or Senate back to the GOP?

The Conservatives we elect would then be able to stymie the socialistic tendencies of whoever is in the Oval Orafice.

This could set the stage for a Conservative to arise from that fight and get the Movement back on track.

We’ll never know if we stay home.....................

[Right_in_Virginia]

I'm saying that your pathetic use of emotion here on this thread is a shameful ploy.

Reminding you that we have good and honorable soldiers doing what needs to be done so we have the luxury of typing away all day long and that their interests should not be forgotten is "pathetic"?

Reminding you that they deserve a better, more capable CIC than Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama is a "shameful ploy"?

Snap out of it while there's still time!

[spectre]

I don't like McCain. And I'm on record saying I'd never vote for him.

OTOH, we don't know who he will pick for his VP yet, and that could make a difference, considering McCain has health issues (maybe mental as well).

And then, we don't know what the future between now and the election has in store for us? So there are too many variables that could force people to vote for the GOP if the times become more perilous.

sw

[JoJo Gunn]

Thread number 999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999.5487136975846⁴ on how to wear a clothespin.

[CharacterCounts]

See my post at 94 and tell me what is wrong with it.

[beckysueb]

And the voters voted for McCain. Don’t forget that. The majority of the voters chose him. Isn’t that the American way?

[xjcsa]

I see Shapiro is another guy who thinks you win us over by insulting us. No sale.

[ksen]

Well, he's sorta right. Conservatives sitting out 2008 would be the height of idiocy.

Conservatives need to get to the polls in November and vote for conservatives in the House and Senate and local races.

As for president I would urge conservative to vote for someone not on a major party ticket so that way your vote can be counted at least as a "None of the above."

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

“Maybe mental?”

BWAHAHAAAAHHAAAAHHAAAAA! ROFLMELOA!

[sickoflibs]

When was this?

[wita]

Time to take a deep breath. Let it out slowly.

[Signalman]

I agree strongly with one of your point. McCain can do a lot to make amends with conservatives by picking a strong conservative as a VP. Someone like Fred Thompson, or Mark Sanford, or George Allen. If he did that, I think a lot of conservatives would feel a lot better in November.

[ARE SOLE]

I'm saying that your pathetic use of emotion here on this thread is a shameful ploy.

Fuggedabowdit, that ass just wants to argue like a junior high school girl. He still hasn't mentioned where he served.

[kabar]

LOL. The GOP political elites are now getting frantic. They are trying to foist a flawed candidate on rank and file conservatives and tell us it is our patriotic duty to vote for a pro-amnesty, anti-free political speech, pro-global warming, pro-federal spending on embryonic cell research candidate who prior to Tuesday received just 31% of the total primary vote.