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.

[Designer]

"Strong people make the best of a bad situation and suck it up and move on."

I hold a different opinion of us than you do.

Far from "whining" and "giving up", we are actually doing something.

Each of us in our own way is attempting to make a difference.

Some of us post here in a rather vain attempt to convert our fellow FReepers.

Some of us hand out flyers at parades, malls, and conventions.

We show videos, circulate petitions, loan books, and man booths at fairs, all in the hope of educating our fellow Americans.

Mostly, it falls on deaf ears.

[MortMan]

Do as you say, not as you do?

[Right_in_Virginia]

You want to blame someone, blame McCain and the RINOS.

Okay.

But try to understand this: In today's Republican party Conservatives are the "RINOS". If you don't want to roll up your sleeves and engage with more than insults and ultimatums, then it may be time for a third party.

Maybe it's time to choose between destroying the GOP or building something entirely new.

[Designer]

"What choice do we have?"

Now or six months ago?

We had a terrific choice once, but way too many people seem to be getting their "news" from the main stream media, so he was largely ignored.

Now, of course, we no longer have a choice. No real choice.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Look, I won’t be goaded further in a confrontation with you, choose someone else to fight with. Thanks.

Be well.

[K-oneTexas]

"In case you haven’t noticed, the dems are turning out to vote for their “new Kennedy” in ratios of 3:1 against the pubs."

That is a fact. A fact I have been aware of for some time, a long time. Dems out number Repubs ... fact of life. Not a reason to give up or quit anything.

[tennmountainman]

Every person will have to decide how they vote.

BTW, McCain said he would stay in Iraq 100 years.

I am not opposed to voting, but I will not vote based on fear of Hillary or Obama. If you chose to let fear cause u to cast your vote, then thats you’re decision.

[pnh102]

With McCain, the glass is half full, with Obama its empty.

Yawn. I've irrefutably proven that McCain is no different on Obama on the 4 "key" issues specified. How can anyone make the argument that the glass is any different with either candidate?

[beckysueb]

Nothing. At least its not insulting. At least you are saying he could change your mind but he would have to work at it. Fair enough.

[tennmountainman]

Well the Republicans in Congress certainly earned our support with yesterday’s performance./sarc

And they still have not figured out why they are in the minority.

[The Toll]

I will vote for McCain if he agrees to paint over the latino gang graffitti someone just spray painted on the side of my condo.

[tennmountainman]

Becky, I am game to support any Republician who supports the issues I support.

But I will not cast a vote out of fear. I will cast a vote if the nominee adresses the issues I am concerned about.

So far, McCain has not done so.

[beckysueb]

After years of being promised they’d fix the problems we see in our country, we see they’ve failed to deliver.

I think the ban on partial birth abortion is a huge accomplishment and so is 2 conservative judges on the supreme court. Tax cuts are another. McCain will make them permanent. We are fixing to throw away all of our hard earned accomplishments.

[tennmountainman]

McCain headquarters to send John a strong message: Remember your base

If you have not noticed, McCain is winning without the conservative vote. He’s picking up the Rockefeller wing, the Jello’s, the moderates & independents and hispanics.

If he is to be president, let the above mentioned groups carry him across the finish line. I will not be apart of it.

[18wheeler]

“Sometimes you have to destroy it in order to rebuild it.”

You people truly are self-righteous fools.

[beckysueb]

McCain introduced the bill to prevent the Fairness Doctrine. Why would he oppose it?

[beckysueb]

Yep. With the Repubs so fractured, its going to happen. Praying hard, here.

[beckysueb]

Hanging a communist flag with Che Gauvera on it in his campaign office. Refusing to hold his hand over his heart durring the singing of the National Anthem. Spending a large part of his life in a muslim country, his affiliation with a radical black muslim namely Louis Farrakahn, etc.

[tennmountainman]

“I don’t want my children and grandchildren murdered by jihadist thugs and besides I don’t have another 200 years to build it back.”

Then, maybe we should consider closing the border. After all suit case nukes can and maybe have already been transported across our open borders.

Border control should be a part of the war on terror.

[factmart]

It is the people who voted for MCcTRAITOR knowing that voting for him would ruin the chance of winning in the fall, fault.

I will not have a problem with a black man winning the presidency. We will fight his agenda. It will be harder on the RINOs becuase they will have to vote with the dems instead of with their own party.

Never vote MCCNUTS,