Posted on 02/15/2008 6:15:23 AM PST by jdm
It's all but settled. John McCain will be the Republican Party nominee for president in 2008. That has caused much anguish among many conservatives who knew Ronald Reagan - who was a friend of theirs. And Senator, you're no Ronald Reagan, or words to that effect.
Nevertheless, conservative realists recognize that despite all the chinks in the right side of his armor, John McCain still is far more conservative than either Hillary or B.O. But when President Bush declared that John McCain was a "true conservative" this week - which was kinda like Joan Crawford declaring that Britney Spears was a good mom - true, true conservatives said "Huh?"
After seven years of excess spending and rampant government growth (Homeland Security, No Child Left Behind, Medicare prescription drugs, etc.) under "compassionate conservative" governance, the right ain't readin' anybody's lips again. Trust, but verify. And this time they want it in writing. Preferably in blood.
GOPUSA.com has drafted a "Contract with Conservatives" that it hopes the Republican presidential nominee will embrace. "Conservatives need something more than simple assurances," writes GOPUSA's publisher, Bobby Eberle. "For our time, effort, money, and votes, we need a pledge. We need a pledge from our presidential nominee to uphold the core Republican values that built this party, and which have taken a backseat to politics in recent years."
Right-footed GOP foot-soldiers are flocking to GOPUSA's Web site to sign the online petition declaring that they "will support our presidential nominee and other candidates for high office, only if they uphold the Contract with Conservatives." An extraordinary declaration of grassroots independence. The Contract includes:
Immigration Reform: No "comprehensive" plan. Border security first. THEN we can talk about the rest. And when it comes to dealing with illegal aliens already in the country, they "should not be given special consideration for citizenship and should not be put ahead of those seeking to come to America legally." Pretty reasonable.
Tax Reform: Support for not only lowering taxes, but reforming the tax system to make it simpler. And stop using the tax code "for social engineering." Hard to argue with that.
Limited Government: SHRINK the size and scope of the federal government, not just slow its growth. Earmarks and pork should be eliminated. Limit the government to doing "only those core jobs enumerated in the Constitution." What a radical notion.
Judges: Select judicial nominees who will "follow the law rather than make new laws from the bench." And make sure they get up-or-down votes in a timely fashion - a clear shot at Sen. McCain and his "Gang of 14" that prevented Republicans from breaking Harry Reid's judicial filibusters a couple years back.
Life: Support overturning Roe vs. Wade and oppose embryonic stem cell research. Of course, this is where fiscal conservatives and social conservatives divide their forces, which is how Sen. McCain ended up winning the GOP presidential nomination in the first place. Thanks, Mike Huckabee.
Free Speech: Repeal McCain-Feingold. I suspect this one just might be a bit hard for Sen. McCain to swallow.
All in all, a pretty good treatise. Sen. McCain won't embrace all of it, but then again, no one really expects him to. All this does is put a possible President McCain on notice that conservatives will not support him blindly the way they often did President Bush when W wandered too far off the left side of the conservative reservation.
Fool conservatives once, shame on you; fool conservatives twice, shame on us. We won't get fooled again.
“delude yourself”
I expect McCain to pick a real conservative to try and “unite”the party. I know the VP has little impact BUT McCain is old and the pressures of the job could do him in prematurely. If either of the rats get in our country is toast! I hate McCain’s liberal policies on immigration and his “lifer” status in the Senate, but I am bound to do my little part to keep the rats out.
And we are at war and McCain is a soldier from a soldier family. And he is PRO-LIFE!
Nuff said.
God Bless Ted Sampley for his service to this country and sacrifices, but he needs to stand down on his anti-McCain Crusade. I have seen this stuff around for 30 years and it comes from a small group of dedicated McCain haters.
The problem is the same old one for hypers; once you take the whole context of their favorite McCain clips and statements; it all falls apart for the bashers.
A conservative VP of McCain would be a miserable, abused dog. The contract Republicans would need with McCain is one that would stop him from committing more treachery against us. Three guesses at what he would do with it. But, this is going to be the old geezers last run, his last chance at bathing in power and glory, and he isn’t going to win. All those years of turning against the very people who might -only might- put him over the top are going to come back, and destroy him.
Sorry. A liberal policy signed by a Republican President will not only be very bad for this country, but it will tag Republicans as the responsible party for years to come.
Look at Bush and NCLB - is it called Kennedy’s bill ? No, Bush gets the blame. Prescription drug expansion ? Same. Was the amnesty bill blamed on the Dems ? No, it became Bush’s bill because he supported it.
I would rather blame a liberal with a D than a liberal with an R after his name.
Oh, please.
That's like saying the troops are now forced to salute a drunk.
Say that we don't want Obama in office because of his policies. But not because he did some dumb things when he was young. There are many substantive reasons to oppose him.
NO WAY will I vote for McCain. Call it advantage. Time will tell.
Then McCain needs to answer it, and stop having the Pentagon hide the papers on his behalf. Who was McCain to decide that he wanted to shut down the families who were seeking info on their POW/MIA family members because it “wasn’t accomplishing anything” ? Do you support standing in the way of seeing whatever the government knows on these matters ?
I for one am long past tired of our government withholding secrets from us because they don’t think it’s to their benefit. Who works for whom, here ?
Kerry hid his questionable records too, and we all called him on it. But you want to give McCain a pass on the same thing ?
No mas, senor. The “Straight Talk Express” is anything but. I’m not voting another liar into office like the Clintoon.
My son is in the Navy. He despises McCain. Where is this idea coming from that a vote for McCain is a vote for the troops?
Must be what people use to convince themselves to vote for a person who employs Juan Hernandez, and verbally denigrates citizens who wish to protect US sovereignty and close our borders.
I don't either, but that is what we are stuck with, and I will vote against the socialist D for our troops and for my grandchildren. The down ticket is very important to me to keep whoever gets elected in check.
I don’t know. If the general election is Obambi vs McInsane, then I can see a lot of moderate Dems (think Lieberman) crossing over to vote for McCain. If it’s Shrillary vs McInsane, then I can see a lot of Dems who hate Hitlery voting for McCain.
I vote for “none of the above”, myself.
McCain has no coattails.
I will go vote for conservative Republicans in other races, however. We need to rebuild this party from the grassroots up, with conservatives.
Currently, I'm still not sure I can vote for him...but that is a pretty powerful argument when you put it that way...
I can't stand the thought of voting "for" him.....so I'm telling myself it's not a vote for him, it's a vote against the socialist D.
And I hope that if, and I think it's a big if, he should win the presidency, someone impresses on him that his win is not a mandate for amnesty, hits on free speech, etc., etc. He only wins to keep this country safe and support the troops.
Don't hold your breath. He will probably pick someone like former Senator Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. (R-Conn.).
It’s a little delusional to think that John McCain in the White House will guarantee successful conclusion of the war, not retreat.
McCain, with the even hugher (sic) Democrat majorities his candidacy will bring in, will be facing the the cut off of all funding for the war effort. Does he think his anti-war, surrender monkey friends across the aisle - Kennedy, Feingold, Clinton - are going to give in to him and fund the war? Give a Republican credit for winning a war? I doubt it.
The only difference in outcome between McCain and Obama/Clinton in all the major issues is that with McCain, Republicans will get the blame.
Those of you old enough will remember how Johnson/McNamara’s War became Nixon’s War and Ford’s loss even though they were turning it over to the locals (Vietnamization). Which ironically is what the Democrats want to do in Iraq (Iraqization and withdrawal).
McCain: No waterboarding, period
Sioux Center, Ia. — Waterboarding is a form of torture no matter how it is done and should be a prohibited among U.S. military interrogation practices, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said today
On the topic of this contract. I see potential but I want it in writing. I doubt McCain would commit to any such thing.
You have been here 3 months and you are already calling out Freepers that you don't agree with . What did we do without you?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.