Posted on 04/26/2008 12:45:36 PM PDT by Grut
Ummm, you do realize we’ve successfully kept Bush (and McCain) in line over the last 4 years, right?
We defeated Harriet Miers, we defeated Amnesty.
We did it by rising up as a community and demanding a change of course.
With President Bush and the Republican Majority, We the People gave them too much latitude. We are the ones who failed. We didn’t let them know when we disapproved, because at the time, we didn’t. We were too concerned with national unity in a time of war. And above all, the abject hatred the Democrats displayed for Bush caused all of us to rally around him.
But it will be different with President McCain will be that he is already on notice. We’ve already got his number. So we will not give him the same leeway we gave President Bush. The Congressional Republicans are on notice now too after blowing it bigtime, and we will not give them any leeway either. It will be a good excercise for us, taking the power back from Washington for the People.
What you need to understand though, is that we Conservatives and Republicans have NO POWER over liberal Democrats. None. We hold no sway. If the Democrats get the White House, then the liberal Democrats will hold all the power. The MoveOn.orgs and DailyLOSers, not us.
The Democrat street has become far more radicalized since they last held power. It will be a terrible time for America if they win this November.
The only problem with that political cartoon is that We the People defeated Bush on Amnesty. This is what I’m talking about. Just like we defeated Harriet Miers and got Sam Alito on the SCOTUS instead.
As for General Pace, well there you go. There was no popular uprising from the People to demand his renomination.
When we speak up, Washington listens, when we don’t, they do their own thing.
We are just going to have to be a whole lot more vocal under President McCain, and finally begin to perform our own roles in our representative democracy. It is time WE stood up again and reclaimed the role our Founding Fathers envisioned for us, instead of being passive observers in our own democracy. It is time We the People reasserted our power. If we rise to the occasion, then we will have nothing to fear from President McCain. The same cannot be true in the case of a President Obama, or President Hillary.
Alternatively, he might be a lot worse than we think. You know, the key word is "might."
You have not convinced me that McCain will be that much better than Hillary or Obama. You only raised such a possibility, and given McCain's recent track record, that is a pretty slim possibility. You have, however, convinced me that the Republican establishment is so desperate to win over the same conservatives who they just stabbed in the back with the amnesty shenanigans of the past year.
McCain's activities during the Vietnam War are certainly laudable, but just because he acted honorably once does not imply that he will continue do so. But people do change and on occasion reveal their true character. After all, Reagan was a Democrat and an FDR lover before he saw the light.
As for McCain, he is a shrewd, power-hungry opportunist and no better than Hillary or Obama. The major difference, though, is that McCain will embrace you before stabbing you in the back, while Hillary and Obama will just stab you outright.
I don’t think Bush ever cared what conservatives thought about amnesty. He would have signed the amnesty bill if he could, even after we shut down the switchboard.
We did defeat amnesty last year by keeping the heat on senators. I sent personal emails to every one of Kay Bailey Hutchison’s staffers. You are correct that we have to stand up, but since we didn’t stop him in the primaries, I think the only way to get McCain to listen to us is to defeat him in congress.
Yes, that is how representative democracy works.
We enact our will through our elected representatives, and we do that by letting them know loud and clear what we expect from them. This is not something we should do only once every 2, 4, or 6 years. We need to be active participants in the political process on all of the issues that matter to us.
I see a lot of hyperbole regarding McCain. I think we all know McCain is imperfect for what we would like to see in a president. But he is still going to be to the Right of Obama or Clinton on every issue, even the ones that he is to the left on.
And only the president is Commander-in-Chief of the military. No one else. This is the most important role our president fills. Other than choosing to veto or not to veto, it’s really the only power the president actually has.
People need to wise up around here about this.
If you think that McCain would be no better as Commander-in-Chief of our armed forced than Obama, then you’ve been sniffing some of his cocaine.
We are at a time in our history where we cannot play games with “protest votes” or throw temper tantrums and stay home. We need John McCain leading our troops in battle, not Barack Hussein Obama!
That is the bottom line.
Here’s another thought, smartass...
Last summer, McCain went to the mat and fought hard for the troop surge and victory in Iraq in the face of howls for retreat in the Senate. Which is why he ended up as this year’s Republican choice for president.
Do we forget so soon Harry Reid’s declaration that “the war is lost”?
Do we forget so soon Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink?
Do we forget so soon that we still have troops in Iraq fighting every day who want to be allowed to achieve victory?
Do we forget so soon that every last Democrat in congress has called for retreat and defeat, and only through the efforts of John McCain have we not turned tail and run?
What if Conservatives spent a little money and joined the Constitution Party (or Libertarian Party)? The Constitution Party would move from being the third largest party to the second or maybe even largest party, moving the Democrats and Republicans down the ranking. If this were accomplished before the convention, it might alert the RNC to the possibility that a lot of Conservatives are unhappy with McCain and maybe the GOP would select a different candidate in a smoke-filled back room.
Conservatives could still vote for McCain in November but it would alert the GOP to the number of people dissatisfied with McCain as a candidate. It would also build up a third party for next time so politicians wouldn’t smugly think about Conservatives, “where else are they going to go?”
This could backfire, though, because if McCain has the nomination taken away from him, he might try to run as an independent, further fracturing the vote.
In the future, the GOP needs to change the primary system. By the time most people get to vote, the Conservatives have already dropped out because states that vote earlier are often liberal. Also, crossover Democrats probably gave us McCain as our candidate, so close the primaries.
I also think we should work on the state level to take away government financing of primaries. The parties are private organizations which should pay the expenses of primaries themselves.
Good summary of some of his negatives. What a loser!
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