"CONSERVATIVES? I don't need no steeenking Conservatives!"
Posted on 06/14/2008 6:41:40 AM PDT by engrpat
Star-Telegram staff writer
John McCain is ignoring 7,000 Texas Republicans this weekend.
Some of them are returning the favor.
Instead of speaking to the state party convention this weekend, McCain will come to Texas on Monday to raise money at a Dallas barbecue.
"Where is he?" asked Sara Fischer, 31, of Mansfield, brushing past a volunteer futilely trying to pass out McCain lapel stickers.
"I didn't support McCain," she said. "But I have to now. He's our candidate. It seems like he should be here."
Inside the exhibit hall, the McCain T-shirts at one souvenir stand were marked down from $15 to $8 -- two for $15.
At the door, campaign volunteer Hector Medina, 26, of San Antonio waved McCain stickers as delegates streamed past.
"Some Republicans aren't very excited," said Medina, an Army recruit leaving Monday for basic training. "They just say, 'He's not my guy.'"
McCain is not snubbing the entire state. Besides coming to Dallas and Midland on Monday, he'll go to Houston on Tuesday for what is billed as a major speech on energy policy.
But today, he's somewhere hosting a telephone town hall meeting at cityhall.johnmccain.com.
That could originate anywhere. They have phones now in Houston.
"The senator is looking forward to coming to Texas Monday, and he will be delivering a major policy speech," said McCain spokesman Jeff Sadosky, returning a call.
Keynote speaker and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney of Massachusetts was authorized to represent McCain at the convention, along with former candidate and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sadosky said.
Republican state Rep. Phil King of Weatherford helped lead the Texas presidential campaign for Huckabee, who was loudly applauded for a down-home speech Friday afternoon.
"I'm really surprised that McCain's not here," King said. "I've always been told that this is the largest gathering of Republicans in the country. I'm taken aback."
(Sometimes, Texas' convention outdraws the national event.)
King went over the case for McCain: "He's very strongly pro-life. He's strong on defense. I feel confident in his Supreme Court nominees. But he's not as strong on immigration as I want and not the fiscal conservative we need."
U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Flower Mound, an obstetrician, is helping write McCain's healthcare platform.
"The reality is, his campaign needs are greater in other places," Burgess said. "Texas' vote is probably not a question mark."
One recent poll showed McCain winning Texas with 52 percent to 39 for Democratic nominee Barack Obama. But McCain might lose the 5 percent of Texas Republicans who supported the presidential candidacy of maverick U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.
Fischer, the conventioneer who didn't want a McCain sticker, said she supported Huckabee.
"Huckabee is funny," she said. "He's seems like my dad. McCain seems like the old uncle that you have to bring to holiday parties."
Her biggest complaint is that she hasn't seen enough of McCain. The extended Democratic campaign has resulted in two months of free publicity for Obama.
"Obama is a much more appealing candidate to people my age," she said. "He has better ads and better music. ... McCain hasn't been on TV at all. I really don't know anything about him, except that he was in Vietnam."
And that he wasn't in Texas.
Neither candidate would make an acceptable President. We are back to pre-Civil War level of hacks, incompetents, the blind and the tone-deaf as President. We ended up with the Civil War after that string of incompetents. What's going to happen the next four years?
Everyone will be holding their nose and voting this time. Whichever candidate crawls across the finish line, he's going to have support a half-mile wide and an inch deep. They'll have no political capital to make any big decisions. So, the change both McCain and the Obamessiah are promising are going to be empty promises. The Congress isn't going to take a risk for a President, who can't hurt them and can't help them, but can cost them re-election.
Government by stagnation and bureaucrats? It's sad, sad, sad.
We got another solicitation yesterday. I called his campaign office (again) and said that when he agrees to drill, I'll send a contribution.
We need to drill for a better candidate.
I’ve always been an active Republican. Gave money. Did a lot of volunteer work, and I decided that this election would be no exception. My politics have not been too far from McCain’s. His immigration bill didn’t bother me. Campaign finance wasn’t a big problem. (I’ve shifted my views on McCain-Kennedy to ‘anti’ however.) But I’m getting tired of McCain sticking his finger in the eye of people trying to get him elected.
I’m to the point that at this moment I will vote for him, but I’m not going to lift a finger to help him. Maybe I’ll change my mind later, but right now I’m too busy trying to make ends meet to give of my precious time and money to help someone that will either ungratefully ignore me or slam the leaders of my party when he thinks it’s politically beneficial.
McTraitor is going to lose in a massive landslide. He’s just not likeable. The GOP is dead as a party.
We'll be picking a candidate at the convention and it won't be him.
Why is this significant? It is general election time. Candidates do not campaign in states where they have big leads or big deficits. They go there to raise money and then spend time in battlegrounds.
This McBAMA 2008 has to be one of the WORST "choices" we have been faced with in years. I cannot recall a worse two-party choice for President in my lifetime.
I just ordered one....Thanks
The Democrats are about to nominate the worst candidate in US history and McCain is busy working out how to lose to him. Go figure.
"CONSERVATIVES? I don't need no steeenking Conservatives!"
Just had twenty 25 bumperstickers made. I chose the template that has just McCain on the left side. Text reads, "VOTE McCAIN! HE SUCKS LESS!". Should arrive in the mail today or Monday. Already have quite a few friends that want one.
Looks like you have some good ideas. Have at it!
Why even pay 8 bucks for his ugly mug on a mug. All you have to do is get on the internet, try to say something nice about him, earn bonus points, and get a free ugly mug mug.
I wish he would absence himself from the race so we could have a real American that cares about America and it’s people running.
Vote McCain- Because in research 4 years is a life time.
You know, coming with a positive bumper sticker for McCain is pretty much impossible.
Vote McCain - Because cleaning up will be easier
You know, Obama must be the luckiest guy ever to run for President. You have a nobody running against one that is totally disliked by his natural base. Go figure. I keep wondering how it is that we came up with these two...I just shake my head.
You are right and it is sad. Either one is going to costs the congress critters their jobs be they state of federal.
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