Posted on 09/05/2008 2:39:22 PM PDT by goldstategop
Last January, on the night of John McCain’s back-from-the-dead victory in the New Hampshire primary, I asked a longtime adviser how McCain had survived the collapse of his campaign a few months earlier. “You know, in the darkest days, I think there were a lot of us who just respected him so much we just wanted to band together to make sure to restore his dignity,” the adviser told me. “But the chance of this actually happening was pretty remote.”
And yet it did happen. After McCain won New Hampshire, he kept on winning until there he was, onstage last night at the Xcel Center here in St. Paul, accepting the Republican nomination that nobody thought would be his. It was a deeply satisfying moment for McCain, not only because of his campaign meltdown last year but also his bitter loss to George W. Bush in 2000. Now, finally, he is the leader of the Republican Party.
Except that he can barely bring himself to say its name. In his acceptance address, McCain used the word “Republican” all of three times: once to describe vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s ability to work with both Republicans and Democrats, once to make the point that corruption exists in both parties, and once to lay special blame on Republicans who “gave in to the temptations of corruption.” McCain also stayed completely away from the word “conservative.”
All that stands in stark contrast to the rhetoric McCain used to win the Republican nomination. “I am a proud, reliable, consistent conservative Republican,” he declared at a GOP debate in Florida last October. “I stand on my record [as] a conservative.” At many other appearances throughout the primary race, McCain said much the same thing.
The shift is no surprise. With the Republican party out of public favor these days, everyone knew McCain would use the convention to emphasize his bipartisan credentials. But the striking thing about McCain’s speech at Xcel Center was the consistency of his conservative message and Republican principles. Speaking to the delegates, and to the national television audience, McCain delivered a solidly conservative Republican message, just without the R-word. He was the opposite of a Republican In Name Only; in St. Paul Thursday night, John McCain was a Republican in everything but name.
McCain’s speech, while overly long and often uninspiring, laid out a solid list of principles by which he promised to govern. “We believe in low taxes; spending discipline, and open markets,” he said. “We believe in rewarding hard work and risk takers and letting people keep the fruits of their labor.”
“I will keep taxes low and cut them where I can,” McCain continued. “My opponent will raise them. I will open new markets to our goods and services. My opponent will close them. I will cut government spending. He will increase it.”
After a statement of general conservative principle — “We believe in a government that doesn’t make your choices for you, but works to make sure you have more choices to make for yourself.” — McCain delivered his core creed: “We believe in a strong defense, work, faith, service, a culture of life, personal responsibility, the rule of law, and judges who dispense justice impartially and don’t legislate from the bench.” Tossing in a strong endorsement of school choice made the list complete.
On national defense, McCain offered his life experience to support a set of basic principles: “We face many threats in this dangerous world, but I’m not afraid of them,” he said. “I’m prepared for them. I know how the military works, what it can do, what it can do better, and what it should not do. I know how the world works. I know the good and the evil in it. I know how to work with leaders who share our dreams of a freer, safer and more prosperous world, and how to stand up to those who don’t. I know how to secure the peace.”
Of course, there was a lot of other stuff in McCain’s speech. There were pledges to fight corruption, to achieve energy independence, to create new jobs. There were the standard Reaganesque mentions of individual Americans who face particular problems or who have shown particular courage.
But at the core of McCain’s address lay a set of principles that could fit on a single note card. Limited government. Lower taxes. Free trade. A strict constructionist judiciary. A strong defense and a sober view of what America should and should not do in the world. These are what McCain promised Thursday night. It’s no wonder he was so well-received in the hall, despite his sometimes flat delivery. After all, he sounded very much like — shhhhh — a Republican.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
BUMP
I heard some conservatism in his speech. And alot of liberalism. His department of education sounds like it will make Bush’s lean and mean and his promise to hand out $$ if you have to take a pay cut due to job loss is something that conservatives must rip to shreds.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
No, York does not flip the definition. He says McCain is the opposite of a RINO (which is an acronym and literally means “Republican in Name Only”).
There needs to be another word for McCain. York seems to favor “Republican in Everything But Name,” or REBN, but that isn’t catchy. How about INO, or “Independent in Name Only”.
I used to like to refer to McCain as neither Republican nor Democrat, but mostly Democrat (seeming as how Republicans are mostly Democrats, these days). I don’t know what the hell McCain is right now.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Unfortunately, the specter of George Walker Bush is the example of conservatism. Ronald Reagan strived and with determined patriotism made the word "conservative" respectable to ALL Americans; George Bush was handed that Reagan treasure and wasted it with an empty veto pen for pork, trashed it with an incompetent former Secretary of Defense, stomped on it with foolish loyalty to Russian dictators and made "conservative" a nasty word. Our hope is that McCain will once-again restore its honored place
“Except that he can barely bring himself to say its name. In his acceptance address, McCain used the word “Republican” all of three times: once to describe vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s ability to work with both Republicans and Democrats, once to make the point that corruption exists in both parties, and once to lay special blame on Republicans who “gave in to the temptations of corruption.”
***
Perfectly understandable.
I, too, bristle when called a Republican.
On a scale of 1 to 10,
the Republican party ranks ... oh, a 3.
Trouble is
Democrats are a 2.
bump
What’s funny is that all the things Bush is criticized for are Big Government follies:
Spending, pork, and unbalanced budgets (doesn’t it make you laugh to hear liberals criticize runaway spending?)
The War/Alienation of Allies (since the sixties, war has been defended by conservatives. But it was not so long ago that Democrats were the war party, see: Wilson, FDR, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson)
No Child Left Behind/Medicare (suddenly liberals realize the inefficiency and counter-productiveness of buearacracy)
Harriet Meyers, Alberto Gonzales, Donald Rumsfeld (inexperienced leaders, sound familiar, Barrack?)
He gets flack about truly conservative positions on tax cuts and Social Security, but liberals must attack everything conservatives do, be it Big or Limited Government.
My notion is that everyone, no matter how libertarian, is convinced to turn Big Government when they fall into power. The temptation is too great. Even Jefferson submitted, McCain and Bush are certainly no Jeffersons.
The answer is he picked Sarah Palin.
One of the most moving moments for me last night was during the video of his life. His military career was outstanding but what really brought tears to my eyes was when he was walking through the airport during the primaries: alone, shoulders stooped but with his head held high. I got a hurt in my chest so bad I was choking. I was never a big fan of his, but to see how he was brought so low, humiliated and laughed at by all sides really hurt. He may not be liked by all conservatives, but he sure did fight to deserve his nomination.
But I think I’m a fan now. We didn’t get to this level of liberalism in our country overnight. It took time and a lot patience on the part of democrats and liberals to embed their brand of slavery so deep that half the populous is addicted to dependency. There’s no way to bring back conservatism in one election. It’s like trying to teach someone who’s lost the use of his legs to walk again. It’s going to take time and patience, that same patience the liberals used. But I think time is on our side now because the libs are getting impatient, and it’s showing and turning off voters, a little more each election season.
LOL
One used to be able to consider Republican/Conservative as synonymous. And hence as Republican office holders especially began their drift towards the left, some stopping by in the "center" for a while RINO, which applied to self proclaimed conservatives no longer supporting or voting for conservative ideals, came into existence.
Actually, in my view the term RINO is outmoded. It should now be changed to
Conservative In Name Oonly - CINO!
The working definition of "Compassionate Conservative" became evident on many domestic issues quite early on during the GW years.
John McCain, unfortunately is cut from that same cloth and many domestic issues.
The only thing I know for certain is that Obama and his gang of Democrats are progressive socialists and I must oppose them even if it means voting for another CINO, which in and of itself doesn't give me much solace.
But heck I am no longer even a big "R"epublican rather a little "r"epublican! So I could no longer be classified as a RINO, I guess. ;-)
The is how I've described my senator John Warner (R-VA). A "Republican-In-Name-Only"
When the Republicans had a significant majority in the Senate, it was the limp-wristed RINOS that resisted the changing rules to allow an up-or-down vote on the judicial nominations. The RINOs like John Warner, Olimpia Snowe, Susan Collins, Lincoln Chaffee, Arlen Specter and several others, in my opinion, actually made the Republican majority in the Senate a "Republican-Majority-In-Party-Designation-Only" (A RAMIPDO?), because they sided with the liberals more times than not and instead of cutting the size of government and it's spending, they did just the opposite.
As Rush says: "Conservatism works every time it's tried" (or something to that effect), that Republican majority congress were NOT conservative.
I will qualify that however by stating that the House of Representatives sent many great and very necessary bills to the Senate only to have them rejected or die in committee or wherever...
McCain is a LEPS —
“Lucky ‘E Picked Sarah”
McCain is a half-breed, part Republican and part Democrat: a Repubocrat.
I am reminded of a personal hero of mine, Gen. Douglas McAuthor, “not a simple man”. The General made terrible mistakes but achieved greatness. McCain might too, he’s got the “right suff”. I’d like to see him get his chance.
bump!
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