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A house on fire;Great Americans can be lousy senators,terrible Republicans; McCain is both
WORLD MAGAZINE.COM ^ | JUNE 1, 2005 | HUGH HEWITT

Posted on 06/01/2005 3:25:28 PM PDT by CHARLITE

On the day John McCain engineered the "deal" that undercut Bill Frist and apparently sacrificed fine nominees to his own ambition for reputation, The New Yorker hit the stands with a lengthy profile of Arizona's senior senator. The magazine confidently predicted the senator's 2008 presidential run and quoted him as saying,

"When people are in close races, I am the first Republican who is asked to come and appear for that person. I am the most sought-after of all Republicans. In this last campaign, I was the one asked by the president to travel and campaign with him. . . . When you look at the rank and file of ordinary Republicans, I'm extremely popular—it's some of the party apparatchiks who still harbor bad feelings toward me. But it is a little hard for them to do that now, because of my strong support for Bush. . . . Particularly since the 2004 campaign, there has been a great softening of dislike for me."

What a difference a "deal" makes.

Many center-right GOP activists had in fact begun to warm to Sen. McCain. He is without question a great American, whose example of valor and sacrifice inspires even his harshest critics, or ought to. His support of the war on terror has also been admirable.

But great Americans can be lousy senators and terrible Republicans, and once again Mr. McCain has proven to be both. He has now done for the judicial nomination and confirmation process what he did for campaign finance reform. He brought the country George Soros and the scourge of the 527s, and with his leadership on the deal that threw at least two of George Bush's nominees under the bus in exchange for the most ambiguous of promises, the senator has once again turned his back on a core constitutional value in order to advance his own agenda.

Whether this was a blunder or a plan to recover from a blunder, we won't know for years. Mr. McCain at first said he would "listen to the leadership" regarding judicial nomination procedure, only to suddenly, on an apparent impulse, declare to Chris Matthews that he would vote against ending the disfigured filibuster. The backlash against him was immediate and intense. Perhaps he thought he could undo the damage to his carefully planned political rehabilitation with a bold "compromise." The result seems just the opposite. Not only is his political house on fire, so too is that of South Carolina's Lindsey Graham and Ohio's Mike DeWine.

Mr. McCain's sacrifice of good people isn't the sort of calculation that plays well in GOP presidential primaries. —•


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: Arizona
KEYWORDS: 109th; arizona; compromise; deal; filibuster; greatheadline; johnmccain; lindseygraham; mccrook; mikedewine; ohio; republicans; rinos; senate; seven; southcarolina
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1 posted on 06/01/2005 3:25:30 PM PDT by CHARLITE
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To: ThreePuttinDude; Beth528; SMARTY; Ghost of Philip Marlowe; CyberAnt; AmericanArchConservative; ...
For your interest.

Char :)

2 posted on 06/01/2005 3:26:43 PM PDT by CHARLITE (Why do we permit seditious, hateful messages to be shouted from muslim pulpits in America?)
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To: CHARLITE

This should be a lesson to all Republicans: Never, never, make deals of any kind with Democrats. Not unless you like the feel of a shiv in your back.


3 posted on 06/01/2005 3:29:00 PM PDT by T Lady (G.W. Bush to Kerry & the MSM: "I've come to settle the Family Business.")
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To: CHARLITE

Stick a fork in him he is done. Burnt to perfection on his own grill.


4 posted on 06/01/2005 3:30:22 PM PDT by handy old one (It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims. Aristotle)
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To: CHARLITE

I don't think he is a poor senator, a terrible Republican AND not a great American. So there.


5 posted on 06/01/2005 3:34:15 PM PDT by Rodney King (No, we can't all just get along.)
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: Rodney King
I don't think he is a poor senator, a terrible Republican AND not a great American. So there.

Woops! I mean I do think he is a poor senator, a terrible Republican, and not a great American.

7 posted on 06/01/2005 3:40:42 PM PDT by Rodney King (No, we can't all just get along.)
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To: CHARLITE

QUESTION: Forget for the moment his past military duty and whatever actually happened while McCain was a POW (some believe that he actually WAS brainwashed--and that when released he weighed MORE than when he captured). Whatever.

IF John McCain was accused of NOT being an agent of Soros and other Leftists, as in McCain-Feingold, the 2000 GOP primary--and right now as the key player in depriving the MAJORITY of our solid Constitutional judiciary, overturning Roe, swiftly executing murderers and rapists and preserving American sovereignty---would there be enough evidence to convict him?


8 posted on 06/01/2005 3:41:02 PM PDT by The Spirit Of Allegiance (SAVE THE BRAINFOREST! Boycott the RED Dead Tree Media & NUKE the DNC Class Action Temper Tantrum!)
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To: CHARLITE
What a strange and sad little man. Presidential? About when the monkeys...or choose your own...
9 posted on 06/01/2005 3:41:20 PM PDT by don-o (Don't be a Freeploader. Do the right thing and become a Monthly Donor!)
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To: don-o
When people are in close races, I am the first Republican who is asked to come and appear for that person. I am the most sought-after of all Republicans.

Gawd almighty; he's worse than I thought!

In this last campaign, I was the one asked by the president to travel and campaign with him

Is he unaware that Bush asked LOTS of senators to campaign for him?

When you look at the rank and file of ordinary Republicans, I'm extremely popular

Out of touch, ain't he?

--it's some of the party apparatchiks who still harbor bad feelings toward me.

Ah, I'm "rank and file" and I hate your guts.

But it is a little hard for them to do that now, because of my strong support for Bush

He's damn dreaming!

. . . . Particularly since the 2004 campaign, there has been a great softening of dislike for me."

Memo to McCain: Check your emails and voicemails.

10 posted on 06/01/2005 3:45:34 PM PDT by Howlin (Up or down on Janice Brown!)
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To: Howlin

I read this braggert's comments last week. Never have I read or heard such delusional self-love. He really is an ego-maniac extraordinaire.


11 posted on 06/01/2005 3:58:14 PM PDT by Carolinamom
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To: CHARLITE

McCain served in Vietnam, but he didn't do much. He was shot down on his first mission (one of five planes he lost over the years). Bad luck, but it meant he didn't have the chance to contribute much.

He was a POW. Stories differ on how he conducted himself as a POW.

I don't like to knock anyone who has been a POW, but McCain has made a LOT of hay over that one issue. He lost any credibility he had with me when he betrayed his fellow MIA-POWs while heading the senate committee that "investigated" the issue, but in fact whitewashed it. Like kerry, he was more interested in making a profitable deal with North Vietnam than getting our POWs back.


12 posted on 06/01/2005 3:59:19 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Howlin

The only rank and file that agree with McCain are rank and file democrats that sneak into our primaries.


13 posted on 06/01/2005 4:04:28 PM PDT by Alcibiades ("First come smiles, then lies. Last is gunfire"--Roland Deschain)
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To: Howlin

And the beat goes on. Got another call from the pubbies tonight. Hell, I have never given them a dime. I did give to Keyes. I have to believe he sold my name.


14 posted on 06/01/2005 4:05:25 PM PDT by don-o (Don't be a Freeploader. Do the right thing and become a Monthly Donor!)
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To: handy old one

He doesn't yet realize how much ACTIVE opposition he will run into if he goes for the nomination. Most of what he's seen to date is passive opposition.


15 posted on 06/01/2005 4:07:51 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Don't Tread on Me; Live Free or Die)
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To: don-o

Of course he did. That's what he does with them. How do you think he makes money?


16 posted on 06/01/2005 4:08:36 PM PDT by Howlin (Up or down on Janice Brown!)
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To: Alcibiades

Precisely.


17 posted on 06/01/2005 4:08:53 PM PDT by Howlin (Up or down on Janice Brown!)
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To: CHARLITE

Thanks for the ping!


18 posted on 06/01/2005 8:48:24 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: CHARLITE

"John McCain engineered the "deal" that undercut Bill Frist and apparently sacrificed fine nominees to his own ambition for reputation,"

McCan't has morphed into the leading GOP RINO with this little rebel antic compromise deal. He is without a doubt a spineless, gutless wonder prostituting himself to the media. He once was brass, now a sorry a_ _ and morphed into a gutless wonder. No Prez for this weasel.


19 posted on 06/01/2005 9:10:54 PM PDT by tflabo (Take authority that's ours)
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To: Baynative

Maybe someone can fill me in on the qualifications for great.
-----
People that are great, do not have to do anything to prove they are great. McCain is just another politician, and one that does not have ANY party loyalty. The only image of greatness that McCain sees, is in a mirror. Nothing else matters.


20 posted on 06/01/2005 9:16:46 PM PDT by EagleUSA
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