GOP goon squad can’t rattle McCain

DL-Online ^ | February 9, 2008

[Dane]

GOP goon squad can’t rattle McCain DL-Online Published Saturday, February 09, 2008 It’s been a kind of perverse pleasure to watch Sen. John McCain overcome the vitriol of talk radio’s conservative goon squad. Despite vicious daily broadsides from Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham (and their sycophants on regional and local talk radio), McCain emerged Tuesday as the front-runner among Republican candidates for president.

On Thursday, the senator’s only credible competition, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, suspended his campaign, effectively handing the nomination to McCain.

So much for the influence of the talkers with the base of Republican voters.

In responding to questions about the attacks from talk radio’s allegedly conservative voices, the senator was gracious and even extended an olive branch.

But why should he? Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, Ingraham and small-fry talkers taking their agenda from the big-time four have been so unflinchingly critical of McCain that the senator owes them nothing. His campaign, which a few months ago seemed ready for last rites, has been a resurrection story for the political history books. After his multi-state win in every part of the nation on Tuesday, he all but secured the Republican nomination.

And he did it without the help of the right-wing talkers. Indeed, he accomplished his comeback while fighting the blowhards’ headwind.

The radio attacks on McCain were not merely disagreements about policy. They went after him personally and politically. They charged that his conservative credentials are phony, although a perusal of his long Senate record reveals McCain is one of the most consistently conservative senators ever to serve. They ripped him up and down because he’s had the courage to stake out his own positions on immigration and campaign finance reform. Because of those apostasies, and the fact that he has refused to kiss their rings, the talkers tried to do him in.

And failed.

Ingraham went so far as to say that if McCain is the Republican nominee, she will vote for the Democrat, even if it’s Hillary Clinton. Well, she apparently made a decision that’s akin to packing up her Barbie dolls and going home because she didn’t get her way.

What seems to be going on here is a serious nationwide repudiation of the far right — at least as it’s represented by talk radio’s bile. The righty bloviators can’t stomach a candidate who is independent of their dogma — who doesn’t dance when they play the tune. They can’t accept that maybe their time as high priests and priestesses of the conservative agenda is coming to an end.

Whether liberal Democrat, conservative Republican or independent thinker, one can admire McCain’s genuine maverick status. The Vietnam War hero has cultivated a streak of contrariness that has served him well in the U.S. Senate and now is serving him admirably as he seeks the presidency. The fact that he won’t be intimidated by the overblown, self-important egos on talk radio makes him all the more attractive to American voters. — The Forum

[Dane]

What seems to be going on here is a serious nationwide repudiation of the far right — at least as it’s represented by talk radio’s bile. The righty bloviators can’t stomach a candidate who is independent of their dogma — who doesn’t dance when they play the tune. They can’t accept that maybe their time as high priests and priestesses of the conservative agenda is coming to an end.

How true, and the Pontiffs of conservatism are cutting off their noses to spite their bloviating faces.

[org.whodat]

How are you doing on keeping that illegal in the country?

[Republic of Texas]

I see the McCainiac's are reaching out to Conservatives again. In typical McCain style too. Angry, awkward arrogant, to the end.

[JaneNC]

what? goon squad???? OMG

How stupid.

Conservatives are upset with McCain and rightly so. Shoo

[DB]

McCain can do it without my vote.

[KTM rider]

the really sad part is all the conservative suicide voters who are willing to throw our troops under the bus and let the libs have the supreme court,

all for selfish vanity !

pisses me off to no end.

It's like trying to talk sense to a liberal

[Hunble]

The righty bloviators can’t stomach a candidate who is independent of their dogma — who doesn’t dance when they play the tune.

That is exactly why McCain will never become an American president.

[The_Republican]

It wasn’t Ingrham who said she would vote for Hillary - It was Conservative Britney Spears - Ann Coulter.

One reason McCain is extra hated upon is that these blowhards are feeling helpless. In their little fantasies they think they are Kingmakers and have all this imaginary power. However, reality check is showing that party has its own brain and is not made out of sheeple who follow these gasbags blindly.

They would like McCain to sit with them and apologize and grovel to them. Not gonna happen.

Since they can’t handle defeat graciously, they are resorting to even more hateful attacks.

[Brett66]

So much for the influence of the talkers with the base of Republican voters.

We need to keep a scorecard here. They haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg yet- and they're going to choke on those words.

[org.whodat]

Look who open border dane is pushing now. LOL

[YCTHouston]

Where do I sign up for this “goon squad”?

I’ll vote for McCain in November, but what’s your problem w/ conservatives trying to have a say in the Primary? That’s what primaries are all about. Get over it.

It’s not hard to convince me to vote for McC over Hill or Barack Hussein, but the hostility McCainiacs consistently show conservatives ain’t gonna help him in the general.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Oh, nooooo. I’m not a member of a goon squad. I’m just a maverick ... a maverick who will not vote to further enable the liberal wing of the GOP. Being a maverick is a good thing ... no? That’s what I keep being told.

[Corin Stormhands]

John McCain, “I hate goons.”

[2ndDivisionVet]

So even you saw the handwriting on the wall and 86’d ol’ Gomer Pyle, huh? You jumped from a undereducated, uncouth, slimy, Holier-than-thou hillbilly RINO to a vindictive, hateful, slightly mad backstabbing super RINO. Congratulations!

[Just mythoughts]

Look who is supporting OPEN BORDERS McCain...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1968902/posts

[river rat]

I am not surprised this was posted by “Dane”....

Dane must spend the day peering into the toilet....attempting to snatch the occasional leftist screed scrawled onto the side of a turd floating by...

Isn’t it informative that Leftists are tolerant of ANYTHING and ANYONE - except those who disagree with them...

[GOPJ]

Ingraham went so far as to say that if McCain is the Republican nominee, she will vote for the Democrat, even if it’s Hillary Clinton. Well, she apparently made a decision that’s akin to packing up her Barbie dolls and going home because she didn’t get her way.

LOL

[John Jorsett]

I’d heard that the McCaininites were launching a charm offensive. Judging by this, it’s a little short on charm and long on offensive.

[Grunthor]

Go suck a sombrero.

[Pharmboy]

They ripped him up and down because he’s had the courage to stake out his own positions on immigration and campaign finance reform.

Sure...they were just his own "positions." That's it--he had the "courage" to stake out positions that were diametrically opposed to everything conservative, and yet WE should not be allowed to criticize the crazy one. Free speech? A minor issue...Merging this country with Mexico? A great idea...

I hope you and McCrazy are very happy together, just leave us alone. Thank you.

[irishjuggler]

How many of these liberal media types who love McCain will actually vote for him in November? They love him because they know that beating him in the general election will be a piece of cake.

[KoRn]

"However, reality check is showing that party has its own brain"

Which party? Are you speaking of Republicans, or the dems and independents who voted in the republican primary for McCain in large numbers?

[weegee]

So they call the critics of McCain: trotskyites, stalinists, maoists, etc.

Isn’t it funny to see the Left using these terms against conservatives?

I guess it is no fun calling us Nazis anymore and they are feeling the sting of being outed as Stalinist Socialists, the type Orwell detested. Y’see, it wasn’t just Stalin who pissed off George Orwell. It was his fellow British Socialists who held their tongues and refused to say a bad thing about Stalin or Mother Russia.

[YCTHouston]

“So much for the influence of the talkers with the base of Republican voters.”

Um, yeah, it wasn’t the “base,” it was independants and soft Democrats who propelled McCain in New Hampshire.

[Iron Munro]

Glad to hear McCain doesn’t need the votes of conservatives because he won’t be getting them.

So everyone should be happy.

[Hunble]

As with Bob Dole, the Conservatives in America have nobody left to actually support.

Today it is only a choice between which Democrat will become our next President, and who will cause the least amount of damage.

[Free Vulcan]

"They charged that his conservative credentials are phony, although a perusal of his long Senate record reveals McCain is one of the most consistently conservative senators ever to serve. They ripped him up and down because he’s had the courage to stake out his own positions on immigration and campaign finance reform. Because of those apostasies, and the fact that he has refused to kiss their rings, the talkers tried to do him in."

This joker needs a lesson in logic. He's the most consistent conservative even though he had the courage to defy the conservative 'good squad' and take liberal positions?

The McCain defenders want it both ways. He's a true conservative, but doesn't toe the conservative line. It's nonsensical. You're either a stalwart or a maverick, but you can't be both.

[passionfruit]

Name calling? Who do they think they are? Democrats? That is a liberal tactic.

[dragnet2]

So now all the conservative talk show hosts are goons?

Wow...Gotta love what 7 years of Bush has brought us.

[steel_resolve]

They charged that his conservative credentials are phony, although a perusal of his long Senate record reveals McCain is one of the most consistently conservative senators ever to serve. They ripped him up and down because he’s had the courage to stake out his own positions on immigration and campaign finance reform.

How come in one sentence the author defends McCain's conservative credentials, but in the very next sentence brings up two very UN-conservative bills spearheaded by McCain, the author switches to "taking his own positions"?

[webschooner]

VOTING FOR JOHN McCAIN IS LIKE TRYING TO PICK UP A TURD BY THE CLEAN END.

On Election Day, I'll jus keep on walkin'

[Plutarch]

Dane, maybe McCain could go on their programs, answer their questions, and give their vast receptive audiences some of that "straight talk"? The "goons" would be respectful, but ask tough questions. How come McCain doesn't take on these goons? Is he afraid?

[kennyboy509]

The pontifs reflect the will of the people not guide it.

[Ratblaster]

What kind of goon squad could the GOP field in 2008? As for rattling McCain, I’m not GOP, nor did I whore myself for power over others.
The city picks up the trash in my neighborhood tomorrow I wish they’ed take McCain. It’s too bad they won’t take him because it would take too long to clean the garbage truck.

[weegee]

Um, this was Laura Ingraham's e-blast today.

http://www.LauraIngraham.com

February 11, 2008

What Next for Conservatives?

Now that Mitt Romney has stepped aside in the GOP presidential race, many conservatives are trying to figure out where to go from here. John McCain will be the Republican presidential nominee. Conservatives are dispirited because on many issues they don't consider him one of them. And it's true -- he is a moderate who considered leaving the GOP in 2001 ... he did think about joining John Kerry's ticket in 2004 ... and he did side with liberals over conservatives on everything from immigration to closing Gitmo.

But we have no time to be dejected and have to keep things in perspective. Remember, between 1932 and 1980, there weren't any conservative presidents. Even when they were in the wilderness, conservatives were hard at work. In 1951, William F. Buckley wrote "God & Man at Yale" and later started National Review magazine. We saw the rise of Barry Goldwater. Phyllis Schlafley and others defeated the Equal Rights Amendment. Ronald Reagan challenged the Republican establishment from the right and eventually became the party's standard-bearer.

So despite the wishful thinking on the part of liberals everywhere, conservatives are not about to give up and go away. In fact, this could be a moment of liberation. Many prominent conservatives think that the movement has become too closely aligned with the GOP anyway.

Whether a year from now we have President Clinton, Obama or McCain in the White House, the challenges facing America are going to be huge. Beyond the war and the economy, there will be a push for new climate change and immigration laws that conservatives are not going to like. And traditional marriage and our successful anti-terror policies will face renewed attacks in federal courts. So this is no time for conservatives to sit on the sidelines.

On the state and local level, we can recruit and support solid, traditional conservatives for everything from the school board to the state house. We can be active conservatives in our neighborhoods and churches by working with others to highlight what is good -- and defeat what is bad about today's popular culture. We can join organizations that do great grassroots work on the issues we care about. We can show how much we support the troops and their mission by helping returning vets and their families.

We are a movement that believes in personal responsibility, so it's time to take some. There are consequences to losing. Now is the time to rebuild and re-group, not whine or complain or sulk. Reagan lost many political battles along the way but never lost hope in the enduring nature of basic conservative principles. Neither should we.

Welcome the country club Republicans in charge do ye? Blowhards and Kingmakers indeed.

The media has been comparing Rush Limbaugh to Boss Tweed and Huey "Kingfish" Long. Those are rotten DEMOCRAT machines.

The name calling is stupid and misdirected but by all means, contribute to it. It'll solve nothing execept prove that there is no tolerance for conservatives in the GOP.

[GlennBeck08]

I am not a radio talk show host but I am not voting for McCain in November. It’s not only the so-called goon squad that has it for McCain... it’s the non-big government,pro tax cut, pro border fence, pro 1st Amendment, pro 2nd Amendment, pro American sovereingty, pro liberty, pro Constitution conservatives that aren’t voting for McCain. It’s the voters not able to stand being used and abused by the GOP any longer. It’s the voter sick and tired of watching the GOP become similar to Democrats of the 1980s. It is the voter that believes as Ronald Reagan so eloquently put it in 1975, “A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers.” I am not compromising my beliefs so the GOP can nominate another RINO.

[JerseyDvl]

This is much ado about nothing.
If the radio-talkers truly didn’t wield any influence, there wouldn’t be a plethora of articles about them daily.
The Repulican party has turned a deaf ear to those who have their fingers on the pulse of this nation.
John McCain cannot compete against the drive-by media and the Democrat Slime Machine.
He inspires nobody, treats the party like garbage, has sponsored unforgivable legislation, and lacks the temperament to be commander in chief.
I am trying to hold my nose long enough to stomach the thought of voting for the guy but this constant “I told ya so” attitude of his is making it very difficult.
Besides, I don’t think he can beat Hitlery or B. Hussein Obama due to the aforementioned reasons.
Bob Dole repeat...here we come!

[weegee]

Remember back to 1994 when the talking heads on the evening news said that America had just thrown a “temper tanrtum” by putting the Republicans in charge of Congress?

More of the same from pretty much the same voices.

[Matchett-PI]

“Ingraham went so far as to say that if McCain is the Republican nominee, she will vote for the Democrat, even if it’s Hillary Clinton.” ~ Dane

Unfortunately for you and the kooks you quote, I just happen to have Laura Ingraham on videotape telling Brit Hume the exact opposite. Ditto for the other “talkers”.

In fact, put this in your pipe and smoke it:

Rush in___ October 2006 ___ before the election:

“..But none of it still clicks logically to me why you expect — or why you think — by sending your own people out of power adds up to a good thing, especially positioning you for a re-conquest of that power in 2008. I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. If the Republicans lose the House and the Senate because of principled conservatives who exercise their power by doing nothing, by staying home and [not] voting, and if the Democrats win, they’re not going to stop being kooky and they can’t start being kooky because they are kooky to begin with. It stuns me. ...

“..The idea facilitating all this, while hiding under this or behind the banner of: “I’m principled and they’ve let me down and they need to be taught a lesson.”

Well, fine and dandy, but why is it that you don’t think the left needs to be taught a lesson for their absolutely unbelievable childish, immature, and dangerous behavior the last five years? How do they escape your wrathful eye? How is it that the Democrats somehow don’t make you mad? What is this death wish that some of you have? Why is it you cannot see who the real problem in America is or who your real enemy is in a political sense? Why can’t you see it? And if you do see it, then would somebody explain to me how ignoring the enemy and allowing them to gain more power somehow advances your cause? It may make you feel better, and it may mean that you are selfish, and it may mean you’re trying to portray yourself as smarter and more forward thinking than anybody else.

[]But it’s a death wish, particularly this notion that they’re not going to get anything done in the next two years anyway, and they’ll learn a lesson. Let me tell you about learning a lesson. In two years, you same people who will have helped bring about an ascension to power by the Democrats are going to be so angry; you’re going to be so fed up over what they have tried to do, over the things they will maybe have accomplished, that you are going to demand power back — and you will accept anybody that you think has a chance of winning it.

Right now, that looks like McCain above anybody else — who, I must tell you, is not a conservative — and so what are you probably going to end up doing? You’re going to be so frustrated by 2008 and the thought of Hillary Clinton becoming president is so obnoxious, so abhorrent, that in 2008, you will flush your precious principles down the drain and elect a Republican, precisely the kind of Republican you think you’re running against now. Or you will at least nominate one. Who knows how that election will go. So the very principle that you are fighting here, if you succeed, you will be given a candidate who fits the very thing you’re angry about, somebody who’s not conservative enough, but probably has the best chance of winning. ...” excerpted from

My post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1968154/posts?page=42#42

Disaster Does Loom if Democrats Win,and Will Lead to Nomination of McCain
October 18, 2006
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_020808/content/Landmark_Rush_Monologue.member.html

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I want to continue on the theme that has evolved over the past couple of days, maybe even a little bit longer than that and that is the notion, well, there’s an argument out there raging between noted professionals like me and rank amateurs over whether or not it’s a smart thing to do to not vote in this election. I’ve heard this before. You know, I’ve heard the argument, “Well, the Republicans abandoned their principles, and I’m not going to abandon mine, so screw them!” The last time this happened in significant numbers to deleterious effect was 1992, when a bunch of Republicans said to hell with Bush 41 and the no-new-taxes promise that he broke.

“We have to show these guys a lesson,” so we ended up with eight years of Bill Clinton — and ...” [snip] http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1968154/posts?page=42#42

[byteback]

It’s called overplaying your hand. The far right is right in that Napoleonic trek to Waterloo.

[Salvation]

Republicans,

I sincerely believe that we must come together to support McCain, mend the GOP and defeat the dimocrats.

 

Makes sense to me; certainly hope it makes sense to you.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

conservative suicide voters who are willing to throw our troops under the bus

Suicide voters for open borders during a war are throwing the country under a logging train.

[GregoTX]

Where do I sign up for this “goon squad”?

I’ll vote for McCain in November, but what’s your problem w/ conservatives trying to have a say in the Primary? That’s what primaries are all about. Get over it.

It’s not hard to convince me to vote for McC over Hill or Barack Hussein, but the hostility McCainiacs consistently show conservatives ain’t gonna help him in the general.

I just thought your post needed to be posted again, it should be posted a few more times.

[sageb1]

Go back to DU, Dane.

[hosepipe]

Mclaim cannot win.. in a year he will just be a loser..
Unless Hillary makes him Ambassador to Cuba..
He should lose his Senate job too being a loser..

I doubt Hillary will release 8mm's of Mclaim servicing his captors in Vietnam.. as valet..

[Hunble]

VOTING FOR JOHN McCAIN IS LIKE TRYING TO PICK UP A TURD BY THE CLEAN END.

I love it!

Personally, my taxes were increased by a Republican governor. I can no longer legally smoke in any building in my State because of Republicans.

Now I am being asked to support McCain, because he is registered as a Republican.

At the moment, I am so disgusted with the Republican party, I will probably vote Democrat this election.

What else could they do to my own personal life, that the Republicans have not done already?

[AllseeingEye33]

The Republican Party has become a pitiful, direction less, train wreck that needs to be purged and then rebuilt beginning at the bottom and working our way up... if that is even possible. “The Right is nothing but fiction, everyone is on the Left.” Essentially what we have is a Socialist/Communist party in the Demoncats...and a liberal party in the Repugnant Party. We are at the point of no return for the Republic if that does not happen.

[YCTHouston]

Ha ha, I wish we had a temper tantrum like that every election.

[Travis McGee]

No surprise you're lining up behind Shamnesty Quisling Benedict Arnold McCain.

Why do I call him this? On what basis do I make such a charge? Other than his writing and pushing the notorious McCain Kennedy Amnesty Bill....

This is the man John McCain chose to be his "Hispanic Outreach Director." Hernandez is a certified traitor. Born in Dallas, he decided as an adult to become a dual-national Mexican citizen. His last "real" job was serving on Mexican President Vicente Fox's cabinet as his "American Reconquista Director." After that gig ran out, he worked (sic) for George Soros funded internationalist foundations, like the one that published his new book.

The "New American Pioneers" proclaimed in his book are the illegal alien invaders he urges to become settlers in the USA. Hernandez believes all Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the USA should become dual citizens and consider themselves Mexicans first, "to the 8th generation." He believes there should be no border at all between Mexico and the USA, ever.

And this is the man McCain chose for his "Hispanic Outreach Director." In the past week McCain was asked about this choice, and he said he chose Hernandez because he agrees with his positions. If so, McCain is supporting invasion and reconquista.

Then I read our Constitution, Article 4 Section 4, where it says the federal government MUST protect the states from invasion, and I can only conclude one thing: John McCain is our new Benedict Arnold.

"In his own words: McCain’s radical Hispanic outreach director Juan Hernandez on youtube"

http://michellemalkin.com/2008/01/27/in-his-own-words-mccains-hispanic-outreach-director-preaches-open-borders/

[hosepipe]

In 2001, McCain founded the Alexandria, Va.-based Reform Institute as a vehicle to receive funding from George Soros’ Open Society Institute and Teresa Heinz Kerry’s Tides Foundation and several other prominent non-profit organizations.