Posted on 01/28/2005 8:23:00 AM PST by crushkerry
I am a rightwinger. I don’t mind telling you. I generally vote for the most conservative candidate (who isn’t a nut) in the GOP primary and then I generally vote for the most conservative candidate in the General Election (who is, almost inevitably, the Republican.) Which is why I’m worried about 2008.
As I have written before, I have it on a rock solid source that Senator John McCain will be a candidate for President of the United States in 2008. And I have it from a well-placed source inside the Governor’s office that Jeb Bush’s commitment not to run in ’08 is genuine. So the question becomes, who can stop McCain, if indeed he needs to be stopped.
For the record, I could easily vote for McCain in a General Election, especially against Hillary Clinton. But I am hardly fond of the mercurial bloke from the Sun Belt. He is far too addicted of leftwing media laudation. He has consorted with too many diabolical characters of the Left to create too many dreadful pieces of legislation. Chief among these is the execrable McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law, which helped create a George Soros-funded hate speech machine and for which McCain has not received nearly enough opprobrium. Finally, I am still concerned he never apologized for this ... The Arizona Republican's staff is in spin mode after the lawmaker's appearance on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" Tuesday. McCain was talking with host Jon Stewart about the elections, when Stewart asked if, in light of the Republican triumphs in Congress, Americans "should buy guns." "The Bushmaster is popular now," quipped McCain, alluding to the rifle used by D.C. sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo. A McCain spokesman tells us the senator was not making light of the recent shootings. "If anything," says his rep, "he was stressing the need for better control of guns." Sen. John McCain's sense of humor may be a little too edgy for his own good.
Nonetheless, as things stand today, no one, and I mean no one of the Left and no one of the Right, who is considering running for president in ’08 can beat McCain.
Of course, that ‘no one on the Left’ part is a check in McCain’s ‘pro’ column. He would mop the floor with Hillary as the media would carry his water even against her throughout the General Election. So in love is the MSM with McCain, I have generated a theory that it has actually led to the public downfall of Michael Moore. Recall if you will McCain’s mildest of rebukes of Moore at the GOP convention
During his speech to the delegates, the Arizona Republican singled out the director of the anti-Bush film Fahrenheit 9/11, who was sitting in the press section at Madison Square Garden. McCain called Moore a "disingenuous film maker who would have us believe that Saddam's Iraq was an oasis of peace, when in fact it was a place of indescribable cruelty, torture chambers, mass graves and prisons that destroyed the lives of the small children held inside their walls."
That caused Michael Moore to fire back in the pages of USA Today :
Poor John McCain.
Here's a guy I've always sort of liked, a courageous war hero reduced to carrying water for the Bush campaign.
So it was Monday night, as I sat in the press section — unbeknownst to Sen. McCain — when he switched from pro-war convention speaker to film critic. Out of nowhere, he began to attack my movie, Fahrenheit 9/11, calling me a "disingenuous filmmaker." The problem is, he hasn't seen the movie, a fact he later admitted to Chris Matthews on MSNBC.
And from then on it was all over. Sure, imply George W. Bush is responsible for 911, but don’t you dare cross John McCain, the MSM seemed to say en mass. Within hours, the darling, if brainless, Katie Couric (who theretofore had only conducted florid, obsequious interviews with Moore) turned on the obese low-budget filmmaker:
COURIC: Some people say you're not helping the Democrats, because you're seen as too extreme, a bit of a jerk, no offense, by some people.
MR. MOORE: Uh-huh, yeah. You wouldn't say that, though, would you?
COURIC: Well, I don't--well...
MR. MOORE: Well, you just did.
COURIC: Yeah. No, but I think--I mean, I think that you're very controversial. I mean, you would admit that, Michael. And some people think you're...
MR. MOORE: Yeah. But--but--but you know just in dealing with me, personally, I'm actually not a jerk at all. I'm kind of a nice...
COURIC: I don't know you well enough to make that assumption.
MR. MOORE: Well, you and I, well, we've hung out a little bit. I mean, we...
COURIC: Well, I've interviewed you, but.
MR. MOORE: Well, and off camera here, we've talked a little bit.
COURIC: But--but I guess, forgetting all that...
MR. MOORE: Well, what's your impression of me, just on a personal level?
COURIC: It has nothing to do with my impression of you.
MR. MOORE: But it's not a jerk thing, is it? [/align]
Moore seemed crushed. And indeed he was. The MSM never looked at him the same way again. That’s how powerful McCain’s relationship with the MSM is. Anywho, I digress.
So who can stop McCain? No one, as far as I can tell.
Rudy Giuliani? I like Rudy, but he is a liberal Republican. He’s pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, he is by no means a tax cutter. Giuliani is a ball buster who makes the trains run on time; great for the cabinet, but not, in my opinion, for the top job. Moreover, the Bernard Kerik affair may have tarnished his 911 reputation a bit.
Mitt Romney? Another good guy. But a Mormon Republican from Massachusetts of all places? I think not.
Senator Sam Brownback? I like him, but few others have ever even heard of him. Senator Chuck Hagel? Perhaps in the Democrat primary. Senator Lindsey Graham has started the “triangulation” about four years too early and can no longer be thought of as a conscientious conservative. Senator Rick Santorum has a tough re-election fight ahead of him and still must mend fences with conservatives for the apostasy of having endorsed Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey; an ill-conceived political stroke that is still causing chaos in the Upper Chamber.
Colorado Governor Bill Owens has a “Monica” problem, if you know what I mean.
Perhaps the most intriguing figure is newly-minted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. But (and it pains me to have to ask this) will Georgia, South Carolina, and Kentucky Republicans vote for a black woman named “Condoleezza?” Doubtful. (Paradoxically, that a black woman named “Condoleezza” and a multi-ethnic fellow named “Barack Obama” are even mentioned as tier one candidates by their respective parties demonstrates how far we have come.)
So what’s a conservative Republican to do? McCain is acceptable to me in a General Election. But he is unacceptable to many, many conservatives I know. Further, his vision for America is utterly uninspiring to many of the vilified “Moral Values” voters who overwhelmingly supported George Bush for re-election in 2004, and who carry a disproportionate amount of weight in the primaries.
Wanted: A conservative who can run and beat McCain in the 2008 GOP primary. Any ideas?
Let's worry about getting through this Presidency first. We need to keep the GOP on track and turning the campaign promises into realities.
Why we are worried about 2008 I'll never know. McCain could be dead for all we know by 2008...
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Amen brother! The BIG JOB is right now. Iraq, our borders, illegal immigration, a jaundiced eye on China, taxation..etc,etc. Screw McCain -- he is not a conservative, and as far as I am concerned, he is NOT a Republican. He is whatever he has to be, to get into the White House, his ultimate aspiration, which really makes him no different that John Kerry or Hitlery Clintoon, excepting the apparent lack of radical Marxism and his experience.
Let's get on with TODAY running America!!! I agree.
All McCain has going for him is incredible name recognition. It's too soon to rule in or out any good conservative candidates to run against him, but there will inevitably be some, and one of them will beat McCain in the primary, just as W did in 00. A sizeable majority of GOP primary voters will flock to the first decent conservative who emerges as McCain's opponent.
<"I suspect, too, that some equivalent of the Swift Boat group might finally stand up and say what military people really think about him after his betrayal of the POW/MIAs, not to speak of other problems.">
This is true. Last time he snuck by on this. He did not help himself by attacking the Swift Boat folks. My quess is his war record will be an issue, if he runs.
As people have said many times before, the problem with Condi is the abortion issue. She's great in every other way, but that would sink her, unless she can really and persuasively change her position to pro-life.
I know that's only one issue, but it's an absolutely basic issue. It would undermine and possibly destroy the Catholic/Evangelical coalition that GW Bush has managed to build and that is essential to preserving our current momentum.
If she came out with a strong and heartfelt pro-life statement, I would consider switching my views. After all, many Democrats who were pro-life all their lives switched over to abortion and stuck by it for political reasons. She's a decent lady, and maybe she can be made to see the realities of this issue, both moral and political. But it would have to be a real switch, because there are widespread, deep suspicions of the Republican Party on this issue, and they simply can't afford to lie to their base yet again.
I think McCain will be a little old in 2008. Equally worrisome is the health issue. The re-occurence of the cancer on his face required major surgery.
I agree wholeheatedly with your policy differences with McCain. Too buddy-buddy with some egregious leftists such as J. Effin Kerry. And there's that Keating Five ghost in his past which might make for a whopping October Surprise.
I don't think she has a chance in hell of winning any nomination. They will look at her and wonder whether they want a completely unelectable candidate.
Like I said, George Allen. McCain is widely despised, just like Hitlery.
There will be OTHER conservatives running for Prez in '08--they just won't be Republican (they will be TRUE conservatives). The Constitution Party, Independent American, & other conservative parties will have candidates. Oh, yeah....& so will the Libertarian Party!
A vote for Democrat? Come on!!!!!! You can't be serious!
I agree with you from top to bottom, except that Hitlery will not be the Rat candidate. She is unelectable.
I'll vote for whoever the Democrat is over McCain.
I'd rather have an enemy whose behavior I can count on than an ally I can never trust.
McCain would be pro-gun control, he is already anti-free speech (McCain-Feingold), pro-illegal immigrant, pro-UN, pro-socialist, and (not least of all) he's almost as pro-Democrat as Jim Jeffords.
If the USA will elect George Bush then we do not have to put up a traitor like McCain to attract Democrat voters.
We need a REAL Republican in the 2008 race.
John McCain is not a real Republican and he proves it every time he opens his mouth.
I'd like to see a groundswell of support for former Rep. J.C. WATTS begin to take shape, especially in this early stage of Pres Bush's 2nd term. Methinks he'd be an EXCELLENT choice.
Does anyone know Kyl's feelings on immigration? For example, did he support the initiative to restrict benefits for illegals?
I've never been impressed with Allen. Don't know why exactly. He's just not very exciting.
In 2008, people will not be looking for "exciting."
They'll be looking for peace and stability and boringness.
Being a constitutionalist, I'm gonna vote 3rd party regardless if it's Hillary vs. McCain, but if that really is the matchup for '08, I wish that others would follow along w/ me. DON'T vote for a RINO (McCain), & DON'T vote for a socialist (Hillary): find some TRUE conservatives, who will in all likelihood will not be in the GOP until the GOP becomes a conservative/pro-American party again.
"We need a real Republican in the 2008 race".
NO, we need a real CONSERVATIVE in the 2008 race...& the GOP is locking the door so they can't enter.
I hope the GOP is reading FR: I am NOT going to vote for a mushy Reep.
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