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?
I can't think of many Republicans who WON'T be "mushy"...can you? The GOP isn't a conservative party anymore, & it is time to begin looking ELSEWHERE.
I hate to say it, but I agree. The GOP & the Dems seem to be lockstep on immigration, "diversity", and other BS I just can't stomach.
'Republicrats' is what most of them seem to be anymore.
CONDI 2008!
Some conservatives consider Bush to be a RINO: He's
passed the biggest entitlement (Medicare prescription
drugs) since that great Leftist LBJ which will end up
costing us trillions when fully implemented. He let Ted
Kennedy write the No Child Left Behind act which is the
biggest boondoggle since Jimmy Carter created the Dept.
The Agriculture bill he supported and signed was 40%
pork. He signed McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform
which all conservatives believe restricts the First
Amendment. He waffled on the affirmative action case
when Michigan was before the Supreme Court. The great
free-trader supported a steel tariff until forced to
back-track. He has NEVER vetoed or seen a big spending
bill he didn't like. His non-defense spending, according
to a Heritage Foundation report, has been wasteful and
excessive. I could continue the list - but he's
entitled to join the RINO Club.
RICE will be on the menu in 08 unless she gets roasted at state.
The "Two-Party Cartel". And nodoby likes either one. Some republic.
It's the game plan in the "Two-Party Cartel". The elites in the pubbie party are ticked at GW. Why, I don't know. He has carried much water for them but just what would happen if we truly had a conservative next cycle. They would be forced to put up true conservative judges to the Supreme Court & if not then all would see this phony cartel. It will be the dems winning in 2008.
We can only hope & pray Condi will run in 08. If not, thanks to Gipper08, I really like what I've read about Mike Pence. Wish he could get a little more national attention though. We CANNOT let McCain become President. He's better than Hillary, but not by much.
I wouldn't mind taking it on the chin for 4 yrs by a Dim if I could play a part in finding & electing TRUE conservatives (Republican OR 3rd party) into Congress or the Presidency (the House of Representatives is especially important here, is even more than the Presidency!).
I think you are looking short term when you worry about our ending up electing a liberal into the White House--& I'm talking long term. I'm talking about building an ever-increasing conservative/constitutionalist movement that could last for decades; & if that means having a liberal as President for 4 yrs, then that's the price we pay; but the benifits we will reap later will far outweigh the knocks we are dealing w/ short term.
I hope you are right about the RINO split. I nominate the very honorable former Representative J.C. WATTS.
I really wish that folks would support him, too...& convince him to seek the Presidential nomination in '08. Whaddy'a think?
Maybe, maybe not. That depends how much he's paid or how much press he gets. Then he'd sell out once again Keating Five style.
I posted the links you sent me on Pence and credited you for them.
Pence needs more publicity.
Pence does need more publicity,and thanks to patriots like you it will not be long before everyone knows his name.You do not need to credit me with the articles.Pence is the leader of the conservative movement,most people just do not know it.We must have a revival in this party.
Although McCain would win the Republican primary by default.
There is still time for Conservatives to get behind a candidate to defeat McCain but the time is quickly running out.
This is analysis? He doesn't explain why Romney won't work, so he brushes by hoping we won't notice.
Another good guy.
Exactly. Once married. Attractive, able and affable. Dems/MSM have found nothing to smear him with aside from being "smooth talking".
But a Mormon.
The Mormon concern is fading fast. Since the Presidency is a secular office, in the end it isn't a substantive issue. People get comfortable with the Mormonism as they get comfortable with Romney.
Republican from Massachusetts
That is a huge advantage. A Romney ticket will break the GOP out of its Southern/Mountain West box, and tip competitive Northern states (e.g. MI, WI, IA, NH) into the Red column, without corresponding losses in the South.
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