Posted on 01/30/2008 4:54:32 PM PST by Zionist Conspirator
This may just be the year when conscientious conservatives decide sit out the election.
Its a step not to be taken lightly.
The idea of a perfect conservative candidate is a dangerous illusion. As an old Democrat ward heeler once told me: When youre running for public office and look in the mirror, thats when youll see a candidate you agree with completely.
Most of us are willing to compromise. I voted for Bush in 2000, knowing full well that his compassionate conservatism wasnt conservative at all, but big government with a smiley face. In the expectation that he would disappoint me, I was not disappointed.
As Barry Goldwater said at the 1960 Republican convention, in urging the right to unite behind Richard Nixon, Grow up conservatives! It is immature, to the point of petulance, to demand purity as the price of party loyalty.
Still, many conservatives whove held their noses and supported the Republican nominee, in election after bloody election -- are now literally gagging.
The prospect of John McCain as the Republican nominee caused Rush Limbaugh to declare last week, I can see possibly not supporting the Republican nominee this election, and I never thought that I would say that in my life.
With Hillary or Obama as the alternative, this is not an easy decision, but one dictated by both conscience and common sense.
John McCain is a conservatives worst nightmare I mean other than George Soros being elected president.
In a January 25th editorial, The New York Times the Dark Tower of liberal Mordor endorsed the Arizona Senator for the Republican nomination. (In a January 27th column, Frank Rich, the Times capo of political correctness, who earlier was panting after Huckabee, is now telling Republicans that McCain is their best bet to retain the White House.)
Though admitting differences with McCain on issues like abortion and marriage (he nominally favors normal marriage, while voting against the federal Marriage Amendment) the Times lionized its favorite Republican:
He was an early advocate for battling global warming (crippling the U.S. economy for a convenient lie) and risked his presidential bid to uphold fundamental American values (crime pays) in the immigration debate . He has been a staunch advocate of campaign-finance reform (hamstringing the First Amendment while augmenting the power of the mainstream media), working with Senator Russ Feingold, among the most liberal of Democrats, on groundbreaking legislation, just as he worked with Senator Edward Kennedy on immigration reform, the Times swooned.
The Manhattan edition of Pravda forgot to mention McRINOs partnership with Joe Lieberman (who endorsed the Senators presidential bid) to impose a cap on industrial CO2 emissions which, if enacted, would amount to a tax of $660 billion to $2.1 trillion from 2012 to 2030.
McCain has a penchant for partnering with the far left. He feels more comfortable with members of the liberal Comintern than he does with the conservative movement or his Republican colleagues. (McCain was the only candidate for the GOP nomination to boycott last years Conservative Political Action Conference.)
On the most momentous question confronting this nation (whether we will defend our borders or allow an alien invasion to redefine our identity), McCain is on the side of the ACLU, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the National Council of La Raza and his good bud Ted Kennedy.
He is Senor Amnesty, co-author of the bill that would have regularized the status of millions of illegal aliens, and sent millions currently south of the border heading north.
He also opposed an Arizona English initiative. (We wouldnt want border-jumpers to feel uncomfortable by officially designating America an English-speaking nation.) Over the years, McCain has also opposed English-only ballots and supported bi-lingual education. Can I get an ole?
For all of his vaunted candor, the Arizonan has had one of those election-year epiphanies. He now says he supports border security reflected in his rousing declaration, Ill build the G-d -damned fence, if they want it. Now, isnt that reassuring?
Just how cosmetic this is was reflected in last weeks news that McCain has appointed Juan Hernandez, who holds dual U.S.-Mexican citizenship, to head Hispanic outreach for his campaign.
In 2001, Hernandez told ABCs Nightline, in reference to Mexican immigrants in the United States, I want the third generation, the seventh generation, I want them all to think Mexico first. This is a prescription for national suicide, but is very much in keeping with McCains insouciance when it comes to U.S. sovereignty.
McCain has spent the last 20 years shamelessly pandering to the establishment media. To call him their favorite Republican is like saying feminists are rather fond of Hillary or the Sierra Club is partial to Al Gore.
As the Times noted, McCain teamed up with another doctrinaire leftist, Russ Feingold, to perpetrate the latest Campaign Finance fraud. McCain-Feingold, which protects incumbents from any discussion of their records within 60 days of a general election and 30 days of a primary.
In so doing, McCain, who claims hes consistently pro-life, has made it impossible for defenders of the unborn to mention oh, say a candidates support for partial-birth abortion, within two months of an election. Thats McCains great contribution to the pro-life cause.
McCain was part of the gang of 14 which blocked Senate Republicans, when they were still a majority, from changing the rules on judicial confirmations to prevent permanent filibusters by the friends of an activist judiciary.
Of course, under President McCain, the left wouldnt have to filibuster. Potential nominees would be vetted by Kennedy and The New York Times editorial board before they were sent to the Senate.
So, whats the case for voting Republican at all costs?
Dont look now, but under the current occupant of the White House, federal spending grew at the fastest rate in 30 years. McCain voted against the presidents modest tax cuts of 2001, and has called for a bi-partisan commission to fix Social Security, from which would inevitably come a hike in the payroll tax.
As my friend Gary Bauer points out, on inauguration day, 2009, six of nine Supreme Court justices will be over 69 years old. The next president will appoint at least two and perhaps as many as five members of the Supreme Court. Do we really want Hillary to make those choices? (Justice William Jefferson Clinton is not beyond the realm of imagining.)
Do the names Earl Warren, Harry Blackmun (author of Roe v. Wade), David Souter, Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day OConnor mean nothing? All of these enemies of the Constitution were appointed by Republican presidents (the latter two by Ronald Reagan, arguably the best president of the 20th. century).
The current Republican president wanted to nominate his good friend, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as chief justice. (Focus on the Family and National Review said theyd fight that nomination tooth and nail.) He did nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers. (A conservative revolt caused the nomination to be withdrawn.) Each was a wild card who could have turned out to be another David Souter.
Giuliani (whos poised to endorse McFraud) says he too would appoint strict constructionists to the federal bench like his mayoral appointment of a municipal court judge who ruled city funds could be used for sex-change operations?
A Republican In Name Only in the White House guarantees well have strict-constructionists in name only nominated to the federal judiciary.
Reagan excepted, Republicans have a less than stellar record here.
Nixon engineered the rapprochement with China. Its likely well be at war with the Peoples Republic within a decade a war which will be financed by U.S. consumers. (In 2007, our trade deficit with Beijing was $237 billion.)
Speaking of great moments in Republican diplomacy, in 1976, Ford didnt know Poland was a communist country.
The current occupant of the White House insists Islam is a religion of peace (imagine Churchill calling Nazism the embodiment of brotherhood) and sees the creation of a Palestinian state as one of his lasting legacies -- it will be, in much the same way that Munich was Chamberlains. As part of our crusade to spread democracy in the Middle East, we seem determined to destroy the only democracy in the Middle East.
Those who think war-hero McCain will hit the ground running as commander-in-chief, need a cold dose of reality. Like the ACLU, the Arizonan wants to grant due-process rights to foreign terrorists. He would close Guantanamo and mainstream jihadists in the federal prison population. Given his multiculturalism, perhaps hell let them proselytize fellow inmates..
Do we want a commander-in-chief who needs therapy or medication or both? A man who shouts F--- you at Senate colleagues and once called another Republican Senator whod incurred his wrath an ahole (in public, no less) you dont want his finger anywhere near the nuclear trigger.
A Democratic presidency would not be the end of the world as we know it, except for Republican lobbyists who sell access to the White House.
It would galvanize a conservative movement which often acts like a dog waiting to have its belly scratched when it comes to Republican presidents. In the past seven years, how much complaining about runaway spending and budget deficits have you heard on the right?
If a Democrat refused to defend our borders and let two brave Border Patrol agents rot in prison for shooting a drug smuggler, there would be calls for impeachment from the conservative movement, instead of incessant fundraising appeals.
Congressional Republicans would rediscover their manhood.
With a nominal Republican in the White House, it takes a minor miracle to get the party of the right to do the right thing. Party loyalty all too often trumps principle witness NAFTA, No Child Left Behind and the administrations current economic stimulus package, among other insanities.
Since 1964, Republicans have won seven of ten presidential elections.
An occasional Democrat in the White House may be necessary to remind the American people of what lies on the other side of the ideological divide socialism, pacifism, Hollywood-Huffington Post values and treason. Without Carter in 76, there would not have been Reagan in 1980.
We are at a crossroads. If Republicans nominate the wrong man this year, it could spell the end of the party. Like the Whigs and Federalists before them, the GOP will lumber toward the dead-party burial ground. Why should conservatives play make-believe to keep Republicans on life-support for a few years longer?
If youre a conservative who decides on principle not to vote this year, dont let them make you feel guilty. Brave men have fought and died to secure your right to vote, and youre throwing it away, theyll tell you. (More often, they fought to preserve the sovereignty politicians of both parties seem intent on throwing away.)
But those brave men also fought for our right to refuse to choose between tweedle-bad and tweedle-awful.
“So, whats the case for voting Republican at all costs?”
Well the only thing going for McCain is that actuarially speaking he may be filling a pine box in four years so the nightmare might be short. The Hildebeast may have infinite lives.
I can see that point as well. If I can find someone who isn't a pagan "green" or "palaeo" Israel-hater I will try to do that.
I am sick and tired of their ‘take it or leave it’ attitude. If getting a Hillary or Obama presidency is so damned bad then they have the obligation to bring forth a candidate that I can support. Stop blaming me for the fact that you have to always have it your way.
How long have we been going along with them for fear of what will happen if we stand up to them and say “no more”? Why are we always the one who has to give in and then suffer the very punishment for the next four or eight years that we were shamed out of standing up and refusing to support with our money or our votes.
In the end if they think McCain is the one that beat Hillary or Obama then they can do it without me.
Wrong. They shouldn’t HAVE to choose.
We have the choices we have, whether we like it or not. The real question comes after the conventions, when we really have no choice at all.
There’s always half a dozen parties that no one ever hears about - I won’t vote Libertarian ever again (I did for years, then started to get active in the local party and found out they really were just all about the drugs), won’t vote Constitution or Green, but I might be able to stomach Natural Law party. I’ll check the sample ballot against their websites the night before the election and decide then.
Amen. And the very same people that did that to us are right back at the public trough trying to get another shot at it.
No way. I’m not interested in sending any of the same good ol’ boys back to the trough.
No other than Soros being elected...if McCain is elected, or Hillary, or Obama, George Soros is as good as elected since he is the puppet master pulling the strings. Maybe conservatives will feel better since Soros won't be living in the White House. Of course, like Theresa Heinz, the White House is not up to his standards.
“We can not sit the election out. We could avoid voting for President, but we must win the House and Senate back to protect us from the bad ideas liberals and rinos have.”
Thank you, finally some sanity.
McCain not only can’t beat either of them, but he’ll completely lose it during the campaign. Conservatives need to do all they can to get as far away from him as possible because, if we don’t, then when he expoldes, it’s going to land all over us.
If Mrs. Bill Clinton were to get in she might be able to pull off what Bill did. Put the first repubo majority in Congress in 40 years. It won’t be 40 years this time. And if the repubos in the Senate held the line I can seriously think about smaking the repubo party in the face by crossing over.
I feel like this country is headed exactly in the wrong direction on so many issues. And most politicians on both sides are pushing us backwards as hard as they can.
I mean come on,,,,,,,,,,, corn for gas??????????
The polar bear is a protected species????
The sun doesn’t warm the earth?????
An energy bill with not a watt of energy????
Why do we need a gummint that is only providing us with stupidity. Not ignorance,, stupidity.
The House and Senate are a good start but the President can enact law by Executive Order. Just ask Billary!.
Same here. ...even though he said he'd sign the AWB if it reached his desk, and knowing he had a big ole soft spot for illegal aliens. Bush had negatives up the wazoo. Some of us voted with eyes wide open, cognizant of all his liberal proclivities but still vastly preferring him to the alternative (Gore). Others were in deep denial and in desperation painted him as something he wasn't (a conservative), as is now happening with Romney.
Looks like a replay of '88, '92, '96, '00, and '04 -- a "lesser of two evils" option in the general election. ...no matter who wins the GOP nomination.
Typical straw man argument. Noone is holding out for perfect. We are holding out for "not hideously flawed and ready to destroy the conservative movement for decades." I know that seems unreasonable to the win-at-any-cost Republicans. It's not to me.
OSWF, appointed by RINO's or a Libtard!
Why should conservatives play make-believe to keep Republicans on life-support for a few years longer?
Bears repeating.
I don’t see any difference in the evils. I will never vote for McCain, I will never give another dime to the GOP unless there are real changes for the better.
Sad sad times for sure.
Get as far away as possible? Heck, if voting for Hillary will send a better message than staying home, I might just vote for Hillary instead of McQueeg! If I’m going to be stabbed in the back either way, I’d rather be stabbed in the back by someone who admits they are my enemy.
In fact, as an opportunist, she might be less inclined to go for wacko leftist schemes like Al Gore’s global warming economic wreck than McQeeg, who seems to have drunk that Kool-Aid already, too.
WAIT! Did I just say Hillary might be more conservative than McCain??? I gotta go to bed!
Tombstone's Sam Elliott as Virgil Earp facing the reality of having to go up against the Clantons that day at the OK Corral comes to mind:
"This is like a bad dream."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.