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A Rapprochement With the Right?
Townhall.com ^ | 2/9/08 | Pat Buchanan

Posted on 02/09/2008 3:47:21 AM PST by StatenIsland

On Thursday, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Sen. John McCain stood before thousands of conservatives he has done his level best to anger and alienate for a decade -- to ask for their support.

And he made a not unconvincing case.

What he said essentially was this. We have fought each other in the past, and we have fought side by side. And I admit to having made my share of mistakes. But if we do not work together, we lose the presidency. And if we lose the presidency, your causes will be lost, as well as my last chance to be president.

But if you will work with me, many of the causes for which you have fought -- one more justice like Roberts and Alito, retention of the Bush tax cuts, further reductions in tax rates, a more secure border -- will be taken up as the causes of my presidency.

Moreover, my door will be open and your voices heard. And none of this will happen if Hillary or Barack Obama wins, which will happen if we do not join forces and fight together.

Bottom line: If we don't hang together, we all hang separately. If my end of the dinghy sinks, yours will not stay afloat. And if I lose, you get your pound of flesh, but we will both be out in the cold as a Democratic Congress and president undo what was right about the Bush presidency as well as what was wrong about the Bush presidency.

So it is your call.

McCain is no orator. But the speech had humility and humor -- and put the ball back squarely in the court of the conservatives. For John McCain had just taken the first step toward a rapprochement with the right, by asking for an armistice and offering an alliance.

In 1964, as an even more acrimonious battle for the GOP ended at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, where the right hooted and booed Nelson Rockefeller, another Arizonan was far less compromising than John McCain. Barry Goldwater told that convention of conservatives that had just nominated him: "Anyone who joins us in all sincerity, we welcome. Those who do not care for our cause, we don't expect to enter our ranks in any case."

Conservatives now have a decision to make......


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cpac; juanmccain; mccain; mcstain; ourmexicanoverlords; patbuchanan; thelarazacandidate
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The mind wobbles...
1 posted on 02/09/2008 3:47:22 AM PST by StatenIsland
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To: StatenIsland

Did Pat get the “Faith-based initiative” post, or maybe his old job as speechwriter in the Juan McAztlan White House?


2 posted on 02/09/2008 3:50:30 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (Second To None!)
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To: StatenIsland
McCain is no orator.

Worse luck, still: he's scarcely any sort of conservative, either.

Man, oh man... Obama's just plain gonna end up eating Juan's friggin' luch come Election day, ain't he?

3 posted on 02/09/2008 3:52:57 AM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle ("John McCain is to conservatism what Cindy Sheehan is to the Miss Universe Pageant.")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Three things McCain has to do immediately. They are: (1) Fire Juan, (2) Call for the repeal of ALL campaign finance reform legislation passed in the last two centuries (starting with his own garbage), and (3) Announce that AFTER the border is secure, all illegal aliens will be removed to the nearest adjacent country.


4 posted on 02/09/2008 3:54:00 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: StatenIsland

The ball’s in McCain’s court now. The RINOs wanted to run the show and now...well, they’re up on the stage. It’ll be interesting to if see if this band of RINOs can achieve anything resembling a successful performance.


5 posted on 02/09/2008 3:59:01 AM PST by Rudder
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To: muawiyah
"Three things McCain has to do immediately. They are: (1) Fire Juan, (2) Call for the repeal of ALL campaign finance reform legislation passed in the last two centuries (starting with his own garbage), and (3) Announce that AFTER the border is secure, all illegal aliens will be removed to the nearest adjacent country."

Will that be before or after he suspends the law of gravity? Why should he? He's sewn up the nomination despite common knowledge amongst the base that he's softer on amnesty than Ted Kennedy, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee and Juan Hernandez, combined! He thinks he'll win with independents and "moderate" republicans in the Fall. Hell, there aren't enough moderates in the GOP left to fill up a high school gym, and the independents all have a crush on Barack Hussein Obama. Good luck with that, Captain McQueeg!

6 posted on 02/09/2008 3:59:32 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (Second To None!)
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To: StatenIsland
...my door will be open and your voices heard.

He should had added, though,: "But my mind will be closed"! That is the whole attitude of his speech. He made that very clear. His way or the highway would be his presidency because he really knows better than his base.

Sound exactly like Hillary!

7 posted on 02/09/2008 4:03:39 AM PST by TexasRedeye (Eschew obfuscation)
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To: muawiyah
Agree totally. I continue to think Dr. Walter Williams (Rush's occasional fill-in) Link to "It's Time To Part Company" article is taking on more and more relevence. We all should read it and pass it along. It my be our final destination.
8 posted on 02/09/2008 4:08:04 AM PST by mek1959
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To: StatenIsland
And he made a not unconvincing case.

Yes. He made an unconvincing case.

So Pat's message is: You got no choice?

I got news or ya pal ...!

9 posted on 02/09/2008 4:10:18 AM PST by HeartlandOfAmerica (Don't blame me - I voted for Fred and am STILL a FredHead!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I wanna try my hand at this speech writing gig for Mr. McCain.

.....

Hello, friends.

Please, tell me what you want to hear, so that I may say it to you as you wish to hear it. I promise to tell you anything you want so that I may do whatever I wish. You will be happy, I promise. And if you are not happy, then you will be called disloyal to your party. No one wants to be a divider, right? So be happy, or else. (big smile, make eye contact, wait for applause to end)

I promise not to have any real idea of what I intend to do until after I awake on the morning of the day I intend to do it, unless I change my mind.

Remember to keep an open mind. Open minds are necessary so that I may fill them with whatever it is that needs to be there to help you be happy with what I tell you.

And when it comes time to vote on the day when we pretend to take your opinions seriously, it’s always all about the (R)! Just vote the (R). You will be happy. I promise.


10 posted on 02/09/2008 4:12:53 AM PST by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: All

So what are the alternatives in the real world?


11 posted on 02/09/2008 4:13:28 AM PST by Tut
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To: Grimmy
And when it comes time to vote on the day when we pretend to take your opinions seriously, it’s always all about the (R)! Just vote the (R). You will be happy. I promise.

LOL! Perfect! ;)

12 posted on 02/09/2008 4:15:04 AM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle ("John McCain is to conservatism what Cindy Sheehan is to the Miss Universe Pageant.")
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To: StatenIsland
On Thursday, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Sen. John McCain stood before thousands of conservatives he has done his level best to anger and alienate for a decade -- to ask for their support.

And he made a not unconvincing case.

Methinks Pat likes working on MSLSD a little too much...

13 posted on 02/09/2008 4:15:42 AM PST by sauropod (I'd rather be waterboarded than vote for John McCain)
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To: StatenIsland

If McCain loses, he will say it was because the conservatives did not vote for him. We are the scapegoat.


14 posted on 02/09/2008 4:21:30 AM PST by tiger-one (The night has a thousand eyes)
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To: Tut

“So what are the alternatives in the real world?”

Precisely. We are in a battle that won’t go away just because we choose not to participate.


15 posted on 02/09/2008 4:24:17 AM PST by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: tiger-one
If McCain loses, he will say it was because the conservatives did not vote for him. We are the scapegoat.

Oh, but it can't possibly be our fault, don't you know. I have it on the very best authority -- i.e., the Juan McCain Shill Squadron assembled, these past several days -- that we unhappy social conservatives and suchlike are all just simply a "fringe," "marginal" aspect of the party, after all; in no ways large or important enough for us even to expect to have any real sort of voice in such matters as (say) party priorities, stratagems and suchlike.

How could anything so microscopically insignificant as all of that possibly be to "blame" for ANYthing, in the grand, overall scheme of things...? ;)

16 posted on 02/09/2008 4:27:29 AM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle ("John McCain is to conservatism what Cindy Sheehan is to the Miss Universe Pageant.")
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To: StatenIsland
Gee... this might actually mean something if it hadn’t come from an isolationist, anti-war, antisemitic, Conservative leaning mental case. Come to think of it... juan and patty were destined to be running mates. et tu patty?

LLS

17 posted on 02/09/2008 4:29:54 AM PST by LibLieSlayer ("There is no conservative alternative in the race. It's just that simple." Rush Limbaugh)
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To: StatenIsland

McCain sux!!!!!


18 posted on 02/09/2008 4:30:51 AM PST by Waco
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To: pieceofthepuzzle

What battle might that be. Unless the Huckster can win the nomination, we have McCain. There are only 3 possibilities for president at this moment.

Those are the facts and no amount of your ping and moaning would change those facts and for those who will “show them” and stay home like you did in 2006, might as well cast your vote for Hillary or Obama and love what they dish out to us.

It’s all very simple.


19 posted on 02/09/2008 4:33:59 AM PST by Tut
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To: StatenIsland

No, if he wins, the cause will be lost. By the end of his four years there will be no GOP.


20 posted on 02/09/2008 4:35:42 AM PST by mtbopfuyn (I think the border is kind of an artificial barrier - San Antonio councilwoman Patti Radle)
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