The Audacity of Compromise

Townhall.com ^ | February 8, 2008 | Kathleen Parker

[John W]

Kamikaze Republicans -- those who say they'll never vote for John McCain because he isn't conservative enough -- may get what they deserve.

The Clintons.

Many on the right, including Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, James Dobson and others, have declared they'd rather vote for Hillary Clinton -- or not vote at all -- than cast a ballot for McCain. These self-appointed spokesmen for conservatism insist that voting for Clinton is a matter of principle: Better to go down on the strength of one's convictions than to be a morally compromised placeholder, they say.

[abclily]

Rush Limbaugh is not a perfect conservative. Glenn Beck is not a perfect conservative. Ann Coulter is not a perfect conservative. But they won’t vote for McCain, because he is not a perfect conservative? Where do these elitist conservative talkers come off? These conservative talkers are acting much the same as left-wing, liberal, cry babies.

[Biblebelter]

McCain's enemies see him as having abandoned those principles with the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform bill, which limited political speech, and the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill that would allow for gradual citizenship for illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria.

This is a key sentence. I did not wake up and decide one day that McCain or Jorge Bush took a position that required me to make them my enemy. No conservative really has ANY enemies if Teddy Kennedy is not Public Enemy Number One on your enemies list. McCain is my enemy not because I disagree with him but because it seems on the ISSUES which I care a lot about he is always sleeping with the conservative's Public Enemy Number One Teddy Kennedy. It ain't about disagreement or ideological purity, it is about the treachery of sleeping with Public Enemy Number One.

[kittymyrib]

Spoken as a Republican, not a conservative. There are principles that are not negotiable. One of them is national sovereignty vs. open borders. McCain will grant amnesty to illegals, pushing through the law he and Kennedy proposed. I will never vote for him. Let Hillary win and implement amnesty. She’ll be doing it without my vote. This is what I’ve learned after eight years of George Bush.

[Cicero]

We accepted some bad stuff from Bush because he also gave us some good stuff. Not only that, but the alternatives were McCain and Gore, who were both far worse.

But McCain will offer us, and our country, virtually nothing.

This is like having Nelson Rockefeller come back from the dead, after decades of work building the conservative coalition and giving victory to the Republicans.

They started screwing with the base in the 2006 election, and now apparently they aren’t really even TRYING to pretend that they care what we think or want.

You don’t reward people for treating you with abuse and contempt. It will only encourge them to keep doing it.

[SpaceBar]

Problem is... this isn’t a compromise. It’s a winner-take-all chess game, and throwing it over strict principle is still a checkmate, admirable but still a loss. Four years of making McCain’s life hell by scrutinizing his every move would be preferable to having either Hill or the “O” at the levers of power.

[E. Cartman]

Well said. This young lady is closer to the Clintons than most of us. She’s pretty much a lefty. I’ve read her columns for the last couple of years and can’t figure out where Townhall figures she’s conservative.

Well said. She's representative of so many of history's "brave" moderates who've happily thrown away their principles and of whom even today we hear so much glowingly spoken...NOT!!!

World's shortest book: Courageous moderates

[DUMBGRUNT]

Four years of Obama or Ms Rodham, out treasurey will be empty,our military extinct and no industry to provide income.
We will be just like Russia except the Chinese will own us.

[E. Cartman]

Four years of Obama or Ms Rodham, out treasurey will be empty,our military extinct and no industry to provide income. We will be just like Russia except the Chinese will own us.

That horse left the barn seven years ago. Our industry has been decimated, our treasury is virtually empty and the Chinese already do own us.

(Thank you, Jorge Bush.)

[farmer18th]

Same old, same old.

Here's the sorry lament of the cowardly "lesser of two evils" voter.

Picture a small framed man on a piano bench with a plaid shirt and a golfing picture of Gerald Ford on the wall.
"Well, you know I really have some very severe reservations about John McCain," he says, timidly. "He voted against the Bush Tax cuts twice and he publicly ridiculed some of the P.O.W. families and he cheated on his wife and he voted for Ruth Gader Ginsburg and I have two hunting rifles I bought at a gun show and I'm scared he would want to take those away from me, but..."

At this point his lip begins to tremble..

I'm just so FRIGHTENED of Hilllary Clinton....

[JasonC]

She is entirely right.

[penowa]

"It isn't necessary to love everything McCain has done to vote for him should he be the nominee. But it isn't possible to argue that there's no difference between McCain and Clinton (or Barack Obama), as some Republicans insist."

You can ignore the fact that McCain is a wholly owned subsidiary of Soros et.al., to make the argument that he's the lesser of two evils, but once you realize the guys behind the curtain are so brazen they no longer care if you think this is a faux election on a par with Saddam's, it will be hard to pull that lever for McCain.

[America-The-Great-1967]

Wow Biblebelter I had no Idea these men were are enemies, off with their heads. Your in rare form my friend, rare form.

[farmer18th]

It ain't about disagreement or ideological purity, it is about the treachery of sleeping with Public Enemy Number One.

Bingo. McCain's not just "impure." He's a traitor.

[penowa]

"We will be just like Russia except the Chinese will own us."

Better get over it, take a course in Mandarin, and get ready because that's where we're headed no matter who wins in Nov. It's a done deal and it didn't start yesterday. We've been sold out by those we elected.

[ladyinred]

Dear God, this is getting scary to me. I would never have chosen McCain by choice, but he is a darn sight better than Obama the closet Muslim, or the Witch from Arkansas.

[sageb1]

You do realize that Ann C. conceded at the non-CPAC CPAC podium that her hatred for the Clintons might cause her to change her mind?

[SpaceBar]

I guess Ann Coulter came to her senses and realized that it would be difficult to continue writing her column laying in a cramped bunk in canvas overalls.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“As you say, there may be no difference between the three on their views, but there is a difference in the sheeple’s views. In 4 years with a RINORAT, the sheeple will merely pile on more hatred of the party. In 4 years with a RAT making those same decisions, the sheeple and the GOP may possibly wake up and vote for a real conservative in ‘12.”

Sorry, with a Hillary Presidency I am concerned that there will not be a vote in 4 years. I am concerned that criminals will get to vote. I am concerned that the Constitution will be trampled on, the electoral college obliterated, the second amendment destroyed, a one world governement run from the UN and brown shirts showing up at my doorstep if I say something bad. Picture Hugo Chavez with big ankles and not as well dressed.

This is no longer about Republicans and Democrats. That paradigm went out in 2000. This is about the left, the right and everyone else.

[sageb1]

Yep. Never burn all your bridges. Leave yourself a way out.

[sageb1]

That is ridiculous. She and Cal Thomas are the only two on the right my lefty paper condescends to publish. As a rule, she is a breath of fresh air.