Posted on 02/12/2008 4:37:54 AM PST by Kaslin
Just four hours after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's pragmatic decision to suspend his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. John McCain stood before the annual Conservative Political Action Conference and asked the assembled activists to support his bid for the White House. The "maverick" acknowledged differences he has had over the years with many in the room, offered a spirited defense of his 24-year record in Congress, and made an eloquent, self-effacing appeal for conservatives to unite in the "urgent necessity of defending the values, virtues and security of free people against those who despise all that is good about us."
Reaction was swift -- and predictable. Both Sens. Clinton and Obama, locked in a slash-and-burn contest for Democratic dollars and delegates, quickly dispatched dueling news releases, each claiming dominance over the presumptive Republican nominee. Earlier in the day, Howard Dean, their party's chairman, warned that delay in choosing a standard-bearer could jeopardize Democratic hopes in November: "The idea that we can afford to have a big fight at the convention and then win the race in the next eight weeks is not a good scenario." Regrettably, some of my conservative friends seem unwilling or unable to grasp that the same applies to the GOP and appear disposed to squander an obvious advantage.
My "colleagues" in the so-called mainstream media gladly roll their cameras and recorders for those who assert that "McCain is not a real conservative" or who say, "I can never support him," and the ones claiming, "I just won't vote this year." It is, for me, a disheartening display because I have, as we say in the Marines, "been there -- done that."
After I won the 1994 Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia, I naively assumed that all in the GOP would pull together behind my conservative candidacy. I clearly don't know much about politics. If I did, I'd be writing this from my U.S. Senate office instead of my home in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. But at the trade school John McCain and I attended in Annapolis, Md., they did teach me how to count. I lost by a narrow margin in a three-way race. Some of those who were with me then are among those who now say they won't support John McCain.
Worse still, since this election cycle began last year, the Democrats have raised more money than the GOP, and in the primary balloting that began last month, Democrats have turned out more voters. These numbers matter because they reflect the energy and commitment of the opposing parties in this year's presidential contest.
Neither John McCain nor anyone in his campaign asked me to write this column. But I cannot sit silently while my fellow conservatives do to John McCain what GOP "moderates" did to me. Today the stakes for our country are far higher, and the implications for the future are far greater than who sits in one of 100 U.S. Senate seats. Now our nation is at war against a vicious foe. We need a president who has proved how to win it.
During the course of the past six years, I have made a dozen protracted trips to cover U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardsmen and Marines defending us against a jihad hostile to all that we hold dear. In the dark days when Iraq's Anbar province was the bloodiest place on the planet, John McCain was one of the few in Congress brave enough to venture into that cauldron. I know because I saw him there.
During those trips, he listened to bright, brave young Americans wearing flak jackets and flight suits and became a steadfast supporter of a winning strategy for ending this long and costly conflict. But the senator's commitment goes far beyond political rhetoric. One of his sons is a student at our alma mater; the other is a Marine Corps lance corporal serving in harm's way. Thanks to John McCain's vision and resolve, a few weeks ago, my cameraman and I walked in shirt sleeves down streets in Ramadi and Fallujah, where we used to dodge bullets, IEDs and RPGs.
The election in November will determine how we proceed on the most profoundly important matter confronting our nation: the crucial outcome of an unprovoked war being waged against us by radical Islam. All other issues, as important as they are, pale in comparison to achieving victory over those who seek to destroy our very way of life.
Sen. McCain has pledged to win this war. We must do so, for the consequences of failure would be staggering. But as he has acknowledged, he cannot do that without the support of conservatives who man the phone banks, raise the funds, walk the precincts and turn out the vote on Election Day. I hope my fellow conservatives will decide as I have: We need John McCain as commander in chief.
ping
No thanks.
I an an agent of intolerance.
Mr. Franklin, we could not keep it. The experiment is over.
A lot of people that I used to respect for putting principle over politics have crossed over now. This election has been a real eye-opener to me. I’m glad, now I don’t have to spend the rest of my life with those blinders over my eyes anymore.
I’ve decided since it’s so great that McCain is a maverick in our party - I’m going to be one too! I’ll vote for the Republicans on the ballot - except for McCain. He will never get my vote.
The republicans are going to lose so big & it’s not the conservatives fault. Heck, I haven’t even had a chance to vote in a primary yet. This sucks.
George Soros owns John Mclaim.. He is contagious with democrat diseases.. and he cannot win the election this cycle.. I say cut John McLaim out of the flock.. cull him..
McCain is a bad choice, but Obama or Mrs. Clinton are far worse and I won’t enable either of them.
You already have.
But Ollie, if he wins the war but gives away OUR country, what kind of victory is that?
Sorry Ollie, but no.
Regrettably, some pundits and politicians seem unwilling or unable to grasp that "conservative" and "GOP" don't mean the same thing.
America is losing the home front to invasion and liberalism. It makes no sense to save a corner of Islam, yet to lose America, and in the latter battle, Juan has been fighting for the wrong side.
I posted this before but some didn’t get it...Least you forget RONALD REAGAN who everyone is now claiming as their guiding principle did the following.
1. Raised taxes substantial while Governor of Calif. oops there goes the fiscal conservatives.
2. Signed the most liberal abortion bill while Governor....oops there goes the the relegious right.
3. After leaving office campaigned for and made TV spots for the Brady Bill....gun control....there goes everybody on this board.
4. The largest loss KIA of a single American Unit since WW11 occured in Lebaneon where Hamas sent a suide bomber that killed over 200 Marines as they slept...what was the response ....Reagan pulled out and never went after the organization that did it....can we all say cut and run...
The point is I would definately vote for Reagan if he were on the ballot but he isn’t and this litmus test everyone is making and holding everybody to would had disqualified him as a candidate. Not to mention that everyone is breaking Reagans two cardinal rules...
1. We are all Americans after 5 oclock,
2. Speak no ill will against fellow Republicans.
You had better wake up and smell the coffe because the cult of Obama will make you long for the Clintons. A no body who can read a speech written by John Kennedy”s speech writer seems all he can do. Look at the numbers they are bringing out...
Finally McCain can’t loose the primaries....impossible even if Huck runs the table which he won’t because its proportional. Can anyone count here? or is math not a conservative subject?
At best, you have shown that Reagan was unfit to be president, not that anyone else IS fit.
Thank you, Ollie!
U.S. MILITARY 2008!
But OnRiver: Shhhhh.... you're making too much sense. A surprising number of people here are completely off their rockers. Like kids throwing a tantrum because mean ole' Mister McCain is only giving them 8 cookies instead of their desired bakers dozen. So they'll stomp their feet and make nice to Mister Obama. Never mind that Obama will give them no cookies and will screw them over six ways til Sunday... they'll show that McCain. The WOT? What WOT?
I cannot sit silently while my fellow conservatives do to John McCain what GOP "moderates" did to me. Wow. This is a heavy message, especially if you consider the consequences of North's defeat, party and electoral politics in VA, and control of the Senate. And the fact that North has plenty to be bitter about when it comes to GOP "moderates" and the party infighting that sunk him. But let me guess: Ollie's message will be ignored.
One wonders how the trolls here will classify North. Insider? RINO? I'm looking forward to seeing how the Trotsky wing trying to tar and feather another honorable man.
Come on that is pretty weak name calling.
LOL
Not voting for insane mcCain so get over it!
Insane? well Dr. No that is a lame diagnosis using your own words...do tell who do you think should have been the nominee? I was for Thompson....would have supported Romney but I have a real problem with a man who changed his mind so frequently and has five sons who can’t find it to the recuiting station, that woul;d have been one CIC. But I would have supported him or Rudy...I’m not a masochist or a dead ender.
I agree that Reagan did some things that conservatives have conveniently forgotten (you didn’t mention his Supreme Court picks).
However, McCain says things Reagan would never say because Reagan believed in values I share. No candidate will vote the way I want on every issue but if he shares my values, he will come close.
Reagan would never call Jerry Falwell an agent of intolerance. I believe that McCain believes the religious right are an enemy of his. He is certainly not our friend.
Reagan would have never made that quip in the NH debate about profits or big drug companies being bad. Reagan believed that capitalism is part of what has made America great. McCain seems to think drug companies is part of the problem, Reagan understood that drug companies are part of the solution.
It is not McCain’s positions that will keep me from voting for him, it is that I think I know him and what I know I don’t like.
In addition, I question whether he is mentally stable enough to be president (just my personal opinion).
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