Posted on 02/18/2008 9:31:33 AM PST by meandog
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush urged disgruntled conservatives on Monday to rally around John McCain, calling their criticism of the Republican presidential front-runner "grossly unfair."
The father of President George W. Bush said he was annoyed by attacks within the conservative wing of the Republican Party against the Arizona senator, the all-but-certain Republican nominee to face Democrats in November election.
Many conservatives distrust McCain because of his moderate views on illegal immigration and campaign finance reform and for having originally voted against President Bush's tax cuts. Persuading them all to vote for McCain in November will be a central challenge.
"His character was forged in the crucible of war. His commitment to America is beyond any doubt," the 41st U.S. president, flanked by his wife Barbara, told a joint news conference with McCain in a Houston airport hanger.
"You know, if you've been around the track you hear these criticisms and I think they are grossly unfair. He's got a ... sound conservative record but he's not above reaching out to the other side," he said.
"So I hear these criticisms and Barbara knows I get a little bit annoyed about them frankly," he said, calling them "absurd."
The elder Bush said even former President Ronald Reagan, an icon of the conservative movement, faced attacks from the right wing of the party, citing several quotations from diaries written by Reagan in his early years in office.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Former President Bush is right. The attacks on Senator McCain are unfair. He’s not a liberal, as has been so unfairly portrayed by some disgruntled people on the right.
Former President George H.W. Bush: Read my lips, McCain is a conservative.
I haven’t noticed McCain trying to get anything from conservatives.
Yup that changed my mind. /s
Rush is already right. We just want to hear if he thinks like us.
He just quoted Bush 41s “Reagan’s VOODOO economics”, lolol. He said he respects 41, is part of some golfing thing 41 has. He is trying not to rip him. I guess I’ll think that Rush sometimes plays golf with 41. Is that okay with you??????????????
YOU DO WANT US TO MIMIC YOUR OPINION RIGHT?????????????
I do the ipod thing, and channel rush while asleep, lololol...
LOL That is great.
This is the same reactionary crowd of talkradio malcontents who either opposed conservative Fred Thompson, or did very little to promote conservative candidates like Duncan Hunter. Instead, many backed the liberal candidates Giuliani and Romney.
Today, conservatives are left with no good choices.
Well, Reagan did give us amnesty. He was not above making mistakes. In fact, at a conservative conference a Rep Congressman said it was the #1 mistake of Reagan’s presidency - he was talking about immigration and came with a very law-and-order approach to the problem.
But then GHWB made mistakes of his own, and we all know his #1 mistake - raising taxes with the Democrats.
In fact, almost every mistake the Republicans have made have been due to poor compromises with Democrats.
GHWB’s endorsement only makes the dilemma starker, as it is more of less saying - “this guy can be conservative and still reach out to the other side.” Sure he can, just like you Bush41. McCain is a champion of bipartisan nanny-statism. I think the party needs to ‘unite and move forward’ as McCain says, but unite and more forward while holding to a conservative pro-freedom agenda.
“One of McCain’s top challenges is placating conservative activists in his party while continuing to attract moderate Republicans drawn to his positions on immigration, torture and global climate change.”
“We as a party must unite and move forward and attract not only members of our own party but independents and the so-called Reagan Democrats,” McCain told the news conference after the elder Bush endorsed him.”
... Here’s a thought: Have an “Anti-illegal-immigration pro-immigration-enforcement pro-sovereignty conservatives for McCain” group. Make it explicit that part of his coalition has to be from these people.
I oppose McCain on illegal immigration. I will vote McCain in November. If everyone who opposes McCain on immigration though did not support him, he’d lose to Obama in a landslide. To me that would be worse. But we need to salvage from McCain something much much better than a weak promise to ‘secure the border’ before he redoes amnesty.
This fact should be sobering to McCain and he should and must reach out to conservatives if he wants to effect this unity.
and for signing the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
It’s been through intermediaries like Bob Dole!
He has VERY liberal views on some things. VERY LIBERAL.
I will never vote for one who calls me racist/bigot/nativist.
They can’t challenge the critics on the substance of the criticisms. This is why no McCain backers even show up in threads like this one anymore. They realize that they will be put on the spot and will have nothing substantive with which to defend McCain.
I remember a map of blue with only Minnesota as a “red” state.
So sad...
Reaching out across to the other side is fine and dandy - when the other side also happens to be on the right side, or when you think you can draw them to the right side (for up to and including the rhetorical bowl of soup). Screwing over the right side by giving the wrong side 50%+ of what they want is the wrong kind of bipartisanship. History is clear - when it comes to politics, "consensus" is a dirty word.
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