Posted on 03/24/2008 8:15:56 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
WASHINGTON - Senator John McCain never fails to call himself a conservative Republican as he campaigns as his partys presumptive presidential nominee. He often adds that he was a foot soldier in the Reagan revolution and that he believes in the bedrock conservative principles of small government, low taxes and the rights of the unborn.
What Mr. McCain almost never mentions are two extraordinary moments in his political past that are at odds with the candidate of the present: His discussions in 2001 with Democrats about leaving the Republican Party , and his conversations in 2004 with Senator John Kerry about becoming Mr. Kerrys running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket.
There are wildly divergent versions of both episodes, depending on whether Democrats or Mr. McCain and his advisers are telling the story. The Democrats, including Mr. Kerry, say that not only did Mr. McCain express interest but that it was his camp that initially reached out to them. Mr. McCain and his aides counter that in both cases the Democrats were the suitors and Mr. McCain the unwilling bride.
Either way, the episodes shed light on a bitter period in Mr. McCains life after the 2000 presidential election, when he was, at least in policy terms, drifting away from his own party. They also offer a glimpse into his psychological makeup and the difficulties in putting a label on his political ideology over many years in the Senate.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
As opposed to the times that he got drunk and went home with them?
Well of course the Slimes has no political motive behind this story; none at all.
I suspect that the NYT is trying to separate McCain from the conservatives, but the problem that they have not yet considered, apparently, is that it cuts both ways.
There are probably a lot of independents who will be attracted to McCain by this story.
NY Slimes aside, it explains a lot about McCain’s actions the last eight years or so.
Just like Algore, McCain thinks the presedency was “stolen” from him in 00 and that he now “deserves” it.
Well, Elisabeth Bumiller is one of the worst rats working at the NY Times.
On the other hand, I believe this story is largely true. McCain did toy with leaving the party, and he does hate the base. He loses no opportunity to work with people like Feingold and Kennedy. And if he is elected, it will only get worse, as there will no longer be any restraints on him.
Maybe the best solution would be, since Hildabeast and Mohammed Hussein Osama are destroying each other, if McCain went to Denver and got the Democrat nomination, with Kucinich as his running mate.
Then the Republican convention could start all over, and maybe come up with a decent candidate next time.
The comments section of this article are summer of ‘07 and mention Guiliani? We talking re-treads or what?
Still, it calls into question is McCain the best this party can offer? Is Romney? Is Huckabee? Where are the true-blues? Why aren’t they at the forefront? What is exactly going on in this party?
Can we get him to switch now, and then get a conservative to run against him?
Well I guess I can never run for office as a Republican now because I would have to admit I was a Democrat 25 years ago.
I have been asking myself those same questions!!
Fred Thompson Back to Playing Prez on TV
Failed GOP presidential hopeful Fred Thompson says he will be going back to his old day job, playing pols on TV. William Morris announced that they've signed big Fred to do TV and movie roles.
Before he tried to make it as an actual president (after being a real Senator from Tennessee), he spent years playing big-shot pols and most recently the District Attorney on "Law & Order." Of course, there's still buzz that could be cast in the role of Veep for John McCain.
Of course this is a political “HIT PIECE” because the MSM has to do something while Hillary and Obama rip each other to shreds.
Also, I am not a McCain fan, but once again without a doubt, this is a “POLITICAL HIT PIECE” of hyperbole and most likely wishful thinking.
The Democrats have NO one worth looking at and we had several good choices but ended up with McCain.
>Still, it calls into question is McCain the best this party can offer? Is Romney? Is Huckabee? Where are the true-blues? Why arent they at the forefront? What is exactly going on in this party?<
The Democratic and Republican Parties have become merely opposite wings of the same bird, and it’s the American people who are getting the bird as our elected officials serve their corporate masters and the special interest groups that dominate both parties.
Lou Dobbs
I am in no way a big fan of McCain, but you made mention that after 2000 McCain drifted away from what had been basic Republican policy. Can’t you say that that George Bush has done the same thing as President in many ways. As for McCain’s flirting with becoming a Democrat, I believe the story has substance, but to what degree and who’s telling it is another matter. All these senators on both sides have huge egos (that’s what keeps them there). I think that conservatives should have a more pragmatic view when it comes to the virtue of loyalty-—they’ve been too idealistic-—because that’s what this whole issue is about. I think there’s been a tendency on the the Right that when a Republican politician has strayed from the path of “Reagan conservatism”-—especially if they’ve loudly proclaimed that viewpoint in the past—that the Right wrings its hands and mutters “what a shame”, instead of realizing all these guys are basically egotists whose feet have to be held to the fire by the base, and if they stray they might be up ffor an electoral spanking.
I think McCain basically knows he has the average Republican by the shorties. For all his strayings and flirtings with the Democrats on policy, we know he is not a socialist as Hillary and Obama are. SO WE”RE STUCK WITH HIM.
It's become the RINO wing of the Democrat Party. And the only way we're going to get rid of it is by not rewarding these liberal sellouts with our votes just because they have that magical 'R' by their names.
And it's up to us to show McCain that it's really the other way around.
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