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 party’s 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. Kerry’s 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. McCain’s 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 ...
Well that’s a shock. McCain thought about being a democrat.
He’s tried his hardest to be loved by the dems, -
he was against tax cuts “for the rich”, now he’s for them
-against border control, now he’s for control
-believes in global warming and is willing to support “tax legislation” in order to do “something” based on junk science
-state’s he’s an environmentalist and refuses to allow drilling in ANWAR
-probably has more skeletons in the closet than John Wayne Gacy.... figuratively speaking, with Keating 5 etc....
This election is all about who controls congress and the senate.
I suspect that the NYT is trying to separate McCain from the conservatives
mccain separted himself form conservatives and conservatives have seperated from him.
I suspect that McCain was told by Soros et.al. to stay in the Republican party because he could cause much more trouble from the inside than he could by becoming another Democrat. JMO.
I am a grown man and am working on my 2nd combat tour, I am not scared of boogie men/women lol.If he wins I want these so called conservatives here to try to figure out a way that he does not run in 2012. the party needs to be purged or we as conservatives need to build up another party, maybe Conservative Party.
I think you're in for a surprise in the unlikely event that McCain is elected.
Really pleased to see you posting again on a McCain thread, General MurryMom, OUR FIRST FEMALE FIGHTER PILOT IN THE U.S. ARMED SERVICES.
That wouldn't have a thing to do with the Republican party having so many like you and so few conservatives who are now swelling the ranks of the Independents.
It would have raised the median IQ of both parties.
If he is, then it really is time to start building a bomb shelter and squirrel away provisions.
Thank you for your service.
I, too, want to vote for someone. I've been voting for the lesser of two evils every presidential election since 1988 and am no longer buying the vote-for-me-because-though-I-may-be-bad-I'm-not-nearly-as-bad-as-the-other-guy argument. If the republicans can't put up a real conservative, then let them perish on the dust heap of history, get out of the way and make room for a party that's still conservative.
My prediction - If McCain is elected, he will switch to an Independent (if that is even possible for a sitting president to do).
Possible? I don't see why not. Party affiliation is not required under the Constitution (indeed, many Founding Fathers were extremely distrustful of political parties - in what has become known as his Farewell Address, Washington warned of the "baneful effects of the spirit" they engendered).
Practicable? I don't think so. President McCain would need the Republicans in Congress, and finally abandoning the Party altogether is a bad way to gain their trust and cooperation.
McCain’s wife IS a drug addict, and she stole to feed her habit, and McCain made a corrupt deal with clinton to get the DEA off their backs. It wouldn’t be relevant if it hadn’t led to his deal with clinton—and it he hadn’t dumped his first wife to marry money.
The black love child is a bunch of nonsense. I don’t know anyone who took it seriously, or in fact even heard about it. What sank McCain was the well-earned backlash from the Bob Jones University affair, which he engineered together with the MSM in a failed effort to split the party.
ClintBilly had a black love child, but that’s a whole other kettle of fish. Nothing to do with McCain.
It’s not out of the realm of possibility that he will switch parties after getting elected as President.
“McCain twice flirted with the Democratic Party”
And? This is supposed to be surprising to anyone?
Remember that if we had supported the liberal Ford, we would have avoided Carter in the short term, but the Reagan Revolution would have never come to pass.
I don't know any conservatives who are going to sit out the 2008 election. I do, however, know plenty of conservatives who are not going to vote for a backstabbing liberal who happens to have an 'R' by his name.
Conservatives were never really happy with anyone who put himself in the race.
Unfortunately, conservative support was divided among several early conservative contenders: Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, et al. But it was the RNC's ridiculously misguided allowance of open primaries in Blue States that really killed the conservative candidacies and allowed a trojan horse like McCain to get the nod.
I still believe McCain has conservatives over the barrel at this point.
I disagree. McCain knows he needs conservative support in order to win. And it's his race to lose, considering the nutburgers the Democrats are fighting over. If McCain wants to fritter away the support of the Republican base, he does so at his own peril.
It doesn’t suprise me one bit
I never understood that open primary thing. Election law and the rules and regulations the parties set are real head spinners. I really think the RNC wanted the likes of McCain in the first place. Duncan Hunter never got any traction whatsoever but Thompson (who’s ideas I like) cut his own throat to some degree. So, I guess there will be a portion of conservatives who will go vote for the Constitution Party (as opposed to sitting out the election all together).
I really think we’re in for a really long “Dark Night of the Soul”. Now I understand you clearly-—thanks for the clarification.
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