Posted on 04/05/2008 7:19:49 PM PDT by K-oneTexas
A McCain Contract?
by Dan Calabria
Issue 104 - March 26, 2008
Regarding your editorial, "Support McCain?", is it possible for principled conservatives to support, work and vote for John McCain in November? Of course it is. But first he has to treat conservatives as serious people interested in principle rather than an interest group to be appeased. He needs their votes; they don't need his.
Everyone has heard the old line, fool me once, etc., and conservatives understand that John McCain now has to step up, but not with mere "trust me" rhetoric. He needs to make some firm commitments in writing - in blood if necessary. In doing so he has to pledge to treat all conservatives, many of which are independent voters, as voters - not pesky nuisances. He has to recognize that he is where he is because of them and not because of his fair-weather media friends few, if any, of whom will ever vote for him.
McCain has to offer his version of a "President's Contract with America" that would include:
1. Pledge that his first act as president will be to sign an Executive Order accelerating construction of a form of fence or electronic barrier on our southern border to stop the flow of illegal aliens. Then he must commit to focusing on organizing a real national effort to make it possible for illegal immigrants to come out of the shadows and voluntarily enter a program to qualify to become U. S. citizens by proving that they are legally employed and proficient in English. Those who do not wish to become citizens must apply and register as guest workers, subject to finger printing and photo IDs. Those unwilling to abide by this process will be ordered to voluntarily leave the country. Any illegals who ignore these requirements will be deported as they are identified.
2. Sign a pledge to NOT raise taxes and commit to fight to make the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, including abolishing the federal estate tax.
3. Appoint a bipartisan commission to develop a program to permanently rescind the Alternative Minimum tax over a 5 year period.
4. Pledge to find a way to strengthen and save the Social Security program without raising taxes and make it possible for all workers under 40 the option of having a voluntary personal social security account.
5. No later than 6 months after his inauguration, send a bill to Congress to permit oil offshore oil drilling and in ANWAR, including tax incentives for industry to encourage building new oil refineries and nuclear energy plants in order to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
6. Commit to amending McCain Feingold to remove any restrictions whatsoever on our constitutional right to free speech - 24/7/365 - eliminating any 60 day "silent" periods.
7. Send a bill to Congress to eliminate all capital gains taxes over a period of not more than 5 years in order to promote a huge increase in investments by business and industry which would be limited to U. S. based projects only that will create jobs and encourage investments in American companies.
8. Send a bill to Congress that makes "earmarking" for any purpose illegal and pledge to NOT sign any earmarks that reach his desk.
9. Commit to continue military operations in GITMO and support its purposes in the fight against terrorism, and not allow captured non-combatants access to the American legal system simply because they are not citizens and seek to destroy the system that we have fought to protect.
10. Pledge that on or before June 30 he will identify at least 3 possible candidates for his vice presidential running mate from among proven, principled conservatives which might include: Governor Mark Sanford, South Carolina, Senator Jim DeMint, South Carolina, Representative Mike Pence, Indiana, Representative Paul Ryan, Wisconsin, or other potential candidates with impeccable credentials as honest, reliable politicians who will help lead the country in meeting the challenges we face.
This is the kind of "Contract" McCain needs to offer to win the votes of all Republicans, conservatives and thinking independent voters, including "Reagan" Democrats. Failure to adopt this bold approach will result in failure to convince voters that he has earned their votes and he's likely to fall short of winning the presidency because concerned Americans will simply not vote in November. He must understand that this is not a matter of "his turn", and he must earn the support of these concerned voters whose patience has been exhausted, and cannot vote for a "trust me" candidate, or be treated as pesky nuisances or mushrooms.
Senator McCain, this is your ticket to the White House in November - ignore this opportunity at your own peril.
Dan Calabria writes at www.realitychecktimes.com
There are too many of them.
We must deport them to retain an American culture.
Calabris is wasting his time.
McCain is not going to do anything remotely like this contract. He would be afraid to lose his base of Moderates, Independents and Democrats.
He has not, and most likely will not, do anything to court conservatives.
His attitude? You don’t like it, too bad, because you Conservatives have nowhere else to go.
McCain isn’t pledging anything to the Conservatives, because he doesn’t think he needs them. Where else are they going to go: Obama/Clinton?
Only if the polls have McCain straggling behind the Dem nominee by next October will he pander to conservatives.
Conservatives should consider themselves lucky if McCain nominates a moderate as his VP.
Remember, this is the guy whose circle of close ‘friends’ includes Lieberman, Kerry, Kennedy. This is the guy who considered jumping parties after his 2000 defeat for the Republican nomination. This is the guy who approached Kerry to be on his ticket in 2004.
Think giving the only candidate we have, ultimatums; and giving him his short/long list for VP is just a bit over the top - so to speak. Think there is coffee’ for some Conservatives to smell as well. . . Time to get to work, now; for Election 2012.
I keep going to back to the what-ifs with this guy, even if I know it isn’t healthy.
If Romney had pulled out Iowa...
If Huckabee hadn’t come out of nowhere....
If Thompson would have actually run a campaign...
Even if Rudy hadn’t planned a bone-headed strategy...
All the same, so-called conservatives voted for this boob for some reason. He just can’t expect people to come swarming him looking to help. The politically motivated are also the politically informed and more conservative than he’ll ever be. That’s where his moderate strategy falls flat.
We’re stuck with the guy... *sigh*
It seems to me we don't have that much choice on whom to support, but it says right here I can't get excited about his victory.
Yup. We're F'ed. And McQueeg knows it.
They don’t need to be deported. Simply build a fence and enforce the laws. Pass a law requiring that all people arrested by local police have their immigration status checked and if illegal turned over to ICE for processing. Local governments that don’t comply lose all Federal funding. Businesses that systematically hire illegals should be fined. Repeat offenders lose their business licenses (as is now happening on the state level in AZ). Give all illegals and the businesses that hire them a 120 day grace period for the employers to fing new workers and the illegals to leave the country. If they are caught here illegally after that they lose all chance of ever being allowed in legally again, either as guest workers or permanent residents, and any property they own seized. Those who self-deport could apply as guest workers, with their former employers as sponsors, and the numbers strictly controled. Most would leave.
Not that McCain would be the least bit interested in any of those ideas.
Someone who thinks principled people are merely an "interest group to be appeased" will tend to be someone whose own principles are rather flexible. His signed pledges wouldn't have the same weight as, say, the signed pledge of a principled person.
McCain has already calculated that he doesn't need us, and the truth is, he may not. He may get more cross-over Dems than he loses in terms of sit-at-home conservatives.
Our "worst Repub candidate ever" has been blessed to be up against two of the most hopelessly bad Dem candidates since, I don't know, since Kerry and Gore. Where does the DNC find these people? Do they have a bottomless well of retards and traitors to draw upon? Evidently they do, and for the normal Dems who still haven't left the party, McCain looks like a giant compared to these two, Clinton and Obama.
Whether he wins with us, or without us, I wouldn't imagine any promises to us will make it past inauguration day. He doesn't respect conservatives. His oaths won't change that.
That's what Ann Coulter says. Let's hang the next 4 miserable lousy years around the democRAT's necks, because they will suck just as bad they will with McCain at the helm.
There's no way I'll ever vote for Obama, but every speech RINO McCain gives makes Ann Coulter's idea more appealing if it's Hillery.
I have been submitted for review.
This sucks. A few days ago I posted an article by the Los Angeles Times that was printed in Spanish. I thought it newsworthy that the LA Times was printing an article in Spanish. This site, FreeRepublic, is now reviewing my posts before submittal. Could it be that I am quite insane in thinking that a major newspaper printing an article in Spanish is against what is American?
Good luck with getting McCain to concede to conservatives. He’ll get the conservative vote because he is the lesser, and Obama terrifies us. That won’t get McCain much in the way of donations and campaigning, but after the way he has acted for the past eight years, just getting conservative votes speaks volumes on how much conservatives are willing to compromise. I’m going third party this year, and my money will go to conservatives who look like they can win congressional seats. If McCain wins, I hope he wins big enough to have coattails that will bring in conservatives who will stand in his way. ...This is going to be one sad election year for conservatives who keep hoping McCain will work with them, but all is not lost.
I don’t much care what language the Marxist media publishes in, but FR uses the language of our land. Please post in English.
Thanks,
Jim
I’m sorry.This is just too funny.Mcnutts has given us the finger so many times I have lost count.Pander to conservatives? PIGS ASS.Let the rats screw this place up good and we take it back in 2012 oh and yes there will be a country to take back.
When has the government ever given anything back with an oooops? How would you take back anything? Better to defend it now, IMO.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.