Posted on 05/10/2008 5:00:57 PM PDT by pinochet
McCain has recently been making efforts to reach out to all sorts of people not traditionally associated with the GOP. He appeared on the View, the Daily Show, before black civil rights activists in Alabama, etc.
When is he going to make a serious effort to reach out to conservatives? How about promising to appoint strict constructionist judges? How about re-assurances on gun ownership rights? What about reducing the out-of-control spending of this administation? Does he take conservative support for granted? Does he even want them?
Maybe he sees that Obama and his kooky spiritual advisor have totally freaked most Americans. Apparently, he thinks he can build a coalition of RINOS, Independents, and Hillary Clinton Democrats. Those voters, combined with some sullen conservatives who will vote out of party loyalty and "stand by their man" like abused housewives, will be enough to assure him victory.
The media has long praised McCain for repudiating the "wingnuts", as they describe his party's base. If McCain can win without any effort to reach out to conservatives, then he will ignore them completely while in office. The conservative movement of Reagan of 1980-1988, and Gingrich of 1994-1998, is either dead or on life-support.
You misunderstand good conservatives who are not fanatic, Al Queda like BitCons.
How you can sit there and defend McCain’s willingness to work with George Soros, and then slam me for mentioning it is beyond me.
I have never reached out to Leiberman on anything. John did reach out to Soros.
"Free Republic is the premier online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web."
It's a Conservative forum, not a Republican Party Forum. The Republican Party and the Conservative Movement are not the same thing. They traveled more or less the same road for a while but that does not mean they have to do so.
I didn’t say all. Some are misguided, yes, but there are plenty who wouldn’t lift a finger to come out of denial.
Please don’t run your guilt-trip crap on this old soul. McCain will have plenty of Democrats voting for him in my place, especially if Hillary doesn’t get nominated.
Amazing, isn't it...that there is a need for you to point that out. :-)
It's also not the George W. Bush fan club, though many fail to realize that as well.
Kris, what party, what national movement presents itself for us to build a coalition around at this point, if it is not the Republican party?
It’s my opinion that a new third party is called for. That isn’t going to mitigate the damage John McCain will reap during that process.
Who do we contact on Capital hill so further our interests, when those interests are opposed by McCain and Republican Congressional members who desire a future within the party?
Our voices will be calling on deaf ears. Surely that must be obvious to you.
You support the War on Terror. Joe Leiberman supports the War on Terror. Clearly - because you both agree on one thing and worked together in your own ways - you are joined at the hip!
This is what you’re accusing McCain of...
I applauded President Clinton for signing the Welfare Reform Act. And I’d pick up a hammer and help build a house with that failure Jimmy Carter.
For conservatives, I thought it was the results and actions that mattered, not who you worked with... Silly me!
The VP will be a conservative to balance the perceived left lean of McCain.
Here’s the analysis.....
If you assume a bell curve and shift Republican voters slightly to the left of center and then integrate, the total will be considerably larger than if you integrate from the right end to the middle .
Setting aside all ideaology, to win you must have the largest number of voters. A Republican campaign that shifts leftward is necessary to win. Capturing the middle and both sides of the middle is mandatory.
Although painful, the extreme right can be sacrificed to insure the middle. The extreme right voters have a choice.....vote for the Republican candidate or become irrelevant. Some here presently choose to be irrelevant in the American political process.
“It’s a Conservative forum, not a Republican Party Forum.”
Who died and made you Jim?
You’re statement is illogical. Jim says the site is a conservative site, that doesn’t mean that people who are fans of the GOP are not welcome here nor does it say they cannot discuss anything want, even God forbid, support for the party if they so choose.
You telling people who are welcome and what subjects are acceptable is the height of arrogance.
I have some bad news for you - McCain has been carrying water for Soros et.al. before Soros ever heard Obama's name.
I believe it is.
“It’s also not the George W. Bush fan club, though many fail to realize that as well.”
You’re statement is as illogical as well for the aformentioned reasons. Because people may be fans of GWB does not mean they are not welcome just because Jim calls this a conservative site.
If you object to Bush supporters you may say so but quit telling everyone else what is appropriate or not appropriate for this site.
As mentioned before, who died and made you Jim?
First, a rating of 82.3 is not really that high. It puts Senator McCain in 39th place among senators serving in 2006, the latest year for which the ACU has its ratings posted online. For that most recent year in particular, McCain scored only 65, putting him in 47th place for that year. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE), for example, scored 64 and 75, respectively, in 2006.
As might be expected, ACU ratings essentially reflect party affiliation. At the halfway point, ranking 50th, we have Richard Shelby (R-AL, formerly D-AL) with a lifetime score of 74.2. But Robert Byrd (D-WV) ranks just slightly lower at 58th, with a score of only 29.6. By the time you get to 66th place, all scores are below 20.
What this means is that McCain's ACU ratings since 1998 put him on the liberal side among Republicans. The few Republicans consistently more liberal than McCain would be Chafee (formerly R-RI), Collins (R-ME), Snowe (R-ME) and Specter (R-PA). One could expect senators from northeastern states to be more liberal since their constituencies demand it, but McCain represents the fairly conservative state of Arizona. (Arizona's other senator, Kyl, has a lifetime rating of 96.9, and half the representatives from there have ratings of 94.7 or higher.)
How much more liberal would McCain vote if his constituency put even the slightest pressure on him in that direction?
He's a sellout, supported by those whose fear of Hillary or Obama cause them to cower in a corner. You people aren't defending this country, you're weakening it. You do so by diluting the conservative movement with liberal wanna-bes. I pity you.
Ummm...
The 2007 ratings have been out for a while.
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