This line alone is worth a barf alert.
Posted on 05/14/2008 5:19:40 AM PDT by Jack Black
For many conservatives, John McCain is not their favorite Republican. They think he's built a career at their expense, painting them as fools and bigots. They resent his holier-than-thou attitude. And they're not inclined to trust anyone who has been so fawned over by the national media.
Curiously, a lot of liberal Democrats feel the same way about McCain. He isn't their favorite Republican either - but it's because they know he'll be tough to beat in November. They would have preferred to run against someone more extreme and easier to demonize. That's not John McCain.
I first met McCain 10 years ago when I was a working at the Arizona Republic. What I remember is that, in a political climate where so many elected officials - Republican and Democrat alike - were wearing themselves out pandering to racists who demanded action on illegal immigration, McCain was one of the few who didn't play that game. In 1998, while Texas Gov. George W. Bush made headlines for earning an impressive 49 percent of the Latino vote in his re-election, McCain walked off with an unheard-of 65 percent in his Senate re-election bid. Six years later, he did even better, earning around 70 percent of the Latino vote.
Most political observers don't expect McCain to match those numbers in a national election, but half of that - 35 percent - is a definite possibility. With that kind of support among Latinos, McCain could win the White House.
And so Democrats are doing everything they can to distort McCain's record. Some are actually accusing McCain of not doing enough for immigration reform. In fact, they might even try to compare McCain to nativists such as Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who competed with the Arizona senator for the GOP nomination.
Good luck. The two men seem to detest one another. They even tangled last summer when McCain dismissed Tancredo's views on what makes someone an American as "beyond my realm of thinking."
Latinos in Arizona who have known McCain for years weren't surprised by that exchange. When I ask them to explain what draws Latinos to McCain, I hear the same things: his independence, his convictions, his courage and his moderate stance on issues. Then, of course, there is his military service and his heroic suffering as a prisoner of war.
"If you look at Latino families, we've all got someone who has been in the military," said Ruben Alvarez, a McCain supporter and principal at the Molera Alvarez Group, a public affairs firm in Phoenix. "The fact that McCain is so patriotic is a draw for many Latinos."
Another Latino Republican called McCain the original compassionate conservative, someone who wore that label before there ever was a label. And, she said, as someone who has faced his share of challenges in life, McCain's compassion bleeds over to anyone picked on or preyed upon. At the moment, Latinos are under fire thanks to an immigration debate that doesn't bother to distinguish between recent immigrants and U.S. citizens - as long as they have Spanish surnames.
But there's another factor that helps explain McCain's appeal to Latinos - he's spent 20 years quietly recruiting them into his campaigns and building up personal relationships in that Arizona community.
Bettina Nava met McCain more than 15 years ago, and served as state director for his Senate office in Arizona for three years. Now based at a consulting firm in Phoenix, Nava was recently named one of 11 campaign managers for McCain. She's in charge of Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.
"What initially drew me to McCain was that I have never met anyone who loved his country more," Nava told me. "He honors his commitments. For Latinos, I don't know that we've always viewed government that way. There is always a lot of lip service. But at least with this guy, we get a straight shooter."
McCain marked Cinco de Mayo by launching his Latino outreach effort, which includes a Spanish-language Web site. Those gimmicks don't hurt. But what is really going to help McCain win Latino support in November is the same thing that has earned him so much of it up to now.
It's called character, and Latinos - like many other Americans - may not always be able to define it. But they know it when they see it.
NOT voting IS a vote. Think of the Supreme Court and the war on terror and then tell me that there would be no difference.
This line alone is worth a barf alert.
Whether you *take* responsibility or not....you are still responsible. If you do not vote for McCain, you automatically contribute to the election of Obama or Clinton.
Supreme Court
War on Terror
(Think about this.)
McCain voted for Ginsburg and Breyer, and as far as the WOT—what are McCain’s positions on the WOD & WOP (War on drugs, poverty)? I suspect they are similar to Obamas.
Again, you assign blame to conservatives for not supporting this friend of Teddy Kennedy, and, again, that’s just crazy talk.
PS The author of this article is a certified `touch-hole’.
I can't speak to the war on terror, but as to the Supremes - you do realize that seven of the nine justices currently on the court are Republican appointees, don't you? There is no real likelihood McCain will appoint a real conservative to the court.
It won't just be MBB1984. It will be millions of us who are ready to go to the mattresses rather than elect that pontificating, pandering, pompous peckerhead.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
If you vote for McCain, you automatically contribute to the election of McCain.
Supreme Court.
Border Control.
Gun Control.
Speech Control.
(Think about this.)
McCain is just practicing the smart politics racial pandering. Not that that has anything to do with the wellbeing of the country, but still.
If anyone is interested in how Hispanics feel about Blacks, just browse around the news regarding the ethnic cleansing taking place in south-central Los Angeles. Suffice it to say that they don't necessary like blacks, and don't have one iota of "white guilt" regarding slavery & Jim Crow.
McCain is going for the big fat middle of the bell-curve: working class whites, latinos and 'moderates'. Cons aren't represented, wile libs are putting up a black nationalist who might manage to lose 45+ states.
2012 could be when the Dems lose the blacks in an effort to forge a new coalition.
Better to vote for McCain than to turn the Presidency over to people who hate the U.S. and everything about it.
If you put Obama in the White House, kiss your children’s future and your grandchildren’s future goodbye.
I am not assigning blame. I am assigning responsibility. The possibility that McCain offers is better than the certain outcome of electing a Democrat.
Take on immigration policy all you want, (and I agree with many of the angry folks here), but it really doesn't advance us to act as if every reference to Hispanics means illegals.
Nice language?
(And I highly doubt the *millions* count. I think most conservatives are far more sensible.)
The future doesn't look much better.
This election cycle has convinced me that the primary system, as it exists, is (or might as well be) designed to select the worst possible candidates.
How do you know there is NO likelihood? I think there is more likelihood with McCain than with a Democrat, and I think voting pro-life is essential for any sane society.
IF there is only one issue for you...and that is the war on terror, that is sufficient reason to vote for McCain.
They're voting for him, not McPanderer: Rasmussen, May 10th:
"Among Hispanic voters[nationwide], Obama leads 58% to 35%."
Would you prefer woodpecker head?
" (And I highly doubt the *millions* count. I think most conservatives are far more sensible.)"
Something you and McCain are counting on.
Don't be too sure.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
So are we to conclude that latinos believe our soldiers are moderates when they sign up for service? Are they moderate during their tours of duty and on front lines?
If latinos want moderate, what is the point in having or supporting a military? A true moderate ought to be able to negotiate their way out of any international crisis and would certainly avoid confrontation or conflict.
They do know what side their bread is buttered on...
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