McCain and the Bitter Conservatives

American Thinker ^ | June 15, 2008 | Andrew Sumereau

[neverdem]

John McCain is clearly the preferable option for conservative voters come November. Although liberal in his views toward immigration, government intrusion in free speech, environmental issues, campaign finance reform, health care, education mandates, and a host of other issues that run contrary to conservative orthodoxy, McCain is solid on two (alas, two) vital issues that make the difference; spending and judges. From the frustration of eight years of a Republican Administration that began with so much hope and promise it pains one to say it, but there it is.

Against the prospects of a President Obama, McCain wins.

A victim of circumstances and timing in many ways, Senator McCain carries the sins of Bush and the free-spending Republicans into the 2008 election minus any counter balancing virtues. The coming election has an eerie deja-vu feeling. The Democrat nominee is young, glib, dare one say it, slick; beloved by a media most happy to shield him from criticism. He is facing a cranky old Republican Senator with visible war wounds, famous for his temper, and viewed with apprehension by the religious right.

In addition, John McCain is detested, and deservedly so, by many Republicans of all types. Beyond issue and policy differences, and they are legion, his personality grates. His conceit of "straight-talk" and "maverick"-like independence so superficially applauded (up until now) by the mainstream media is almost Clintonesque in its narcissism. If only other politicians had his courage, he implies, things would be fixed straightaway. The big special interests have all the other elected officials in their pockets. Only Maverick-John tells it like it is! Yet the truth is that McCain could serve well as poster boy of the arrogant elitist beltway insider, friend of Hillary and Ted, foe of the unwashed. The party habit of selecting the next in line (e.g. Dole) has rarely produced such an unappealing candidate at such a critical time. In many ways he reminds one of Adlai Stevenson, who famously frustrated his supporters with his holier-than-thou ways during two failed contests against the popular broad-smiling Ike.

Despite what will surely be the focus of McCain's campaign, foreign policy and experience will not decide this election for conservative voters. One may point to the war in Iraq as the defining issue come November and see a big advantage for McCain. Not necessarily so. History will decide the wisdom of our foreign policy over the last seven years, whether the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions were a legitimate response to the threat of organized terror, or the overreaction of predisposed warriors intent on using the events of 9/11 to democratize the Middle East.

It is clear, in the short term that a McCain administration will cling to the ongoing military effort. He is a very sure bet on a continuation of aggressive and largely unilateral foreign policy. But unlike domestic issues, Presidents, as Truman said, "ride the Tiger" in foreign affairs.  They are controlled by events and often forced into moves at odds with their original intentions. Bush came into office as a critic of nation building and yet leaves committed to the rebuilding of Iraq. Johnson's Great Society fell victim to his own escalation of the Vietnam War. Clinton sent troops to Haiti. As Chief Executive of the federal branch they must protect our borders and command the military by constitutional decree. Democrats, even Carter, have found that once in office the requirements and prerogatives of military power seldom are resisted.

On domestic issues it is no better. He is with Kennedy on education and immigration, with Fiengold on campaign finance, with Gore on the environment. For the committed conservative, he speaks and acts as Bush-lite without the few rhetorical bones thrown in for appearance's sake. Each day, it seems, he appears to make a pronouncement, or suggest a policy, or chastise an enthusiastic supporter, in order to please the main-stream media and send conservatives off wailing and gnashing their teeth.   

So the question of the day is how can a candidate that turns off a large portion of his base, who will most certainly be put on the defensive by a biased media, who appears old and uncool to the great unlettered new generation of voters, succeed?

"Front Porch" campaigns put several Republicans in the White House starting with Abraham Lincoln. In the good old days Presidential candidates found it undignified and unbecoming to campaign for votes all over the country. They let their surrogates and followers go through the unending exercises so necessary yet so unseemly in the election process. Incessant bragging, boasting, and cajoling, voicing hypocritical platitudes, and bribing voters with empty promises and spending sprees in search of Utopia was not the stuff of our Founding Fathers. McCain would benefit from a restoration of this practice but in the age of 24/7 cable news and Internet blogs this is not practical.

McCain must recognize that he has some substantial advantages, chiefly his opponent's weaknesses. Also, conservatives, though unhappy, will do the right thing for the country if only through a sense of duty. Further, experience and genuine heroism are good to have on your resume.

But McCain also must recognize the depth of conservative despondency. He will not win by giving his base a reason to stay home. Unlike liberals, conservatives have lives and interests outside politics that serve as outlets for the impulse to do good and improve the world. And they are angry and demoralized, make no mistake.

For many voters and activists, thirty years of hard work in the conservative fields has produced a bitter harvest of uncontrolled spending, judicial legislation, preposterous congressional pork barrel earmarks, uncontrolled borders, and arrogance.

McCain is in a fight against the manufactured illusions of "hope" and history.  He needs every vote he can manage. Before he once again decides to berate conservatives, propose liberal policies, befriend the political opposition and (why?) laud the Clintons, he should perhaps better find a nice photogenic porch. Sit on the porch. Do this and conservatives on November 5^th will surely hold their noses and pull the lever for what is best for the country.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> You just go right ahead and justify larger government. Let’s flush away our heritage of small government. After all, it’s so outdated in this brave new world.

Since when has the United States ever had small government? Your government is HUGE and always has been!

* You’ve got a Federal government with three branches
* You’ve got 50 State governments
* You’ve got local government too

All with their own infrastructure. Plus a massive military comprising 3-4 services, plus a duplicate legal and penal system for same.

Would Socialized Medicine make your government any larger? I dunno — it’s a moot point because your system of government would make it exceedingly difficult to implement across-the-board. So in practical terms there is no way to find out.

[Mamzelle]

re: Like I said, we have both available, and it is really good that way. But it has taken years to build the infrastructure, and it would be really difficult to do in the US. But if you *could* have it, you’d be crazy not to.)))

Those who would argue with you don't realize how close our system is to failure. We already have all the worst problems of socialized medicine without the benefits.

Does NZ have the kind of aging population that the US does? And the burgeoning third-world illegal immigration?

Don't the envious put pressure on the privatly insured, when they must wait for care and the insured do not?

[gitmo]

Barry and Hillary have convinced me many times I need to support McCain. Then McCain convinces me otherwise.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> So did REAGAN...but I wouldn’t compare an a$$hat like McCain to Reagan.

Ummmm... you just did.

> It’s funny the lengths some will go to prop up their golden RINO.

My choice (FWIW) for US President would be Ollie North, with Curtis Sliwa as VP. McCain I could take-or-leave (it’s moot because I’m a foreigner anyway). But I have pointed out — accurately, I believe — that Churchill’s record was probably no better than McCain’s, prior to WW-II.

McCain may yet surprise everyone.

> Nobody’s perfect, but McCain is living proof of what is wrong with the GOP’s “big tent”.

That could well be. It will be interesting to watch in any event — assuming he finally gets the nomination and wins the Election.

[RasterMaster]

Ah! Another foreigner lecturing US citizens....GREAT!

McCain would only suprise anyone if he was finally truthful about his own beliefs, that of a LIEberal DUmocrat. But that’s not likely to happen any time soon.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Does NZ have the kind of aging population that the US does?

Yes, our population is aging: we had a post-war baby boom that is now working its way into retirement. And it is the lower socio-economic sector of society who enjoys the higher birth rates at the other end of the scale.

> And the burgeoning third-world illegal immigration?

Illegal immigration — not to the same scale. We have the advantage of having the perfect border fence: a very long swim thru thousands of miles of deep, shark-infested waters.

The US should be so lucky. I don’t envy you the task of building that wall with Mexico.

Our illegals tend to either be false refugees, or “overstayers” — the latter usually from the surrounding Pacific islands.

Nearly 100% of them will arrive by aeroplane.

> Don’t the envious put pressure on the privatly insured, when they must wait for care and the insured do not?

Some do, that is certain. But we also have foreigners who will go to great lengths to try to scam their way into our public system, because it is vastly better than what they can get for free at home.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Ah! Another foreigner lecturing US citizens....GREAT!

It shouldn’t come to you as any surprize that I’m a foreigner, and it shouldn’t have taken you this long to figure it out. It’s been on my ABOUT page ever since my first day signed onto the FRee Republic, and I’ve never pretended to be anything but what I am: a citizen of three countries and a good friend of the United States.

> McCain would only suprise anyone if he was finally truthful about his own beliefs, that of a LIEberal DUmocrat. But that’s not likely to happen any time soon.

That could well be: in which case Shame on the GOP for selecting him as your Presidential hopeful. If you had better men in your line-up, you should have ran with them instead.

There’s not alot of point heaping vitriol on your chosen candidate: the fault actually lies with your selectors and your selection process, if he is as bad as you say.

Sorry, no sympathy from this foreigner.

[NormsRevenge]

In the end, if Obama wins,, it may actually be a positive for FR and the conservative cause.

As is evident from past performance, McCain is no sure thing when nit cokmes to the plethora of promises and the misguided eco-agenda he has now embraced.

It will certainly afford many here and in big gubamint all kinds of new opportunitites to continue the fight for conservatism without knives being stuck in their backs by politico ‘perverts’ bent on manipulating the primary process and then expecting party loyalty to mean much after the betrayals..

Contribute to your local races and work for those who can make the necessary changes at the local level.

The national party doesn’t seem to care to change or even listen, regardless how bad 2006 was and 2008 potentially is going to be.

[SumProVita]

Dick, you said, “I just think it would be funny to see the dems with feces all over their stupid faces as this whole fiasco comes to a head.”

Well, Dick, you’d better think about what Obama will do to our military defense capabilities and national security preparedness....and whether or not you will always have that job.

Dick, you also said, “Well for all you Hispanic haters..... we’ve got more. Venezuela and Columbia aren’t going to turn into pleasant havens of good will and democracy.”

First of all, I am NOT a hater of Hispanics. Whatever you know about the situation in Colombia, I’ll wager that you’ve not been there in the last several years. ( ...de eso, estoy bastante segura). McCain is supporting free trade with Colombia...something that will benefit us and them. Obama is dead set against it. I happen to know quite a few Colombians and some Venezuelans...and they love the USA, in spite of what the press says.

As for gay marriage, I DO “give a crap” in that this will provide the jumping off place for all sorts of “hate crime” nonsense to legally take place here in the USA. Ohhh, and Obama is for limitation on free speech as well (read his words carefully and thoroughly).

As I mentioned before, Dick, you probably won’t laugh long at all.

[xzins]

Every time I start to warm up to the idea he goes and hugs a true, declares support for some new tax, throws some conservative under the bus.

I’ll probably vote for John McCain, though, if some other party doesn’t demonstrate seriousness about truly becoming a new, constantly working conservative party.

[RasterMaster]

Well, this is a discussion of US election and candidate, not who’ll be the next leader of the UN. One would expect that citizens of foreign countries would worry about their own leaders instead of choosing a candidate for our elections, in which they have no say.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Well, this is a discussion of US election and candidate, not who’ll be the next leader of the UN.

In fact, it would be better if the UN were shut down altogether — it does more harm than good.

> One would expect that citizens of foreign countries would worry about their own leaders instead of choosing a candidate for our elections, in which they have no say.

One would wish that it were so simple — the plain fact is that what happens in the US has a direct effect on the rest of the world, whether we want it that way or not. When you lot sneeze, we catch pneumonia.

As to worrying about our own leaders — we get our turn to do exactly that this year, just like you do. And with any luck we will be throwing out Helen and her scolding schoolmarms and lesbo-feminist lefty Liberals into the outer electoral oblivion for a very long time — where they belong.

Likely Prime Minister is John Key (National). Ex-merchant banker, self-made millionaire, relatively young and very inexperienced politically-speaking. Center-right — a “Progressive-conservative”: admittedly not ideal but the best we can do for now. Seems like a good operator, but he is untried.

Naturally, we would be interested in views from foreigners, and I would be particularly interested in the views of Americans. It would be ideal if our next PM were more compatible with the US.

[RasterMaster]

"In fact, it would be better if the UN were shut down altogether — it does more harm than good."

Now THAT is something we can agree on 100%!

[marsh2]

It snows here and is cold most of the winter. Right now our County Aging Commission is trying to figure out how to cut free fire wood on the National Forests using con labor to distribute to Seniors this winter. With the price of fuel oil, we have a serious heating problem looming for those on low income. We don’t know what we’ll do for those who exchanged their woodstoves for kerosene heaters.

That is the reality of this winter’s oil crisis. Global Warming only makes it worse. When they instituted the no-burn days in Oregon, they found dead Seniors in their homes.

[x]

In addition, John McCain is detested, and deservedly so, by many Republicans of all types. Beyond issue and policy differences, and they are legion, his personality grates. His conceit of "straight-talk" and "maverick"-like independence so superficially applauded (up until now) by the mainstream media is almost Clintonesque in its narcissism. If only other politicians had his courage, he implies, things would be fixed straightaway. The big special interests have all the other elected officials in their pockets. Only Maverick-John tells it like it is! Yet the truth is that McCain could serve well as poster boy of the arrogant elitist beltway insider, friend of Hillary and Ted, foe of the unwashed.

Actually, underneath all the nasty invective, there is something to that. It's McCain's manner that puts people off. I'd say even more than actual policy differences.

What his supporters see as a principled maverick looks like an obstinate prima donna to people who aren't that into him.

I'm not saying that's reason enough to vote against him, but it does make you think.

McCain's admission that economics wasn't his strong point, may really hurt him. If you've been in Congress for a quarter century and haven't gotten up to speed on that, it raises some real questions.

Head to head, I'd still pick him over Obama -- he's still more experienced and sound on policy -- but if he doesn't show competence in this area, it's going to hurt him in November.

The party habit of selecting the next in line (e.g. Dole) has rarely produced such an unappealing candidate at such a critical time.

But is it the candidate or the time? I'd suppose that if the country and the party were in the state they're in now, and George W. Bush were running for president for the first time people would be saying the same thing about him -- not the true believers maybe, but a lot of other Americans would.

In many ways he reminds one of Adlai Stevenson, who famously frustrated his supporters with his holier-than-thou ways during two failed contests against the popular broad-smiling Ike.

Sounds like a cheap shot at Adlai. After all these years, I don't know what to make of him. But certainly he was a better man than some other Democratic candidates down through the years.

[AndyJackson]

Like I said, you’d be really lucky to have a great Socialized medical system like what we have.

There is an obscene amount of rhetoric in the US trying to justify keeping our current system, but it is horribly expensive. Currently in the US almost 1 in 6 GDP dollars goes to health care, and yet we have a "crisis." The problem is we have neither public health care, where costs are set by the government, nor private health care where costs are set by the market. Instead we have a mixed system which has figured out how to maximize costs and minimize delivery, and where the health care bureaucracy has spiralled out of control to consume an indordinate fraction of resources. No other country stands for the kind of profiteering of our drug companies either. It is an ungodly mess.

[neverdem]

Sounds like a cheap shot at Adlai. After all these years, I don't know what to make of him.

I don't remember him. I was born in late 51. Everything that I remember from reading about him was that he was a snob's snob.

[doc]

Don’t waste your vote on either party. Everyone is so unhappy with the direction this country is going yet they keep electing the same parties into office. The number one issue facing this country is illegal immigration. It alone affects all facets of our lives, education, budget, medical, crime, culture, water shortage, energy shortage, language, social services, etc.... The number of illegals in this country far exceeds the 12 million reported.

[Dick Vomer]

So, they go either to the US or to the UK, work for a few years, earn lots of your US currency, come back to New Zealand, pay off their loans, buy a house, and live well in an amazing lifestyle that you in the US can only dream about.

gee, I see all the people of the world just flooding into New Zealand. Hell, you guys have people drowning coming over in rafts. Let's see, first you said that they have to go overseas to get paid money...... oh and THEN they come back and spend it.... so why do they advertise for locum tenums again? I mean if it's so fantastic, should be pretty easy for the home team to provide players, right?

And our Sports Medicine is certainly superior to what you get in the US. Guess why? It’s because New Zealanders on average play more sports than you do! Rougher sports where injuries are more common. That’s right: we spend less time on the couch watching TV, and more time running around on sports fields, than you lot do. Even our fat guys!

Oh really? Well ya got me... We don't know that much about knee injuries, spinal cord injuries, shoulder replacements/rotator cuff surgeries, retinal surgeries, trauma medicine, and of course "sports medicine".

We really don't know anything about that, maybe someday we'll develop a good Sports Medicine program that will provide guidance to our Olympic teams and hopefully we can win some bronze medals in track and field or gee.... curling in the winter games.

don't believe everything you read or see on the tv about americans not playing sports or participating in physical activities. Hell, we got tired of boxing and decided on mixed martial arts as a "game".

Now, you come here: we like Irish surgeons because they’ve come here to reconstruct our Rugby players’ knees. And we all play rugby. I’ve had my knee done here. Badly wrecked, but fixed good as new, walking normally same day as the surgery.

same day? well once again, ya got me. "badly wrecked" ...... is that like an ACL tear with medial meniscus tear and medial collateral ligament tear, walking as good as "new" same day, post op.....

This guy was a pussy, cause it took him a year of rehab to play in the National Football league. His agent should have sent him to your guy so he could walk out of the hospital and go to the NFL combine.

Well gee, this guy plays in a little thing called the NFL and missed New Zealand's surgeons. Click on this and tell me did your knee do that?

Kevin Everett was paralyzed from the neck down. He decided to "risk it" and stayed in the US for treatment instead of the other option..... New Zealand..... click on this for spinal injury. Separated shoulder? I did mine last year, by accident (judo). ACC covered the lot, including therapy and accupuncture. Cost me not a cent.

I wanted to save that one for last, cause it goes to the very nut of your thinking.

doesn't cost you a cent?

You're sure about that?

In other words New Zealand has an economic area where the laws of supply, demand and basic monetary policy don't exist? Hmmmmmm, doesn't cost you anything, so IT'S FREE!!!!

You're sure that this doesn't cost you anything? Neat trick.

I'll stay in the states, but I'll keep ya'll in mind if I'm badly injured.

[Dick Vomer]

Well, Dick, you’d better think about what Obama will do to our military defense capabilities and national security preparedness....and whether or not you will always have that job.

I'll always have work, trust me on that. Obama might be president, but he isn't doing anything without congress.

First of all, I am NOT a hater of Hispanics. Whatever you know about the situation in Colombia, I’ll wager that you’ve not been there in the last several years. ( ...de eso, estoy bastante segura). McCain is supporting free trade with Colombia...something that will benefit us and them. Obama is dead set against it. I happen to know quite a few Colombians and some Venezuelans...and they love the USA, in spite of what the press says.

I apologize, I didn't mean that those that want to enforce our borders are Hispanic haters.... just the tone that some use when describing my grandfather who came over after the revolution in the late 1920's and my other grandpa whose family goes back to the time the missions were put in San Antonio.

Illegals are going to be made into the largest democrat party voting block due to the fact that they don't understand we are a Republic and not a democracy. Many Mexicans and south Americans think like the New Zealander who posted here, that if the government "gives" you something, it's free.

We all know that's bullsh#t.

I'm in a pickle my friend. I hate everything that spews out of that idiot Obamalamadingdong and his idiot court jesters.... but McCain is pathetic.

He's Bob Dole without the sense of humor.

The only thing that encourages me is that we live in a great country that isn't personality based. We are a republic with rule of law and we survived U.S.Grant, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

I'm hunkering down, praying and voting for conservative legislators.

good luck to you, wherever you live. I choose to live in Texas. That's my only ace in the hole.

It's not pretty, but I love it so.