Why McCain Must Win

canadafreepress.com ^ | 07/19/08 | Bruce Walker

[TornadoAlley3]

President McCain in 2000 I must be one of the few conservative writers in cyberspace who never feared a McCain presidency. When Senator McCain looked like he might win the Republican nomination in 2000, I asked what, exactly, my friends were so worried about. McCain was honest, like Bush, while Clinton and Gore were steeped in moral slipperiness. McCain was pro-life, like Bush, while Clinton and Gore were pro-abortion. McCain, like Bush, supported a strong military, while Clinton famously “loathed” the military and Gore followed him like a trained poodle. McCain’s ACU (American Conservative Union) voting record is conservative and was even more conservative in 2000. Who did I favor for the nomination in 2000? Bush, because I liked him more and I thought he would win, but was I afraid of a McCain presidency? No, I was afraid that the nation could not survive a third Clinton term. Has anything happened in the last eight years to change my mind? Not, not really. September 11, 2001 has driven all politics since then, even energy (remember how recently gasoline was cheap?) and while I can conceive of McCain handling the war on terror differently, in some ways, than Bush, I cannot see either man being particularly better than the other. Although we are sometimes loath to admit it, McCain appeared more prescience than Bush on Iraq: McCain supported the Surge, asked for the Surge when Bush was reluctant, and McCain was dead right. The Left would have vilified President McCain just as it vilified President Bush and for the same reasons: It wants America to lose all its wars.

[calcowgirl]

The votes I cut and pasted are from 2007. From this link, you can click on a description of the votes with their corresponding date:

http://www.acuratings.org/

[Norman Bates]

No, I am not a liar. Are you? So don’t imply it.

[rabscuttle385]

No, I am not a liar.

Good, then I'm not calling you a liar.

[Cyber Liberty]

That's the same logic as saying somebody who sits out an election is just as wrong as somebody who votes for Obama...

You cheated. You peeked at the rest of the thread and picked up the arguments of the McCainiacs...That's exactly the argument, thus: "A non-vote for McCain is a vote for Obama."

[Norman Bates]

Yes except in this case the ACU and not the school system decides how to judge criteria.

Let me put it this way: there is an inherent flaw if you treat a no vote as a liberal vote which would be what your absent-inclusion system would do.

[Cyber Liberty]

Me neither. Sure was a tempting proposition, I must admit.

:^)

[FreeReign]

That's the same logic as saying somebody who sits out an election is just as wrong as somebody who votes for Obama...

You cheated. You peeked at the rest of the thread and picked up the arguments of the McCainiacs...That's exactly the argument, thus: "A non-vote for McCain is a vote for Obama."

LOL!

Actually I'm pointing out the contradiction some McCainiacs and some anti McCainiacs believe.

[hiredhand]

These threads are retarded. It all boils down to a big spat about who we're voting for. Myself and many others made a decision on this when Duncan Hunter dropped out, and we haven't changed our minds since then. So everybody can cry foul, and exchange epithets and hurl insults, and it won't change anything.

This issue of GOP support is

OFFICIALLY STALLED

and I for one am damned sorry that I ever posted into this particular thread! It simply didn't change anything for me, or for anybody else. We will all remain unchanged until November of 2008 and then what falls will fall.

...and until that time, a certain percentage will shake their pom-poms for John McCain, and we'll refuse to support him and his ilk, and we'll be told we're everything from destructive to narrow minded....and so we shall exist.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

And what date did you use for that 85%?

[calcowgirl]

Let me put it this way: there is an inherent flaw if you treat a no vote as a liberal vote which would be what your absent-inclusion system would do.

I didn't suggest any such thing. I just pointed out that McCain's non-voting (on issues he is known to take the liberal view) causes a distortion in the data thereby rendering it utterly useless as any rational indicator of his "conservatism".

[FreeReign]

Yes except in this case the ACU and not the school system decides how to judge criteria. Let me put it this way: there is an inherent flaw if you treat a no vote as a liberal vote which would be what your absent-inclusion system would do.

Yes. Calcowgirls treatment of the "missed votes" is flawed just as the ACU"s treatment of the "missed votes" is flawed.

I think it's more accurate to assign an absent vote half a point.

If one does this, McCain's rating for 2007 comes out to about a 62% conservative rating.

[calcowgirl]

Calcowgirls treatment of the "missed votes" is flawed just as the ACU"s treatment of the "missed votes" is flawed.

See my post above. I suggested no "treatment of missed votes."

I suggested the ACU rating is flawed--period--and therefore not a rational indicator of conservatism.

[FreeReign]

I just pointed out that McCain's non-voting (on issues he is known to take the liberal view) causes a distortion in the data thereby rendering it utterly useless as any rational indicator of his "conservatism".

No. One can easily look at the past 10 years of ACU ratings and see that McCain has been about 65% conservative in his votes. Before that, McCain was about 85% conservative.

That is the track record. If you don't want to vote for McCain, fine, but you shouldn't try to rationalize that non McCain vote.

That's all.

[hiredhand]

I have no confidence in you as a voter.

Oooh...like that hurt. :-) Correct! You should not simply have no confidence in me as a voter, but you should FEAR me as a voter! I'll never vote for a pandering RINO, in spite of rhetoric about the evils that will befall us if I don't!

Now I'm going to bring the fullness of your delimma into perspective. Take me, and multiply me by enough to seriously offset the elections. Am I destructive by keeping my word? More importantly, now that I've told you this and you have a knowlege of it, are you destructive by keeping your word?

After November of 2008, your side is going to shriek across the isle over to my side and tell us what a terrible bunch of people we are, which will be no different than NOW....except that my side will look back to months before this and think of all the times that we warned of what was going to happen. The really ironic thing is that at some time in the past, there was enough time to have actually done something about it. But no! Too many people trudged on with the GOP RINO favorite because we don't like leftists who lie, but "conservatives" who lie are just FINE with us!

[MartinStyles]

So if you manage to get obama in you’ll be laughing at us? If you’re an American, you’ll be in the same boat sucker.

[papasmurf]

I’ve been paying attention to his campaign for 12 years. Look at his record.

While there is a lot of negative I could add to this argument, I’m not in this to disparage the man, I want to encourage others to help elicit promises from him. No Conservative promises, no vote.

Rather than supporting him blindly, and giving him a free pass, I think we should all be more concerned with forcing him to recognize the Conservatives who have built his party.

BTW, not mentioning his left leanings does not make him an instant Conservative, it makes him a RINO.

[JoJo Gunn]

I’m wondering just how close the bottom is.

[Ciexyz]

I know which candidate will eff up my health plan by slashing bennies, raising prices, so they can afford to extend coverage to illegal aliens, welfare families, and half the planet, for example, foreign professionals who come here legally and then bring their parents over and dump them on welfare.

[hiredhand]

So if you manage to get obama in you’ll be laughing at us? If you’re an American, you’ll be in the same boat sucker.

Where do you come up with this crap? Did you think up that one all by yourself? Or did your third grader help you? No...let me guess... you walked away, leaving your keyboard insecure and in 30 minutes you'll discover that your DOG posted on FR!

So listen up sucker. I am an American, but I will not be in the same boat as you, and I don't have to explain it either. But there are enough who will read this and know exactly what I'm talking about.

Actually, I'm laughing at you NOW :-). Nobody will be laughing after November of 2008 though, no matter which side wins.

[EternalVigilance]

You’ll hear ‘em yell when they hit the bottom.

Then they’ll start screaming about how it’s the fault of the principled conservatives.

You can take it to the bank.