Posted on 12/21/2007 5:51:41 PM PST by Norman Bates
John McCain has been traveling around New Hampshire telling potential Republican primary voters that they might not always agree with him if he's elected president, but that they can at least be sure he will always do what he believes is right for the country. That's a reasonable summation of McCain's political appeal.
This newspaper does not agree with McCain on many issues.
We are concerned about his opposition to abortion rights, although we are somewhat reassured by his assurance that he does not advocate putting people in jail over the issue.
We were disappointed by his advocacy of the invasion of Iraq, but we understand his arguments that the state of U.S. intelligence in 2003 made the idea seem more appealing than it does in retrospect, and that the United States now has a national obligation to make the best of the mess we created.
As we have noted before in this space, McCain has never been the thoroughgoing Republican maverick that some people assume. Yet he is independent enough to impress.
Consider his efforts at campaign-finance reform - efforts that have not yet been successful, but that someday will be the key to putting the interests of the American people ahead of the special interests that grease the palms of shameless members of Congress. McCain's passion on that issue no doubt grew out of his involvement in the Keating Five influence-peddling scandal in the early 1990s. Although he was cleared of wrongdoing, he once noted: "We are all tainted by this system." That's not an admission you'll likely hear very many places on the campaign trail.
Recently, we have been impressed by McCain's attitude toward illegal immigration, expressed at considerable political cost in a bill that was defeated earlier in the year. He now notes that any improvement in the situation will have to begin by better policing of the borders, but he continues to speak with humane concern of the people, and the families of people, who have put down roots here.
We are also intrigued, although not fully persuaded by, McCain's recent venture into health-care reform. Like many other Republicans, he puts a lot of faith in private insurance companies, and he rejects the idea of health-insurance mandates. But he is proposing an end to restrictions on insurance availability from out of state providers, as well as significant tax relief for people who negotiate their own insurance arrangements. He has a quiver of proposals for reducing the cost of health care. And he wants to create a federal insurance fund to insure people who are turned down - or priced out of the market - by private insurers. "And it'll be expensive," he volunteers, with typical candor.
Where McCain most distinguishes himself from the rest of this year's Republican pack is in the areas of life experience and force of character. He is not a single-issue candidate off on a frantic ideological jag. Although his political ideology has evolved through experience over the years, he has not changed his previous political positions en masse to appeal to the presumed prejudices and preferences of voters. Nor has he tried to craft a candidacy around an artificial persona who promises to save us all from terrorists, or from the devil. And, perhaps most important, he campaigns with decency.
What we see in McCain is a grown-up; a known quantity with a 30-year record of public service; a conservative who is confident in his abilities and yet smart enough to seek counsel. If he becomes the Republican nominee in 2008, the country has a chance of enjoying a substantive presidential contest, unburdened by fear-mongering and irrelevancies. The major candidates will differ sharply in their approaches to the many challenges we face, but their passion is likely to be tempered by civility.
By selecting John McCain on January 8, New Hampshire Republicans and independents have an opportunity to put the presidential contest on a constructive path that's worthy of the nation and its finest aspirations, at a time when a sharp course correction is severely needed.
Ping
Don’t you mean McCain-Fingold Conservativeism; The Gang of 14 Conservativeism? The Keating 5 Conversativeism?
At what point in American history was anyone other than a practitioner (e.g. a widwife, or later) put into jail? This is a straw dog argument. The aborting woman has always been considered a secondary victim of abortion - not a perpetrator. That will be the case when abortion is finally again regulated.
What’s up with this crap now? This guy was politically dead and buried, now he’s all over the place again.
Its like the media is going down the list of the Republican’s most likely to lose.
Funny how that one slips by, isn't it?
McCain is probably the best shot at winning actually.
From the argument they make, it sounds as if this paper is basically liberal. They like abortion, they dislike the Iraq war, but they’ll support McCain because he believes in socialist healthcare and will be the best bet to support the liberal agenda.
Or at least that’s how I read it.
6 posted on 12/21/2007 6:03:19 PM PST by paul544 (
You hit the nail squarely on the head.
There are three groups that want to see John McCain get the Republican nomination:
1. The Republican hierarchy.
2. The main stream media.
3. The Democrat Party.
Both the main stream media and Democrat Party know that John Mc Cain is the only Republican running that would guarantee a Hillary win. The Rpublican hierarchy want him nominated because, "he has paid his dues", a/l/a Bob Dole. That is the way I see it.
We are concerned about his opposition to abortion rights
We were disappointed by his advocacy of the invasion of Iraq, but we understand his arguments that the state of U.S. intelligence in 2003 made the idea seem more appealing than it does in retrospect
consider his efforts at campaign-finance reform - efforts that have not yet been successful, but that someday will be the key....
However, the eventual Republican nominee must get at least some votes from these kinds of confused people in order to defeat Hillobama.
Except he doesn’t believe in socialist healthcare. I didn’t read it that way. I read it as a liberal’s grudging respect for McCain.
“However, the eventual Republican nominee must get at least some votes from these kinds of confused people in order to defeat Hillobama.”
Exactly. I see it more as a liberal editorial board’s grudging respect for a conservative statesman.
Yeah, heaven forbid we actually have some restraint on congressional power.
McCain’s “Gang of 14” prevented the GOP leadership from eliminating the filibuster and quite frankly saved the GOP’s butt this past year.
Would you trust Harry Reid with a filibuster-proof majority? I sure as heck wouldn’t.
I know of no one on the left clamoring to face McCain. His cup of tea is independents and ironically Hillary’s is not, which equals an electoral disaster for them.
Kansas: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1935133/posts
Arizona: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1934696/posts
Kentucky: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1942576/posts
Ohio: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1934677/posts
Massachusetts: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1932892/posts
New Mexico: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941964/posts
Oregon: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941979/posts
Florida: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1928497/posts
Virginia: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1928219/posts
Washington: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941972/posts
Wisconsin: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941499/posts
Iowa: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1927619/posts
McCain is a sincerely stubborn fool.
I’d prefer Mitt or Rudy, either one of them.
Fortunately Fred Thompson will be the nominee, so none of us will have to bite our lips while voting next November.
Thank you. I get tired of repeating that over and over. Actually, it probably saved the Iraq War.
Rudy? No, I wouldn’t. I like him as a person but McCain is firmly to the right of him. Mitt’s record is too short to be taken seriously next to a veteran like McCain or even Fred.
But as I said, I admire your spirit.
I think you nailed it. McCain would be a gift to the Donks.
You can believe that or you can check out the polling in post 15.
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