Posted on 02/17/2008 10:20:04 AM PST by calcowgirl
McCain? No Way!
by Sen. HL "Bill" Richardson (ret.)
Chairman of the Board, GOA
Americans are being told by the mainstream media that conservatives have no other choice than to back the hypocrite from Arizona. All that is required is to pretend he is "really" a conservative. "So, crawl under the big Republican tent and vote for McCain," we are told. "Besides, what other choice do you have?"
We have plenty of choices, none of which calls for casting our vote for the lesser of two presidential evils.
First, the Republican race isn't over. Huckabee is still around and as Kansas and Louisiana should point out, the Romney vote flocked to Huckabee. Not that they loved Huckabee, but that they have zero trust in the promises of McCain. Even if Huckabee loses, what makes anyone think conservatives will vote for McCain?
Don't you liberals get it? The republican conservative believes McCain would be a vindictive president. He's proven his dislike for conservatives and would gut us at every opportunity.
Why do I say that? Because of three decades of experience as a Republican California Senator and a fifty year activist in the conservative movement. I have first hand, in-their-face experience with elitist RINO's (Republican in Name Only) office holders. They are biblically ignorant, power hungry, status seeking egotists who have no difficulty aiding their liberal Democrat colleagues whenever their arms are politely twisted. The one thing they have in common with liberal Democrats is their dislike of all conservatives, especially those who are Bible-believing. McCain, as president, would stifle the voices of elected Republican leaders and try to legislate the conservative movement out of existence.
There is no reason why any conservative should be depressed, especially if they look at past history. I clearly remember the political climate in 1964. We newly-awakened conservatives had a real friend running for the Republican nomination. Barry Goldwater defeated a liberal Republican in the primaries, but in the general election, the mainstream media slaughtered him. In 1964 it was easy to do; we had no effective political action committees, no conservative organizations, few pro-life activists, little religious participation, no talk radio, a handful of articulate conservative legislators, no fax machines and zero Internet. After the 1964 November election, all looked hopeless. Not a bright star on the horizon....But!
In 1966, we conservatives elected an actor as Governor of California. I was elected to the State Senate. The thespian and I were greener than grass but we were both quick to learn. Ron Reagan became a national star, a conservative leader in the nation’s most popular state. He couldn't be ignored.
I founded Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners of California. We became the second largest pro-Second Amendment organization in America with membership in the hundreds of thousands. We concentrated our efforts on electing pro-gunners to the legislature and stopping anti-gun legislation. We grew rapidly and were quite successful. During liberal Jerry Brown's eight years as governor, not a single anti-gun bill was signed into law. The reason was simple -- although the liberal Democrats controlled both houses of the legislature, no anti-gun legislation passed from either house to find its way to the Governor’s desk.
The entire gun movement is close to accomplishing that feat on a national level. As long as the gun community hangs together, it will make little difference on gun issues who is sitting in the White House. The same could be true of other major conservative organizations as long as they stay in the fight. We are much better off than in 1964 and much better organized.
The other good news is that some of the weak-sister Republicans are leaving office -- not willing to scrap it out with the liberal Democrats. Hooray, happy to see you go! Call Gun Owners if you need a ride out of town. We have an opportunity to replace them with tough, no nonsense conservatives. Already, some very fine men are seeking these vacancies.
We at Gun Owners intend to be very engaged in Congressional and US Senate races.
I personally will not cast a vote for the presidency -- that is, if McCain is the Republican nominee. Under no circumstances will I vote for either of the Democrats. This will be the first time in fifty years that I have made this choice. I hope it will be the last.
Glad to see someone posted that. That is my second link up above. ; )
John McCain's Chief Media Advisor is suggesting he will quit the campaign — rather than work against Barack Obama. Mark McKinnon was a Democrat before working for President Bush's campaign in 2000 and 2004. He tells National Public Radio — "I would simply be uncomfortable being in a campaign that would be inevitably attacking Barack Obama. I think it would be uncomfortable for me, and I think it would be bad for the McCain campaign." McKinnon says while he disagrees with Obama on fundamental issues, he likes him a great deal. He says he will still support McCain — but only from the sidelines.
And, here's the Statistically Insignificant part
My bad. It wasn't his campaign manager--it was his Media Advise.
Please see Post #223.
How about them facts?
The only "hacks" around here are the McCain apologists, IMO.
Yes he has in high liberal style.
Ooops. ;-) I should have clicked on it.
You’re always one step ahead. :-)
Ooops! My very bad. Media Advise = Media Advisor. Drat the spell checker.
Naw, you are so far ahead you’re just coming up from behind to lap me once again. heh
“I’m already gone. Wait...I feel another song parody comin’ on...”
Better get writing, before I beat you to the punch! ;)
Good one!
BELLEVUE, Wash., July 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- His third term in the United States Senate scheduled to end in two years, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) today said that Arizona Sen. John McCain should retire from public service, rather than seek re-election in 2004.
"John McCain began his Congressional career as a genuine war hero, running on a solid platform representative of the views of his Arizona constituents," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "However, the past few years have seen Senator McCain increasingly turn his back on virtually every one of those principles, to the point that he not only no longer appears to be working with his own party caucus, he does not represent the interests of voters in his state.
"He has especially attacked the rights of gun owners, who are a major share of the voters in Arizona," Gottlieb stated. "He has either sponsored or embraced virtually every recent liberal anti- gun proposal. Clearly, Senator McCain has developed his own agenda, assaulting rather than safeguarding the firearm civil rights of the very people who elected him."
Added CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron, "McCain hasn't simply lost touch with the people who elected him, he has abandoned their free speech and gun rights to become a media darling. He enjoys hobnobbing with beltway elitists and the Far Left fringe. That may make him popular with the Sunday morning network talk shows, but it does not translate to serving the voters of Arizona."
McCain's attacks on the First Amendment rights of various interest groups, combined with his continued assault on the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, not only in Arizona but across the nation, convince Gottlieb and Waldron that it is time for McCain to step down at the end of his current term.
"Senator McCain has steadily distanced himself from the programs and pledges that earned Republicans control of Congress in 1994," Gottlieb said. "His current views, as demonstrated by the legislation he advocates, are shared by a shrinking minority of career politicians who are out of touch with the interests and needs of most Americans."
"John McCain has served his country, at times with great courage," Waldron observed. "He would do the citizens of Arizona, and the country, an even greater service by not seeking another term in the U.S. Senate."
With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.
http://www.usnewswire.com
Better get writing, before I beat you to the punch! ;)
Go for it! Gotta start dinner, now, anyway.
When Obama wins, it will be because the Republicans fielded such a piss poor candidate. Its is never the voters fault,when a party puts an unacceptable candidate in the race.
Good find. Could you give me the full URL on that article?
If it weren't for 9/11, McCain wouldn't be a Republican. He was setting up for a challenge to Bush in 2004 but had part of his platform coopted by Bush with 9/11 so he came crawling back to the Party, trying to undo some of the damage he had done to his "Republican credentials" by promoting liberal programs. Unfortunately, the stubborn old cuss couldn't give up his liberalism and still foisted CFR on us, along with McCain Kennedy and the rest. Those that support him are the power mongers and the Rockefeller Republicans who want to turn the party leftward, as long as they still get their perks. Based on the network they've been setting up to profit from his Climate Stewardship nonsense, he's got a good list of supporters.
I'm one of those conservatives who will not vote for McCain and I certainly won't vote for any Democrat. However, I intend to place my vote for president and V.P. with the Independent party then vote for the Republican under-ticket.
As so many others here, I see John McCain's passive pro-life stand as less than impressive. Although I like his position on Iraq and the War on Terror, I can't ignore his sometimes stridently-stated positions that coincide with Democrat stands, such as the global warming hoax (McCain buys it, 100%), First Amendment rights (McCain-Feingold) and his long record of displaying contempt for Christian conservatives and conservative values, while now pretending to be a 'conservative' because he has voted against tax rate increases and supported the war in Iraq. I am not at all convinced and doubt I ever will be. McCain has too long a history and voting record to simply ignore...and I won't.
Add McCain's temper and age (72 by November) into the mix and I see his candidacy as a losing proposition for the GOP and an insult to conservatives. I don't believe McCain can win the 2008 presidential election because the country seems ready to continue it's slide into socialism via Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. A Republican 'moderate' running as a socialist-lite, 'me-too' candidate won't sway voters to keep a Republican in the White House after eight years of the MSM bashing Bush every time he took a breath...and Bush is, at the very most, only quasi-conservative.
Too many Americans now see the War on Terror as something that is remote from their lives and McCain's pro-war stance won't help him all that much. Obama may wrest the Democrat nomination from Hillary if he doesn't have an unfortunate accident or his rightful primary votes practically stolen en masse by you-know-who. He could be our next president. That will be a Jimmy Carter-type, unmitigated disaster for the country - but I believe we'll survive. I do not believe the conservative movement could survive a McCain presidency and I don't have that much confidence in McCain's leadership abilities. Better than Obama? Definitely. Than Hillary Clinton? Definitely.
However, as so many other posters have stated in the past ten days; John McCain is far closer to Democrats than conservatives on a host of issues, such as shutting down Guantanamo and thinly-disguised amnesty for illegal immigrants, to name just two major issues. A McCain presidency would very likely see the nation almost as close to socialism by 2012 as it would under one of the Marxists Democrats running. I can't see a 'President' McCain seriously opposing a revival of the 'Fairness Doctrine' ("take that, Limbaugh!) or vetoing a bill to extend government services to illegal immigrants. McCain has shown that he sides with the Democrats on too many proposals they would try to push, especially if the Democrats can increase their voting majority in the senate, which is not unlikely.
This and many other issues preclude my voting for John McCain for president. I deeply regret having to be in this position but, as you stated in your post: we all have to 'vote our conscience'. I am.
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