Vote For McCain
Well, the New York Primary is coming up, just one of many states who will be voting a week from today to try to choose a Democratic and Republican nominee. I still think it's way too early for this and if we're going to have a Super Tuesday, let's have it around May or June so we are not subjected to 9 months of back-and-forth between the two presumptive nominees if indeed we decide them next Tuesday.
As I do live in New York and intend to vote in next Tuesday's Republican primary, I'mr sure you're wondering if I'm going to endorse someone. Actually, it's more likely that you don't care who I'm endorsing; in fact, I wrote an entry 8 years ago titled, "Like Anyone Cares Who I'm Endorsing." Be that as it may, I am using this space tonight to state why I am supporting Senator John McCain of Arizona and why you should too.
One big reason is that we need someone in the White House who we can trust. Let's face it; even most Republicans will admit that President Bush hasn't exactly been someone we feel comfortable trusting behind the wheel of our nation these last 8 years. John McCain doesn't just use "straight talk" as a campaign slogan; it's something he truly believes in. You may not like the stands he has taken, but he can tell you honestly and truthfully why he believes as he does. He's certainly a much better speaker than Bush. He's been firmly behind the Iraq War, declaring that we went in with a bad strategy before Bush would admit it, and supporting the surge even though it sunk his candidacy for several months until the surge proved successful. And he's not afraid to admit mistakes. While it's been a major bullet point of competing campaigns that McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts, he has seen the error of his ways and pledged to make them permanent. And he HATES earmarks. He wants to see spending reduced in Washington and pork eliminated.
However, the main reason I am for McCain is because he fits what I want to see in a Republican presidential nominee... which is exactly what right-wingers don't want to see. I've made it pretty clear in this blog/column over the years that I'm a moderate. As such and especially during election years, I get treated as persona non grata by my party. This is really unfortunate considering the fact that conservatives swear allegiance to the memory of Ronald Reagan, who as Barack Obama reminded us recently, was able to reach beyond the right wing to moderates for his appeal (remember Reagan Democrats?) Oh by the way, for making that statement, Obama was roundly trashed by his Democratic rivals for breaking the Prime Directive of Liberalism: NEVER praise Reagan. If you want to praise a former president, it has to be Jimmy Carter.
Anyway, I wholeheartedly agree with what David Brooks said in a recent column; the Republicans have gone from promoting the "big tent" philosophy to saying, "Conservatives only." For this, the moderate Brooks was promptly trashed by Rush Limbaugh, who called him a liberal. And this is the problem. Somewhere along the line, conservatives became as power-mad as liberals, and now they only want someone as the Republican nominee who marches in lock-step with all of their beliefs... even if it's someone who just so coincidentally changed his beliefs to match theirs in just the last few years. Of course, I would be referring to the candidate that most right-wingers are backing, Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts. Anything short of that is a liberal. Moderates are liberals, so sayeth talk radio. Now anyone who reads this blog and notices how much more often I go after liberals than conservatives would know that I am definitely NOT a liberal. I know John McCain is trying to tout his conservative credentials, but I'm okay with that, because you have to try to appeal to a lot of people to be successful... but in truth, he's a moderate. And his appeal primarily comes from my fellow moderates. This is unacceptable to Limbaugh and his ilk. They take great pains to note that McCain has done best in states where Independents and Democrats can cross over and vote in the Republican primary. Have they ever stopped to think that most of those independents and maybe a few of those Democrats are FORMER REPUBLICANS? People who didn't hang on like I have and left, but now they see the opportunity to get a Republican they can be proud of into the White House?
So the smear campaign has been on pretty much since McCain won New Hampshire, the same tactics that worked for the right-wingers in 2000 are being employed once again, only they now feel they have much more ammo. Their biggest problem is that McCain (gasp!) partners with Democrats! He seeks bipartisan solutions to the nation's problems! He's for compromise! That is just simply not allowed in the Republican party, so sayeth talk radio. I've heard Rush Limbaugh say countless times that the goal of conservatism is not to make nice with liberals, it's to defeat them. Only one small problem with that... liberals are just as invested in defeating conservatives. The end result is... well, what you've seen for the past 8 years. A stalemate, or what I refer to as "50-50 Nation". Presidential elections decided by one state, gridlock in the Congress, very few of our nation's problems being fixed. Now, a majority of Americans are sick of it... the moderate majority. And they're attracted to candidates who offer a message of hope and change. Most notably, Barack Obama, but John McCain represents that as well. Because we know that you can't get anything done if it's "my way or the highway", and we've seen that prove itself to be true. But, that apparently violates the Prime Directive of Conservatism, so George Will accuses McCain of acting like a Democrat. Romney made the right-wingers orgasmic yesterday by calling McCain a liberal. McCain responded by reminding us that until just a few years ago, Romney really WAS a liberal, until of course, he decided that changing his beliefs would get him elected president.
McCain partners with Democrat Russ Feingold to curb the influence of big money in politics and conservatives declare that he curbed free speech. I've said in this blog before that money does not equal speech, and if that was the case, then people like me oughta be declaring that OUR rights to free speech are being curbed because we don't have money! He partners with Ted Kennedy on Bush's immigration reform proposal and all we've heard is "Amnesty! Amnesty! AMNESTY!" Because for right-wingers, anything short of "deport all 12 million illegal immigrants" is amnesty. He partners with Joe Lieberman (not even a Democrat anymore) on a solution to greenhouse gases and gets criticized for that... then President Bush says in his State of the Union last night that he wants legislation to stop greenhouse gases! I guess Bush is now a liberal Democrat, right? Oh by the way, didn't Bush partner with Ted Kennedy on "No Child Left Behind"?
The rhetoric has gotten so fiery that many conservatives have said that they won't vote for McCain if he wins the nomination. Oh, they'll vote for him... especially if Hillary Clinton is the alternative. Nothing unites Republicans more than she does. Tom DeLay recently went on Sean Hannity's show and declared that if McCain wins the nomination, he'll sit out the general election.
Really, Tom? You promise? Well there ya go, one more reason to vote for McCain.
Anyway, I've pretty much stopped listening to talk radio because I can't take 3 hours of Rush trashing McCain, 3 hours of Hannity trashing McCain, and 3 hours of Glenn Beck trashing McCain (I almost regret asking for his book for Christmas). They have DeLay and Karl Rove on and they fawn all over them, this despite the fact that Rove is probably one of the 3 most hated men in the country (the other 2, of course, being Dick Cheney and Bill Belichick). They don't understand that most people see these guys as everything that is wrong with the Republican party. This is our chance to make it right. We are not compromising our principles, as Limbaugh accused McCain supporters of doing. McCain represents our principles, which are not identical to those of conservatives, and we're proud of that. This is the REPUBLICAN party, not the Conservative Party, and we want to make the Republican Party one that people will respect and support once again.
While we nervously watch the results of Florida tonight, I'll just say that if you're in New York or a Super Tuesday state and you can vote in the Republican primary, I hope you'll be convinced that we should elect a person who had no problem saying that he would put his country ahead of his party. Vote McCain '08.
As I do live in New York and intend to vote in next Tuesday's Republican primary, I'mr sure you're wondering if I'm going to endorse someone. Actually, it's more likely that you don't care who I'm endorsing; in fact, I wrote an entry 8 years ago titled, "Like Anyone Cares Who I'm Endorsing." Be that as it may, I am using this space tonight to state why I am supporting Senator John McCain of Arizona and why you should too.
One big reason is that we need someone in the White House who we can trust. Let's face it; even most Republicans will admit that President Bush hasn't exactly been someone we feel comfortable trusting behind the wheel of our nation these last 8 years. John McCain doesn't just use "straight talk" as a campaign slogan; it's something he truly believes in. You may not like the stands he has taken, but he can tell you honestly and truthfully why he believes as he does. He's certainly a much better speaker than Bush. He's been firmly behind the Iraq War, declaring that we went in with a bad strategy before Bush would admit it, and supporting the surge even though it sunk his candidacy for several months until the surge proved successful. And he's not afraid to admit mistakes. While it's been a major bullet point of competing campaigns that McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts, he has seen the error of his ways and pledged to make them permanent. And he HATES earmarks. He wants to see spending reduced in Washington and pork eliminated.
However, the main reason I am for McCain is because he fits what I want to see in a Republican presidential nominee... which is exactly what right-wingers don't want to see. I've made it pretty clear in this blog/column over the years that I'm a moderate. As such and especially during election years, I get treated as persona non grata by my party. This is really unfortunate considering the fact that conservatives swear allegiance to the memory of Ronald Reagan, who as Barack Obama reminded us recently, was able to reach beyond the right wing to moderates for his appeal (remember Reagan Democrats?) Oh by the way, for making that statement, Obama was roundly trashed by his Democratic rivals for breaking the Prime Directive of Liberalism: NEVER praise Reagan. If you want to praise a former president, it has to be Jimmy Carter.
Anyway, I wholeheartedly agree with what David Brooks said in a recent column; the Republicans have gone from promoting the "big tent" philosophy to saying, "Conservatives only." For this, the moderate Brooks was promptly trashed by Rush Limbaugh, who called him a liberal. And this is the problem. Somewhere along the line, conservatives became as power-mad as liberals, and now they only want someone as the Republican nominee who marches in lock-step with all of their beliefs... even if it's someone who just so coincidentally changed his beliefs to match theirs in just the last few years. Of course, I would be referring to the candidate that most right-wingers are backing, Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts. Anything short of that is a liberal. Moderates are liberals, so sayeth talk radio. Now anyone who reads this blog and notices how much more often I go after liberals than conservatives would know that I am definitely NOT a liberal. I know John McCain is trying to tout his conservative credentials, but I'm okay with that, because you have to try to appeal to a lot of people to be successful... but in truth, he's a moderate. And his appeal primarily comes from my fellow moderates. This is unacceptable to Limbaugh and his ilk. They take great pains to note that McCain has done best in states where Independents and Democrats can cross over and vote in the Republican primary. Have they ever stopped to think that most of those independents and maybe a few of those Democrats are FORMER REPUBLICANS? People who didn't hang on like I have and left, but now they see the opportunity to get a Republican they can be proud of into the White House?
So the smear campaign has been on pretty much since McCain won New Hampshire, the same tactics that worked for the right-wingers in 2000 are being employed once again, only they now feel they have much more ammo. Their biggest problem is that McCain (gasp!) partners with Democrats! He seeks bipartisan solutions to the nation's problems! He's for compromise! That is just simply not allowed in the Republican party, so sayeth talk radio. I've heard Rush Limbaugh say countless times that the goal of conservatism is not to make nice with liberals, it's to defeat them. Only one small problem with that... liberals are just as invested in defeating conservatives. The end result is... well, what you've seen for the past 8 years. A stalemate, or what I refer to as "50-50 Nation". Presidential elections decided by one state, gridlock in the Congress, very few of our nation's problems being fixed. Now, a majority of Americans are sick of it... the moderate majority. And they're attracted to candidates who offer a message of hope and change. Most notably, Barack Obama, but John McCain represents that as well. Because we know that you can't get anything done if it's "my way or the highway", and we've seen that prove itself to be true. But, that apparently violates the Prime Directive of Conservatism, so George Will accuses McCain of acting like a Democrat. Romney made the right-wingers orgasmic yesterday by calling McCain a liberal. McCain responded by reminding us that until just a few years ago, Romney really WAS a liberal, until of course, he decided that changing his beliefs would get him elected president.
McCain partners with Democrat Russ Feingold to curb the influence of big money in politics and conservatives declare that he curbed free speech. I've said in this blog before that money does not equal speech, and if that was the case, then people like me oughta be declaring that OUR rights to free speech are being curbed because we don't have money! He partners with Ted Kennedy on Bush's immigration reform proposal and all we've heard is "Amnesty! Amnesty! AMNESTY!" Because for right-wingers, anything short of "deport all 12 million illegal immigrants" is amnesty. He partners with Joe Lieberman (not even a Democrat anymore) on a solution to greenhouse gases and gets criticized for that... then President Bush says in his State of the Union last night that he wants legislation to stop greenhouse gases! I guess Bush is now a liberal Democrat, right? Oh by the way, didn't Bush partner with Ted Kennedy on "No Child Left Behind"?
The rhetoric has gotten so fiery that many conservatives have said that they won't vote for McCain if he wins the nomination. Oh, they'll vote for him... especially if Hillary Clinton is the alternative. Nothing unites Republicans more than she does. Tom DeLay recently went on Sean Hannity's show and declared that if McCain wins the nomination, he'll sit out the general election.
Really, Tom? You promise? Well there ya go, one more reason to vote for McCain.
Anyway, I've pretty much stopped listening to talk radio because I can't take 3 hours of Rush trashing McCain, 3 hours of Hannity trashing McCain, and 3 hours of Glenn Beck trashing McCain (I almost regret asking for his book for Christmas). They have DeLay and Karl Rove on and they fawn all over them, this despite the fact that Rove is probably one of the 3 most hated men in the country (the other 2, of course, being Dick Cheney and Bill Belichick). They don't understand that most people see these guys as everything that is wrong with the Republican party. This is our chance to make it right. We are not compromising our principles, as Limbaugh accused McCain supporters of doing. McCain represents our principles, which are not identical to those of conservatives, and we're proud of that. This is the REPUBLICAN party, not the Conservative Party, and we want to make the Republican Party one that people will respect and support once again.
While we nervously watch the results of Florida tonight, I'll just say that if you're in New York or a Super Tuesday state and you can vote in the Republican primary, I hope you'll be convinced that we should elect a person who had no problem saying that he would put his country ahead of his party. Vote McCain '08.
Labels: McCain, New York primary, politics
posted by Dave | 6:57 PM
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