The Moderate Voice - Latest Comments in Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

CStanley — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:35:59 -0000

Oops, my comment above was in response to Pacatrue- I clicked on the 'reply' button underneath his comment and thought mine would show up under that comment instead of at the bottom of the thread.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

CStanley — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:34:45 -0000

Thanks, you too. And I agree 100% with your comment above. McCain obviously isn't the best standard bearer for the conservative movement, but that doesn't mean he's a liberal. The hard core conservative base has to come to terms with the fact that their numbers are dwindling and they've governed in such a way that has alienated anyone that's more toward the center than they are. They'd do well to recognize that they are the right wing of the party, not the party itself (big tent and all that). Let the moderates in the party have a shot at the White House, and meanwhile the conservative movement can focus on finding decent standardbearers to fill all of those vacating Congressional seats.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

kritt11 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 09:55:38 -0000

DLS- Conservatives dislike Specter and McCain- but they don't comprise the entire Republican party. Moderates and liberals in the GOP still support both of them, plus they are liked by some Dems and Independents.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

DLS — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:41:50 -0000

McCain isn't the only polarizing far-from-Republican, self-seeking Republican.

WHAT ABOUT THIS GUY???

http://www.cbsnews.com/blog...

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

superdestroyer — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:05:12 -0000

kritt,

Senator McCain made a proposal on immigration that he could not convince anyone of its benefits, could not provide any sort of compromise when faced with opposition, could not convince anyone else that he meant what he said, and in the end, repudiated his position for political reasons while planning to go back to is original position after the election.

Ever action that McCain has taken on immigration has demonstrated a total lack of leadership. He did the bidding of big business in proposals a disaster of a bill and then followed the Republican Party activist to disavow it while putting people on his staff who support the opposite of his position.

If this is what you think of as good leadership, I would hate to see what you think of as bad leadership.

McCain has consistently demonstrated the the same lack of leadership and ability that President Bush has demonstrated. Haven't we learned our lesson.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

kritt11 — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:52:23 -0000

Pacatrue- Yes, RR liked it when the odds were overwhelmingly in our favor.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

kritt11 — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:31:57 -0000

'He is much more competitive with the D's in the head to head than Romney. Why, I don't know, but he is.'

CO----

Because he has shown himself willing to take unpopular stands on tax cuts,immigration and campaign finance, and because he pisses off people like Ann Coulter and Michael Reagan.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

pacatrue — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:30:19 -0000

Reagan was more of a Granada kind of guy for military force. ;)

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

kritt11 — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:26:13 -0000

Chris Matthews noted that the GOP candidates mentioned Reagan 43 times at their last debate- W not at all, LOL. It seems like they have no other direction to take the party in so they're reaching back to the past. Reagan, whatever his faults, knew when to use force and when not to. He would not have allowed the military to get bogged down in Iraq.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

pacatrue — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:26:00 -0000

By the way, nice to see you, CStanley.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

pacatrue — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:25:08 -0000

My understanding is that McCain has voted with the Republican party and in line with the official conservative line about 75% of the time. He has gone against them about 25% of the time. This hardly makes him equal to a Democrat. In fact, if we take a look at the three main beefs that M. Reagan mentions, they are debatably "conservative" depending upon how you define that term.

He voted against the Bush tax cuts at first. One conservative value is reducing taxes and the size of govt, so this would be a conservative knock against McCain. And yet a balanced budget is also supposed to be a conservative value, and one can easily imagine that a conservative might choose a balanced budget over a tax decrease periodically. For campaign finance, one has to buy both that money equals speech and that the irrelevance of people without money in the current system does not equal an attack on free speech to say that finance reform is unconservative. The real problem, as others on this site have mentioned, with the finance reforms might be that they aren't fair to both parties. But that's just a matter of power play and has nothing to do with a liberal or conservative political philosophy.

And then you get to immigration reform. While an "amnesty" is clearly against the current conservative line and its members, again it isn't clear that this is due to a conservative philosophy of less government and more reliance on the private sector and individual freedom. If you believe in pure markets and freedom, one should advocate more open borders so that the market can determine labor supply and migration patterns, not government bureaucrats. One might very well argue, however, that "strong defense" is part of traditional conservative philosophy and there is therefore a real tie to conservatism that McCain has betrayed if he isn't strong enough for controlled borders. And yet even here the real security threats we've seen so far appear to come from people who immigrate legally and then disappear at the ends of visas and such. And yet the issue that has conservatives hopping mad mostly deals with the large undocumented immigration of Hispanics, an entirely different matter. People overstaying their visas is only a small part of the anger.

Sure, McCain is not as conservative as some, but the anger to me seems more partisan than philosophical. McCain hasn't towed the right line always and it's viewed as betrayal to the party. It's interesting to note how the issues have changes that McCain has been consistently conservative on abortion, gay marriage, budget, and several other issues, but people will gladly dump him today for immigration and lower taxes.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

kritt11 — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:23:03 -0000

SD- He's led on immigration, campaign finance and torture in the Senate. You may not like the type of leadership he's exhibited or the fact that he reaches out to the other side, but to say he hasn't exhibited leadership is just not fair to him. He has at times been out of step with the GOP leadership in Congress- maybe that's what you mean?

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

rudi — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:53:54 -0000

I think an intervention is called for for some of the Reagan idolatry. The nutcases, and other wingnuts, pushed for the desicration of Mt. Rushmore to include the (not so) Great Communicator.

http://www.nationalreview.c...

These are all fitting but somehow insufficient. Only Rushmore suffices — and it is peculiarly appropriate to Ronald Reagan.

When Doane Robinson first conceived the idea of Mount Rushmore, he wanted to commemorate larger-than-life Western heroes.

http://www.nationalreview.c...
http://www.thepetitionsite....
Like the above link proves,cooler heads prevailed. signatures (145 signatures of 1million).

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

DLS — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:41:04 -0000

Actually, C. Stanley, I made my far-left friend in DC laugh when I said that putting Reagan's name on National Airport was enough to stomach (though not as bad as "Hillary Rodham Global Transportation Center"), but some people almost are trying to put Reagan's name on as many things as we saw with the overdone, over-commercialized "Official Olympic" designation on everything. She laughed when I said it was time for us to go down Ronald Reagan 14th Street to get to Ronald Reagan Constitution Avenue (while waiting for the Ronald Reagan stoplight to change from red to green), past the Ronald Reagan Washington Monument, eastward, and over the Ronald Reagan Bridge across the Ronald Reagan Potomac River to the Ronald Reagan Washington Memorial Parkway...

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

superdestroyer — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:39:50 -0000

kritt,

One of the problems with McCain is that he has demonstrated no apparent leadership skills. If he does not want to be Reagan and he wants to lead the conservative movement in a different direction, he has not demonstrated any ability to do it. It is much more likely he will end up like Arnold in California where he sells out the conservatives to get some ego boosts from the majority Democrats. That is why many on the political right are worried about McCain.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

DLS — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:15:58 -0000

"He is much more competitive with the D's in the head to head than Romney. Why, I don't know, but he is."

He's perceived as frequently being like one of the D's, Pete. That's why.

This would be even more true if Bloomberg were to seek the Presidency.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

CStanley — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:14:27 -0000

Sounds like a bad case of psychological projection. Michael Reagan thinks that John McCain is too damn arrogant because McCain refuses to worship at the altar of his late father.

I was a huge Reagan fan but the idolatry has gone way too far. Next we'll be criticizing GOP candidates if they don't wear a Reagan icon around their neck or sport a "WWRD" bracelet.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

DLS — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:47:41 -0000

"Forget about Jeb, he isn't all that loved in Florida."

For the record, I would not be impressed by a run by Jeb Bush, and yes, I would suspect the GOP of desperation if they got him to run. (An interesting related question on many people's minds, I suspect, is what Dubya has done to Jeb's future chances of election.)

* * *

"M. Reagan has the audacity to think that talk radio voices are the voices of the Republican electorate."

It is an unwise assumption for Reagan to make. Non-liberals, and even conservatives, are hardly monolithic.

"No, Mitt, the world of conservatism is not behind you."

Hugh Hewitt, a Romney cheerleader, is reminded of this time after time if you read the reader remarks to his web log entries at Town Hall, the conservative Web site.

* * *

"If you are on the far left, McCain is conservative by comparison."

HA! If you think he is conservative, you are on the far left!

"The GOP needs to stop looking for a Reagan imitation." ... "The best bet is McCain."

At this point, McCain seems to be the likely nominee and a real conservative will just have to be selected as McCain's VP if this continues.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

casualobserver — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:42:41 -0000

"The best bet is McCain."..................without a modicum of doubt.

He is much more competitive with the D's in the head to head than Romney. Why, I don't know, but he is.

So, for the life of me, I cannot figure out why the radio-cons would effectively prefer the notion of President Clinton over President McCain.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

kritt11 — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:20:34 -0000

DLS- Jeb Bush would have no chance. The GOP was ready to anoint him or George Allen as the heir apparent, but Jeb's chance was ruined by W, and George self-destructed. I don't think Romney would be hard to beat. The best bet is McCain.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

kritt11 — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:12:21 -0000

DLS- If you are on the far left, McCain is conservative by comparison. He has a fairly conservative voting record on the war, abortion and gay marriage, and believes in fiscal discipline.

The GOP needs to stop looking for a Reagan imitation. No president ever performed well as the cheap imitation of another one. Bush tried to imitate Reagan, and ended up being a disaster. Even Reagan himself wouldn't know how to defeat the Islamic extremists, which is why he pulled the marines out of Lebanon. All of these pundits and candidates who claim to know what Reagan would have said or done are bypassing opportunities to solve real problems and resorting to useless conjecture in order to attract the conservative base. Its a total waste of time.

BTW, I agree that MICHAEL Reagan is an idiot, who is just capitalizing off his dad's reputation. Otherwise, who would care what he has to say?

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

Guest — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:11:07 -0000

What amazes me about this guest post is that M. Reagan has the audacity to think that talk radio voices are the voices of the Republican electorate. Romney seems to think so, too. In his call with reporters today he said:

"When Sean Hannity says he’s voting for me, when Laura Ingraham says she’s endorsing me…

Rush has been going after McCain pretty aggressively. Michael Reagan has been pretty aggressive. The world of conservatism is pretty solidly behind my effort."

No, Mitt, the world of conservatism is not behind you. A few people with bullhorns are behind you. The "world of conservatism" (if it's defined by conservative voters) are apparently behind McCain. At least so far.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

rudi — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:00:02 -0000

DLS - We agree on Reagan non-savant son, at least his half brother isn't as blatant in using his dead father's ghost.

Forget about Jeb, he isn't all that loved in Florida. He stayed out of the endorsement game, but his pandering to Mittens wouldn't help anyway. Florida is now just right of center after JB reign of Schiavo.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

ChrisWWW — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:49:07 -0000

McCain would be a decent Republican nominee if it weren't for his fanatical support for the Iraq war. He wouldn't be a great president, but he would suffice.

Re: Guest Voice: John McCain Hates Me

DLS — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:40:49 -0000

There's still a chance Jeb Bush will run this year for President. (GOP desperation)

* * *

What's funny isn't that people who should know better would be fooled into believing McCain is a conservative, but there are people on the far left who actually believe such silliness already. It shows you how far left they are and how detached they are from reality.

McCain is a business-as-usual, make-no-waves-in-DC Washington fixture.