Redstate

Posted at 8:30pm on Feb. 18, 2008 Whom should supporters of the 1st Amendment vote for in this fall's presidential race?

By Spiral

What do Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain have in common? All three of them believe that the government should be able to ration the amount and timing of political speech during political campaigns.

Bradley Smith and his fellow first amendment activists are engaged in the highest form of patriotism. They are motivated not by the latest cult of personality to strut across the political stage, but by the enduring principles that led to the founding of this great nation.

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Posted at 6:22pm on Feb. 10, 2008 Assuming Obama wins the nomination, how much of a "Bradley factor" will there be?

By Spiral

Most pundits believe that Obama would be a tougher candidate for McCain to beat than Hillary Clinton. I tend to agree and the polls seem to back this up. But then I wonder about the "Bradley factor."

In 1982, in California, there was a governor's race between African-American Democrat Tom Bradley and Republican George Dukemejian. The polls leading up to the November 1982 election showed that Bradley would win comfortably. But on election day, Dukemejian squeaked out a narrow victory.

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Posted at 7:29pm on Feb. 4, 2008 Bob Dole takes on Rush Limbaugh over criticisms directed at John McCain

By Spiral

You knew it was going to happen eventually. Bob Dole, the old Republican standard bearer from the 1996 presidential race, still supports Republicans during election battles. And Rush Limbaugh, the well established and often listened to radio talk show host, still likes to speak his mind, especially when it comes to Republicans who act and talk a bit too much like Democrats. We now have a serious disagreement between Dole and Limbaugh over Limbaugh's criticisms of John McCain.

Bob Dole, the former Senate Republican leader, wrote an insistent letter to Rush Limbaugh on Monday and suggested that for the good of the party, the conservative talk-show host should stop his strafing of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

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Posted at 1:56pm on Feb. 2, 2008 What would the future look like if McCain beat Obama or Clinton in 2008? A thought experiment.

By Spiral

The following is a thought experiment, a walk-through of events that would likely unfold if John McCain beats Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in the November 2008 election:

(1) 2009-2010. The nation falls into recession and the recession is blamed on "Republican economic policy" even though the Democrat Congress allowed the Bush tax cuts to expire. Democrat members of Congress successfully resist extending most of the Bush tax cuts by quoting President John McCain when he was a US Senator in 2001: "Bush tax cuts are tilted to the wealthy....."

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Posted at 6:47pm on Jan. 28, 2008 Judges: Indications that John Fund might be telling the truth about McCain regarding the Alito issue

By Spiral

At this point we don't really know whether John Fund or John McCain is telling the truth in this recent dust up over judicial nominations. But we do have a record of McCain taking "maverick" positions on judicial nominations.

Back in April 2005 judicial nominations were a hot issue because the Democrats filibustered several conservative judicial nominees. So, Chris Matthews of MSNBC asked John McCain about the nuclear option and judicial filibusters:

MATTHEWS: The president of the United States gets to pick federal judges. What should be the standard that the opposition applies to whether they let it come to a vote or not?

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Posted at 2:49pm on Jan. 27, 2008 McCain sounded like he supported withdraw from Iraq if benchmarks weren't met early last year.

By Spiral

There's been a real food fight between McCain and Romney over Iraq policy. This grew out of an attack that McCain made against Romney, accusing Romney of supporting a timetable for withdraw. Romney rejected McCain assertion and demanded an apology, to which McCain responded that Romney owes an apology to our troops in Iraq. But early last year, McCain publicly considered the idea of conditioning America's continued military presence in Iraq on the satisfaction of benchmarks.

Sen.

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Posted at 4:17pm on Jan. 26, 2008 A more comprehensive look at McCain and abortion, including the federal courts.

By Spiral

Adam C has recently posted a diary on John McCain's abortion record. Even though McCain has been among my least favorite Repblicans for about 10 years, I have to acknowledge that McCain's Senate record of voting the right way on those issues that narrowly deal with abortion is quite good.

Over at Adam C's diary, I argued that for a Republican representing Arizona, voting pro-life most of the time is fairly standard. Still, that's not to say that McCain doesn't deserve credit for voting the way he has.

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Posted at 9:51am on Jan. 26, 2008 In search of the miracle Republican in the 2008 presidential primaries

By Spiral

There is no question that conservatives have looked at the field of Republican candidates for President in 2008 and have found them less than satisfying. Even Fred Thompson, considered by many conservatives to be the most consistent of the group (an opinion that I share), was an early supporter of the McCain-Feingold legislation, which has been criticized by conservatives as limiting the political activity of grass roots conservatives while leaving the New York Times, CNN, MSNBC and Tim Russert unregulated.

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Posted at 8:41am on Jan. 25, 2008 The New York Times and some Republicans support John McCain. They can't both be right.

By Spiral

When McCain explains voting with the Democrats against the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts by saying that he was concerned about spending, I know this isn't the excuse he used at the time. At the time McCain used class warfare rhetoric to explain his opposition to the Bush tax cuts.

Though McCain was far from the only Republican to support the surge, he does have the distinction of being the only Republican who voted against the Bush tax cuts. (Also the little lamented Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who later left the Republican Party.) Now McCain claims he opposed the tax cuts because they didn't include enough spending cuts. But that wasn't what he said at the time.

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Posted at 11:10pm on Jan. 22, 2008 Giving the benefit of the doubt to President Bush on spending, entitlements and free enterprise

By Spiral

It's quite common to read that Bush isn't really a conservative, especially on fiscal issues. It is believed that Bush replaced real conservatism with "compassionate conservatism" and that this means Bush never liked the real conservatism.

I think that conservatives might be missing a more complex explanation of both President Bush and the way Washington politics works. It's understandable why many conservatives conclude that Bush likes to spend money like water. But it might not be the most accurate explanation.

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Posted at 4:52pm on Jan. 21, 2008 George Will suggests that John McCain should join the Democrat party.

By Spiral

I'm pragmatic enough to give Blue-State Republican Senators a little bit of slack. It never surprised me too much that the former US Senator from Rhode Island, Lincoln Chafee, could never be bothered by voting with his Republicans. When your home state votes more Democrat in presidential elections than just about any state in the union, It's reasonable to assume that to vote otherwise is a ticket to retirement. In light of the 2006 Rhode Island election results.... Ooops.

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Posted at 10:40pm on Jan. 20, 2008 Bill Frist, Mitch McConnell and Rick Santorum got us Roberts and Alito. Not John McCain.

By Spiral

Bill Frist, Mitch McConnell and Rick Santorum were actually more responsible for the Roberts and Alito confirmations than mavericks McCain, Graham and DeWine. Frist, McConnell and Santorum threatened to use the nuclear option if the Democrats filibustered.

We should remember that the gang of 14 deal was signed in May or June of 2005, months before Sandra Day O'Conner announced her retirement, months before William Renquist passed away.

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Posted at 1:57pm on Jan. 20, 2008 McCain would be "easy kill" for the Democrats in the general election

By Spiral

Looking at the current head-to-head polls between Republican and Democrat candidates, you would think that McCain is the most electable candidate Republicans have. But he's not. John McCain would be "easy kill" in the general election regardless of whether the Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.

Consider that George W. Bush beat John Kerry by about 100,000 votes in Ohio (although Bush bested Kerry in the national popular vote by 3 million votes). Bush won the 2004 race because of an excellent get-out-the-vote effort by Karl Rove and the Republican party grass roots.

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Posted at 11:31am on Jan. 19, 2008 A closer look at McCain and the controversy over judicial filibusters of conservative nominees

By Spiral

In my opinion, the most important issue facing us in upcoming presidential election isn't the economy, abortion, immigration, education or even the war on terror. It is, instead, an issue that has an impact on all of these issues and more: The direction of the federal courts.

The federal courts have intervened on these issues. The US Supreme Court has ruled on cases involving the treatment of illegal immigrants, how restrictive laws can be abortion and even the rights of detained terrorists captured in battle.

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Posted at 12:05am on Jan. 18, 2008 McCain praises Democrats while bashing Republicans. Has "no problems" with "their philosophy."

By Spiral

I think we all remember that back during the 2004 presidential cycle, there was some buzz out there about McCain possibly running as John Kerry's Vice Presidential running mate. It turns out that McCain wasn't interested.

Although McCain did stand up for John Kerry when the Bush campaign criticized Kerry as "weak on defense." McCain immediately appeared on a morning television show and said, "I don't think John Kerry is weak on defense."

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