Content by Spiral
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.).Posted in 2008 — Comments (32) / Email this page » / Read More »
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?Posted in 2008 — Comments (49) / Email this page » / Read More »
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.Posted in 2008 — Comments (43) / Email this page » / Read More »
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.Posted in 2008 — Comments (19) / Email this page » / Read More »
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.