The Last Action Hero
For John McCain in 2008
By Ben Domenech Posted in 2008 | John McCain — Comments (64) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
So here we are, at the turn of the tide: one vote from winning the court; two-to-three good years from winning the largest stage of the war; the pressures of the Oval Office at their dramatic peak. A critical moment in our nation’s history, time for an individual with the strength and courage to do what the moment demands.
In 2008, I support John McCain.
“But…but…” my friends say incredulously, “But John McCain is crazy!”
“Perhaps,” I answer. “But you say this as if it’s a bad thing?”
Grab a drink, and read on.
It’s true: stubborn and irascible, John McCain’s living rendition of Don Quixote has been infuriating to watch. He always had a bit of the mad saint of the valley to him—a quality that has only increased with age. His breaks from conservative doctrine are manifold, but fewer in number than those of several of his fellow Senators. Yet McCain’s breaks seem so much greater than those of, say, John Warner—why? Because when he goes on his separate path, he damn well wants you to know it, and know that he thinks you and his other conservative opponents to be inches from Lucifer for your damnable orthodoxy.
Or as Lileks put it: “I like John McCain. He seems like the sort of guy you could have a beer with, right up to the moment where he smashes the bottle on the table and jams it in your face over something you said six years ago.”
It all used to have an endearing Abe Simpson quality to it—“Dear Mr. President: There are too many states. Please eliminate three.”—but there is a ferocity that has emerged in recent years that has led to countless run-ins, of the sort staffers share in loud whispers after too many drinks. They tend to remind me less of the befuddled Abe than of Richard Burton as Henry VIII responding to Woolsey in defiance of Rome—“How far would I go, you ask? I would cleave the earth in two like an apple, and fling the halves into the VOID!”
Yet this is also what I’ve always admired about McCain, even if conservatives curse him in the course of legislative battle: he is the same man, whichever side he is on. He brings that same infuriating passion to our cause when his inner compass has led him to alliance. His support of the surge confounded the glitterati of the MSM, who gave him every opportunity to break with the president in a fashion that would’ve led to countless more cover appearances for the late-night self-pleasuring of pimply interns of the New Republic. And yet he could not be agreeable to them, as tempting as the doyennes and the cameras were: he rambled through, grousing yet triumphant, middle fingers raised to Rumsfeld on the right and the New York Times on the left. Even if you dislike McCain, you have to admit: It was a glorious moment for him.
Of course, there is another candidate who shared many of these admirable traits: Rudy Giuliani. It might surprise a few of you to know that hizzoner was my first choice, and first choice by a mile, in this election. No, Rudy's not a full-bore conservative, but we thought George W. Bush was, and we've all seen how that has turned out. The rationale for me was simple: the next four years will be very, very rough for the Republican Party as a whole. The next President will likely be working opposite large Democrat majorities in the House and the Senate. In such a scenario, having a President who does not fear telling Nancy Pelosi to shove it—in fact, ENJOYS the very act and revels in the consequences—is enormously advantageous. In New York City, he survived by keeping his head on a swivel, which is what you gotta do when you find yourself in a vicious cockfight. We could use that in Washington.
Nearly two years ago, I started working in a voluntary capacity alongside others to share the perspective of a dedicated social conservative with the nascent Giuliani campaign, arguing that—with a few internally consistent moves rightward on matters of judicial policy—Rudy could establish himself as the consensus second choice for many social conservatives. He could issue a sterling call for a New Federalism, as Dan McLaughlin has eloquently offered—that while personally pro-choice, he believed Roe to be bad law, wrongly decided, and that every American should have the right to have their voices heard on such an issue by voting in their state. He could argue that it was high time the federal government got back to the business of defending the country, not squabbling over marriage and stem cell funding. With such a position, I still believe that after Brownback, Huckabee, and others inevitably faded, Rudy could have been the consensus pick.
Of course, Rudy’s campaign could easily ignore me or any of the other dirty web folks saying this, but it was advice echoed publicly by genuinely smart people: Patrick Ruffini, Michael Barone and Fred Barnes among others. His campaign chose to ignore all this advice. Instead, they started believing their own name-ID-elevated tracking polls about their frontrunner status. I sat and watched in Houston as Rudy unequivocally passed on the opportunity to become a consensus candidate. They ran the most short-sighted, parochial, and—frankly—flat-out wimpy campaign I’ve ever seen at the national level without the inclusion of Dick Lugar. And that’s saying something.
It’s not like Rudy was the only disappointment, of course. This cycle has been full of them. The only candidate to overperform, as you look over the field, has been Huckabee. As a naturally gifted communicator with good instincts and an evangelistic temperament, I think that people need to recognize that Huckabee represents the views of a significant number of people in the Republican Party, whether they like it or not. If he isn’t chosen for Veep this time, I have no doubt he’ll run again for POTUS in the future, and probably with the Tom Joad impression tempered a bit. A McCain-Huckabee ticket would make Rush Limbaugh’s head explode, as it would for many of our readers, but it’s a ticket that would fully satisfy a good 75% of Republicans, if not more. That’s the reality, folks, and if you don’t like it, then get to changing it.
With Rudy’s ship sinking, Fred a non-factor, and Huckabee hampered by lack of foreign policy chops and a shoestring budget, the opportunity was there for McCain—once the establishment pick, imploded and then reborn, to once again don the armor and save the unseen Dulcinea and her doubtless properly filed FEC paperwork.
We are left with two realistically possible nominees, with hopes for a brokered convention dashed. In 2008, the question has become: do you support the calculating unprincipled friend, or the passionate principled foe?
For me, it came down to three choices, made on three critical fronts: McCain’s decision to side with President Bush on the surge, with President Bush on Alito and Roberts, and against President Bush on the largest entitlement in the history of America. In each of these areas, we were and are agreed—and in each, McCain displayed the courage and patriotism he has always possessed—the strength of character to do what he believed was right, regardless of whether it was popular.
There are other areas, yes. It’s true that when history calls out for a strong choice, I often say “No!” as McCain, onscreen, declared “Yes!” And in response to that same demand, Mitt Romney has answered loud and clear in his four years in elected office: "Present!"
We may rightly ask: what would John McCain's first 100 days look like? I'm sure any of us could sit down and outline them in rough but accurate fashion—the good and the bad are well known to us by now, and we can anticipate them with all the regular rhythms and sound effects of a 1980s sitcom. We would have to balance against him on some things and cheer him on in others. We know him as a foe and a friend, and know him well.
On the other hand, what would Mitt Romney's first 100 days look like? I cannot begin to answer that question, because it's ludicrous to conceive of this as even a possibility. It simply will not happen, ever. The man has the highest negative ratings of any candidate in the field not named Hillary, and she still beats him by an easy margin—one that will only increase as the Oprah-fueled excitement gap widens.
After two-plus years of having Candidate Mitt before us, conservatives have barely scratched the surface of this candidate's remarkable political liabilities. His weaknesses are not just small or needling—they are epic. More troubling for those who value winning, though, is the fact that Romney campaign's reactions to assaults are easily foreseen and more easily outmaneuvered; the predictability of out-populisting Huckabee in Michigan followed by blasting John McCain’s conservative position on Medicare in Florida is the hallmark of this movable feast of a campaign (corn dogs here, caviar there, and be sure to peel the skin off that fried chicken).
As general election strategy goes, Barack Obama would have Romney twisted in all directions, with strong words and an easy smile; the Clinton machine would dismantle him piece by piece with a singsong sledgehammer, leaving bits of bone and blood as bleak warnings to future would-be CEO-politicians. The end result is the same: when he’s been chewed by the machine, Mitt Romney will come to symbolize every worst cliche of corporate greed and offense, be reviled as out of touch and inconsistent, and be mocked at length as the whitest white man in America.
Allow me a moment to be blunt: The Democrats will hand Mitt Romney his ass on a silver platter, and force him to wear it as a hat. His sunny demeanor unchanged, he will give a strong farewell speech thanking his supporters, and give the experience a solid B+.
In 2000 I wrote that Joe Lieberman was a man forever at war with his conscience—Mitt Romney battles his very self on what seems like a daily basis. At least Lieberman's struggle was interesting and soulful—with Romney, one might as well watch varying shades of astroturf compete for territory. Find me the one issue that Mitt Romney will fall on his sword for, and it would be the first. He is not just untested and unmeasured by adversity or serious political firefights (people speak about him “saving the Olympics” as if it was something that mattered; guess what? I’ve been to the Olympics; the Olympics are the United Nations of sport, where everybody gets together to hate on America; nobody actually likes the Olympics, not even Costas), he has the CEO’s strong aversity to the very concept of things falling apart. Equipped with the flat, even optimism that only the gift of a silver spoon and prep school makeout sessions in the bushes near the quad at Cranbrook-Kingswood or Phillips-Exeter can bring to a man's life, he comes before us as one who has never risked his all for any cause without having a fallback, who has never overcome a vice, who has never wanted for anything.
American voters are fickle creatures, but with great consistency, they recognize such poll-tested waffle-patterned on-demand candidates as being either naïve, otherworldly, or false. With Mitt Romney, would-be heir to the “once adamantly pro-choice” Ronald Reagan (“I was an Independent during Reagan-Bush, I don’t want to take us back to Reagan-Bush”), they may well judge him as all three combined. In another political day, candidates of his ilk won with regularity; they still develop a train of guppy fish lackies in some circles—yet that was before people’s inauthentic comments were fodder for the internet grind, and Romney talking about “seeing the Patriots win the World Series” would get repeated on CNN, Comedy Central, and ESPN News for the next 48 hours, and sent via YouTube to 100,000 people in mere moments. “Conservatives are such rich white idiots,” they will say, and move on.
The Reagan coalition has and will survive many things. But can it survive the total loss of one of its strongest remaining assets—the authentic, consistent, principled leadership it represents? Make no mistake: Clinton or Obama know Mitt Romney's weaknesses, and they know those of the Republican base as well. They know the opportunity he represents to slice the Reagan legacy away from the Republican Party—a well-manicured pretender to the mantle who gets by on pancake makeup, eyebrow waxing, and hair gel.
So here we are, at the turn of the tide—and you go to the polls with the candidates you have, not the candidates you want. Saint John McCain of the Campaign-Finance Cross versus Willard of the North, well-mannered Ken Doll? The choice is an easy one for me. Let’s help old Don Quixote into the saddle one more time, and set him on his merry way, to win or lose with him.
The Reagan coalition survived Read my lips. It survived Bob Dole's peanut butter. It survived compassionate conservatism and its kid stepbrother national greatness. And it will survive John McCain and everything he will do as our nominee and as president. In fact—in a twisted version of the ancient Vulcan proverb “Only Nixon could go to China”—only McCain can save it.
They will say the coalition is dead—but we will know better. We know it only sleeps. We will cast our votes knowing that the day will come, four years from now, when a new leader, one who knows what the shining city truly means, stands in front of the fresh-dug tomb, and calls into the blackness, as if to Lazarus—"Come out!"
And when we hear it, we will rise from out of our stupor, dust cobwebs from our arms, stumble to the door, our eyes blinking in the sunlight … and we will know our day has come.
It's okay, you can smile. The bastards won't know what hit 'em.
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...except Ben, you rock.
"Fred's my conservative guru, but McCain's my President."
I say Thanks for the article.
I might add that there were many conservative skeptics of Reagan. For the most part they were proven wrong.
Best post on Red State in months. Easily.
John Bolton for President
"FEAR THE 'STACH!!!"
Steve Willis
Professor of Law
University of Florida College of Law
I know it's 5 o'clock somewhere. But what timezone are you in?
:)
“Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the Democrats believe every day is April 15.”
-Ronald Reagan
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Disclaimer: I am a member of a state-wide executive committee that is affiliated with Governor Mike Huckabee's campaign for the GOP presidential nomination
" Got to love the Lord for making things like that."
Morally Compromised
I have always been a John McCain supporter and I am of course happy with yesterdays result.
But...
I realise we need to convince the base why he is the right choice this election. I think alot of their fears are based more on a myth than reality but the effect is the same. I do understand they have problems with a handful of issues... but look at the big picture. McCain is a fiscal conservative. He is pro-life. He will be able to handle Iraq. And he expands the party.. bringing back those that left during Bush. He helps rebuild the party even though he might not fit into the "conservative" mold perfectly. If we nominate a Romney, he will lose badly. The Clintons or Obama will be able to us class-warfare and it will reflect on the party. We need to resell ourselves to the country. Romney is a good guy... but we need a different strategy this time around.
John McCain as the R nominee and HRC as the next President. Maybe there will be that clarion call four years from now, but I thought that in '92. I would never in a zillion years have believed that a total fraud like WJC could get re-elected, yet the Republican Party found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by running someone whose turn it was. But we did survive it, though I'm not at all certain that GWB's time indicates that we survived it intact.
In Vino Veritas
Thank you for your insight. I for one, am completely undecided still. After loosing my candidate a couple of weeks ago, I feel a little lost in the wilderness. I hope that we get more passionate (not beligerant) pieces like this one to help me make up my mind before Super Duper Tuesday.
....they said Reagan was a little bit crazy too. Things seem to have worked out for us then. I'm willing to cut McCain some slack - at times we will probably welcome his stubbornness, and sometimes you have to be a little bit crazy to really get things done.
Who knows, maybe the "crazy" in John McCain will lead to something as dramatic as the "Evil Empire" speech or telling the Russians to "tear down this wall." The talking heads were faint over such language back then, but we look at those as some defining moments in the stand against communism.
Would be for someone to do something similar to focus America on islamism in that same way. Maybe McCain's the guy to do it, the guy that will really sell this fight in a way that we've been wishing and hoping W would.
Very, very nice.
"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that." - Bill Shankly
I especially like this quote:
The Reagan coalition has and will survive many things. But can it survive the total loss of one of its strongest remaining assets—the authentic, consistent, principled leadership it represents?
I think that you have identified the fourth leg that makes the conservative stool a chair.
Excuse me, I'm being arrested by the analogy police. Good post all the same.
No one of good character leaves behind a wasted life - John McCain
it's the seat. If you try, like Mitt, to sit on a stool with three legs and no seat, all you get is more poles up your ***.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
...I will continue to support Romney in the primaries. I haven't thrown in the towel yet, but the prospects are pretty bleak at this point. I am hoping and praying John McCain reveals his true colors in time for us to save ourselves from him, but I am not too optimistic.
I will admit there is a weird sense of feeling like a battered spouse in this situation. I actually have lost count of how many times McCain has kicked us conservatives in the teeth. Please don't make me list some of the major ones again. We all know them by name. I feel totally abused by him, but now I am being told I must vote for him in the name of party unity and defeating the Democrats.
In a logical and reasoned argument of choosing the lesser of two evils, the argument is valid. So, now I feel compelled to go to the polls and cast my ballot in the general election for the man who has given me reason to believe that he hates what I believe in. How sick and warped is that?
I have always wondered how a woman who was beaten by her husband can tell a police officer that, "He didn't mean it. It was my fault". Though this is nothing even close to that real life horrible situation. I am now getting a sense of the psychology behind it.
If McCain wins the nomination, I will vote for him in the general due to not wanting to hand the reigns of power to the Democrats, but I will walk outside of the polling place and puke after I do.
Since Lamar Alexander has instituted the "roll over and play dead" strategy in the Senate. All that is left to do is focus on House races and hope we can add to the number of adults there to stop the next McCain-Kennedy Bi-partisan whatever bill .
I wish there was a way to fast forward to 2012!
Wubbies World, MSgt, USAF (Retired):
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("An argument is a sequence of statements aimed at demonstrating the truth of an assertion.); }
Old news....but still.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/democrats-say-mccain-nearly-abandone...
“.....women and minorities hardest hit”
that McCain and all of McCain's people deny it and the only people pushing it are Democrats?
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And I have sympathy for your position. But I simply can't vote for someone who said,
"He [Michael Graham] also mentioned my abridgement of First Amendment rights, i.e. talking about campaign finance reform....I know that money corrupts....I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I’d rather have the clean government."
I honestly have no major problem with most of McCain's breaks with Republican orthodoxy. His support of the surge was a good thing. The Gang of 14 did enable the confirmation of certain Bush appointees (though it would've been satisfying to see the nuclear option exercised). Even though I think he's wrong on the definition of torture, it's a conversation we need to have.
But I cannot vote for someone who explicitly states that our First Amendment rights are less important than "clean government". If McCain will repudiate this statement, I will fall in line right behind him. But I very much doubt he will, as your character sketch above makes clear. So, as of Fred Thompson's drop-out, I've been a reluctant Mitt supporter.
-
NARF
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/01/30/john-mccain-vs-the-right-no-easy-pe...
“.....women and minorities hardest hit”
Words fail me. I'm glad they don't fail you.
"If this ain't a mess, it'll do until one shows up." -Sheriff Bell, No Country For Old Men
It's been a while since I have seen a piece of writting so artistic on a blog. Ben, that truly was brilliant.
I have been volunteering for Sen. McCain since March (before the crash), so it is difficult for me to be objective. With that said, I just want to point out some quotes that I will be passing on at every turn.
"The Democrats will hand Mitt Romney his ass on a silver platter, and force him to wear it as a hat. His sunny demeanor unchanged, he will give a strong farewell speech thanking his supporters, and give the experience a solid B+."
"...with Romney, one might as well watch varying shades of astroturf compete for territory. Find me the one issue that Mitt Romney will fall on his sword for, and it would be the first."
"Let’s help old Don Quixote into the saddle one more time, and set him on his merry way, to win or lose with him."
I only wish you had posted this later in the day so I could have taken your advice and poured a glass of Scotch, or better yet a good single barrel American Bourbon. As a law student, it is so rare that I get the chance to read anything with emotion...what a nice change.
"The Democrats will hand Mitt Romney his ass on a silver platter, and force him to wear it as a hat. His sunny demeanor unchanged, he will give a strong farewell speech thanking his supporters, and give the experience a solid B+."
but I have a feeling that Mr McCain will change it too:
"The John McCain will hand conservatives thier ass on a silver platter, and force them to wear it as a hat."
He will work with Democrats to get around conservatives at every opportunity. The next onslaught on McCain-Kennedy-whatever bills will bear it out.
...but that is just my opinion.
Wubbies World, MSgt, USAF (Retired):
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("An argument is a sequence of statements aimed at demonstrating the truth of an assertion.); }
However, John McClinton - just say no.
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"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." -- James Madison
FWIW:
I was against the Gang of 14 compromise when it was in the works. I have since changed my mind.
I live in Illinois. Of the Senators I emailed about this issue, the only one who gave me the courtesy of a response was John McCain.
I only wish I could've expressed it as excellently.
1. McCain, 2. Thompson, 3. Giuliani, 4. Romney
thank you!
Indeed, it is McCain's craziness that endears him to a lot of people like me. He's willing to stick his neck out, willing to take a stand, and willing to take a chance. I much prefer him to someone who needs to take a poll before he knows what his position is.
On the practical side, you are correct that Romney will lose in November. If Hillary is the candidate, I truly believe McCain, and only McCain, can beat her. She's alienating half her party (for laughs, go over to DailyKos and see the ranting about her) and alienating most moderates and independents.
The most important issue I see for the next four years is who will be nominating replacements to the Supreme Court. More than any other issue, this will shape our future for a generation or more. McCain is our only hope in this regard.
Thanks again!
Jerry
If Hillary is going to lose because she's alienated half of her party, I think we need to look in the mirror and realize McCain has done the same thing. He has alienated a lot of conservatives, if not most.
McCain is a compromiser. He won't nominate conservative supreme court jurists. He will work with the democratic congress to nominate "consensus candidates". In your heart, you must know this is true. You have to be realistic. We had all those Rudy supporters who were sure he would give us more Alito's and Scalia's. That was hopeful thinking too. Now its Mr. Compromise who is going to do the same thing. Sadly, it's not likely. Look to his past. It's the best predictor of future actions.
Can you please elaborate on this? Absentee's brother said it on Rush's show yesterday that McCain would only serve 1 term. I can't find anything on the web to back this up and I would really like to know. If it's true, I don't think it's a very good idea.
Then again, a president who isn't focused on getting re-elected might not be such a bad thing.
But they're on the edges. Suffice it to say a lot of people feel that McCain would not run again, considering his age, and would pick a Veep who could. I think this is not a likelihood, but it is a possibility.
If so, let's hope all the more for Sanford.
...but only if the S*B (and I don't mean that in a derogatory way, necessarily...I think S*Bs make better Presidents than non-S*Bs in general) will stop kicking me and other conservatives - gleefully - in the face every chance he gets...
I wouldn't think that would be too much to ask of the Republican nominee for President, but it sure seems at times to be more than McCain is willing to even attempt. That's troubling to put it mildly.
What I'm afraid we're getting with McCain is Bush's Compassionate Conservatism/Big Government nonsense on steroids. I'm really not at all sure that would harm the nation any less than 4 years of a Dem president...I wish I was convinced, but I'm not. And, I am pretty sure - just as with W - that a McCain presidency WILL do long-term harm to the conservative cause (if W hasn't already killed it himself).
Nicely written and all that, but sorry, still no sale for me.
Ben,
Thanks for this post. It is a masterpiece! You express everything I have been thinking and feeling. I hope more conservatives will come to their senses about Romney and get behind John McCain, who is at least a genuine war hero, who is at least -- genuine.
The article was well written. I think that McCain supporters often have a difficult time expressing why they support him. It's easy for anti-mccain folk to say.. "well, he did x,y, and z against the party or said this once, etc..."
For supporters, it's more than the few issues that he supported or didn't support the party on. It's a sense that he doesn't belong to anyone. He will make decisions based on reasoning instead of ideology. He will compromise when it's important and stick it to congress when they do something stupid. He will straight up veto pork. He will call out those who are doing something. He truly is an American before being a Republican... something we havn't seen from either party in a while. Something that is a change from the polarization going on. That's why moderates like him and they like him despite his conservative views. You put him up versus a clinton machine and I see a lot of people rejecting the destructive politics of the other side. This is how we win and expand the party for a new generation.
this article convinced me otherwise.
When John McCain says he will veto every spending bill with earmarks, I believe him. Just to see the looks on Congress' face is reason enough to vote for the guy.
I understand those who feel upset by the prospect of voting for McCain, but this is an election about big things, and on most of those big things, he's right. And when he's wrong, we'll push back, because we know it's coming.
McCain has baggage for sure but you know what you get and there are a great deal of positives. However it makes the veep choice that much more critical with a very possible four year term in the future. Better perhaps the devil that you know than the devil that you don't.
Judges alone are enough to get my vote.
VCK1
Excellent thoughts. Like you my 1st choice was Rudy and like you I am left cold and hopeless by Romney. While I am not a supporter of John McCain, I will support him as the nominee of the party. The fact is John McCain as President will do more good and far less harm than either Clinton or Obama as far as conservatives are concerned. The last 12 years of Rebublican (Bush) presidencies have been anything but conservative governance. I believe John McCain can be do no worse and could possibly do better.
I must quibble with only one line, "I think that people need to recognize that Huckabee represents the views of a significant number of people in the Republican Party, whether they like it or not."
Huckabee never expanded beyond his evangelical base. I see no evidence that he speaks to a good proportion of Republicans. He won evangelical voters looking for someone "like them." Evangelicals are part of the coalition, but he is not the future of the party. If he does something to learn about NatSec and Economics in the future, great. But I doubt he'll be a big part of national politics unless McCain picks him.
However, he would still make a great Senator from Arkansas. And he could use it as a way to get right on Economics and NatSec.
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As I've said before: Every study we've had on this indicates that the next generation of Republicans is more evangelical, more pro-life, more pro-family, and cares less about fiscal conservatism. McCain's strongest demographic is the oldest bloc of voters. Huckabee's is the youngest. You tell me who represents the future of the party in 4-8 years.
But there is nothing in the results of the 2004 primaries to show it. I think your "young people" stats show very little difference among the candidates, it's not like Huck is taking 40-50% of them. And part of the reason the younger Rs were more evangelical is because non-evangelicals were alienated from a Bush-led GOP. Will a McCain Presidency change that? I don't know, but it's possible. Right now, Rs are losing young people badly. Only highly religious young people feel really comfortable as Rs. That makes young GOPers more religious but also less numerous. I'm not sure that is a good thing for Rs or pro-lifers.
I'm sure we'll revisit this. But I see very little in the primary results to say anything other than Huck appealed only to evangelicals. If the future of the GOP is an evangelical only party, then he will be a standard bearer. But a lot of Rs (including myself) will probably have to be made so unwelcome to leave before that happens.
You could argue that McCain's leadership on global warming will appeal to young voters, just different ones than Huck's anti-business views. I look forward to seeing where this debate goes.
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Consider this.
Souter - replaced by (O'Connor/Kennedy Clone 1)
Stephens - replaced by (O'Connor/Kennedy Clone 2)
Ginsburg (I suspect she will try to hang on).
4 solid conversative votes (and three chances to pick up the extra 5 vote). That's why I will gladly fill in the oval next to McCain's name in November.
For all of my misgivings about John McCain (and there are many), I take comfort that I will be surrounded by the company of people I respect and admire: Senator Tom Coburn, Congressman Jeff Flake, Phil Gramm, Norman Schwarzkopf . . . and Ben Domenech.
--
"We want great men who, when fortune frowns, will not be discouraged." - Colonel Henry Knox
But I am honored to be on your list.
To engage in a tiny bit of blasphemy, and paraphrase Abe Lincoln's statement: "Sir, my concern is not whether Phil Gramm is on our side; it is whether we are on his."
If McCain is the nominee, many critical issues will be cast aside; tax cuts and immigration reform, just to name two. Forget ‘em. They’re gone. Illegals will be placed on the path to citizenship and they will vote Democrat. Forget it. You will see no tax cuts in the next four years. Buh bye.
McCain was my fourth choice for the Republican nomination. I consider myself a run of the mill conservative and I simply cannot believe my fourth choice will probably be the guy. But like millions before me, I'll have to get over it. Problem is, I have to get over it three times in one month.
All this means that when you have a choice between a black eye with McCain as president or a broken nose with Hillary, you put the decision off as long as possible, hold your nose, and take the black eye.
That was the best ten minutes I have had reading any political piece in a long while.
"I believe in grace, because I have seen it. In peace, because I have felt it. In forgiveness, because I needed it."
-George W. Bush
'They will say the coalition is dead—but we will know better. We know it only sleeps. We will cast our votes knowing that the day will come, four years from now, when a new leader, one who knows what the shining city truly means, stands in front of the fresh-dug tomb, and calls into the blackness, as if to Lazarus—"Come out!"'
It does bear pointing out, that the only way that's true is if McCain loses. Otherwise we'd have 8 years to wait. But other than that, good post.
And I'm still not voting for him in the general.
They will say the coalition is dead—but we will know better. We know it only sleeps. We will cast our votes knowing that the day will come, four years from now, when a new leader, one who knows what the shining city truly means, stands in front of the fresh-dug tomb, and calls into the blackness, as if to Lazarus—"Come out!"
I've been trying to say this for weeks. Much of what you said in fact. I am glad to have proven so woefully inadequate to the task, so as not to have detracted from the impact of this superb blog entry.
absentee
I completely agree.
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Two thirds of the world is covered by water,
the other third is covered by Champ Bailey.
Great, great summary, Ben. Tremendous work.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
Too hard on Rudy and Romney, but makes the absolutely rock solid case for McCain with passion!
Go SuperMac!
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the - Web Reconnaissance for 01/30/2008 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
consider yourself warned.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
Seems the first 1/5th of the article praises McCain. Next 1/5th explains why Rudy didn’t work. The rest of the article blasts Romney.
There are plenty of good reasons for voting against Romney. I was just hoping the article would have focused more on reasons to vote for McCain.
"The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions."
I've been telling my Republican friends since last year McCain could still pull this off, and he's certainly getting closer. Fool me that I didn't buy his stock.
Despite the fact I recognize he is opposed to 90% of what I stand for, I like and admire John McCain. I enjoyed his book. I have enjoyed his quixotic career, from post-Keating forward. If he wins office against my candidate, I will not hate him. He has earned my respect. In the struggle between wanting you guys to nominate a dolt we could thrash and one we have to fight, I come down firmly in the camp of better two candidates I can live with than one I will detest.
And if it's Hillary vs. McCain, this yellow dog will have an interesting crossroad in his life.
Nice article.
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Damn the Obama! Full speed ahead!
and way, way over the top.