Tuesday, February 05, 2008

In McCain's Defense

Evidently Rush Limbaugh and several other conservative talk show hosts are just livid that McCain is going to be the likely nominee. I don't listen to Rush, so I only know what he says by way of the liberal blogs and whatever medium gets on his case.

The latest person to get on Rush's case is an unlikely critic. Evidently, Bob Dole is not happy that the current crop of talk show hosts, to include Limbaugh, are disparaging McCain. And Dole has let him know.

I know everyone on the Right wants another Reagan, just like everyone on the Left wants another JFK. But if we know anything about politics, we know that Reagan was not so conservative, and JFK was not so liberal. In fact, there is no one left in the running for the GOP nomination that is a true conservative. So, for Rush or anyone else to make that claim is ridiculous.

Romney is a moderate, Huckabee raised his share of taxes as governor of Arkansas, and we all know that McCain has been moderate for years. The GOP have rejected others that supposedly have better conservative records, already. Maybe it's time for hardcore conservatives to consider that the country does not want more conservatism that meets their approval. I know that from where I sit, the people in the GOP do not appear to want it.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Never before has an election meant so little.

Anonymous said...

I take the opposite positon from Greg; this election is critical.

As a self-assessment, I regard myself as center of right, with one or two minor steps left of that in matters of social policy. My understanding of the body politik is that most people reject extreme statecraft. No individual has ever been elected to the presidency from the extreme right, or left. Therefore, if a politician has any chance at all of election, he must be close enough to the political center to gain support from his or her own party, including moderates and independents.

Romney is not the far-right conservative he would like everyone to think he is. His record speaks for itself. If anything, McCain and Romney are probably evenly matched in this area — and yet Romney reminds me of that line in Shakespeare, “Me thinks thou do’st protest too much.”

I can live with McCain (as a moderate), even as I do not agree with his every position. I am having a difficult time with Romney. He keeps telling us that he’s a proven businessman. Okay . . . then please help me out here: what kind of capitalist will spend $40 million of his personal wealth to win a political position that pays only $400,000 a year? Is he just another rich kid who wants a toy to play with for a couple of years?

Whether Hillary or Osama wins the democratic nomination, neither candidate is even close to “moderate.” The politics of both are not just left — it is far left. People who intend to vote for either of these people “believe” that they are moderate, and that is because most people ballot with their hearts, rather than their brains. Clinton voters understand that they will be getting another four years of Bill. Not true. Osama voters think they are getting JFK. They aren’t.

Now if radical republicans want to scuttle the ship, then by all means they should stay home on voting Tuesday, or vote for a democrat to demonstrate how hair-brained they are. If they want to move a conservative agenda forward (sans radicalism), then they need to support someone who has a “chance” at winning the general election.

Unknown said...

LA, I'm not going to mention who you left out....not gonna do it....pretty good option for "real" conservatives...but i'm not gonna mention it.

:)

Okay, as far as real chances of winning goes...and I do want a republican in the white house to veto everything a democratic congress does and vice versa which results in deadlock and prevents anything being done...I think I'd have to go with Romney (yech) over McCain (yeeech). I prefer a guy who chooses money over war.

(but I live in Nevada and helped someone beat Rudy by a couple hundred votes back in January so I can't do anything about it today)