Why McCain?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, McCain, Republicans
1. McCain raises the ire of the contemporary Republican establishment because he rejects their meaner instincts.As I’ve written before, McCain decries torture while the Establishment excuses it. He fights pork-barrel spending while they enable it. He calls for policies to combat global warming while they deny it. He seeks reasonable compromises on immigration policy while they stoke fear and prejudice.2. McCain represents for Republicans what Obama represents for Democrats: a meaningful step away from the last 15-plus years. I’m not saying either man will revolutionize partisan politics as we know it, but both promise (at a minimum) evolutionary progress toward a different America. And if we truly believe country is more important than party, then we owe it to ourselves to boost the two candidates who (among all their peers) represent the best hope for moving us in a post-partisan direction, regardless of our individual party loyalties.
There’s definitely a credible case to be made for a McCain presidency, including how competitive he would be against Hillary or Barack.
Will Republicans listen or will they pick a panderer?
This entry was posted on Sunday, January 20th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, McCain, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 21st, 2008 at 2:49 am
Are you drunk? He is the last 15-plus years of of the Republican party and Washington.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:55 am
YOU ARE DRUNK !
McCain:
- Known in Congress as abusive and “famous for his temper and expletive-laden tirades” against fellow Congressmen and Congresswomen.
- Stated that he is OK with keeping troops in Iraq “for 100 years, or even 1,000 years”.
- McCain was still married and living with his wife in 1979 while, according to The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof, “aggressively courting a 25-year-old woman who was as beautiful as she was rich.” McCain divorced his wife, who had raised their three children while he was imprisoned in Vietnam, then launched his political career with his new wife’s family money.
- States that he is against illegal immigration – He is Chief sponsor of Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation that would give millions of illegal immigrants a path toward citizenship. While defending his Amnesty bill, McCain lost is temper and screamed “F* You!” at Texas Senator John Cornyn. (Charles Hurt, “Raising McCain,” New York Post, 5/19/07).
- States that he would “veto every pork barrel” bill if he were elected. In 2004, introduced a pork-barrel, special interest bill to create a Federal boxing commission.
- McCain was an author of the campaign finance reforms bill commonly known as McCain-Feingold, which includes an infringement on free speech.
- “In January 1995, McCain was midway through an opening statement at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing when chairman Strom Thurmond asked, ‘Is the senator about through?’ McCain glared at Thurmond, …. and continued on. McCain later confronted Thurmond on the Senate floor. A scuffle ensued, and the two didn’t part friends.” (Harry Jaffe, “Senator Hothead,” The Washingtonian, 2/97). Strom Thurmond was 92 years old.
- States that he will reduce taxes. He voted in 2001 against Bush’s first major tax cut, then against the second on in 2003, and has publicly snubbed & dismissed the Conservative Political Action Conference, sponsored by the highly recognized Americans for Tax Reform commission.
- Claims to uphold the Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms, but starred in advertisements on behalf of mandatory gun-trigger locks and has widely snubbed the influential Gun Owners of America group.
- “It was election night 1986, and John McCain had just been elected to the U.S. Senate for the first time….McCain was yelling at the top of his lungs and poking the chest of a young Republican volunteer who had set up a lectern that was too tall for the 5-foot-9 politician to be seen to advantage, according to a witness to the outburst.” (Kris Mayes and Charles Kelly, “Stories Surface On Senator’s Demeanor,” The Arizona Republic, 11/5/99).
- Receives the second most campaign contributions from lobbyists (after Clinton).