McCain Holding Firm on Unpopular but Principled Agri-Business Positions
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Energy, McCainJohn McCain hasn’t given us much straight talk this election, but he has stayed surprisingly firm on his principled stand against unescessary subsidies for large commercial farms and against ridiculous ethanol subsidies. Problem is, the Upper Midwest is expected to be a key battleground in the upcoming presidential election. Is John McCain jeopardizing his chance of victory?
Maybe he is. But I’m glad there’s still a bit of the old John McCain showing through. When he opposed the Farm Bill earlier this year and Barack Obama made excuses for supporting it, I said McCain showed leadership. I’m glad he’s continuing to show leadership, if just on this one issue.
With Obama’s recent inability to hold his ground on much of anything (from FISA reform to offshore drilling), there is something appealing about McCain’s decision to risk the election for the sake of a principled position. I wish he’d do it more often on more issues, but I give him credit for this stand. I wish Obama had done the same with FISA.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Energy, McCain. 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.
August 6th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Agreed Alan. I’ve said repeatedly that I’m looking for someone with at least the occasional willingness to tell some segment of Americans something they don’t want to hear. Lately, Obama seems eager to constantly hone his message of telling the people what they DO want to hear.
This is a fairly small example on McCain’s part. But it is something. Is it enough?
Jeff Jacoby’s recent editorial What, them worry has me questioning whether I can in good conscience support either guy given how eager they both are to pretend that with minor tweaks our fiscal house will be fine.
August 6th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Not enough. And he still has plenty of time to flip-flop. But I thought it worth pointing out.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
One of the appealing traits of Obama early in the primaries was that he held his ground on issues such as the gasoline tax holiday. I too do not like the fact that he caved in on FISA. I think it was politically motivated to not look like he was soft on terrorism. I think he could have made a good case that he was standing up for our constitutional rights if he had voted against it. Don’t get me wrong though. I think that there are times when a president needs to change his mind on issues as facts change. Obama’s compromise on oil drilling is one that comes to mind. If he can get most of what he wants in an energy bill by giving up some offshore drilling then I think he should do it. Politics is often about compromising. One of George Bush’s failings is that he is an idealogue first and foremost. He will not compromise his positions to move something along. It’s his way or the highway. This is the other extreme to a ‘flip-flopper’. Neither is good.
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:25 pm
McCain Holding Firm On Unpopular But Principled Ag…
McCAlan Stewart Carl, a moderate blogger, praises him for it: “John McCain hasn?t given us much straight talk this election, but he has stayed surprisingly firm on his principled stand against unescessary subsidies for large commercial farms and agai…