Conservatives Don’t Like McCain
The conservative base of the Republican party is quite depressed with liberal McCain’s momentum into the definite frontrunner status. Many are saying that they won’t vote if the nominee is McCain. Call it McCain derangement syndrome if you will, but others call it standing on principle….even if it means President Hillary. After all, there isn’t much real difference besides the war.
“My principles are mine, they’ve remained unchanged through Hell and high water, and I’m not about to abandon them for they are what I am. Without them, I am nothing. They are not for sale to the highest bidder, much less are they to be discarded in the face of adversity. They are mine, and nobody can take them away from me. I can only lose them by throwing them away myself, and were I to do so, I would be worth less than the basest cur on the planet.
So endorse your McCain, RINOs, carry him on your shoulders to a landslide defeat that will be remembered for all time, but do it without me.
This is my hill, this is where I stand. If you want me off of it, you’ll have to kill me and carry my lifeless body down.
At least I shall die a free man, standing on my feet rather than crawling at the feet of somebody else.”
John Hawkins has a good roundup of reactions.
Quite depressing how one by one each candidate with conservative promise fell to the wayside, leaving us with the most liberal of them all to go up against the Democrats. But don’t underestimate the power of the base and don’t count out Romney yet. Most conservatives concerned about principle are going to vote for anyone but McCain.
What I find particularly hard to swallow, though — and this is not Bill’s problem — are the people who say that if Romney doesn’t make it they’ll vote Democratic rather than support McCain because McCain’s not a true conservative. Maybe not, but neither is Romney, and it seems like a strange place to draw the line. Those who hold a special grudge against McCain over immigration or McCain-Feingold are a different case. But again, everybody gets to vote how they want. Just be prepared to live with the results.
I think most conservatives do have those special grudges, and since they’ve been stabbed in the back by McCain on numerous occasions they aren’t very willing to be forgiving. While Romney isn’t the best example of conservatism, it seems the base are more willing to take the gamble with him in hopes they can hold him to his promises.
Blogs may not have as much influence as they would like, but with one voice they will be heard and they will make a difference. If nothing else, they can stand up for standing on principle. This is a personal stand, and to many it means ideological purity over other consequences. Many are tired of compromising their beliefs to put the stamp of approval on the lesser of two evils.
Some will say we must pull the lever to save the country from the real progressives. Thats a long way away, right now there is still time not to choose the most liberal Republican in the bunch to go up against the Democrats.
Some folks are so fed up they say they’ll vote Democrat. I don’t understand that one. Some just won’t vote. Others feel like Karol:
Expect this site to be all-Mitt-love-all-the-time until the point when I will have to resolve myself to the fact that my Republican party picked the worst candidate of the whole damn bunch and start supporting, gag, John McCain. And make no mistake about it, I’ll support McCain when he’s the Republican nominee. No matter my problems with him, my problems with Hillary or Obama are so much deeper. Now is our last chance to get another candidate. If we fail to do that, McCain will have to be our guy and we will all have to get behind him. Even those of us who wrote multiple posts titled “Anybody But McCain.” Sigh.
Bottom line: Conservatives don’t like McCain. Everything is still fluid, and despite what talking heads say…it isn’t over. Don’t count out the grass roots, blogs, talk radio, and true conservatives yet. Take the advice of the Anchoress, and chill.
Extra: Quite thinking about beating Hillary. My prediction is the nominee will be Obama.
Heh….Maybe Nader can save us.
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Posted by Jay on January 30, 2008 7:12 pm
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, Elections, News, Politics As Usual, Video
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12 Responses to “Conservatives Don’t Like McCain”
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Syndicate Me
I vote Republican for a reason. Trouble is, since Newt left Congress the Republicans in Washington have been acting like Democrats.
I had hopes that the Washington Republicans would start listening to us out here in flyover country after the ‘06 elections. Those hopes were in vain.
I will not vote for McCain. If it takes losing the election to get my Party back, so be it.
Conservatives are being stupid. Staying at home because you only agree with 70% of McCain’s policies is immature.
Can I get conservatives to agree that if they don’t vote for McCain in the general election, then they have no right to complain about Hillary’s 8-year Presidency?
Any takers?
I think the conservatives who would rather sit at home than vote for McCain are the people who refuse to get married until they find someone 100% compatible with them.
I think that is the correct analogy.
Again, can I get a guarantee that the conservatives who don’t vote for McCain have no right to complain about Hillary during her entire 8-year Presidency? Any takers?
By mid-2009, McCain will be forgotten. You will be embroiled in 8 years of HDS (Hillary Derangement Syndrome), yet will deep down know that you have no one to blame but yourselves.
While I am not thrilled with McCain I do see the silver lining. He can beat Hillary by a LANDSLIDE thus protecting many house and Senate seats at risk. Rasmussen has McCain up 8% on Hillary . I think this gap will widen.
Tood, what about people who agree with only 1% of McCain’s policies?
After all, he has one (and ONLY one) saving grace, he kinda-halfway-sorta-maybe pretends to support the GWOT. In every other one of his policies, he’s a retarded idiot.
RH
Republican party today are full of conservative-lights. We do not and should not move to the left to win. Winning isn’t everything and I’d rather loose an election to the dems and clean our house of RINO’s.
Compromising conservative principals will ultimately lead to the destruction of the Republican party.
Better to be single than to marry a cheater who can not uphold the principals of the marriage.
Robert Huntington,
Only 1%? Are you sure?
McCain is pro-life, but Giuliani was pro-choice.
Giuliani was a fiscal conservative, but McCain is not (neither is Bush, in retrospect).
McCain had a lot to do with the Surge, which successfully salvaged the Iraq situation.
And you think you agree with only 1%?
Again, if you don’t vote from McCain, can you agree to hold your piece not complain for 8 years of Hillary?
Can you? I noticed you didn’t answer this in your note.
Can you?
*crickets chirping, as Robert Huntington is exposed for having debating skills on par with a liberal*
BTW, McCain’s C0nservative Scores based on his Senate Votes hover around 70%. Hillary’s are about 20%, BTW.
If you think 70% is not conservative enough for you, that you want to risk getting a 20% leftist, so be it. BUT YOU HAVE TO PROMISE NOT TO COMPLAIN.
Any takers?
BTW, someone with a score of, say, 90%, which presumably is what you people would support, would NEVER get enough votes to win a general election. Welcome to reality.
Even Reagan was not a conservative, by your standards. He gave Amnesty to illegals in 1986. He raised taxes inb the late 1980s. He appointed 2 moderates to the SC – Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O’Connor.
Reagan violated conservative ideals on multiple fronts.
Way too much of that rating is votes for Republican laws instead of conservative ones. If GWB is for amnesty, and McCain votes for it, that counts.
McCain is a liar, and a demagogue, and I prefer to take my Socialism pure and deny the Socialists and their MSM house organs the ability to put RINO lipstick on the pig to hide from the people.
McCain for prez = straight Democrat vote from me. Bank on it.
Hey Todd,
If you offer me two unpleasant dishes for dinner and I have to choose one is it fair to say I can’t complain about the one I chose? Thats a silly rule. I am picking the lesser of two evils and what will be best for the long term good of the country. That will be Hillary if it is between Hillary and McCain.
Assuming a 70-30 split:
Even if we agree with 70% of McCain’s policies, that tells us almost nothing about how acceptable he is.
Most of that 70% is non-controversial issues.
The 30% that we disagree with are nearly existential issues (I’m sure I’ve missed some):
*Illegal aliens
*Terrorist’s rights
*Free speech
*Power and scope of Federal Government
*Respect for reasoned dissent
McCain’s “good points” are also somewhat tainted:
*Pro-Life, but against Wisconsin Right to Life.
*Was contemplating support of withdrawal time-lines in Iraq a few years back
Check my Top Ten Reasons for “supporting” McCain:
1. He promises to catch Osama Bin Laden. Question is, if he does catch him, will he then fine him $3000, grant him amnesty, and give him a lifetime Z-Visa? Probably, but only if Ted Kennedy agrees to it.
2. McCain claims that he is the only real conservative because when he participated in a spelling bee in grade school, he was asked to spell that very word. McCain proudly remembers yelling out: “conservative, L-I-B-E-R-A-L “
3. He claims to know everything about the economy but won’t respond to any questions about it. That’s OK because he says that he can always hire managers.
4. The answer to every question he is asked in a debate, regardless of the topic, is “I’m strong on Iraq.†He says this simplifies things and then proudly claims that he is above answering any of these questions anyway because he (and any legislation he would propose) is the only answer to any problem that could ever arise in America.
5. The word Amnesty doesn’t exist in his vocabulary. Therefore, there can be no such thing as granting amnesty to anyone.
6. He claims that Ronald Reagan would strongly support him because, just as Al Gore invented the internet, McCain invented the conservative movement.
7. If he is elected, McCain promises to finally stop saying “listen, my friends†before responding to any question.
8. McCain acknowledges that he is no Jack LaLane, but states that his age shouldn’t matter because he will promise to get brain scans once a week, if elected.
9. McCain promises that he will continue to “reach out†to the most extreme liberal Democrats, like Feingold and Kennedy, so he doesn’t appear to be too conservative.
10. Finally, my favorite. Bill Clinton says that a Hillary/McCain contest would be the most civil in the history of the US. To prove Bill correct, McCain promises to hold hands with Hillary across the podiums every time they debate. Bill says that’s OK with him because he can go out and chase another fat chick while they’re debating.
Had enough?? Then vote for Romney!!!! Go MITT!!!!