Is McCain a Real Conservative?

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Is McCain a Real Conservative?

Posted Feb 5th 2008 11:32PM by Dinesh D'Souza
Filed under: Elections, GOP, John McCain

As John McCain consolidates his position as the leader to secure the Republican nomination, many conservatives are expressing anxiety that McCain is not "one of us." Some of the shriller voices even denounce McCain as an impostor.

This seems strange. If McCain is not a real conservative, how is he winning races where conservatives dominate the voting ranks of the GOP?

Basically there is a split between what some leading conservative pundits think, and what rank-and-file conservatives think. The pundits detest McCain in part because of issues but mostly because of temperament. McCain is reviled for his campaign finance reform, and for expressing reservations about the Bush tax cuts, and for supporting immigration amnesty.

McCain's greatest failing, however, in these folks' eyes, is that he is a wild horse who doesn't move along the predictable conservative track. He is suspiciously popular with the mainstream media. He courts independent voters. Horror of horrors, the man said he doesn't listen to Rush Limbaugh.

On the big issues, however, McCain seems pretty conservative. Actually I suspect he's more conservative than Bush. He has consistently been with Bush, or to the right of him, on the Iraq war. No one can doubt McCain's commitment to a muscular foreign policy.

McCain may not be as zealous a tax-cutter as Bush, but it's safe to say he won't be as profligate a spender. McCain is an old-school fiscal conservative who only wants to spend when there's money in the bank. Since when it that a vice among conservatives?

Finally McCain is solid on the social issues that matter most to conservatives. His votes have been reliably pro-life, and he wants to appoint strict constructionist judges like John Roberts and Sam Alito to the Supreme Court. McCain supports tolerance for gays but opposes gay marriage.

I like both Romney and Huckabee, and if Obama is the Democratic nominee, then anything can happen. But if, as expected, the Democrats go with Hillary Clinton, then the Republicans would be wise to put up someone of equal stature. The last time the GOP fooled around with Hillary, the result was a disaster.

Remember Rick Lazio? As the GOP's candidate in the New York senate race, Lazio was an attractive and energetic right-winger, but Hillary badly trounced him. McCain is quite clearly in Hillary's league, and I suspect that he would be stronger against Hillary than either Romney or Huckabee.

It's time for conservatives to stop throwing tantrums over McCain and start thinking about how best to hold the White House in November.

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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 13)

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1.

The republicans attitude about McCain doesn't surprise me.

It's kinda the same attitude they have about christians: "I don't care if he says he's a Christian. He did (insert favorite non-Christ-like behavior here), and so he isn't a REAL christian."

So, it seems, McCain isn't a REAL republican.

It's actually kinda OK with me. At least if the Democrats don't win back the White House, we won't have a REAL republican in there. LOL

FL Chick at 1:30AM on Feb 6th 2008

2. well, with a name like McCain, at least maybe he's a true scotsman.

Clif Kuplen at 1:39AM on Feb 6th 2008

3. well, with a name like McCain, at least maybe he's a true scotsman.

Clif Kuplen at 1:40AM on Feb 6th 2008

4. hell, maybe he's TWO true scotsmen!

Clif Kuplen at 1:40AM on Feb 6th 2008

5. ATHEIST

When Fred Thompson entered the Republican race during an appearance on The Tonight Show, it was obvious that he was too old for the job.

McCain is 71.

I'm not the only one to notice this:

AP: Campaigning for Mike Huckabee, actor Chuck Norris said Sunday that Sen. John McCain is too old to handle the pressures of being president.

"I didn't pick John to support because I'm just afraid that the vice president would wind up taking over his job in that four-year presidency," said Norris, who was hosting a fundraiser for Huckabee at his Lone Wolf Ranch.

"We need to find someone that can handle it for four years or eight years ... that has the youth and vision and communication skills to make that work." Norris, 67, is four years younger than McCain, who will be 72 in August.

Huckabee will be 52 in August. (end)
____________

I was surprised by one of McCain's ads in California.

Said he would push for criminal penalties for any business that employed illegal aliens. that illegal aliens convicted of crimes would be deported, sent back home.

And he WON! In California.

William Hays at 1:50AM on Feb 6th 2008

6. I myself consider myself fairly moderate and I don't belong to either of the parties. So far, the only candidates that I would consider supporting are either McCain or Obama. No offense to Hillary, but I just don't like the idea of having Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton written into the history books. As for why I support McCain, well for one reason I'm from Arizona and I like what he's done here. He's also a pretty nice guy and he's not too conservative or too liberal on many issues. As for Obama, I just think that he seems to have some good ideas. I don't know alot about them, but I don't have to until November since Arizona doesn't allow independents to vote in the primaries. As for the above article, it's better than what D'Souza has written before, but it's certainly not the best written piece that I have ever seen. At least he isn't bringing religion into it.

James at 2:36AM on Feb 6th 2008

7. Ann Coulter declared on Hannity and Colmes that if Mc Cain is the nominee, she will campaign for Hillary Clinton.

I sure hope Mc Cain is the nominee, just so I can see if Coulter will keep her word or if she's just lying through her teeth.

BTW, Dinesh, I think your assessment is probably not far off, but you're something of a "pundit" yourself, so who do you support? You didn't say.

Captain Negative at 2:34AM on Feb 6th 2008

8. McCain is a conservative, but he is not a brain-dead ideological robot, which is what the religous-right fanatics hate about him. He is capable of independent thought, and if there is anything that the fundamentalist Jesus-freaks hate and fear, it is the capacity to think. Limbaugh, on the other hand, hates him because McCain is not kissing his butt.

emelpe at 3:51AM on Feb 6th 2008

9. Emelpe - Here's why many religious conservatives aren't supporting McCain and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fallacious reasons you cited above. According to World Net Daily:

(Dr. James) Dobson said he is unhappy the GOP "seems poised to select a nominee who did not supported a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage, who voted for embryonic stem-cell research to kill nascent human beings, who opposed tax cuts that ended the marriage penalty, who has little regard for freedom of speech, who organized the gang of 14 to preserve filibusters and who has a legendary temper and who often uses foul and obscene language."

McCain, Dobson also pointed out, "said publicly that Hillary Clinton would make a good president... "I cannot and I will not vote for Sen. John McCain as a matter of conscience," Dobson said. "But what a sad and melancholy decision this is for me and many other conservatives. Should John McCain capture the nomination as many assume, I believe this general election will offer the worst choices for president in my lifetime."

Dobson said he definitely would not vote for Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, "based on their virulently anti-family policy positions."

More reasons for not voting for John McCain:

1)Mccain was actually considering running on John Kerry's ticket in 2004.

2)McCain's claim that Romney was an advocate of timetables in Iraq is demonstrably false, and earned McCain "Three Pinnochios" from one media outlet. This charge ostensibly tricked Florida voters 3 days before their primary, thus giving McCain the momentum in the nomination process.

Romney didn't have sufficient time to respond to this distortion of his position. (And McCain was right about the surge, but not much else.)

3)McCain's failure to address illegal immigration contradicts his hollow assurances that he knows all about the problem and is addressing & solving it because he lives in Arizona, a border state. And his McCain-Kennedy bill has been an unmitigated disaster.

4)McCain's claim to be a fiscal conservative seems dubious when one considers the fact that he's been in Congress for decades and has been a willing participant in the spending madness that brings America ever closer to a $10 Trillion national debt.

5)Senator John McCain is not a conservative or a Republican. He's a Democrat with an "R" next to his name. He would "work with Democrats" as President because he is one.

6)Every time McCain is questioned about any of this, he pulls rank on those w/the audacity to point out weaknesses in his record and hearkens back to his military service and Patriotism.

John Kerry's already tried this routine, shamelessly trying to buy the White House with medals and it didn't work. America respects John McCain as a hero, but his record as a US Senator is fair game and is not a strongly conservative one.

Dave at 5:07AM on Feb 6th 2008

10. And do you agree with that postition, Dave?

I can certainly understand if you do. After all, Mc Cain deserved each and every one of those, "three Pinnochios!

Who is far enough to the right for the Christo-fascists?

Mitt Romney. They guy in the magic underwear.

Captain Negative at 5:45AM on Feb 6th 2008

11. Dinesh wrote: ...I like both Romney and Huckabee...

That's all I needed to know about you.

America's Most Gangsta at 7:24AM on Feb 6th 2008

12. McCain is frighteningly flawed, both militarily and fiscally.

His answer to the military issue:
Keep up our present policy. Iraq will not change under McCain.

His answer to the fiscal crisis:
Continue Bush's failures, push through permanent tax cuts, and blame it on congress. Congress shares lotsa blame, but a candidate who won't even come up with a fiscal plan, other than to continue his predecessor's garbage, and lay it all on congress before he is even elected; is PATHETIC!!!

America's Most Gangsta at 7:35AM on Feb 6th 2008

13. List all the reasons you want for not voting for McCain ... they are utterly meaningless.

Why, because there are two reasons to vote for McCain that out weigh any problem right wing ideologies like Dobson, Limbauh, Coulter might have.

1. President Hillary Clinton.
2. Having Hillary Clinton pick the next two supreme court judges.

If Dobson and fools cost republicans any chance for the White House, and a democrat president picks the next two judges, then everything the conservative movement has worked for is gone. Proving without a doubt that Dobson and clowns aren't conservatives ... they are dangerous right wing fanatics.

Thomas J Gassett at 7:36AM on Feb 6th 2008

14. HUCKABEE THE BEST FOR AMERICA!!!

http://evolutionfacts.townhall.com

HORACIO MATTESA at 7:41AM on Feb 6th 2008

15. 2 BOZOS just got on this bus........

America's Most Gangsta at 7:47AM on Feb 6th 2008

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Mo Rocca appears on a bunch of shows, including CBS News Sunday Morning (with the indescribably wonderful Charles Osgood), The Tonight Show on NBC, and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He's a sometime judge on Iron Chef and was featured on Telemundo's Amore Descarado. Last year he starred on Broadway in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His expose "All the President's Pets" was published by Crown in 2004.