February 19, 2008
It is now nearly impossible, mathematically speaking, for John McCain to lose the 2008 Republican primary.
Faced with the inevitability of voting for a candidate who is iffy on pro-life issues, taxes and the war on terror, or voting for John McCain, it’s no wonder we have voter apathy.
Unless Hallmark or Barack Obama or whatever he’s going by these days gets the nomination, 2008-2012 America isn’t looking too good right now.
So what’s a conservative Republican to do?
The following is a list of what John McCain needs to do to get my vote. It’s important to note one horrifying factor. Listen up, those who decry McCain for the liberal positions he’s taking: He’s still running for the nomination. What I mean by that goes back to the typical model of any presidential candidate: Appeal to the base when running in the primaries, and move toward the center after getting the nomination.
Unfortunately, McCain confused "conservative base" with "the New York Times Editorial Board" (his base).
Fine.
It’s no secret he’s not the best conservative. But if this is how he behaves trying to appeal to conservatives, one shudders at what he will do when he’s supposed to move toward the center.
The most important issues for me are (in no particular order): economic stability (including taxes), abortion, Iraq, the war on terror and immigration.
McCain already loses on immigration. Hands down.
There is no justification, no defense for the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill of 2007.
It turned out real Americans hated the bill and the negative stigma associated with amnesty.
At his age, McCain’s not about to adopt new policies or change his mind. And certainly not in the next year or so. So short of promising never to grant amnesty, short of promising to enforce the borders (promises that shouldn’t be believed regardless), there’s nothing he can do.
Now on to pro-life issues. With the exception of Gitmo Detainee 063 (Mohammed al Qahtani, the 20th hijacker who was justly tortured), McCain doesn’t care about many pro-life issues.
At the risk of making a bad joke, no one’s had to twist his arm when it comes to destroying life. Whether it’s pie in the sky promises for embryonic stem cell research or opposing amendments protecting human life, he’s not very pro-life.
He does hold the minimum qualifications for being a senator from a red state, being opposed to abortion, but he has no interest in overturning Roe V. Wade any time soon.
And that brings us to the most important pro-life issue of them all: the Supreme Court. While John McCain’s base tends to favor the Supreme Court legislating from the bench and taking away the voter's right to, well, vote, many conservatives favor a candidate who will place proper Supreme Court members.
Usually that entails being pro-life, having a basic knowledge of the Constitution and being strict constructionists.
So if we vote for John McCain, we’re almost guaranteed to get another Sandra Day O’Connor (voted best Supreme Court Justice by the Times) or a David Souter.
It is absolutely paramount that McCain place more Alitos on the bench, but inasmuch as he called Alito "too conservative," that prospect seems dim.
If McCain, like Giuliani, promises he will place conservative (conservative as in actually conservative, not as in O’Connor conservative), he becomes more of a possibility for the right.
After all, even if he doesn’t keep the promise, it’s more than we’ll get out of Clinton or Obama.
McCain does much better on Iraq. He’s almost worth being elected just based on acknowledging that there’s a possibility we could actually not be losing.
But he has to stop this lie campaign about being the only Republican to support the surge of troops when it was started.
You know who opposed the surge? The Democrats. The Times. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel.
You know, McCain’s base.
But Iraq is an important issue.
Neither Hillary nor Obama would fight it like McCain. It’s preposterous to believe either of the Dems when they say they’d pull out as quickly as they claim; it would be suicide.
But they would leave sooner rather than later, especially Obama.
McCain knows little about the economy.
The only candidate who knew about spending his money over everyone else’s money and would have been fiscally responsible was Mitt Romney.
McCain’s idea of the economy is to oppose tax cuts, lie about the reasons you oppose them and sit on committees instead of trying it in the real world.
This one’s fairly easy (comparatively) to solve.
First, don’t oppose Bush’s tax cuts.
Secondly, surround yourself with experts (maybe give the olive branch a chance and contact Mitt Romney?) who understand the economy, and we’re good to go.
Lastly, McCain gets credit for the war on terror. Except for crying every time a bloodthirsty terrorist is forced to listen to Britney Spears a little too loud, he gets credit.
He understands that retreating a la Neville Chamberlain never works.
And really, how many times do we have to learn the failures of appeasement against a savage, bloodthirsty enemy?
There are steps McCain can take to get the conservative vote.
He can assure us he will not raise taxes, he will surround himself with experts, he will care more about Americans than the lives of terrorists and will put Alitos on the bench.
Ultimately, though (and maybe this is the cynic in me), he’s not a conservative.
Is he, acting as a man trying to appeal to conservatives, more conservative than Clinton, who’s trying to appeal to her base? That remains to be seen.
But let’s wait on McCain, and see how he does with making campaign promises.
