February 7, 2008
Reactions to the McCain Juggernaut
With John McCain's lead in the campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination now looking nearly insurmountable, Tom Shevlin of RI Report and MTV has recorded an interview with one of Rhode Island's earliest and biggest McCain supporters, House Minority Leader Robert Watson...
Rep. Watson argues that Republicans, especially in New England, should support McCain because he is a moderate.
Meanwhile, in a National Review Online article, Mac Owens argues that Republicans should consider backing McCain despite his lack of conservative credentials…
McCain is far superior to the Democratic contenders on the basis of character and virtue. For instance, once the North Vietnamese found out that McCain was the son of the U.S. military commander in the Pacific theater, which included Vietnam, they offered him the chance to go home before his POW comrades. Had he accepted, it would have been a great propaganda coup for the Vietnamese communists. But he refused. That’s character and it ought to mean something even to those who are not convinced of his conservative bona fides.
I'll vote for Hillary before I vote for another RINO. The last eight years have been enough! Four years of her screwing the country up will put us in an excellent position for an actual conservative to win.
And having seen McCain lately I'm not convinced he'd live long enough to complete a term in office.
Posted by: Greg at February 7, 2008 8:35 AM Hillary or Obama won't have to blow money on attack ads - McCain's own party seems determined to bring him down.
So who will be the conservative third-party candidate? Presuming Huck will be McCain's number 2, I'll say either Romney or Lou Dobbs.
The way I see it, this is THE year for third party candidates. The Green Party, Libertarian Party and Communist Party should all have candidates and everybody should debate together.
Posted by: Greg at February 7, 2008 11:02 AMReal conservatives don't even use the word moderate. "Moderate" is code that the media and other liberals use to describe liberals.
I admire the holy heck out of John McCain for the character he displayed as a U.S. Serviceman. But the admiration pretty much wanes from there. I might even have to admit that he'd be more trustworthy as a commander-in-chief than the Democrat's alternatives. But I do not trust him with the future of the conservative movement.
I'm with Ann Coulter on this one: Four years of a liberal Republican president will set the stage for 30 years of Democrat party dominance. Four years of Hillary or Barack will ensure revival of the Reagan Conservative movement that has been badly damaged by the likes of Dole, Lott and McCain and that Pres. Bush sadly has failed to protect.
Posted by: George at February 7, 2008 11:44 AMI agree with George.
Under no circumstances will I vote for McCain.
Ditto Hickabee, who is nothing but a liberal snake oil salesman (what is it about Hope, Arkansas?).
I won't be a "suicide voter" and vote for Hillbama - it's either a throw-away on a third party candidate (as I did with Perot in 1992) or just to not cast a vote in the Presidential race.
We survived Jimmy Carter, and it paved the way for Reagan. We'll (barely) survive Hillbama.
Posted by: Tom W at February 7, 2008 12:33 PMYou've just read a small sampling of the very real national dynamic facing McCain. He's a RINO and those with genuine conservative leanings, even those who are not part of the Republican party like me, are not voting for this guy. I'll write in a candidate before I cast a vote for any of the disingenuous triplets, McCain Hillary or Obama.
Posted by: Tim at February 7, 2008 3:03 PMThat tape shows why we'd be better off if McCain loses in November.
These Republican "moderates" are essentially nothing but Democrats who don't have the cajones to admit that they are really are Democrats / to refer to themselves Democrats (and in turn "Democrats" don't have the cajones to admit that they are really socialists / to refer to themselves as socialists).
Posted by: Ragin' Rhode Islander at February 7, 2008 11:00 PMIn a general election, I'll vote for McCain over Clintama.
In the primary, I'm leaning towards voting for Hugh Cort following in the tradition of my father, who voted for Barry Goldwater in 1964 despite being a Truman/Kennedy liberal, explaining to me that it was important for countries hostile to the US to see that there were Americans ready to take it all the way when things got nasty.