Mark Levin announced tonight that he will vote for John McCain for President this November:
As Mark indicated, he could change his mind and it should remind Senator McCain that many conservatives are already none too happy with his positions on several key issues.
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Nooooooooooooo!
That will probably be decided when I get in the voting booth. As it sits right now, McCain will have to do some pretty HEAVY DUTY Convincing to get me to throw the lever above his name. Without said convincing, He is tied with the Libertarians, Communists, and a FISHING TRIP.
It’s bad enough I have a recurring Nighmare! McCain is President, and his first appointment to the Supreme Court is .. Teddy, the CAPE COD ORCA!
No surprise here. Either McCain had to move to the right or Obama had to move to the left so that the gap widened to allow some voters to get off the dime. McCain appears to be slightly more aware of energy debacle solutions that make sense while Obama is steadfast as an ultra leftist hell bent on forever changing the American genome. Simultaneously every conservative is struggling with a war and the sacrifices of the volunteers that make it work. Did Clark ever mention how our military would respond to Obama as Commander In (of) Chief? Where is his concern over the men and women who served beneath him and who served all of us? Does he respect their choice of who they prefer to have command them after the next election? Sometimes you stay married for the sake of the children and sometimes you get married for the same reason and sometimes you vote for the men and women in uniform before you consider yourself or any other issue. That is where John McCain trumps Barack Obama hands down because on that issue there is no contest. Obama and his associates do not like the military and the military does not like them. We love the military and understand that without them our families and we would not exist.
Obama is wrong on immigration and border security, on crime and punishment, on taxes, on Cap and Trade, on the military, on the expression clause of the First Amendment, on the Second Amendment, on the right to destroy and kill (choice), on States rights, on Federalism, on global warming, on energy independence and domestic energy utilization, on green solutions, on judges (not just Supremes), on limited government, on the Constitution, on the Fairness Doctrine and other aspects of free speech, on capitalism and economic freedom, on regulations, on marriage and the Fed role, on Iraq, on the War on Terror, on Diplomacy with Terrorist States, on welfare, on vouchers, on SS, on Medicare, on socialized medicine, on habeas corpus and detention of combatants, on rights for illegals, on private property rights, on Palestine, on Israel, on Pakistan, on Iran, on Korea, on Al Quida, on spending, on war crime prosecutions of the Administration, on intelligence gathering and the CIA during wartime, on the Patriot Act , on nuclear proliferation, on star wars, on personal responsibility, on government expansion and its’ role in our lives, on government spending, on individual freedom and choice and just about every other issue that conservatives care about. Yet in the months ahead he, with the help of the media, he will appear to represent both sides of every issue. How else do you reconcile such a radical departure from American values, with the clandestine ultimate intent to change so much, without lying through your teeth?
Very few detest John McCain the way I do. Lately all elections have been a choice between the lesser of two evils and this one is no less so and, unfortunately, in many respects, is even much more so. I was never comfortable with Bush because I recognized that “Compassionate Conservatism†is not conservatism. Conservatism does not deliberately support expensive government policies for the public good or general welfare. Capitalism does that; and it does so without intention, as a secondary by-product and ultimately it does that better than any government program could every hope to do. In fact, history shows that government creates what it attempts to correct.
I vote in Florida and I cannot imagine Obama winning that State so my vote will not make any difference. Virginia is in play thanks to the hordes of suburbanites that have polluted the northern counties. Generally I vote for who the NRA supports and the fact they are spending over forty million dollars in this election means that a lot of my contributions to them will be in play. I suspect that giving to the NRA election fund and simultaneously not voting for their main candidate is symbolism over substance and a waste of some of my contributions. The bottom line is that it will be very difficult for me to look at any one in uniform and not have a pang of regret knowing that their Commander-In-Chief is not the one I should have voted for.
National Review Online Corner linkage alert!
The other day, I received a solicitation from John McCain’s Campaign for contributions. At first, my response was to rip it in half and throw it into the garbage. Thinking about McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy, and McCain-Lieberman and all of the other upsetting things that McCain has said and done, I decided to send the letter back with a few notes scribbled on it with an attached penny.
Here’s what I wrote:
Why do you reach across the aisle to left-wing Democrats while ignoring the Conservative Base? Why do you attack American Business?
You said during the Primaries that you were a “Reagan Footsoldier”, bull crap!
I, and many millions of Conservatives will not support you until you begin talking and acting like a true Conservative.
How can you be Against drilling in Anwr while being FOR drilling offshore?
Your positions are as convoluted as your mind. Oh, I forgot, you’re a “Maverick”! I will neither vote for you nor contribute to your campaign (except for the attached penny) unless and until you walk the walk and talk the talk of true conservatism.
P.S. Please get off the Global Warming Farce!
(signed Slickwillyman)….
Given the bleak picture TGO has painted of an Obama administration, I can see how one would be disposed to vote for McCain. However, with McCain we will still get Liberal Judges, Global Warming Legislation, penalties for successful businesses, and aid for captured terrorists. The only difference is that McCain says he wants tax cuts. On that issue, a President McCain will cave to Democrat pressure and increase taxes on the upper middle class, the whipping boy of both parties.
It would actually be better (hold my nose) to get a really, really, bad Marxist for 4 years whose agenda is so left-wing that even the average idiot democrat/independent voter in this country would blame for the inevitable $10/gallon gasoline and cratered economy that would ensue than to put McCain into power whose results would only be slightly better. A battered Republican party with Conservatives taking charge could bounce back with a true conservative candidate and defeat the Communists.
With McCain as President, it will take many, many more years to return to conservatism if ever. If McCain wins, it will only validate his strategy of catering to the Independents and Democrat voters and ignoring Conservatives. In order to get re-elected for four more years, McCain will pass even more liberal legislation to pander to the same voters again. If McCain’s running mate is like him, we could get 12 years of pandering to Democrats. Bottom Line: Four years of Communist Hell followed by a good chance of taking the country back or twelve years of moving the Republican party to the left forever! Take your pick!
With 170,000 of our best & bravest out on the battlefields of Iraq & Afghanistan, I absolutely can not, under any circumstances, cast a vote (or abstention) that would fail to cancel out a vote for Barack Obama.
Disappointed as I am, McCain is the only choice. If I exercise my disapointment by not casting a presidential vote (or writing in someone who’s not on the ballot)…….that’s one more vote for Barack Obama as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.
I can NOT do that to them. Without them, everything else is pointless. Giving the military to the control of Obama with a two-house Democrat majority would be like ringing the dinner bell for Al Qaeda.
The military will overwhelmingly vote for McCain. That’s all I need to know.
That is why Mark, Rush, Sean, Curtis Slewa, Larry Elder & the rest will, too.
Bad as McCain is on climate change, Anwar, McCain-Feingold…..bad as he’s been on immigration…..I cannot sit by & hope for some pie-in-the-sky scenario after 4 years of an Obama presidency of a great “tidal wave” of conservatism to come rolling through. Hell, if Obama gets elected…….we might not HAVE another 4 years as we know America.
If we lose this war, we are SCREWED. It’s that simple.
85% of our men & women in uniform will vote for McCain.
For that reason alone, so will I.
And anybody who votes for Bob “Cut-And-Run” Barr is NOT a conservative. Let’s be 100% clear about that.
Barr is a schmuck. He’d rather turn Iraq over to Hezbollah, Hamas & Al Qaeda. He’s no dofferent than Obama on the most critical issue facing America today.
For all the aforementioned reasons included in the last post let me also expand on what ScottT alluded to in regards to America after four years of an Obama Presidency along with a House and a Senate under democrat control; which is basically a political royal flush for the wrong side.
The democrats lost big in 1994 and they never forgot what we never learned. That is that when you get the power, you use it to further your agenda. They will not reach across the aisle, but on the contrary, they will crush republicans the way republicans would love to crush Al Quida. In fact democrats would treat Al Quida better than how they will treat us. Rush Limbaugh is going to get paid 400 million dollars over the next eight or so years because he is an entertaining political weatherman with remarkable accuracy. Mark Levin may admire Rush for many good reasons but it is Rush Limbaugh that respects, trusts and looks to Mark Levin for his opinion. In fact many years ago, way before this radio show, I listened with attention when I heard that Rush was about to seek the advice of F. Lee Levin. Rush wasn’t the only one that found his Constitutional comprehension and its’ relevance fascinating and remarkably germane. His opinions come directly from an understanding of what the Constitution, the Declaration, our Founding Fathers, John Locke, Edmund Burke and others understood and that somehow our Society has forgotten. Man lusts for freedom and liberty and he will prosper best when he governs his own actions with an abundant array of choices afforded by a free economic system.
Now lets get to the real point. 1994 was a lesson in the democratic playbook. They learned something else that we never learned. When they get the power back they are gong to consolidate it and shut the door so they never have to worry about another 1994; they will use every technique that they can and there are many available. Rush Limbaugh has repeatedly said this and you do not have to listen to Mark very carefully, or for very long, to hear the same message.
Never mind what four years of an Obama Presidency will destroy. It will be a lot and then some. What remains that can be fixed, may never be fixable because the firewalls will have been breached and the Constitutional safeguards made unavailable. That is how power lost is forever gone. Do not surmise that because this Country will be turned on its’ head, and that the pain and suffering that is certain to ensue, will be a sufficient reason to bring an electorate to it’s senses and instigate a change. That may very well be the result but the remedies that would normally be available will be damaged and unusable.
Finally, and again, let us not forget the troops and the struggle of others. More troops will die and many more people in the world will become fodder for the tyrants that lurk just outside of our election process. When democrats reign people die. Remember the Boat People, remember the Cambodian Killing Fields, remember the Tutsi and Hutu of Rwanda and Burundi, remember Saddam and his psychopathic sons and then look at the post above this one regarding trust and think how many others will die, alone, without our friendship and without our support as we again break our promises. I find it remarkable that the democrats, and their ilk, find it appropriate to give the privilege of habeas corpus to non-uniform combatant terrorists while they dismiss the deaths of the most innocent and helpless with a remarkable lack of conscience. By this alone you just have to know that compassion does not really lurk beneath their rhetoric.
Let’s face it. John McCain is a Constitutional illiterate, a global warming kook and an illegal immigration nightmare. And he is more, but worse yet is his alternative. The next four years are going to be terrible but the sickness brought upon us by an Obama Presidency may not be one we can recover from and neither may our troops and the rest of the world.
I will not disparage anyone who refuses to vote for John McCain. I understand and sympathize with you for all the reasons that have been redundantly mentioned in past posts. Just remember that a post Obama presidency may not be a possibility and the choice that this presidency offers may be the last choice we ever get.
As I finish writing this my wife just announced that two little orphan birds that I raised and kept outside in cages were killed last night by a raccoon. In just a moment it seems the best efforts and seeming success are for naught and this election suddenly, at least for me at this moment, became a lot less important.
I’m really disappointed in Mark. He’s done a disservice to himself, the Conservative Movement and the Republican Party. He decried McCain for months, even referring to him as McLame. Then he stated that McCain was going to have to name a solid Conservative for VP before he would even consider voting for him. Suddenly Mark threw all his principles out the window and so many of his loyal listeners under the bus. When you look at McCain, his policies, those who are supporting him, his campaign staff, those who he’s appointed to serve him at the Republican Convention, etc. we’re really dealing with a putsch within the Republican Party by those who even think George W. Bush is too Conservative (recall McCain had his surrogates approach Kerry’s people about the VP slot in 2004). McCain is diametrically opposed to us as Conservatives and Mark on so many issues that Mark thoroughly abandoned his principles in this endorsement. While a regular listener, I’ve lost a lot of respect for him. McCain would put the final nail in the coffin–this after the two Bushes–of the Conservative Movement and would continue the hemorrhaging of the Republican Party until it atrophied beyond recognition. We as Conservatives, Mark included, need to speak out against McCain, not endorse him.
Rightman, I feel your pain and I’m sure Mark does, too. He must see Obama as far too dangerous to mess around with. It’s not Mark’s fault we are in the mess we are in. Believe me, Endorsing McCain is the last thing he wanted to do. McCain certainly doesn’t deserve Mark’s endorsement. Hasn’t done anything to earn it, that’s for sure. If Mark’s decision tells us anything, my friend, is that Obama is the real deal. He is a genuine Marxist/Stalinist and must be stopped!
Rightman,
Perhaps Mark feels that giving a “proxy” vote to Barack Obama would be a far greater “abandonment of principles” than holding his nose with a vice and voting for McCain.
There’s no good choice here; only one that’s poor, and one that’s absolutely dangerous to the core.
As to your opinion that Mark has “done conservatism a disservice” and “abandoned his principles”……I couldn’t agree with you LESS.
Doing conservatism a “disservice” is gas-bagging for three hours a day about how you are a “REAL conservative” while voting for Jerry Brown for Attorney General of California.
“Disservice” is claiming to be “for the troops” while posting photos of our dead soldiers on your website, despite direct requests from the military not to do so.
(Gee, I wonder what “pseudo-con” on the radio does THAT vile stuff??)
In Mark Levin’s mind, I’m sure that senator McCain is no less “lame” today than he was a year ago. But he got the GOP nomination. Barack Obama is the alternative. If you have any better suggestions, I’d like to know what they are.
Accusing Mark Levin, of all people, of “abandoning his principles” is truly a square peg for a round hole.
task,
Very sorry to hear about the baby birds. I recall several years back watching two baby hummingbirds growing up in a nest on the lowest level of branches in one of my redwood trees. Then one morning, I came out to check on them……and found the remains of one on the ground. The other one was gone. I can’t tell you how horrible I felt.
I’m pretty sure they were picked off by blue jays. And yet to this day, I still feed the blue jays peanuts every morning & watch them eat while I have my coffee. Go figure.
Scott T, et al.,
There’s a liberal group called “Not In My Name” that opposes the war in Iraq. That’s how I feel about McCain: Not in my name (will he bring a liberal agenda to the Republican Party and nation). McCain is not OUR nominee. He was chosen by a flawed process, namely a nominating process that gives first dibs–seemingly forever, and this is something we need to fix and fast–to Iowa and New Hampshire. Iowa’s Republican voters are more liberal than the Party as a whole and many are riding high on this tragic ethanol farce to which every politician promises more and more lucre. Then we go to New Hampshire, again liberal Republicans from Massachusetts and a crossover vote to boot. Then down to South Carolina–crossover land again. My point in reciting all this is nobody needs to feel beholden to vote for McCain as the standard bearer of the Republican Party. You are “not guilty” if you don’t support him and sit it out this November.
In addition the next four years are not going to be pretty. Unemployment is a lagging indicator but it is set to explode upward, and soon, and there is nothing in anyone’s arsenal to bring it down or cure the economy in the short run. And McCain isn’t going to lower taxes. He couldn’t even if such was his desire as the Dems and libs are going to have veto-proof majorities in both houses. Unless Israel has adopted a policy of national suicide they will HAVE to attack Iran and gas at the pump will go up to $5-$6, conservatively speaking, at this point. This economy cannot function at that point. I don’t want all this ascribed to the Republican Party and a Republican President, especially a liberal one such as McCain. Most people view ANY Republican as defacto a Conservative, see Bush for example and thus the Conservative Movement will get most/all of the blame. Even 2/3 of Republican voters who voted for McCain thought his immigration policy was a tough one so the great majority of people are not up on the nuances of politics or the Conservative agenda and movement. Most of the countries in the world that are presently cleaning our clock economically went through harrowing dictatorships, far far worse than anything Obama will bring. If we as a country cannot survive four years of Obama, then of course we have worse problems than merely two poor choices for President. If Mark wants to vote for McCain that is one thing, but he should not have endorsed him–he is not Mark’s horse and he doesn’t owe him a thing. In four years people are going to look to someone else as this country is going to need a lot more than “hope” at that point. Hopefully we can have a solid candidate, see Bobby Jindal, and perhaps begin to change our awful nomination process. So McCain: not in my name.
Rightman
Rightman,
I don’t know if this makes any difference to you, but Mark didn’t make any official “endorsement” of McCain. He just let it be known that HE plans to vote for him and he stated his reasons. I don’t hear him urging everyone to do the same. I doubt he will. He respects your opinion, as do I. However, Scott T made a lot of good points above. I suggest you think about them some more. And also, it is very clear that you listen to Weiner Nation. You would do yourself a big favor by turning him off. He’s slipping garbage into his conservative message. You can’t see it because you are a fan, but everyone else can.
Rightman,
I never accused you of being “guilty”. I simply pointed out that I thought you were profoundly wrong to accuse Mark Levin of “abandoning conservative principles”. That is absurd, IMO.
Perhaps the title of this thread is a little misleading……but the fact is, saying you’re going to vote for somebody does not equivocate an “endorsement”. It’s just as easily (and in this case, ABSOLUTELY) a condemnation to the alternative.
Do not forget—-we have men & women on the battlefield. As bad as McCain can be (and that includes his stance on GITMO)……our soldiers—-the people who protect the liberty of both you & I to sit in front of a computer & have this discussion without the immediate fear of being blown up—-would be a hell of a lot better off under the control of McCain than they would Barack Obama.
Don’t think so? Think again.
I respect your decision to sit out the presidential election, if that’s what your convictions tell you to do. But if you’re going to imply that those of us who’ll hold our nose & vote for McCain for at least the betterment of the military (including Mark Levin, of all people) of “abandoning conservative principles”………sorry, but as they say in the south, “that dog won’t hunt”.
P.S.: And if you ARE listening to “Weiner Nation”……stop.
He’s not a conservative. He pimps conflict for a living. That is what LIBERALS do. Without bad news & disaster, liberals cease to exist. It’s no different with a scumbag like Michael Alan Weiner. He doesn’t want societal achievement, he doesn’t want victory, he doesn’t want success. He & his whole sschtick would cease to exist.
Sorry guys I don’t listen to Savage. Haven’t for many years. Don’t know where you got that idea. On the other hand: Borders, Language, Culture—what is so wrong with that!? Those three principles would stand us in a lot better stead than we are now under Bush and/or McCain whose first priority is Amnesty. McCain would be the death of the Republican Party and the Conservative Movement. My point is if you want the Republican Party to survive in any semblance of at least what it had been in the past then you can’t vote for McCain. Slickwillyman makes this point quite well also. It’s counter intuitive but a vote for McCain will achieve the opposite of what you want in both the long and the short run, i.e. Conservative government. It will validate the belief that Republicans should appeal to liberals and independents in order to win elections and sound the death knell for conservatism. I think we’d like the same thing, but I think you’re going about it the wrong way, though it seems to you to be the right way–vote for a Republican. I like to turn things on their head and I’m more Machiavellian than that.
Rightman
Rightman,
Everything you say about the candidate selection process, including the characterization of Iowa voters as lightweight conservatives, and the NH open primary that attracted liberal “fliesâ€Â, only adds to our dislike for McCain. This “Boy’s Club†nomination process, that picks the nominee, never did a better job of showing us how the system works, how corrupt it is and why it needs to change. Imagine how the liberal feminists feel?
Much of what you surmise about the economy is true but it should be apparent that it is still managing. The fuel cost damage is yet to be determined and don’t be surprised if wages are not adjusted upward to accommodate the change. So far we are surviving better than I would have anticipated and I suspect that is because we are large and strong and thereby resilient. Things don’t always go the way the model predicts. If it did, Clinton would be the democratic nominee. Nevertheless in this regards your position is strong.
Don’t ever assume that a democrat in the White House, along with a majority of democrats in the Congress, will get the blame when things go sour. In fact one thing that I can guarantee is that will not be the case. They will neither accept the blame nor be portrayed as guilty by the MSM. They still blame Ronald Reagan for many things besides the deficient. Without a doubt, if either a democrat or a republican occupies the While House, the Bush Administration will be blamed for everything for years to come. In fact the Bush Administration may take a greater blame hit by McCain than by Obama. You would think that Ray Nagin would have sustained major damage after the Katrina debacle and yet he grew in popularity.
My problem in sitting out this election is twofold. When the State, authorizes and establishes economic business legitimacy, through licensing and regulation (by statute and law), it really becomes a fascist collectivism whereby both the politicians and criminals intertwine; power assembled in that fashion is difficult to vote out because it knocks the underpinning out of fair and balanced elections and what they can achieve. It becomes institutionalized. Secondly I am not comfortable in allowing military command and central control to be given over to the worst possible type of candidate that I could ever envision. I owe our troops far more than that.
Mark Levin told us how he would vote because he is honest and not because he likes McCain or in any way endorses him. He does not endorse what McCain represents. He may endorse a VP but that is another story that has yet to be written and told. Conservatism will neither die nor weaken via a weak republican administration or a powerful democratic administration. It is alive and it is awaiting a leader. Obama is so far to the left, and so determined with his ultra liberal agenda that he may establish change that is so great that we may forever be precluded from ever making a change again. That is the essence of the real and present danger.
Et. Al.
I detest John McCain and disagree with him on almost every issue. He is not a Conservative and is at best a poor candidate. However, what ScottT stated resonated with me. It was the phrase: “Barack Obama as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.” I get a sick feeling when I think about that phrase. I do not feel the same way if John McCain were the Commander in Chief. When I talked hypothetically about four years of Obama Communist hell might set the stage for a comeback of Conservative Republicans, I was mostly thinking about the economy, high gas prices and lost jobs. When it comes to the military, an Obama Presidency would spell disaster. There would be a surge in retirements and a drop in re-enlistment (like in the Clinton years). Obama is a blank canvas. He knows nothing about the military (or anything else except how to read a teleprompter). He may meet with terrorist dictators without any preconditions. He may disarm the U.S. with the willing help of both Houses! Imagine Obama in charge of the football (nuclear briefcase)! His defense policies will be shaped by leftist America-hating Democrats. An Obama win will embolden the Islamic Terrorists all over the world. Even though Obama professes to be a Christian, his name nevertheless is Muslim. I’m sure hundreds of millions of propaganda-fed Muslims around the world will no doubt think the United States has taken the first step in moving to Sharia Law if Obama were to be elected! For the sake of the country’s defense alone, Obama must be defeated. Our military must remain strong. When Mark said he would vote for McCain, he didn’t endorse him. And he prefaced his decision to vote for McCain with a statement of very strong disagreement with McCain on many issues. I believe Mark came to his decision solely on the basis of the preservation of a strong military and the defeat of Islamic Terrorists. So, I can say with certainty that Mark has NOT sold out the Conservative movement. We are stuck with Obama or McCain as candidates. There is nothing we can now do about that now. I know that Mark will continue to vigorously point out flaws with McCain’s positions. I can understand where Rightman’s frustration is coming from. I share that frustration and outrage with McCain on Global Warming and especially Illegal Immigration! It’s just that, as Task said, with Obama as President and both Houses controlled by Democrats, the door may be shut forever through legislative tyranny on a future Republican comeback (Fairness Doctrine, Prosecution of Bush Administration Officials as War Criminals, Drop of the Electoral College in favor of Estimated Popular Vote, Impeachment of Conservative Supreme Court Justices, etc…). It’s not so much that McCain win as it is that Obama must lose!
Our number One Issue is our survival. The economy is a close second. We must win the war on Worldwide Islamic Terrorism.
I once said something else that needs to be repeated. Obama not only supports radical Christianity, as testified to by the Church he attended for twenty years, but radical Islam supports him over McCain. That alone should decide this election.
Task, After Obama wins and things continue south, I agree with you that the media and Dems will spin that it is going to take years, make that Generations–Gore Vidal already says 100 years–to cleanup after Bush. . . . HOWEVER most people, read 95%, think the world began and ended with their birth (a point Rush makes often). Believe me, after 2 months, let alone 2 years, and no “change”, and further increases at the pump, and a spiraling unemployment rate– this is lagging in the stats but it is ready to explode–people will be dumping Obama Right and Left. People expect immediate “change” and results this day–like clicking a mouse. Obama’s approval rating will be lower than Bush after two years. That is my prediction and so much of what he has promised his minions–i.e. money and programs–will go by the wayside and in fact be scaled back/cut/cut drastically as money will be severely wanting. Bush’s tax cuts brought money to the Treasury up the ying yang. Bush spent like a drunken sailor, yet Obama’s tax increases, combined with a continuing economic downturn, will deplete it and he will end up making enemies of his greatest supporters. This is my theory and my predictions. Turn it all on its head.
Rightman
With regard to the Primary “process” how do we go about taking away the great power that has been granted to the citizens of Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina to choose our nominee and President. The rest of us are disenfranchised! They are entitled to an equal voice but not an early deciding one. . . year after year after year. Do we begin to picket/protest the Republican National Committee? Do we stand out in the snow in Iowa next go-around and demand Justice For All? Really this nominating fiasco is as important an issue as any for us as Republicans and Conservatives. We definitely need CHANGE. Someone or something needs to start a crusade to enfranchise the Republican voter (my state for instance did not vote until June). Does anyone else have any ideas? IS ANYBODY IN?
Rightman
Rightman,
Regarding your post #19……I agree with you that an Obama presidency could (and probably would) be an unmitigated disaster within two years, and despite the best efforts of the dinosaur media to minimize it, there would be tremendous fall-out.
Again, with apologies for redundancy……were we NOT in the middle of a war with the kind of enemies we’re facing (and knowing what a radical like Obama TRULY feels about the military)……I might be slightly more inclined to see things your way.
But we ARE. Therefore, I can’t.
I may (or may not) have mentioned this before……but I think it bares repeating:
A very conservative local talkshow host out here on the west coast (his name is David Gold) often talks about his best friend, who is a 57-year-old army shrink. He’s already served two terms in Iraq, and is now working at the Pentagon.
Mr. Gold says his buddy tells him all the time about how scared out of their wits everyone is over there at the prospect of Barack Obama getting elected & having control over the military during a time like this. He says for that reason alone, they’re praying to God that McCain gets elected, because the possibility of Obama carrying the nuclear football & having the final say over all military matters (up to & including when & when not to take military acion, whether or not to cut military spending, how it will all effect re-inlistment, etc, etc, etc) has most people at the Pentagon absolutely horrified.
That is no small issue. It’s HUGE.
If we pull out of this war prematurely & our military gets financially gutted like it did during the Clinton years (and trust me, with this clown, it would almost certainly be even WORSE)…….then every idea you have about a possible future “conservative revolution”, you can just flush right down the toilet.
Because in order for the country to HAVE a conservative revolution…….we first have to have a COUNTRY.
So be very careful about what you ask for……because you just might get it.
And by that time, it may very well be too late.
Rightman,
The way you change the nomination process is to pressure the RNC and our Congressional republicans to restrict primary voting to only one or two days for registered party voters and if several candidates are close (say within 5% of each other) then have a run-off. No longer does Iowa, NH and S.C. get to wag the whole party and the good old boys no longer get to pick and choose for virtually the whole Country.
Liberals in power are often voted back in no matter how discomforting the economic circumstances they create. Norwegians continually decry their liberal government and yet they vote the same way every time. They do this because they prefer a perception of security, aided by government propaganda, that tells them they are incapable of doing a better job by themselves and for themselves; the government, far from being an aid to individual self-governance is the obstacle that generates fear of self-reliance; creates and reinforces the essence of a battered subject syndrome that is analogous to a battered wife syndrome. This is universally a European philosophy and is now becoming an American one. Furthermore liberals ride high on the Judean Christian philosophy of compassion. Couple this with what people erroneously perceive as unalienable rights, which is again further compounded by the ubiquitous, pervasive and perverted philosophy of Kant and it becomes clear why liberal voters actually dig a deeper hole (look to and for more liberal answers) as a solution to their self- imposed conundrum. When things go bad they throw out their politicians and leaders and replace them with others within the same dysfunctional system of government that serially regenerates the problems.
I have always said that Europeans think of themselves as subjects while we think of ourselves as citizens and out of the many citizens, that make up our country, only a handful are really Americans. Americans are those that understand the dynamic makeup that is the soul, the energy and the substance of this Country. They understand what is responsible for why we are free, powerful and great. To understand this you must understand the philosophy of conservatism and most people, even many that identify themselves as conservative, are only tangentially so. This is despite the fact that conservatism is the natural state for which man, as man the species, the animal, prospers and flourishes. We have evolved from a tribal mentality, which is currently still the European socialist mentality, to a mentality based upon the rights of the individual; rights that embody liberty and freedom. No other country, not even England, where we obtained our rootstock, has done this and that is why America is a breakthrough in the history of mankind. She was created, and is driven, not by nationality or by any special group, or the concept of an empowered State, but by the rights of the individual, and those are, first and foremost, economic rights; these are the rights that allow you to pursue work and to prosper and keep what you have earned. As such I consider myself a Constitutional capitalist, as there is enough conservatism is our constitution to allow for a free economic system where freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness truly repose.
Barack Obama is neither a patriot nor an American. He dislikes our system and wishes to forever change it. McCain simply doesn’t understand it. Everything Obama proposes consumes the rights of man by presupposing the rights of the State. This is his morality and it is amoral. That concept also replaces the ordered liberty that Mark Levin speaks about with an order without liberty that will always eventually culminate in disorder. The problem that we have had is that we had lost the philosophical war a long time ago via a public education system that is based upon what I mentioned in the second paragraph and a dedicated MSM that had enjoyed being a monopoly. It especially attacks the young who are the most vulnerable and susceptible. Then came a change that is AM talk radio, then the Internet and now satellite radio. People such as Rush Limbaugh have taken the average citizen and made him reflect upon the illogicalness of the liberal mindset and consequently have made serious inroads into their philosophical terrain. This is why we won in 1994 (totally because of Rush) and right along till 2006 but, unfortunately, it was our politicians that never understood Limbaugh, the American public and/or conservatism and consequently failed us. Levin represents where Limbaugh graduates go for additional CE credits.
The problem I have with Obama is exactly what ScottT has in regards to the military. We are at war and Obama is what empowers the enemy. He cannot possibly inspire our troops or their missions. He and they have a mutual dislike and he will help destroy their funding, their numbers, their missions and their abilities. He will send them home early, along with Federal social benefits, and claim credit for being financially compassionate.
If I honestly thought that an Obama presidency would leave our Constitutional safeguards intact, so that we could undo any damage and again move forward, and if I also thought he might suffice as a Commander-In-Chief, then I might forego a McCain presidency. The latter is certainly not a possibility and I have about as much faith in the former as Israel has in Iran’s peaceful application of a nuclear reactor. That is where we differ. You believe conservatism will survive, reorganize and grow stronger as a result of an Obama fiasco. Even if all that becomes reality it still leaves the issues concerning the war and the military left unanswered. So if you are correct is the military damage worth the price? I already gave you my answer.
What conservatives need to do is buy fifteen to twenty liberal newspapers that are going out of business. We certainly have the money. Restructure these papers and include an Internet version as well. Then we can get back into the education and influence market, beyond Fox News and Talk Radio. Liberals have learned from us and it is about time we beat them at their own game.
It would be my guess that Obama, like every left wing ideologue, along with the democratic establishment will be frothing at the bit to implement their agenda but for he first several years they will cleverly do some positive things. They will put in a few nuclear reactors, drill the continental shelf, hesitate before raising taxes while they simultaneously move forward with socialized medicine and carefully put their leftist judges in place and enact bills which will incrementally move us further to the left. We will never become socialized in one massive stroke but, rather, by thousands of small cuts.
Mussolini knew that the Italians would not accept socialism, as they owned and operated their property for centuries, as opposed to the Teutonic people, which embraced socialism for millennia. Consequently he introduced fascism, which remained consistent with private property ownership, but the government shared in the profits. I will never forget the words of Ayn Rand who said that Americans will never accept socialism but they might accept fascism. Look around you and you will see that we already have.
Obama represents the beginning of the next level and he now courts centrists, which we all know he needs to fool. His left wing base is already angry because they expect consistency and instant gratification. He will never forget them, he always has their agenda in mind but he carefully needs to weigh how much fascism and socialism that he can ram down our throats before we realize that we have been had. Ultimately, if he does it right, you will never be able to turn the clock back or find your way back home. The rules that you counted upon to keep you free and prosperous will all have been changed. In this Country socialists must change the rules because the rules are squarely in their way. When you step into the web of socialism don’t ever think that the way out will be as easy as the way in or that the spider isn’t home. He is home but he is hiding and is waiting for you to advance just a little further along. If you need proof, just look at the above post and ask yourself how the English people got themselves into the economic morass that they are currently in and why they can’t figure a way out. You have just read the answer.
Seeing as these two are one in the same with the one exception being the war in Iraq, I will be casting my vote for Mr. Potato Head and I dont mean the late Tim Russert.
Task, Scott, et al. I really believe the country is dying a slow death under Bush, and this would only be furthered under McCain. The spending policies of the Bush Administration have bankrupted it, and after McCain legalizes 20 million illegals, and allows their family to migrate here, we won’t have a country left. I think Obama would face much more opposition in trying to legalize the 20 million than McCain who would run cover for the Democrats. You guys seem to look oversees a lot–perhaps you have a military background–however I look in my own neighborhood and say to McCain: NOT IN MY NAME. So, I’m more concerned with preserving the country here than in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, honestly, due to the opposition that Obama and the Dems would encounter they will not want the Amnesty around their own necks. I still contend McCain would destroy the Republican Party and Conservative Movement and I don’t think you’ve answered that. NOT IN MY NAME. And, no, I don’t think Americans would run kicking and screaming to Conservatism and become learned in such, but I do think we could try to nominate a Conservative candidate, see Bobby Jindal–the guy is Great–who could LEAD the country and the populace in that direction, see Reagan.
Rightman
Rightman,
I suspect if McCain picked the Louisiana Governor as his VP that might influence voting for him. I know it would for a lot of other conservatives, such as yourself, who might otherwise sit this one out. The only problem that I have with Jindal is that Obama will use him to prop up his own youth and inexperience. He may make McCain seem older but then again some may like youth as the backup. The guy seems about as good as you can get and can speak the way conservatism needs to be spoken. He is a natural businessman and that spells well for understanding how to tie down the budget and rein in entitlements, which is where McCain is presently going with his economic plan. The certain screaming critique from the left needs someone like Jindal to counter it and he will do that as well as advance those ideas. In short he is is no defensive player. He would set the stage for a “Battle Royal” and that is what conservatives now need to get their blood moving.
If he is the VP pick, and you vote for him, don’t forget that you are then doing exactly what ML will do.
No, perhaps you misunderstood. I’m not speaking of voting for McCain under any circumstances. I refer to voting for Jindal in 4 years after McCain (hopefully) goes down. Jindal would make a very poor decision accepting anything from McCain–I think he, Jindal, is too savvy for that–as McCain has loser written all over him.
Rightman
Just wanted clarification. I suspected otherwise but I also suspect that Jindal, or any republican for that matter, will accept the VP slot. If McCain wins that disqualifies him as a loser in regards to Obama and this election.Or at least it establishes Obama as such. In fact if he stays only four years the VP could have a shoe-in. I’m rather surprised how McCain is changing because I only suspected that from Obama. Should Iraq go well, and I believe that it will, McCain will get a rating boost that will be hard to dislodge. What is left is immigration and that, in a nutshell, is where all McCain’s trouble lies. Dittos for the rest of us. Needless to say that is the chief reason why I, and most republicans, can’t stand the man. But in that regards he is no different than Bush.
Rightman, you seem to be rather Bob Barr-ish in your foreign policy views. That is not a crime, that’s your prerogative.
But you intimate that what goes on “overseas” (i.e. Iraq, Afghanistan) is no big deal.
For the life of me, I cannot get a grasp on that concept in any way, shape, or form.
Not coming from someone claiming to be a “conservative”, anyway.
Let’s look at some similarities and differences in John McCain and Obama. They are both for extending rights to terrorists caught on the battlefield. They are both for closing Guantanamo and bringing the terrorists here. They are both for ignoring our borders while wanting to extend a path to citizenship to law breakers. McCain has always been a supporter of the war and FOR the troop surge while Obama has always been the leading Democrat opponent against the war and against the troop surge. As even the lib media is slowly beginning to report our military success, Obama is also changing his tune to act as if he somewhat supports the mission when all along he did everything he could to derail it!
McCain supports the increased use of American Coal (one of the biggest reserves in the world), increasing nuclear power, natural gas, and offshore drilling while Obama is against exploiting ALL possible sources of energy (he wants to “study” biofuel). Obama holds the classic Democrat obstructionist position: talk about being energy independent while doing nothing, force people to sacrifice and use less gas, blame big oil then windfall tax them thus raising prices even more, call for reduced energy use in homes, allow millions of jobs to be lost, then talk about how Democrats feel your pain!
McCain is against tax increases during depressed economic times while Obama wants to increase taxes on “wealthy” Americans making more that $75K/yr. McCain wants to keep long term capital gains where they are (15%), while Obama wants to increase them. Obama also wants to remove the Social Security/ Medicare tax limit (not even Hillary wanted to do that!). (I guess the handlers haven’t caught up with him yet on economic issues).
McCain is for 2nd Amendment rights while Obama is both for and against 2nd Amendment Rights. Obama stated that an individual has 2nd Amendment Rights, yet he also said that right does not preclude local “common sense” restrictions on firearms. So, you have the right to bear arms unless your city takes your rights away, which is OK? Then it’s not a right at all! Is it the same for free-speech? With Obama, every Constitutional right is not ironclad, it is subject to the whim of judges, local governments, or an well-meaning federal government. The Constitution doesn’t mean much to Obama. It is a “living” document subject to watering down until it guarantees the individual nothing.
Obama’s handlers are now actively moving this idiot “to the middle” in order appeal to centrist democrats. He got the lead in the early nomination process by being the most radical of all the candidates (except Kucinich) appealing to the Daily Kos/Moveon.org leftists. Now, his professional handlers are in charge and are banking on the fact that most of the American public voters can be fooled. He’s offending his liberal base in order to appeal to the middle. That’s why he’s now wearing an American Flag pin.
Unlike his Democrat rival, McCain, has never tried to appeal to his party’s base. He’s been consistent at irking conservatives at every opportunity. Nevertheless, at least McCain is pro-military, pro-energy, and pro-gun rights.
Slickwillyman,
You did a nice job of clearly laying it all out in a nice and neat fashion.
Thanks task. Did you see today where John McCain threw Phil Graham, (his economic advisor), under the bus, drove over him, backed up and drove over him again? Graham said the U.S. is a nation of whiners. McCain made a strange and inarticulate statement regarding Phil Graham (who is supposed to be his longtime friend). He said, “Phil Graham does not speak for me!” … “I speak for me!”
I believe this is the kind of speech that comes out of John McCain in anger without a teleprompter. A kind of butchered, angry, guttural language pattern much like that heard from him in the Republican cloakroom during the Kennedy-McCain Comprehensive Amnesty Reform bill discussions.
Later, McCain answered a reporter’s question about a future role Graham might play in his administration. McCain said Graham would be in serious consideration for ambassador to Belarus.
In a single statement, McCain alienated not only one of his few economic advisors, but all of the independent Belarus-American voters.
McCain never fails to disappoint. That said I can assure you that the Belarus US citizens will not vote for Obama no matter what McCain said, or will say, because they understand what freedom is about better than most US citizens that were born here. McCain’s statement was dumb and unnecessary and we all know that he would never have said that about any Country south of the border. Nevertheless, consistent with his history of reaching across the aisle, at the expense of his own party, he stupidly did the same thing by slighting Belarus voters, who are chiefly republican, while courting Hispanic illegals that are chiefly democrats. It is true that he may get more Hispanic votes than any alternative republican candidate but when you are on record for swelling the numbers of the very votes that primarily vote for the other side you are like a horse chasing a carrot.
McCain and Obama are both hustling to go right. This is the wrong direction for Obama but a necessary part of wining the election. McCain finally figured out that he is a republican and is moving in the direction that he is supposed to go but he has been so stubbornly doing the wrong thing, for so long, that the words do not come naturally and he simply can’t shoot from hip by instinct. As such he sometimes seems like a football player who, after getting hit in the head, takes the ball in the wrong direction.
It is becoming apparent, as each day passes, that this election may come down to who puts his foot in his mouth least. Obama is tacking against the wind and hopes to make up the distance latter on. McCain simply can’t get his sail up into the breeze that any normal republican, in these times, would use to handily win the race.
It is interesting that Obama is trying to seal this election by getting middle of the road Reagan type democrats on his side in addition to his base. He is moving into McCain territory while McCain is trying to convert Hispanic Obama supporters. He is moving into Obama’s base. I can assure you that McCain will never make the inroads that Obama will and he will never retain his base the way Obama will his. McCain’s greatest weakness was, and is, that he is not a committed republican, let alone a conservative and we know that. Obama need but muddy the waters to confuse the undecided. McCain had better wake up and clearly define who he is and what he stands for and simultaneously force Obama to clearly do the same about himself. We should not have to wait for a VP candidate to do it for him.
task,
The very idea that a transparent Marxist like Obama could ever succeed at attracting even “middle of the road” Reagan Democrats is not only puzzling……it’s downright terrifying.
The more I listen to Barack Obama…….the more convinced I am that any registered voter who’s not a Daily Kos radical & is still even considering voting for him is either monsterously insane or monsterously stupid.
To imagine ANYBODY that had admired Ronald Reagan as either a Democrat or a Republican who says, “Yeah, I like this guy Obama”………
Wow! That’s just a realm I cannot even begin to comprehend.
ScottT
I don’t believe that Obama will attract middle of the road democrats from Pennsylvania, Ohio or Florida to any great extent. In fact that is where I suspect McCain will defeat Obama and win the election. I am emphasizing that McCain has even less of a chance of acquiring Hispanic support, when he panders to left wing Hispanic groups like La Raza, than Obama has in winning over conservative democrats…. and that possibility is very small. That is how ridiculous McCain’s position is on immigration. Most of these groups will accept the real deal, which is Obama. In fact, McCain is alienating many legitimate Hispanic voters who resent his stance on immigration as much as most of the rest of the Country does. Yes, he will get some new citizen Hispanics and the illegals, who actually vote, because they never were required to learn American culture, history or civics and want their relatives to follow them over, but Obama is still the better choice for them and he will, consequently, acquire more of their vote than McCain. In fact the republican Cubans, who hate Castro, no longer dominate the Hispanic population in Florida. Hordes of other Latin America Hispanics have chosen that State to live. That is what helped McCain defeat Romney in Florida but people, Including McCain, fail to realize that was a primary, where he was expected to get more Latino votes than any other republican. People in Middle America don’t hate Obama because he panders to him. They know he is lying to get elected, but these same people dislike McCain’s position on immigration and when he is ostentatiously pandering he reminds them, all over again, as to why they hated him during the immigration bill fiasco. In other words McCain can lose some of his base, even those less critical than Rightman, by pandering to the left than Obama will ever lose his by pandering to the right. They will not vote for Obama but they will also stay at home and not vote at all. That is why we need a good conservative VP.
The one potential group that I worry about is the Jewish community. I sense a shift in the vote of older voters towards McCain but I still have arguments with many who I thought would be smarter. My accountant is one of them and I laid into two attorneys a few nights ago that floored me with how illogical there thoughts were. And they admitted so.
If anyone is undecided they are probably democrats, for a variety of inexplicable and inane reasons, the least of which is not because of their intelligence, so I suspect that McCain will lose these voters unless he is very, very clear about who he is and how his energy plan is really going to work to change the dynamics of this economy.
The bottom line is that McCain hasn’t solidified his base and his going after the left is likely to cause him to lose more of his base than Obama will by leaning into the center. Our base feels disenfranchised with McCain. They never will vote for Obama but it was, and is, the actual fear of Obama that was, and is, McCain’s best shot to obtain their vote. Obama is now trying to portray himself as a moderate candidate with American values. In other words he is suppressing fears that he is too radical. That is an effective tool that may keep some voters, who may have voted for McCain simply out of fear of an Obama victory, home because they no longer seriously worry about Obama, and never liked McCain to begin with. Obama is now in the process of disguising the Marxist that he really is. If he fails to do this he loses for sure. That is why McCain had better clearly portray who he is and what he is about and do the same for Obama. He can’t let Obama do it for him and no VP is going to carry the water, or should, for the front runner.
The entire notion of “moving” to the right is obviously disingenuous. A candidate should already have core values, convictions, positions, and opinions on a variety of issues in general. The campaign trail should just be a repetitive dump of that message. Our media has conditioned us to not only listen to a candidate say the opposite of what he said last week (and not think anything of it), but actually tell us openly in talking head pundit panels that the candidate’s strategy is to “move to the right” by “moderating” his stance on issues important to Reagan democrats.
When Obama “moves” to the right, he’s very simply lying about where he stands on an issue and he’s lying about how he would address the issue. He is a committed socialist. He wants to re-distribute wealth. He wants to starve America of energy. He is not proud of this country, he abhors it. Americans are buffoons that aren’t as sophisticated as Europeans. He refused to wear a symbol of America on his lapel so that he could show his patriotism in other ways such as running this country down. He sat in a pew for almost 20 years and didn’t hear the Hate-America theme in Wright’s “sermons”? He has friendships with 60′s counter-culture terrorist icons.
Now, the Professionals are in charge of what he does and what he says.
“Wear this pin on your lapel”
“Let’s get your wife off the campaign trail for a while” “No more Michelle speeches without my approval”
“Say you are FOR Faith-Based Initiatives to pander to the Christian vote”…
“Say you’re for 2nd Amendment rights when you’re in rural states”
The handlers are “moving” Obama to the right for the consumption of the average uninformed voter that makes up the majority of voters in the USA.
When McCain “moves” to the left, he’s actually not being disingenuous. He doesn’t have to move either because he’s already left on Global Warming, Comprehensive Immigration Reform, and extending rights to Islamic terrorists.