McCain Swallows Pride to Persuade Christian Right to Back White House Run
There's no evidence of bias in this story from The Telegraph (UK):
The maverick senator seen as the Republicans' best hope for succeeding President George W Bush has taken a major step towards becoming his party's next leader by reaching out to the powerful Christian Right.My Comments:
John McCain swallowed his pride on Saturday when he spoke at Liberty University in Virginia, run by the ultra-conservative television evangelist Jerry Falwell, who he once said had an "evil influence" on the party.
His attempt to win over Mr Falwell and other Christian leaders - whose millions of followers dominate the party's grass roots - was a deeply controversial choice as a way-station on the road to the White House.
But with Mr Bush's approval ratings at 30 per cent and his agenda in tatters, his party is frantically shifting its attention to the future.
***
Liberty University enforces puritanical precepts on its 10,700 students: no kissing, no dancing, no drinking and no skirts above the knee.
***
Six years ago, in his last bid for the party's nomination, Mr McCain had a spectacular showdown with Mr Falwell, denouncing him as one of America's political "agents of intolerance", torpedoing his own presidential hopes.
This time round, however, in his as yet undeclared campaign, he is taking a less idealistic approach.
(emphasis added)
My problem is that I can't vote for someone for whom I don't have at least SOME modicum of trust. I flat out DON'T TRUST John McCain. If he wants my vote in 2 years, he's got a long way to go to earn that trust.
posted by Pro Ecclesia 3:13 PM
10 comments
10 Comments:
My problem is that I can't vote for someone for whom I don't have at least SOME modicum of trust. I flat out DON'T TRUST John McCain. If he wants my vote in 2 years, he's got a long way to go to earn that trust.
I don't trust McCain either, but think he's better than the alternative (probably a whole lot better) and will probably vote for him in 2008 if he's the nominee (barring future revelations, of course). As it stands now, though, I'd be hard pressed to vote for him in a primary (because I don't trust him), but fear that he's the best we may be able to realistically hope for in the next president.
But then again I don't trust politicians in general.
Put no trust in princes, especially if they are named John McCain.
He is usally reliable to provide cover for Democrats, and even voted against the Federal Marriage Admendment.
As I've said before McCain would be a disaster for the GOP; moreso than Dole was.
I am probably sounding like a broken record at this point but McCain is old, has health problems, and cleary isn't all that idealistic anymore.
He has a sense of history and wants to be in the history books, he wants to be president, but probably will be satisfied by one term. He will however be a king-maker in terms of who he picks for his running mate. If he picks Catholic convert Senator Sam Brownback you bet they'll have my full support.
On the other hand what if its McCain and some pro-choice republican? On the one hand I think McCain would pick a better court judge than Hillary (though he may be the type to pick a pro-choicer to show he is a uniter) if he has "sold out" to the "Religious Right" though maybe they'll do the picking for him, I can live with that.
The real question for me though is it it is McCain and a pro-choice Republican vs. 2 pro-choice dems, do I vote third party and hope that it sends a message to the GOP, or do I go with whoever the Republicans run in hopes of getting that 5th vote on Roe?
If only one more judge would retire before 2008!
I would hope that McCain would choose someone like Brownback, but I doubt he'll choose Brownback himself. That would mean giving up two Senate seats if they win, which I should think would be avoided if there were anyone else on the political landscape suitable as a running-mate (especially since Brownback wouldn't bring much politically to the ticket aside from pleasing conservatives). McCain-Brownback would also have zero executive experience between them.
As for possibly choosing a pro-choice running mate, that is possible, but McCain would hemmorage conservative support since it would be a big betrayal of his attempt to woo conservative primary voters (which would have been successful when it came time for him to choose a running-mate). If Hillary is his opponent, he may try it figuring that most conservatives would never stay home in the face of a Hillary presidency. If she isn't, I think it's less likely (especially if he's running against a moderate Dem and has to fight harder for independent votes and therefore can't afford to lose as much of the base). Still possible though.
but McCain would hemmorage conservative support since it would be a big betrayal of his attempt to woo conservative primary voters
I should say: especially since it would be a big betrayal...
Regarding my paragraph dealing with the possibility of McCain running with a pro-choicer, I think this illustrates one of the problems with McCain: he's unpredictable.
What about Hagel(R-NE)? He's a center-hugging Republican, as much Republican as Nelson (D-NE) is Democrat. Whoever is put before me on the ballot, I will vote opposite of NOW and NARAL endorsements.
My trust in Bush was about as well placed as Bush's trust in Putin. I don't think Bush's the weasel that the Left thinks, but Reagan he's not.
As far as McCain, 2004 proved that being a 'war hero' is not an automatic endorsement for the veteran vote, so don't bank on it.
I'll never vote for McCain. I'm not confident that he's healthy for one thing.
Post a Comment
<< Home